The "end" of the world - Chile and Argentina - Mar 29-Apr 11

The view out the ferry window the morning we arrived in Puerto Williams, Chile.

Both countries claim they have the most southern city on the planet.  It apparently comes down to your definition of city.  Puerto Williams, Chile sure seems like a city to me and it is on the southern side of the Beagle Channel.  We thoroughly enjoyed the owner of our hostal - Cecilia!  We overlapped with a brother and sister from Switzerland.  The first night we were there, we had cooked some food for dinner and Cecilia arrived with a HUGE king crab.  So we all shared both our food and the giant crab.

Cecilia, Sybil, Yogi, me - and the remains of a King Crab, etc.

Typical house with the typical wood supply for heating.

Looking out over the Beagle Channel with the ferry that we took from Punta Arenas.

One of the more colorful abandoned boats.

We set out on a 4 day loop to Lago Windhond with decent weather forecasted until day 5 when snow would hit.  We had to borrow boots due to the swampy nature of the area.  When we tried them on we both knew they were bigger than what we normally wear (they were in european sizing).  Come to find out, I was wearing size 10 when I usually wear size 7.  Let's just say that both of us would recommend not being overly optimistic about how much thick socks will do with oversized boots!    

Destination Day 1:  Lage del Salto with Los Dientes del Navarino in the background.

Day 2:  Beautiful, however... this is right before the wrong turn which led to the extra day...

Parts of days 2,3,4 involved walking on a lot of peat bog -- crazy stuff.

Day 4:  A tiny spot in the trees - trying to stay out of the wind.

Day 5:  It snowed 4+ inches.  In the end it made for a good adventure and was beautiful.  Here Duane is formulating a sentence in Spanish.  This was before it got difficult to find the trail.

The beaver action - in the foreground made for some rough going.  On the other hand, loved the combination of the snow and the red fall colors up further on the mountains.

This is the view across the Beagle Channel toward Ushuaia, Argentina where we took the boat over.  That is fresh snow - winter is definitely on the way!

With just 3 or so days in Ushuaia, Argentina we didn't get to know the area all that well.  It definitely is a much larger city and a more popular tourist destination than Puerto Williams. One of the most striking things is that the Falkland Island war of 1982 is still very much on the minds of the people...

Argentina is still wanting to claim the Falk Islands as their land.  They are called Las Malvinas here and there is no shortage of graffiti telling the British to get out.  With the 30th anniversary of the war with Britain, there is also new plaza dedicated to the memory of soldiers, etc.

From here our next stop would be, Buenos Aires.  Although sad to leave Patagonia, I was happy to be going in the direction of warmer weather.

Chile, Part II - Mar 10-28

This second time in Chile involved Torres del Paine Park, Puerto Natales, and Punta Arenas.  It was fun hitchhiking from Calafate, Argentina to Torres del Paine -- 4 different drivers/cars.  We barely sat down before someone picked us up on the first two rides.  Right out of El Calafate, our ride was from a man who was going to pick his family up from Rio Gallegos.  They were moving to Calafate.  He had gotten a job at the airport in Calafate.  He didn't talk much but played some pretty hip music.  He said he had a place for hitchhikers in his heart because he had hitchhiked when he was younger.  The second ride was the most entertaining - from Luis, the animal mover.  Neither of us had ever ridden in a semi before.  This guy was hilarious.  He had an much-larger-than-needed propane tank/burner right beside him for heating up water for tea.  The Argentinians are zealous about drinking their mate!  It was also hilarious when he heard Duane`s name.  His face went white.  Most spanish speakers have no idea how to pronounce Duane, but his facial reaction almost said something like - "I feel like I have just insulted you greatly, but I have no idea how to say your name."  He spends 6 months a year in southern Patagonia moving animals - mostly sheep - from one place to another.  He was empty when he picked us up.

In the cab of the semi - Luis with his mate in hand.

The third guy who picked us up is a high school teacher.  It was Saturday and he had gone to visit his daughter and was returning home.  He drove about 150?? miles an hour, but there wasn't traffic so it seemed pretty safe.  He dropped us off at a road that cut over to the border town that leads most directly to Torres del Paine.  Although the most direct way, this is not the way most tourists get to the park.  We waited for over an hour then decided to start walking the 6k to the border town.  About 30 minutes into that Jorge, from Spain, picked us up.  He is a serious fisherman and has traveled all over the world for good fishing.  A very entertaining day, and we actually made it all the way to the park!  The weather didn't cooperate with us that well, but once it was decent we did parts of the "W":

We ate our snack and waited patiently to get this glimpse of the granite namesakes of the park.

The geology of this place is quite fascinating.  Magma formed under the ground and over time was pushed up by movement of the earth's plates.  Along with erosion and glacial action, we humans then get some amazing landscapes and some great hiking.

Los Cuernos del Paine - somewhat hidden by the snow these have a black sedimentary rock on top of the granite.

In this last picture you can also see some of the damage of the fire started by a tourist the last December.  There is extensive damage to the park`s scenic bottom of the "W".  The mountains, however, are no less impressive.

Just a quick two nights in Puerto Natales (at a great hostel with a resident cat and two dogs that visited during the day) and we were on a bus to Punta Arenas where we landed for a while to take care of things back home.  Punta Arenas is right on the Straight of Magellan.  Several things kept us entertained:  penguins, recent flood damage, fellow tourists!, Seinfeld replays (spanish subtitles) and miscellaneous things of the largest city (~130K) we had been in in over two months.

A 3+ hour boat ride out to Isla Magdalena.  These are Magellanic Penguins. 

Lots of the penguins had already started their migration, but there were still plenty waiting around for the right moment to hit the sea.

A serious amount of mud was deposited in the streets due to the flood caused by an unusual 3 days straight of rain - about a week before we got there.  Duane, turned into a soils and river engineer, came up with the cause and solution...

Easily one of our favorite hostals so far -- Eduardo the owner is awesome, we met several interesting characters who had done the panamerican highway on motorcycles or "push" bikes, we enjoyed the larger-than-normal included b'fast and there was really good wi-fi.

It was tough deciding which way to leave Punta Arenas.  We were either going to hitch down to Ushuaia, Argentina or take the ferry to Puerto Williams, Chili.  In large part, another group who had been to Puerto Williams influenced us and we decided on staying in Chili and seeing their claim to the most southern city...

Argentina, Part II - Feb 9-Mar 9

After the touristy center of Bariloche, El Bolsón - just two hours south - was definitely a nice change.  We camped, dealt with details at home and ate some good chocolate!

A bike ride out to a gorgeously blue-green river.

Old ford falcons are everywhere. Apparently they were made in Argentina for 30 years...

To get to southern patagonia, there is a long stretch of road south of El Bolsón.  We split it up by stopping in Perito Moreno/Los Antiguos and did the side trip to the Cave of the Hands - Cueva de las Manos.  Dating from 9,000 BC, these are some impressively well preserved paintings of mostly hands and guanacos.  I ended up being the translator for the spanish speaking guide...

This is what it looks like east of the Andes mountains.

About 24 hours south of El Bolsón by bus is El Chaltén - home of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre - both impressive pieces of rock that have some world class mountain climbing opportunities.  But most people come to do some straightforward hiking/trekking.  We first did the straightforward and beautiful trail up around the Fitz Roy range.

Fitz Roy was a ship captain who explored the Patagonian area back in the 1800's.  Somehow his name was later attached to this 11,000+ ft granite peak.

Then we got adventuresome and the weather conspired against us.  Our planned 4 day circuit was supposed to have 3 days of good weather and 1 day of rain.  Somehow that got flipped.  Thankfully, our gear held up....  This trail was well trodden on day 1, out to Laguna Toro.  Days 2-4 required a lot of route finding and guessing -- up to Paso del Viento and around to Paso Huemel, down to Lago Viedma and finally back to Chaltén

All was gloriously beautiful on day 1.  This is Cerro Torre - world renown rock climbing prize.

Day 2 started off with a brutally cold river crossing - the water coming off of a glacier.  We both were whimpering in pain.

The main reason for this trek was to get over Paso del Viento (Wind Pass) and see the Hielo Sur (South Ice).  This is the a massive ice field - and the largest hunk of ice outside of the poles.  The rain and clouds limited our view...

At times the wind was just simply nuts.

We broke the rules that night and stayed in the refugio.  It rained and howled outside all night!

Day 3 - looking down at a glacial lake with hunks of ice in it.

We camped here just below Paso Huemel on Day 3.  Overnight it was windy but dry, so our clothes dried out.

At the start of day 4 - trying to stay vertical in the wind.

Looking out over Lago Viedma - on our way down through the Lenga trees.

Lago Viedma in the background.  This was a bit before lunch.  Little did we realize that we still had another 8 hours of route finding and rain, slogging through marshes, and a crazy high river to cross.

The good thing about an experience like this is that you have some bragging rights... and you feel closer for having done something that difficult together.

After a couple days of taking it easy we continued south to El Calafate.

Argentina, Part I - Jan 22-Feb 9

In a bit over a month in Argentina we have gone from latitude 39.9 to 50.3 and are planning on making it all the way to the tip which is right about 55.

Our first stop was Junín de los Andes - self proclaimed trout capital of the country.  We didn't fish, but we enjoyed the rivers, more gorgeous mountains and our little friend whom I called "little buddy" who adopted us even though we didn't feed her.  This is the campground where the wi-fi was good enough that we hung out at the campsite or the tent doing email, etc...

A new friend - the lady of an argentinian couple who picked me as I was hitchhiking in the park.

Volcán Lanín from the Argentinian Parque Lanín.

Next stop was Bariloche and Parque Nahuel Huapi.  We got out of town as fast as the rain stopped to avoid the tourists.  Here we did an 8 day trek.  Amazing jagged mountains that keep going and going and going, crazy straight up & down trails, beautiful lakes and waterfalls, Mt. Tronador, and some interesting route finding!

After spending a half day trying to find a trail through the thick brush around the lake we went with Duane´s idea of walking in the lake.  It was a lot warmer than I expected!

Duane and Jennifer - whom we ran into - trying to figure out where the trail goes next.

Day 7 - our campsite on the side of Mt. Tronador.

Huge waterfalls - with a rainbow - coming off the glaciers of Mt. Tronador.

Ah, the beauty!

Chile, Part I - Jan 4-Jan 22

We both will admit that after 4 months in Colombia and Ecuador, it was nice to arrive in Chile and experience a culture more like what we are used to:   less trash, less noise, more organized….  The down side is no more 3 mangos for $1.  Instead there are wonderful nectarines.  And you pay for it.  Suddenly everything costs at least twice as much.  We spent maybe 5 days in Santiago.   We rented bikes one day, walked around the capital buildings, got a nice view of the surrounding area at sunset...  I was really happy to meet up with two Motivational Interviewing folks who I have met at meetings - they treated me to a typical Chilean meal.  Duane and I also shopped for second hand rain pants & fleece in preparation for Patagonia weather, we had to find an electrical adapter and a battery charger with the 110 voltage...  Details…   

Things you think of doing after traveling with your partner for 4 months!

Since there was train travel available and we were a bit tired of bus travel, we took the train 5 hours south to the end of the line and stayed in Chillán, a pleasant smallish city (180K), for a few days.  The highlight of my birthday was happening upon an incredibly awesome vegetarian buffet.  I haven't eaten that well the entire time we have been here in south america!

Then we headed for Pucón (17k) - a very tourist center with great access to mountains and hotsprings.  We planned for 3 days out in Parque Nacional Huerquehue, but had enough food so stayed for 5.  It was really beautiful landscape with the auracania trees everywhere (monkey puzzle trees), lakes and we got to a hotsprings that felt luxurious!

Chile and Argentina share the andean mountains and most travel in the the area involves some time in both countries, so from Pucón, we then crossed the border into Argentina.

At the border crossing - El Volcán Lanín - partly in Argentina & partly in Chile.