Oogs & Mich's World Trip 2008

Lakes in Argentina and Patagonia

CHILE | Sunday, 2 November 2008 | Views [83]

We are now out of South America after 4 months and REALLY enjoying English & understanding EVERYTHING and also how clean, green and neat it is here in New Zealand! Since our last email we have managed to see quite a bit...we spent 10 days in and around Bariloche in Argentenian Lake District which was beautiful! We went up the cable car at the Cerro Catedral ski resort nearby which gave us incredible views of the surrounding Andes mountains and the lakes...also climbed to another viewpoint for different views of the lakes, met a south african couple in our hostel so spent a day with them walking and also hired a car for a day to explore further. For this we couldn't have asked for a more crystal clear day with mirror like reflections in each lake along the way. Toooo good!

Photo's from Bariloche & the surrounding lakes: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=179621&l=99141&id=639785606

We then headed to Puerto Montt, Chile, to catch our 4 day ferry to Patagonia. Drama hit as we woke up to no ferry in the bay and hearing the news that it had been cancelled...we were bitterly disappointed as had been looking forward to it for months!! Missed out on an amazing coastline but saw some of the fjords and views nearby the town before we left luckily.

Patagonia blew us away...literally and scenery wise!!! We had to criss-cross between Chile & Argentina to see the best of southern Patagonia...We started with a day trip to the Torres del Paine national park (Chile) which had incredible towering mountains, torquiose blue glacial lakes, the Grey glacier where huge chunks of blue ice have broken off the glacier & floated ashore. Amazing views indeed but pretty chilly winds so didn't brave the hikes. We then headed to El Calafate (Argentina) to see the Perito Merino glacier. WOW...and WOW again. This glacier, which is one of the only ones advancing in the world (2cm a day!!!), was incredible!! Its 5km wide, 40km long stretching back into the valley and we could see 60m of the ice above water and there is still 100m below the water at the face! The blue colour and seeing & hearing the thunderous noise of the large pieces breaking off was mesmerising. Another "must see"!!

We then spent a few days further north in El Chalten (Argentina) where we did a hike to Fitz Roy mountain with some South Africans we met (friends of friends in fact - small world!) Breathtaking views all the way and luckily another clear day for us! It was then time to make our way back south to fly to the Santiago area for our last few days. Chantelle sadly had to leave us to return home and we went on to a coastal town called Valparaiso for a few days before we left for New Zealand.

Can't believe its been over 7 months on the road already...We have truly been blessed with being able to see so many mind-blowingly beautiful parts of God's creation...and so much more still to come.