Monday 18 Feb
Mild and overcast all day.
Guided tour and walk through Tierra del Fuego NP, named after the indigenous Mapuche tribe that inhabited this region some time ago. They wore no clothes and kept themselves warm by lighting fires everywhere they roamed.
Tuesday 19 Feb
Left Ushuaia around 6am in light drizzle. After an hour on the road the truck required muffler repairs, which set us back an hour. We eventually arrived at a ferry crossing point at 6pm and wasited three hours to board. I've never seen such a line of cars and trucks, stretching for kms, waiting to get on. We made one of the last ferries just before nightfall, crossing the Magellan Strait in half an hour. Then, at around 10.30pm, we stopped in a field just off the road to bushcamp, which also meant putting up tents for the first time in the dark.
Wednesday 20 Feb
Mild sunny morning. Upat 6am, tents down, breakfast, back locker loaded and on the road by 7am. In the morning we realized we had camped across the road from a beach with a skuttled trawler half buried in the sand, and also nearby to a deserted sheep farm complete with a derelict farmhouse containing various sheep remains. We then drove 500km via Puerto Natales where each of the five cooking groups shopped for their rostered breakfast, lunch and dinner. I's not easy planning quantities for 23 people but we soon get the hang of it. and shop within our budget. For example, Julie's group had a budget of 64,000 Chilean Pesos or A$133 for three meals for 23 people.
We arrive in the Torres del Paine National Park and camp beside a lake.
Julie's group cook spaghetti bolognese followed by canned fruit salad for dessert. Breakfast was pancakes with bananas and caramel sauce. Lunch the next day was bread rolls with ham, cheese, tomato and lettuce, or tuna with mayo.
After dinner we prepare our backpacks for our four day W Circuit mountain trek in Torres del Paine NP starting the next day. Only Peter and Julie and one other fellow, Philip, are doing the W trek, so called because the direction of each day's climb into the mountains forms the letter W, and we'll be staying in mountain refugios each night. Others in our group are doing day treks on the many and varied trails, returning to the campsite at the end of each day.
Thursday 21 Feb
Lovely sunny day. After breakfast we all take the truck (affectionately called Marmacita( to a jetty for a boat ride to Lodge Grande Paine which is the starting point for Day 1 of our trek and where we'll return for the night. Today is a four hour trek in glorious sunshine to Lago Grey, a scenic glacier lake. We stop for our packed lunch at a beautiful vantage point above the lake, enjoying the view. Because we will be returning to the Lodge for overnight accommodation, we're able to leave our backpacks in our room and only take our lunch packs. Our boxed lunch consists of a cheese and ham roll, water, muesli bar and packet of fruit and nuts / more than enough!
Back at the lodge by 4pm, we have time to recover sitting on a sunny deck sipping wine with our fellow trekkers. Others in our group leave for the campsite while we stay on at the lodge for dinner (set menu) and an early night.
Fri 22 Feb
Day 2 of the the W Circuit takes us to the French Valley, a trek of around 5-6 hours with magnicent scenery of glaciers. Today the sky is overcast and cool - in fact ideal weather for trekking, and this time we're carrying full back packs weighing around 5-6kg each.. Some trekkers carry up to 15kg packs with camping gear, food and clothing for a week - unbelievable! And there are a lot of young people trekking - students?
Accommodation at Refugio Los Cuernos is in a 2-bed chalet up the hill from the main building, which is very nice. Dinner is a set menu again of 'comfort food' and we have an early night. Unfortunately it starts to rain during the night.
Sat 23 Feb
Day 3 - Wake up this morning and it's still raining , so after breakfast we donned our wet weather and set off, fullladen with our packs. Today's trek takes us across raging streams, over soggy plains and along 'mountain goat' type tracks through beautiful forests, reaching our destination into the 7-bed unisex bunk room (we obviously misinterpreted their email confirmation, written in Spanish, and were expecting our own room - well, luckily no-one snored!) After settling in, we joined others around a roaring pot belly stove to dry things out. First items for us to dry were our passports (kept inside Julie's bag inside her raincoat!) followed by our clothing - so much for our wet weather gear.
Set menu dinner again, with wine, and lights out for everyone around 10.30pm.
Sun 24 Feb
Day 4 - Still drizzling but clear in the distance. Will we / won't we? Yes go on! Our 9am departure to Patagonia's trademark landmark Los Torres (The Towers), taking us through beautiful forest, started in drizzle but soon the sun broke through and the morning became gloriously sunny. We had views of so many waterfalls across the valley which were runoffs of melting snow. We then had a strenuous scrambled climb over rocks and boulders up to 1000m to a lookout. The view of The Towers and nearby glacier lake unfortunately were shrouded in foggy mist with low clouds so we couldn't get a good look - that is always a risk when climbing to such heights. Oh well...
Then it was downhill back to the refugio to have our boxed lunch and collect our packs which were left from this morning, then another 2.5 hours to the bottom of the mountain to Hotel Los Torres, our pick up point to go back to our camping ground. In all another 6-7 hours trekking today. In all we reckon we trekked around 60 km over four days - not bad for we oldies!!
We arrived at the 4-star hotel around 4pm - had a celebratory drink in the bar, checked and sent emails, sat in sunshine on the front lawn and waited for our driver. The one hour drive back to camp was particularly scenic.
Over dinner we all relayed our various adventures from the previous 3-4 days.
Mon 25 Feb
Today was an early start for a 270km drive to El Calafate & border crossing back to Argentina. Along the way, some of us took turns to sit on the rooftop seats of the truck while driving!
El Calafate survives on the tourism industry centered around its proximity to Glacier Perito Moreno. We stayed in a nice hostel and enjoyed our upgraded accommodation to a private room.
Walked around town in the afternoon and had an afternoon snack of chicken crepe and chocolate sauce/ice cream crepe with hard toffee decoration!
This evening we went to an Empanada-making class and each of us made six - three for dinner & three for lunch the next day. After this class a group of us went for coffee. Empanadas are a traditional snack/meal in both Chile and Argentina. They are a pastry encasing a filling of, say, minced meat, cheese or vegs and baked in the oven - very tasty.
Arranged for laundry to be done.
Tue 26 Feb
Today was a full day bus and walking tour of Perito Moreno Glacier - truly an amazing sight, especially when witnessing a large chunk of ice falling from one section! There is an extenive purpose-built multi-levelled boardwalk for viewing the glacier which is fantastic. Weather is sunny. I uploaded a photo of the glacier on Facebook.
Wed 27 Feb
Our scheduled 9am departure for El Chalten was delayed by a smashed driver's window on the truck (vandalism). This needed to be reported to the police, debris cleaned up and the window replaced. We finally left at 2pm with a packed lunch to eat en route. Along the way we stopped at Estancia El Eano, famous as THE hide-out of the original Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (and other outlaws) before they headed to Bolivia and their famous 'shoot out'. There is a lot of history everywhere in these parts.
Also en route we all chose optional activities to do in El Chalten. Julie chose ice climbing, Peter chose a gentle boat trip to the glacier (due to his recovering broken collarbone).
On arrival, instead of putting up our tent we obtained upgraded accommodation at a very nice hostel next to the campground for three nights. We are leading the charge for upgrading from tenting - it's so much comfortabe!
Julie's group cooked all meals today: Breakfast of pancakes; lunch of sandwiches; and dinner was a bbq skewers with cooked potatoes and salad. Weather sunny and warm.
El Chalten is a quirky bohemien township bounded on three sides by mountains (The Andes). It's shops and houses are all brightly coloured and interestingly designed, a real 'hippie' town.
Thu 28 Feb
Today is activity day - Julie's ice climbing and Peter's boat trip. Half hour bus ride, then one hour boat trip on Lake Viedma to Glacier Viedma where the climbers were kitted out with safety harness and crampons. Ice climbing was exhausting work! I struggled up a ten metre wall twice, while some of the others did it 5-6 times. Weather warm and sunny.
Fri 01 March
Weather warm and sunny. Booked local bus for 8am departure to trek Fitz Roy Glacier. After 2.5 hour walk Julie's had enough (!) so Peter continues up to the glacier while Julie sits on a large rock in glorious sunshine for some 'time out' and to type up this diary while listening to music and generally enjoying a break. Peter returns in 3.5 hours pretty tired! We then buskwalk another 1.5 hours back to El Chalten township. In all, Julie walks 4 hours, Peter walks 7.5 hours.
Many in our group are suffering sore knees etc due to all the climbing and trekking which shows the importance of pacing oneself.
After dinner of pasta we walk to the town with others to stop for wine and a coffee & dessert. How nice to go back to our comfy hostel room. (A$50pn) rather than small tent.
Sat 02 March
Skyped Allison & the girls before breakfast at our hostel and then the group was on the road by 7am.
Late afternoon visit to UNESCO site Cave of Hands, however we choose to walk through the surrounding canyon by ourselves rather than take the hour tour.
Bush camp is in a deep canyon, with chillie con carne & rice for dinner
Sun 03 March
More boring Argentinian dry countryside en route to the border crossing back into Chile, at which point the terrain completely changes to cattle fields and lush pastures.
This evening is spent at a very ordinary campsite in Coyhaique in the Queulat NP
Mon 04 March
We begin today with all cooking groups shopping for the meals at a large supermarket in Coyhaique. After the usual frenetic rush to purchase everything within the allotted hour and return it to the truck for refrigeration and storage, we get to wander around the town for a few hours. We join others and order a steak sandwich (4500 CP / A$9) which was delicious and a beer. Weather warm and sunny. 1pm departure for Queulat NP where we stay two nights beside a scenic lake. Again we were able to upgrade to a 2-bedroom house which we shared withg another couple. After dinner we all congregated on the lake's edge for a supper of grilled freshly caught Atlantic salmon.
We are now travelling through the Chilean Fjord region on the Carretera Austral ("Southern Highway") which, according to local books, claims "...the special thing about this road and what makes it special is that a third of it is asphalt." Nonetheless, the scenery is spectacular. As an aside, most of the roads we have been travelling on in these remote areas have been pretty rough 4x4 roads, even though they are mostly considered main roads.
Tue 05 March
Light rain all day while we all trek for three hours up to Golgante Glacier. Unfortunately visibility is poor at the top and we all get very wet, but with a dry room to go back to rather than a small wet tent, it's not so bad. In the evening we light the pot belly stove in our little home and set up strings from wall to wall to hang up everyobne's wet clothes, and everyone sits around drinking and telling ghost stories! This area is notoriously the wettest in Chile.
Wed 06 March
Early morning start today in the rain, for a seven hour drive to Chaiten where we board an overnight ferry for Puerto Montt. Chaiten was partly destroyed in a 2008 volcanic eruption and there is still some evidence of this around the town. In fact the still-active volcanoe is clearly visible from the town, still spewing smoke.
Luckily there were not many passengers on board so were able to lie across 3-4 seats to sleep. This trip took from 7pm to 10am the next morning.
