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Maddie Blanks' Travels
After a farily tedious and VERY uncomfortable flight we arrived in El Calafate to start our time in Patagonia.
Highlights:
'I Keu Ken', the hostel. The staff were amzing and we had an incredible Asado (BBQ!) there one evening. Very sociable and where we met Matt and Kinga who would be our travel buddies for the next week.
The glacier! Having never seen a glacier before I couldnt believe how big it was. Sounds stupid I know but seriously, its massive! We spent a day there walking on it, viewing it from a far and going on a boat up to the face of it. Truly awesome. We made the mistake of going on the more sedate tour onto the galcier, leaving us frustrated with our slower companions... For those of you that know Gareth, sedtae is ont a word frequently used to describe him and so try as the guides might to keep us on the trail and walking slowly on our crampons, by the end we were running around and jumping in its 'natural armchairs' trying to take the most ridiculous photos possible. They forgave us once we were safely back on dry land and even gave us chocolate and famous grousse (on glacier ice) to finish off!
In a moment of madness caused by travel related sleep deprivation, we agreed to go climbing, abseiling, zip lining and via ferrata-ing on one afternoon. Gareth has named himself the 'mountain goat' due to his self professed ability to scramble aruond rocks. This certainly gave him a chance to demonstrate those skills. Luckily we were the only people in the group so the guides enjoyed taking us on extra routes. Probably the coolest job ever, the guys in charge have turned a part of the mountain into their playground and are ever expaning the activities there. very cool, not ideal after thirty six hours of no sleep!
Awkward Moments:
Not many here apart from me demonstrating my huge lack of camera knowledge by ranting about how a shop had sold me a broken memory card before Kinga explained to me that you actually have to put a memory card into a camera before it can be expected to work...oops.
Gareths abililty to out eat everyone combined at the all you can eat BBQ proved reasonably awkward after a while, although it certainly seemed to impress a certain someone (travel love number two!)
We then got the comparatively very short bus to El Chalten with Matt and Kinga where the weather was so incredible we ended up spending much longer than intended!
Highlights:
This is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful places in the world. The scenery is just stunning and you dont have to trek very far at all to see all the best parts. Another few glaciers, mount fitzroy, waterfalls and a stunning valley, its defnintely worth a visit.
The weather! When we tell people we had five days here with cloudless skies they ask us if they can touch us as we must be good luck. It was beautiful and made the trekking and the views all the better!
The camping! The four of us decided to camp one night at the top of one of our treks. We were by far the most novice trekkers/campers on the mountainside and with our no gear, and no idea we had an incredible time working out how the tents worked, and why we should have spent the extra money hiring all the camping equipment. We did, however, remember the wine and spent the evening huddled around an imaginary camp fire putting the world to rights, singin the lion king (not for the first time embarassingly) and enjoying the amazing stars.
Awkward Moments;
The controversial decision to jump into the glacial lake because it was sunny.... "I'm not sure it was the most sensible thing ever but its a cool thing to say we've done", was entirely the reasoning behind this, it was definitely "cool" but strangely we didnt start a trend. Very fun, but paid for it later with the bruises and the very very very cold night camping! Apparently a hoody and a rain coat isnt enough clothes to survive camping on a mountain in Patagonia.... who knew?! The numerous moments of confusion with Matt the American and our very different meanings for the same words lead to endless amusement. Kinga (who is Polish, lives in Austria and speaks just about all languages brilliantly) added to the fun by enjoying them five minutes after everyone else. The wait for the longest bus ever.... We waited for two days for the worst and longest bus ever (30 hours) up to Bariloche. The bus was so bad that there was a mutiny at the back, which we didnt start but definitely encouraged, putting up out of order signs on the loo to stop people letting out the smell and shouting all sorts of things at the bus driver! Hope you are all well, love love love xxxxxxxx
The controversial decision to jump into the glacial lake because it was sunny.... "I'm not sure it was the most sensible thing ever but its a cool thing to say we've done", was entirely the reasoning behind this, it was definitely "cool" but strangely we didnt start a trend. Very fun, but paid for it later with the bruises and the very very very cold night camping! Apparently a hoody and a rain coat isnt enough clothes to survive camping on a mountain in Patagonia.... who knew?! The numerous moments of confusion with Matt the American and our very different meanings for the same words lead to endless amusement. Kinga (who is Polish, lives in Austria and speaks just about all languages brilliantly) added to the fun by enjoying them five minutes after everyone else. The wait for the longest bus ever.... We waited for two days for the worst and longest bus ever (30 hours) up to Bariloche. The bus was so bad that there was a mutiny at the back, which we didnt start but definitely encouraged, putting up out of order signs on the loo to stop people letting out the smell and shouting all sorts of things at the bus driver! Hope you are all well, love love love xxxxxxxx
- comments
Dave Dawkins What a wonderful time you are having. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. Lots of love. XX
Grandma One thing's for sure darling, you won't be the same person when you come back! Hugs and love, Grandma x