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| The Patagonian and Chilean flags. |
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| Family of ducks on the lake. |
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| Ciao Torres del Paine! |
One of the major highlights of my trip was now behind me, but it will never be forgotten. The Torres del Paine National Park, which covers 240,000 hectares, is probably the biggest tourism spot for Chile - it brings in about 150,000 people a year for it's wonderful views and (sometimes) challenging hiking. The 'W' trek is the most common, but there are also many people that day hike to see the 3 famous granite spires. It was first visited by foreigners in 1880 by Lady Florence Dixie and her party, and she wrote about it, calling these peaks the 'needles of Cleopatra.' Since it becoming a National Park in 1959, there have been many more visitors, mainly foreign, and sadly it has experienced devastating fires as well. In 1985 150km2 was burned down, again in 2005 by a Czech tourist and in 2011/12 a fire was started by an Israeli hiker. The Czech government offered aid after as well as US $1m for reforestation. Due to this, no fires at all are allowed in the park, only gas cooking in certain areas - I agree with this, but there was one night where are fire would have been very much welcomed!
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| A memorial the the Schooner 'Ancud' which was sent to claim sovereignty over Punta Areanas by Chile in 1843. |
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| Baby seagull stretching his little wings. |
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| You looking at me, punk? |
The group moved on to Punta Arenas for 2 days before we lost Rob, who had to return to his job in The States. As a last thing to do together, we decided to go and see some penguins. The tour started early at 7am, and cost 60,000clp ($120) which I thought was a bit steep at first, but for what you get to see I now know it's worth it - it was also recommended by a few people we'd met before coming here. We got out life-jackets on and got on the boat which took us to two islands off the coast - Isla Marta and Magdalena. The first island was home to a colony of over 250,000 cormorants, which as we went past, nearly completely covered the island. Down on the rocky shore of Isla Marta there were so many 'lobo marinos' (sea lions), from babys to huge males pushing each other for the little available beach space. I've seen these great beasts close up in Valdivia, but it's always something else to see them in their natural habitat. Isla Magdalena was the highlight though, as we were able to get off the boat and walk with the penguins. I forgot about my life-jacket, so I looked especially cool wandering around on dry-land, but then again the captain had left his on. There were both varieties of penguins here, just like in Chiloe, and sometimes you get the odd lost King Penguin, but not today. It was just incredible being able to get so close to them, and to have them acting normally and walking and swimming, and occasionally getting stared down by a penguin. This time of year there are loads of babies, still with their fluffy down feathers, but nearly as big as their parents. There were also gulls and their chicks - these babies were kind of ugly, but cute at the same time. A great experience, one you can't get in many places, as penguins are only in the Southern Hemisphere and I haven't heard of any other place where you can actually walk with these cute little buggers!
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| BFFs taking a stroll on Isla Magdalena. |
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| I miss the Chilean 'completos' now that I can't have them in Argentina! |
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| Wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean... |
We also spent New Years Eve in Punta Arenas. It wasn't exactly Sydney on the big night, millions packing the harbour to watch the 'first' New Year being brought in with a bang, but they had a crowd at the water and there were also fireworks! Rob was spending this event on the plane - hope you had a good one mate! We had a good night, some maybe too good, as my travelling buddies only had 2 hours sleep before our 7am bus on New Year's Day. The bus ride wasn't particularly pleasant for them, but I was doing OK, and even managed to see Commerson Dolphins on the ferry crossing to Tierra del Fuego. The road to Ushuaia was gravel for the most part, and the landscape was flat and dry, no trees and only grass to the horizon. We arrived in Ushuaia in the afternoon, and struggled to find a hostel for the first night - welcome to 'The End Of The World!' We did get a place, but far more expensive that we'd imagined. For a dorm bed (in high season) the price varied from 250 - 330 ARS ($25 - $33), and compared to Bariloche in low-season with prices of 160 ARS ($16) for a great hostel. Can't afford to stay here too long! As it so happens, we weren't able to book a room for the 3 of us (just me and the girls now as Rob had left) for the second or third night, which was the weekend, and we panicked a little. A brilliant idea hit us - we had a tent and cooking gear, so why don't we camp for the nights that we can't get a room? Fantastic idea! The next day we went out food shopping and got prepared for 3 days and 2 nights in the Tierra del Fuego National Park.
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| Ushuaia - The End Of The World! |
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| Commerson Dolphins from the ferry. |
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| World's End! |
The trip in wasn't cheap - a 300 pesos ($30) return ticket on a minibus run by, in my opinion, gypsies. It was the best option, other than hitch-hiking in, but that is never a sure thing, and then even if you get in, will you get out? The entrance fee was a steep 170 ARS ($17), but there were free camp sites and it was still far cheaper than staying in town! Our camping spot was Laguna Verde, right besides a river and surround by mountains. We got off the bus, and it began to pour down, not what you want when setting up a tent. Here down south, the rain stops and starts when it likes and usually 5 minutes after the other, so in no time the sun was out and we went off for our first walk. The weather got better and better, and we had a great view of the Bahia Lapitai and the Beagle Channel. The channel was named after the ship HMS Beagle when it first sailed through the southern part of South America during it's survey between 1826 - 1830. Darwin was also on this ship when it returned in 1833 and eventually went all the way up the West Coast to the Galapagos. Easy walking and with some great photos, we got back to camp and started dinner and a camp fire. Having a fire while watching the sunset and having dinner is a wonderful feeling, and there's something about a camp fire conversations too!
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| Wild horses near our campsite. |
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| End of the World in Tierra del Fuego National Park. |
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| Activities in Patagonia. |
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| Evita monument in Ushuaia. |
The second day was a little tougher. We had to spend half of the morning in the tent as it wouldn't stop raining. Well, just long enough for us to get out, get shoes and jackets on, then it would start again. Around 11am we started off in the rain, determined to get some walking in, and it just cleared up - not sure because of our positive attitude or just coincidence, but we took the opportunity and headed for the biggest mountain we could find! My legs didn't quite feel up to it, but when you're hiking with a Swiss and a German, you don't really get the choice - these two nationalities are like mountain goats, just born to climb the biggest and toughest mountains! So spurred on by my hiking buddies, we started up the Cerro Guanaco, a 4 hour one-way trip according to the sign, which always stated that you need to be in 'good physcial condition," and after Torres I thought I was. Made it halfway, and I felt that was ok for me, no need for more, but 'it's not the top, and we have to go to the top now after making it halfway!' Damn Europeans and their mountains. We crossed streams and mud and more mud and what can only be called a bog - I felt I was in the Lord of The Rings. Eventually the land dried out and the real climb began... pretty much straight up. Head down, lean into the walk, and don't stop. Works (nearly) every time! Reaching the top was incredible and very much worth the sore feet and sweaty everything - really on top of the world at the end of the world. Only 900 odd meters high, but we felt like the top of the world - the mountains here are the end of the Andean range, and although not high, are permanently covered in snowfields. We were up with the condors though, and saw one extremely close and even heard the wind in it's wings! We sat down to cook and eat a warm soup before heading down, but nobody had packed it.
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| The view from Cerro Guanaco. |
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| The stamp at the End Of The World. |
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| The End Of The World. |
Apart from the un-packed soup, it was a great time. We survived until dinner time, and just tucked in even more and thoroughly enjoyed our meal of some sort of same-tasting past/rice camp meal. Day 3 hiking was easier, and much warmer. We were having breakfast when a herd of wild horses come down form the hills to graze, then got chased away across the river by a lone fox. We set off and hiked along the water, stopping at the odd beach for a rest, soak up the sun, and to eat the little remaining food we had. I still can't believe how beautiful this part of the world is - photos truly do not do it justice, even though I tried. Just before getting on your minibus back to town, we found, completely by accident, the World's most southern Post Office. A local guy decided to build a post office in the National Park so people could send post cards from 'The End of The World,' but as you're not allowed to build privately on National Parks, he built a small pier and erected his own building. He is now famous, sells very expensive post cards to happily paying tourists and gets his picture taken a million times a day - he even stamps your passport for $2!
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| Up with the condors. |
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| Street art in Ushuaia. |
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| "Fat Partners" dancing Tango. |
I didn't buy or send any postcards from here, but I got the stamp, to add to my collection of strange passport stamps - Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, the Luxembourg stamp, and soon the Machu Picchu stamp. After this spot of camping, it was nice to get into town and have hot showers and proper seats (rocks and logs get quite annoying after a while) and a nice soft bed. The next day we decided to do a small 3 hours trek from townto see a glacier, the Martial Glacier. We ended up hitching on the back of a Jeep to the ski lodge, saving us a 2 hours uphill walk, and then walked the 1 hour to the top. I didn't see a glacier, but the view was still very pleasant as you got to see the town of Ushuaia and the outlying bay. I made it back to the lodge just in time before the rain hit, and only did this by running/skiing/sliding down the snowy slope - much quicker than walking, more fun and more time for a beer at the end!
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| A snow selfie at the glacier. |
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| "English Pirate ships are prohibited from mooring" |
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| Street art in Ushuaia. |
It was time to leave Ushuaia. I wasn't sure what to expect before I got here, other than it being really expensive, which it was. It surprised me. The National Park was wonderful, the people in town very friendly, and the views of the mountains and bay pretty spectacular! The town started of as a base for British missionaries in the late 19th Century, and the first Argentinians to arrive here were convicts, sent by the government who were inspired by the penal colony in Tasmania. It has grown into a city of 56,000 people, and it's industries are fishing, oil and of course tourism. It's one of those places where you kind of have to visit - it's a long way down, a very long way, so when are you going to come back? It is also the place which is the closest to Antartica (1000km, compared to 2600 from Honart and 2200km from Stewart in NZ) and a lot of people I met here were either going to coming back from a $5000 trip to that big block of ice down there - I was jealous, but not $5000 jealous, which is basically by budget for my whole trip! It was good, but time to move on, and I was even more excited about our next destination - El Calafate, home of the huge glacier Perito Moreno, and EL Chalten and the Fitzroy mountains. More hiking!!
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Sailing in the Beagle Channel.
Remember to also follow me on Instagram at:
MyUncleTravellingMatt. January 2016.
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