To the Ends of the Earth....

Hello from a very cold Punta Arenas!

 

After having avoided the winter for most of our journey it has finally caught up with us at the end of our Chilean adventures. It's so cold here that we're wearing woolly hats in the middle of the day! June commented earlier that it finally feels like Christmas.

 

Despite the chill Punta Arenas is a nice town, and we've spent today visiting a couple of museums. The first was the Maritime Museum and covered details of Chile's naval battles as well as a display about the rescue of Shackleton's expedition from the Antarctic. We'd both enjoyed the Shackleton mini-series when it was on TV a few years ago, and it was nice to see some relics of the adventure. They survived in the Antarctic waiting for rescue for the best part of a year - at the moment we're struggling to stay outside for more than a few minutes at a time!

 

Tomorrow we head on a long bus journey back into Argentina and down to Ushuaia in the Tierre Del Fuego. Ushuaia is the southern-most city in the world, only about 50 miles north of Cape Horn. Its latitude is 54°47' south. Surprisingly Glasgow is at 55°50' north. I wonder why the bottom of the world is colder than the top? Something to do with hot air rising perhaps?!

 

We've really enjoyed our two spells in Chile. It has some stunning scenery and the people are very friendly. It's the wealthiest country in South America (52nd in the world in the GDP per capita table) but feels less westernised and a little less worldy-wise than Argentina. I don't know if we'll ever be back this way again, but there is still lots we didn't see, including Easter Island, and most of the peaks of the Torres Del Paine!

 

We've got a few days in Ushuaia before we fly to Buenos Airies to thaw out. We've booked an apartment for a week so we can relax and enjoy the city's buzz.

 

Adios!

 

Hello in the Snow!

Back from the Torres

As you can see from June's video above we had quite an adventure in the Torres Del Paine!

 

We arrived in the park on Sunday in heavy rain, but gamely took the boat across to the western side and had an afternoon hike towards the Grey Glacier. The wind and rain was really strong but we made it to a look-out over the glacier - although due to the overcast weather the glacier lived up to its name and looked grey rather than blue! Luckily the rain stopped and the wind dried us off on our walk back to the refugio.

 

The next morning the rain was even worse, and we decided that we'd have to abandon our hopes of walking the 'W'. Most people staying in the refugio and campsite decided to call it quits and headed out of the park, but we thought we'd give it one more shot so got the boat and bus back to the eastern end and checked into another refugio. We had a pleasant (dry!) walk beside some lakes in the afternoon, and went to bed praying for some good weather the following morning so we could make an attempt to get to the Torres themselves.

 

When we woke up this morning, however, there was no sign of the Torres and it was pretty obvious that any walking would have to be through a snow-storm! Fortunately we had bought some woolly hats and gloves and hired some water-proof trousers, so we excitedly headed up into the snow. As it turned out it was a really good fun hiking through the snow, and after a couple of hours the sun came out and we had some great views down the valley, although not, alas, or the Torres themselves. The deep snow prevented us from getting any further, so we headed back down, and were very happy to meet Vicky, a girl who'd been on the rafting trip with, heading up the hill. One of the best things about travelling is bumping into people you last saw hundreds of miles away.

 

As we were about to climb into the bus and head back to Puerto Natales, the clouds lifted and we finally got a view of the Torres. They didn't look as spectacular as they looks in the books, but as least we saw them!

 

You can see the photos we took in the Chile set.

 

The calm before the storm

Driftin'
Originally uploaded by mark&june

Here we are driting down the Rio Manso between rapids - as you can tell we've finally found somewhere where the internet is fast enough to upload our photos. Check out the Argentina link on the right for lots of photos of glaciers, mountains and white water rafting!

We're having a relaxing day in Puerto Natales before we head to the Torres Del Paine tomorrow. Ironically the weather is really nice today - hope it lasts for the next few days! We've done some investigation and it turns out that there are options for doing 1, 2, 3 or 4 day treks, and we can make up our minds as we go along depending on how tired / cold we are. If we were here in the high season we wouldn't have been able to be so flexible and would have had to book all of our nights in the refuges in advance.

It's a bit confusing being back in Chile again. Some things are the same as Argentina - eg hundreds of stray dogs running around - and some things are different - getting 880 pesos to the pound instead of 6 means we have to be careful with our sums!

We'll let you know how we managed on the trek when we get back! Bye!

Head in the clouds (2)

Hola chicos!

We're back in El Calafate now after our hiking trip to the El Chalten region. We did two 6 hour hikes through beautiful countryside, although unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so we didn't have clear views of the top of the mountains, which was a shame as they are pretty spectacular. Luckily we managed to get a peek at them when we first arrived in town, so at least could picture what we were missing!

Our trip to the Perito Moreno glacier on Monday was one of the highlights of our trip so far. It was a lovely sunny day and the glacier was beautiful, and every now and then huge (house-sized) chunks of it would break off and crash into the lake below. It made a continuous creaking and groaning sound, and was one of the most amazing sights we've ever seen. Gorgeous.

We head off on the bus to Puerto Natales in Chile tomorrow morning. The main reason for going down there is to visit the Torres Del Paine national park. The most popular trek in the park is the 5 day "W" route, although looking at the weather forecast we probably won't attempt all of it. The forecast for the next 5 days down there is rain, rain, rain, rain and rain, so maybe a day of two hiking will be enough for us! Hopefully the weather won't be so bad that it obscures the views of the Torres themselves.

We're really enjoying South America now that we've got into the swing of things. Argentina is very traveller-friendly, and a lot more people speak English here, although we (ie June) are persevering with our Spanish. We're meeting lots of fellow travellers with hints and tips of what to do. Pretty much everyone we speak to gushes about Buenos Aires, so we're really looking forward to going there. Whether we go straight there from Puerto Natales or go to the far south of Argentina first (to the Tierra del Fuego) is up for debate at the moment.

Still no photos for you to look at, as the internet is woefully slow here. Hopefully it will be better in Puerto Natales.

Hasta la vista!

Tiene hielo por favor?

Buenos Noches!

 

We've just had an amazing day visiting some glaciers near El Calafate. We went on a boat trip through a lake, sailing past icebergs and coming really close to towering glacier edges. We've visited glaciers in Iceland and New Zealand, but they weren't as impressive up close as these ones. The icebergs were great too and were incredibly blue - very beautiful. We took loads of photos (way too many probably) but can't upload them yet as the internet is painfully slow here.

 

We've got our next few days more or less mapped out. Tomorrow we visit the Perito Moreno glacier, which is one of the few in the world that is advancing rather than receding, and every now and then great chunks of it crash into the lake. On Tuesday we're getting a bus up to El Chalten to do some hiking among the mountains, before coming back here on Thursday and then heading down to the Torres Del Paine park in Chile on Friday. Luckily the weather hasn't turned cold yet, so hopefully we'll survive with our meagre winter weather gear!

 

El Calafate is a nice town and we're staying in a comfy hostel. We haven't managed to get into the whole South American "eat dinner at 10pm" routine, and are famished now so are heading out for (proably) another steak.

 

Bye!

 

A prior engagement

Hello again! We´re in Argentina now, having come over the border on the bus from Pucon on Wednesday. It was a beautiful journey across the Andes, beside clear blue lakes and under towering volcanoes. We had brief stops in a couple of picture-perfect mountain villages complete with chocolate shops - you could almost believe we were in Switzerland.

 

We've spent the last couple of days in a lively town called Bariloche. Its in a gorgeous setting, and yesterday we went on a lovely boat trip around the lake, visiting a couple of islands. The scenery is quite reminiscent of New Zealand, which I guess isn't surprising given that NZ and South America used to be joined together in a super-contintent called Gondwanaland a few hundred million years ago. All those museums trips didn't go to waste after all!

 

We're staying in a nice hostel that overlooks the lake. On our first night here we were put in a pretty basic room with no view and a dodgy bathroom, but the next morning we upgraded to a lovely room with great views and a flat screen TV - 3 quid well spent! Last night we went out for our first Argentinian steak. I ordered half a fillet, which turned out to be a good idea as it was pretty huge (and needless to say delicious!).

 

Today we went on a great white-water rafting trip on the Manso River. The scenery was stunning and the rapids were pretty wild - June and I got thrown in at one point! The last time we went rafting we got engaged, but nothing so life-changing happened this time. We did cross the border back into Chile though, which is the first time we´ve crossed an international border in an inflatable!

 

We bought a CD with some photos of the rafting which we'll upload when we get a chance, but in the meantime we´ve added a few photos to the Argentina set.

 

Bye!

 

Not another volcano!

Villarrica Volcano above Pucon
Originally uploaded by mark&june

Hi everyone. We're having a very relaxing time in Pucon in the Chilean lake district. Its a nice town nestling on the shores of a lake, and dominated by the Villarrica volcano sitting above it.

You can do a hike up the volcano, but in the end we decided against it - there are only so many volcanoes you can climb on a holiday! Plus my ankle still isn't right, so we've decided just to take it easy instead. There are lots of cafes and restaurants in town, so we've been kicking back and relaxing. The town has a bit of a European alpine feel about it - it's certainly very different to both Santiago and San Pedro.

Tomorrow we say au revoir to Chile and take a bus across the Andes to Bariloche in Argentina. Again its supposed to be a nice lakeside town, and maybe we'll be up for a bit more exertion there.

On Saturday we're flying down to El Calafate in Patagonia, to start exploring the glaciers and national parks down there. Hopefully the weather will be ok - we're heading into Autumn here, and the further south we go the colder it will get. So far so good though - the weather has been gorgeous, although its been a bit cloudy for the last couple of days.

Better go now as the letters have all been rubbed off this keyboard, which makes typing a bit of a struggle! Hope all is well with you all.

200 days gone, 47 to go.........

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro.....

Hello from the Atacama Desert, the highest and driest desert in the world!

We've had a really good three days up here, although we're finding the conditions a bit tough. San Pedro de Atacama is about 2200m above sea level, and for the last two days we've been on trips above 4000m, and have been suffering from altitude sickness a bit. It hasn't amounted to much more than headaches and tiredness, and has probably been accentuated by the fact that we had to get up at 3.30 this morning so that we could see some geysers before the sun came up. Apparently the geysers are at their gushiest just before sunrise - which is a shame, as at 4000m in a desert at 6am it's bloody cold! So much so that the water running away from the geysers was freezing on the ground...

San Pedro itself is a gorgeous little town. Its just as you´d imagine South America - dusty streets, mud-brick buildings, locals lying in the shade. Its a world away from Santiago and a great place to relax.

The Atacama desert is stunning. Its a mixture of lava fields and salt-lakes, surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. It seems that everywhere you look there are volcanoes - some smoking, some dormant, some extinct. I expected the Andes to be more jungle-clad than volcanic - no doubt they are in other places. We met a Chilean girl yesterday who was going for an interview to work on the new James Bond movie which is going to be filmed here, so it will be interesting to see if we spot anywhere!

We've taken lots of gorgeous photos, but the internet is really slow here so hopefully we'll be able to upload them when we head south.

Hope you all have a great Easter weekend, and speak to you again soon!

Heading to the desert

Hello again.

 

It´s Tuesday morning now and we're about to head off to the airport to fly up to San Pedro de Atacama for a few days in the desert. Apparently there are lots of beautiful things to see up there, although one of them involves a 4am start to see the sunrise. I'm only just falling asleep by 4am some days!

 

We´ve had a great few days in Santiago. Once we'd got acclimatised we really liked the place, and found some cool areas away from the hustle and bustle of the centre. We found a great restaurant last night called ¨Las Vacas Gordas¨ (The Fat Cows), which is what we felt like after the meal! Food and drink is pretty cheap here (although not as cheap as in Asia), and the people are generally friendly. Its really surprising how few of them speak any English though - we´ve had to resort to sign-language and Google Translator when our vocabulary has failed us!

 

We´ve changed our plans for next week a bit. When we fly back to Santiago on Saturday we're not going to stay in town but instead will catch an overnight bus down to Pucon in the Lake District. The last time we went on an overnight bus was from Hanoi to Hue - about 190 days ago!

 

Hope you´re all doing well and thanks for still reading this!