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Hi All
In our last blog entry we mentioned that we were going to Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine. We planned to do the 5 days hike called the "W" but we ended up doing a 9 day hike of the whole "Circuit" of the National Park. There were so many beautiful sights and every view was picture perfect! The extreme patagonian wind has eroded the mountain peaks into jagged shapes. Luckily we only experienced one very windy day, there were even pieces of ice flying off of the glaciers. In our penultimate (and favourite) day we hiked over the John Garner pass, which involved walking up a valley, crossing over the summit of a mountain and then down the other side. After, rain, hail, some snow and freezing cold wind we reached the top. This is where we got our first look at the magnificent Glacier Grey. It was truely amazing - a sea of ice with huge ripples that looked as though waves had frozen in time. It stretched for as far as the eye could see...over 15 miles! In the cracks of the glaciers we could see the deepest blue - the true colour of ice. We spent the rest of the day hiking down side by side with the glacier. Every time we looked to our right we were mesmerised yet again by this natural wonder. The experience was made even better as we were the only people around- this was part of the full "Circuit" and not just the "W", which most people do. In total we walked over 125km.
Because of our satisfaction with the glacier at the national park we decided to miss out the touristic El Calafate glacier and headed straight to El Chalten. El Chalten is a fast developing tourist town with some fantastic, world famous hiking opportunities. We spent our 3 days here hiking to Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre and best of all eating huge slices of delicious chocolate cake (5 huge slices in total)!
Our next stop was one of our favourite places yet, the hippy town of El Bolson. We spent 3 days here, but could easily have stayed for a lot longer. It was our first stop in the Lake District and the landscape was completely different to the dry and vast Patagonia we have experienced. There is so much green here! The warm micro-climate of El Bolson means that its known for its organic farms. We spent time on walks picking berries, at the local market drinking the homemade beer and picnicing under fruit trees. A dog befriended us who we named Che (after Che Guevara), and he followed us around for most of our time in El Bolson, sitting outside our tent and barking at any dogs that came near. El Bolson was so much like southern France, with its orchards and vineyards, that we really felt like we were back in Europe. And as we were there for easter weekend, there were lots of Argentinian families and young people enjoying the summer sunshine.
Today we arrived in Bariloche. We thought the chocolate in El Bolson was good, but here every other shop is a chocolateria. Our diet over the past few days has mainly consisted of chocolate, there are even chocolate supermarkets, and the staff look like little elves. So all you who thought we have been looking skinny can worry no more! Tomorrow we hope to do white water rafting, let you know how it goes.
Tom and Beth
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