Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After Central America, arriving into Santiago and Mendoza delivered a dose of European style culture with everyone drinking espressos at sidewalk cafes. Jodie was extremely excited about her first glass of wine and Brendan was just content with the huge amounts of meat on offer. We had some adjusting to do however, as the Argentinians seem to take eating late to a whole new level. Dinner reservations at midnight are a perfectly normal occurance! We struggled to keep up as we´d been going to bed at 9.30pm in the rainforest, and it just didn´t seem right eating that late, however, by night three we thought nothing of tucking into monster steak meals at 11.45pm!
Being in one of the world´s major wine producing regions, it would have been rude not to explore the nearby wineries ... and we decided on bikes as the ideal mode of transport?! Yes it is the lethal combination that it sounds, but the scenery was lovely and we soon forgot the danger as we enjoyed having a glass or three of good wine.
But before long we were heading south to the main reason for our visit - Patagonia. The first thing we noticed was the cold! It was a sorry day when we swapped our flipflops for fleeces. We soon found ourselves judging accommodation based on the size of their open fire. But, being cold aside, Patagonia has totally blown us away. I can honestly say that some of the scenery is the best I´ve ever seen. First off we visited Perito Moreno glacier - imagine a huge river that has turned to ice, 60m high, as far as you could see, it´s like something from the ice age. We watched as building-sized chunks of ice came crashing off the cliff face with sounds like thunder. Trekking on the ice (complete with crampons) was loads of fun and between that and a boat trip past icebergs, our cameras went into overdrive (see photos).
Of course a big part of Patagonia is the national parks, so we pulled on our fowl weather gear and set off. We felt pretty heroic as we wandered out into the wilderness, but were slightly more jaded after 2 full days of hiking. The Fitzroy mountains in El Chalten did not disappoint and the sun even stayed shining as we wandered up to glaciers surrounded by panoramic views. We even climbed a moutain, which turned out to be a little harder than first thought, especially when we found ourselves so high up that we were trekking through snow. Next our hiking adventures took us south to Torres del Paine (you have to worry when a national park is nicknamed towers of pain!). The weather unfortunately wasn´s so kind to us so we spent 3 days with everything in plastic bags. The wind too was something else and could knock a fully grown man off his feet (turning sipping tea from a thermos into an extreme sport!! - see photos). We ended up looking like drunks as we walked. Luckily we had a few clear spells where we got some more amazing photos of glaciers, lakes and mountains.
And finally we arrived here, Ushuaia...the end of the world (dum dum dum!), well close enough! Check it out on a map, it really is a long way south. Today we did a boat trip on the Beagle Channel and watched as sealions dived after the boat. Just a couple more days here then the weekend in Buenos Aires for some tango, football and warm weather!
- comments