20/12/2005 by drops.

Hi Everybody,

We hope you have a great time in this season of slobbing and pigging out. Not too many mince pies where we are, but we’ll be thinking of you anyway.

Neil & Marilena

11:18:16 - Tuesday, 20.12.05

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06/12/2005 by drops.

Well, guys, it came as a shock for us, but we are now officially in the second half of our trip! We left Santiago on Nov 13 and said goodbye to the Americas. We were really sorry to leave that incredibly varied continent, and we’re already thinking of going back… As usual, we have lots of photos for you. Check out the now completed galleries for Argentina and Chile.

We arrived in El Calafate after a 23-hour bus journey around the south of Argentina. Luckily, South American buses are the most comfortable on the planet. On overnight buses, especially, it’s like travelling Business Class on a long-haul flight, with wide seats that recline completely, footrests that come right up to make an acceptable bed, and waitress service. So, incredibly for us, we arrived in good shape.

El Calafate was a glacier wonderland. We were scratching our heads when we arrived, trying to remember descriptions of glaciers from school geography lessons, but nothing can really prepare you for these amazing rivers of ice. What astounded us the most was the unearthly beautiful blue of the compressed ice. The glaciers and the icebergs that came off them were some of the most incredible sights we’ve ever seen. Also, it was mesmerizing to watch and hear them in action when huge chunks of ice thunderously calved off into the glacial lakes. We started off with the prima donna of them all, Glacier Perito Moreno, and then took a boat trip on Lago Argentino to visit three more - Glaciers Spegazzini, Upsala, and Agassiz - amid mirror-like, iceberg filled waters.

After that came the serious hiking. In Argentina we did walks from El Chalten, in the northern end of the Los Glaciares park, where we enjoyed tremendous views of the spikey Torre massif, and Mount Fitz Roy, looking ominously like Dracula’s castle. We saw the Torre massif in beautiful weather, but when we got close to Mount Fitz Roy it started to snow, and after an hour of toiling up an incredibly steep mountainside, our view of lakes, glaciers and peaks was snowed out. In Chile we did the ‘W’ circuit in the Torres del Paine park, where the crown for us was the bi-colour Cuernos (Horns) from across emerald green lakes. The sights were incredible, but some stretches took us some ten hours of hiking over rough and often steep ground. Our knees felt the after-effects for days afterwards.

Continuing our love affair with glaciers we also leaped at the chance to go ice trekking and climbing on Glacier Grey in the Torres del Paine park. It was amazing to see the glacier up close and see it as an actual river with its flows, waves and falls. We jumped over deep crevasses, climbed ice walls, and finally took an inflatable boat ride through the icebergs back to our lodge.

After our stay in Patagonia, we really didn’t have enough time in the Chilian Lake District to do it justice, which was a shame, because it was stunningly beautiful with snow covering the peaks of the volcanoes and the lush, spring-time growth. We stopped briefly at Puerto Varas to take a boat ride on the bottle-green Lago Todos los Santos, next to Volcan Osorno, before heading up to Pucon. There we had just enough energy left to hike up Volcan Villarica (a six-hour slog), stare into the lava-spewing crater and the volcano-studded panorama, and slide down again on our backsides in just one-and-a-half hours. The sliding down was definitely the best bit: imagine a helter-skelter the size of a reasonable mountain, except that the tracks are just snow ruts and you have only an ice-axe for a brake, so spinning and wipe-outs were all part of the fun. After that, we only had enough time for a brief peek at the beautiful Parque Nacional Huerquehue. This is a place we definitely want to come back to.

We’re actually finishing this post in Sydney, towards the end of our Antipodean stint, but we’ve run out of space and time for that. More next time (which hopefully won’t take as long…).

11:11:32 - Tuesday, 06.12.05

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