Days 26-28: El Calafate, Argentina

Mon 5 Dec- Wed 7 December

Monday morning we hopped on a bus and made the 6 hour journey across the border to El Calafate, Argentina to visit Perito Moreno Glacier. Tuesday morning we set out from the town of El Calafate at 9am and arrived in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park which covers around 600,000 hectares and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The glacier site is very well maintained and extremely accessible- it was a Disney-like system of buses and transfers and viewpoints. Ally and I agreed it was slightly less exciting than having a panoramic view of glacier grey open up in front of us as we crested a small ridge after four hours of hiking in Torres del Paine.

What makes Perito Moreno worthy of a visit is not just its sheer size (250sq.km), but from the main area we were able to watch massive chunks of the glacier come tumbling off and crashing 60m into the icy water below. The glacier frontage stretches 5km across and stands 60m high- but nearly 110m of glacier sits below the water’s surface.

Perito Moreno is one of Patagonia’s largest glaciers and is also the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. Why not go for a stroll on top?

We took a twenty minute boat ride toward the edge of the glacier and hopped off on a nearby shore. During the briefing, we learned that Perito Moreno is a stable glacier, accumulating ice at the same rate at which it is shed at the front. It is one of the few stable glaciers in the world.

With crampons strapped on, not a splinter of sun in sight, and rain pelting down with a fury, we stepped out onto this monstrous ice field.

The first 20minutes were spent protecting cameras from the rain and keeping ourselves steady in the gusty wind. It wasn’t long before we were soaked and getting very chilly. Ally had injured her knee toward the end of the “W” hike and the weighty crampons on her feet weren’t helping her mobility. Despite the traction of the crampon, the icy descents were shaky at best and Ally had to turn back to keep from injuring her knee further. At this point my waterproof layers had utterly failed their waterproof test and the winds were turning me into a new ice formation. It wasn’t looking like we would last the scheduled 1.5hrs of hiking atop the glacier. Our guide insisted that if we kept wishing “hard enough,” the sun would come out.

Smoggy camera lense thanks to all of the rain

when the sun finally did come out

 Good wishers we were. Not long after the sun broke through and we were able to hike the glacier under sparkling sunlight; highlighting the crystal blues and pristine whiteness of the ice formations. To my elation the hike was capped off with a glass (or three) of 12 year old whiskey served over 300 year old glacial ice, paired with an indulgent dolce de leche chocolate cake. Don’t worry, I plan to bring oodles of these treats home.

the ice bar

Today we caught a bus back to Puerto Natales where we fly on to Santiago to spend our final few days in Chile back with our ESD compadres.

Days 20-25: Parque Nacional Torres del Paine- the “W”

30 Nov - 4 Dec

Ally and I have just returned from five days in one of Chile’s most popular tourist destinations- Torres del Paine National Park. But it’s no walk in the park. This part of Chilean Patagonia is known to be “wild”- not because of any fierce creatures, as one might expect, but because of the unpredictable and extreme weather. Gale force winds, pelting rain, snow, and blizzards.

To say that we got lucky is an understatement. We saw nothing but sparking sunshine- a sun so strong that even after smothering ourselves in SPF50 sun screen, we left the park sporting significant raccoon-like sunglass tans.

Torres del Paine offers a range of multi-day hikes, but a slew of one-day hikes as well. The two most popular multi-day treks are the 4-5 day “W”, which travels across the park along the general shape of a “W,” visiting the three main valleys of the mountain range. The second route is the 7-9 day “circuit” which circles around the entire base of the range, paired with trips into the central valleys. While the circuit is rumoured to be well worth the extra time, we were limited on time and went with the “W” trek- and despite the highs and lows (physically and geographically)- we loved every bit of it.

We had heard most hiking “traffic” travels west to east, as the wind in the park always comes from the west, allowing for the wind to work with you, rather than against you. Ally and I are both the type to prefer to do things our own way, or at least a little bit differently, so we opted to start in the east and travel west.

Day one began with the longest continuous climb of the trek, heading from Lago Amarga up to Los Torres, the camp ground from which you can trek to the park’s iconic three granite towers (Torres del Paine = Towers of the Sky). We were welcomed by llamas and beautiful views of the towers in the distance. 

We had packed so precisely and cautiously that we found ourselves cursing the bad weather warnings we had heard so much of… it was 24 degrees and we had stripped down to our base layer within 10minutes of starting the trek.

We reached Los Torres by late afternoon, set up camp and then headed up the final 45minutes to the Los Torres mirador for the rewarding view, despite there being a bit of fog.

              

We had been told that an early morning trek back up to the mirador would offer great views of the sunrise, so we awoke on day two at 5:30am, as advised. When Ally first poked her head out of the tent that morning, she was skepitcal…

“I don’t know, Bonita,” she said, “I can see light. I think it’s fair to say the sun has risen.”

“Hm. Maybe it’s still hidden behind that range,” I replied, pointing to the towering mountain side.

We packed up a sleeping bag (to keep warm while “watching the sun rise” and some snacks to take up. Not ten minutes up the trail we crossed paths with a young guy on his way down. Still half asleep, I stopped him to ask if he had been up for the sun rise….and to our dismay, he had.

“I was up there around 4:30am,” he said. This meant he was up at 3:30 as it’s about an hour to get up and settled in. “But you couldn’t see much,” he went on, “It was clear, but the sun wasn’t really shining through.”

I turned to Ally. Not much needed to be said…. we were going back to bad.

When we awoke for the second time on day two the sun was fully risen and we were back on the trail by 11:00am. With the days getting longer and longer and daylight stretching until 10:30 in the evening, we were enjoying the long rest. That morning we saw a small red fox snooping for left over food bits in the camp ground. He turned out to be one of the few animals we saw the entire trek.

Day two took us back down the first valley, traveling mid-way along the range toward the middle valley; a full eight hours of walking in mostly meadowy fields, but offering lovely views of lakes below.

 Before reaching our campground that evening, we arrived at a refugio in perfect late afternoon sun. There are a few refugios along the base trail offering hostel-style accommodation, mostly used by day-trippers or those not looking to camp. They also have small kitchens and serve dinners, but also make for lovely pit stops serving wine and beer- luxuries you wouldn’t think to carry for five days.

We spent night two at “campamento italiano,” and had one of our better meals of the trek; it might even be worth repeating at home (once my distaste for chorizo sausage passes….): white rice cooked in creamy tomato soup with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and sliced sausages. It was a fantastic one-pot dish and came out tasting like a fancy risotto!

Day three began with a lovely 5hour trip into the French valley carrying only our day packs. We watched ice and snow crash down from hanging glaciers and looked over the length of the valley as the spring melt rushed down the middle.

We returned to “italiano” and before setting off again, we needed some light first aid for my dog bite wound. With most of the weight from my pack sitting low on my hips, my rear end was getting some extra bruising that was keeping some of the bite marks from healing. While nurse Ally bandaged me up, a park ranger happened to stroll by the otherwise empty campground. He came over to us with a look of grave concern on his face.

Ally and I tried our best spanglish to explain that this didn’t happen on the trail and that it was a dog bit from some time ago. This involved acting out a dog and a “biting” action. Meanwhile the top of my shorts were halfway pulled down my rear, showing the gross looking purple and yellow bruising and tooth gashes. Once it was clear that we were okay, we half expected the ranger to saunter off and continue on his way. But he continued to linger, nattering to us in Spanish. We just nodded and smiled while Ally continued to bandage.

We then set off for the final two hours of hiking that day- headed for refugio grey- unfortunately the most commercial of the campgrounds, but the only one we could make it to within our timeline.

Day four sent us up the final valley toward Los Guardas and Glacier Grey. Even though it was a shorter day, it was a draining one… but the reward was well worth it. I saw ice bergs for the first time and felt like I had walked onto a movie set as soon as Glacier Grey came into sight.

                   

We spent the night at a gorgeous campground with ice bergs floating by- a floating toast to our last night in the mountains!

We trekked out early in the morning on day five, making it back to Refugio grey where we would catch the ferry back to civilisation.

Over the five days we ate nearly 2kg of dehydrated fruit, handfuls of almonds, pots after pot of rice and sausage, and kept our energy up with gummies and chocolate. We saw llamas, mice, a red fox, a woodpecker (just like Woody!), and countless types of birds, flowers and bugs. Torres del Paine was tiring indeed, but it was equally rewarding with some of the most scenic, yet changing, landscapes I have ever seen.

It’s Monday now- and to think that we’ll be on airplanes flying home come Friday seems absurd! We’ve got much more still to see and do… up next: El Calafate, Argentina for glacier trekking.