9 hours in Santiago - 20th Nov

Our 9 hours started at 10.30am – by this point we'd checked out of the hotel, caught the shuttle bus to the airport and left our bags in storage. At 10.30am we then caught the bus and headed into town – a 30 min journey.

The first place in our whistle stop tour was the Plaza de Armas in the centre of Santiago and Chile both literally – all distances to the rest of Chile are measured from this square. We were in town on Saturday but the place was still busy with people. With one circuit of the square we saw a protest about a hydroelectric plant, performing police dogs accompanied by a brass band, groups of men playing chess, a mobile information centre (on wheels) and a token street performing miner.

This could have been enough on the whistle stop tour but we decided to continue on. Next stop was the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. The museum had been recommended to us and it didn't disappoint – it included over 3,000 pieces spanning 10,000 years and demonstrating Latin America's many different cultures.

Next stop was lunch. The Guide book recommended 'Cafe Colonia' where “matronly waitresses in German costume served the best cakes, tarts and strudels in Santiago”. Well the place actually turned out to be rather naff so we ate and moved on.

The next stop was Cerro Santa Lucia – this used to be a barren, rocky outcrop until 1872 when the then mayor enlisted the labour of 150 prisoners to transform it into a grand public park. It was really beautiful and Gaudi-like with impressive views from the top.

Next we went to an even bigger rock – Cerro San Cristobal. You couldn't climb this one so instead we caught the funicular to the top. The hill is actually a spur of the Andes rising to a peak of 860m – a point that's marked by a 22m high statue of the Virgen de la Immaculda. We were really lucky with the weather and could see for miles.

It happened that our 9 hours in Santiago coincided with a 10k race which started at 5pm. We were at the top of the hill at this point and it was good fun seeing the traffic stopped, hearing the start of the race and then seeing a sea of neon yellow as the runners started.

We got down the hill in time to see the runners finish, as well as a camera man getting a prime shot and a stray dog joining in.

With enough excitement for one day we grabbed an empanada from a street foodstall (which turned out the be delicious so we bought another) and caught the tube back to the bus stop. We then caught the bus back to the airport allowing plenty of time which was good as getting through customs took a good hour. We got to the departure lounge in good time ready for our 23.10 flight to Auckland. Then they announced the flight was going to be delayed for an hour but no explanation why. And then 15mins later they made a further announcement in Spanish to which a handful of people suddenly got up and dashed off. It turned out this was an announcement to say that there was a free drink and meal available from the nearby food counter. Gradually the 90% of English speaking people on the flight started to work out what was going on and further realised you needed to get your boarding pass stamped from one place before you could order the food. We thought it was pretty mean that this announcement had been made in Spanish only.

We finally boarded our plane 2 hours later and at 1am we left South Amercian soils for stage 2 of our travels 13 hours away !!

A morning in Punta Arenas before flying to Santiago - 19th Nov

We decided we would not get up ridiculously early despite only having till noon to see the city. This proved a wise move as despite being an ok place there was not too much to see, that is unless you wanted to travel 70km to see a Penguin sanctuary. It was a bright sunny day but the harsh wind reminded us how far south we actually were. Indeed yesterday night, on the way to the restaurant, we not only experienced horizontal rain but rain actually going upwards towards the sky.

On advice of the guide book we took a look around the main central area and admired some of the old historic buildings, we saw the statue of Ferdinand Magellan in the very pleasant

Plaza Munoz Gamero and visited the relatively large Cementerio Municipal, which as per the book, reflected the turbulent history of Patagonia with English, Spanish, Croation, as well as the local wealthy family's graves set out next to each other in immaculately kept and tranquil grounds.

We then returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and headed for the airport. We checked in in good time and had a bite to eat for lunch prior to boarding our plane for Santiago.

The plane times and schedule had changed several times since booking it a couple of months ago and it had morphed into a 5 hour flight with two stops. As we had checked in relatively early it was a nice surprise to be seated in the emergency isle with the perk of extra leg room.

We settled in for our long journey.... taking an afternoon nap almost immediately after take off. I awoke just as we were descending to make our first stop some 20mins after take off.

Hang on a second, we were landing at Puerto Natales, a place we were at some 24 hours before and had left to travel by minibus for a 3 hour journey to catch this plane.... we could not work out how we were not able to find or book on a flight from Puerto Natales to Santiago when planning this trip and probably never will.

We arrived in Santiago just in time for sunset and after a little bit of Columbo type deduction managed to get the free transfer bus to the hotel.

Torres del Paine to Punta Arenas - 18th Nov

It is funny how wide awake and attentive you become when you perceive the driver of your minibus is falling asleep.

We had said goodbye to the team last night as people were heading their separate ways and would be leaving at different times... we were lucky in that we were not due to leave the Eco-camp until 9.30am whereas the people bound for El Calafate were leaving at 6.30am.

We awoke leisurely, had breakfast and boarded the minibus over the old bridge (which for the record came from Westminster, UK), out of the park and on towards Punta Arenas which was the nearest place we could catch a flight to Santiago from.

The journey was long and would take a total of 6 hours to complete with a break in Puerto Natales for lunch. The first 90mins of the journey was on gravel roads which ensured a sleep free journey for all.

After stopping in Pto.Natales for lunch and dropping a few people off we commenced our journey to Punta Arenas a further 3 hour ride. After lunch I started to drop off and had a good hours sleep before opening my eyes to what I think was the driver doing his best impression of that old counterweight nodding bird ornament – head down as if trying to hit the steering wheel at speed and then back bolt upright all within a split second. Now I am not saying the driver was actually falling asleep, it is very likely that I wrongly interpreted his actions and he was reaching for something, but I knew one thing for sure – I was no longer tired.

Anyway, we got to Punta Arenas (safely I hasten to add) at around 5pm and checked in to our hotel – the top rated hotel in the area on tripadvisor and a kind of trendy place specialising in architecture design and yoga. Our room felt very Feng Shui inspired and the bathroom was the first wetroom of the trip. I could quite easily of sat on the toilet, tended to my facial hair and showered all at the same time.

Sue and Derek, from Eco-camp, had booked the same hotel at the last minute and so all four of us went out for a pretty average meal in town but good company made up for the lacklustre food.

I had inadvertantly ordered steak and crisps!

We hit the sack early and had no problem sleeping despite the 6 hours of sitting on a bus.

Footnote: Saying goodbye to the guides reminded me of our trip to Peru (2003) where on the last night's meal the group gave the guide a tip... after all he had been professional throughout the tour! We had ordered one Peruvian speciality for the table to try, that being guinea pig. It was presented without fur but with head, feet etc. A few of us had tried it but had left the brain for the guide as this was a true Peruvian delicacy, allegedly an acquired taste and a honour for the person who received it. The guide got it bagged as he was going to keep it for later. However this did not go exactly to plan as he then proceeded to drink away the whole of his tip, disappear and apparently pass out back in his room. The next day he had to be awoken for the bus to the airport by some people from the group, he was not sure where the bagged brain was, but we assume he left it in a bar somewhere.

Torres del Paine - Final day of the 'W' - 17th Nov

Today was our last day of walking and the last big and most famous hike up to the Torres Towers. This was going to take 5 hours of up up up to the top and then 4 hours of down down down.

We had an early breakfast and left at 8.30am to start the trek. The up climb was pretty tough and you just needed to plod.

Onwards and upwards

Some of the gang

Half-way there

Nearer the top got pretty rocky and some bits quite challenging to get up

However we made it to the top. Unfortunately The Towers were under cloud but we were told you had to be exceptionally lucky to see them clearly (they were 2,900m/9,400 ft). However we really couldn't complain as the weather had been really kind to us. Some days it's so windy the guide won't let people walk to the top so we were lucky to even get there.

At the top

 

We had a quick lunch at the top and then headed back down – this was much easier and the weather got better and better as we walked down. We finally made it back to camp by 5.30pm washed up and all met up for a celebratory pisco sour and then dinner.

Pisco Sours inside the communal tent

Ecocamp was brilliant and we couldn't recommend it more highly the food, facilities and accommodation were excellent and our guides Michael and Pablo were fabulous.

Torres del Paine 'W' Walk Day 2 - 16th Nov

It is a long time since I slept on the top bunk but despite Mike, the Aussie's, best snoring efforts I slept like a log. Emma was in a different dorm and despite some John Michel Jarre themed 'show' involving some girls with head torches she also slept well.

A good example of German efficiency and organisation

Today's walk commenced from the refuge and involved a relatively short 7 mile trek up to Lago Grey (Lake Grey) and along the Eastern side of it to the leading edge of Grey's Glacier.

We were up relatively early and headed out from the refuge the weather looking a little ominous but still none of the notorious windy elements that this area of Patagonia is infamous for.

From my time in doing the D of E I learnt a couple walking rules of the road/ etiquette and whilst not wishing to enforce this on all I always aim to stick to these as best as possible. They are: fashion on the hill costs bomb-loads; the interests of the team as a whole count; do not race ahead, take a rest and then when the team catch up take off again; walk to the pace of the team (ie the slowest). Not everyone appears to have had the benefit of this advice and again there was a split early on with a sub-group wanting to stride ahead at a lightening pace.



The team - including the people in the background



The weather changed for the better for most of the walk and the beauty of this days route (incidentally Pablo's favourite walk) shone through. The valley section, the forest section, the lake section and finally the Glacier section.

About 10 minutes from the end we even had the good fortune to hear and see a native woodpecker and it's mate. I will spare you the video footage as life is to short to upload it to this blog!

We made it to the glacier in good time to be picked up by the only ferry of the day. The ferry ride afforded great views of the glacier, numerous icebergs as well as yet more views of mountain tops and spectacular scenery.

Is it a bird?

We disembarked the ferry and then jumped in the van that would take us the hour back to the relative luxury of hot showers and Pisco Sour at the Eco-camp.

Are you looking at me?

Torres del Paine 'W' Walk Day 1 - 15th Nov

All things considered we awoke after a very comfortable and warm nights sleep, especially given the 'Standard' domes we were in had no heating, electricity or anything really barring a bed and a lot of blankets.

After breakfast we made our own packed lunch and headed to the start of the first days hike. To get to the start would involve a 45min drive within the park and then a 45min boat ride across Lake Pehoe.

The drive had one moment of excitement when we, and what seemed like the rest of the park, ran into a 'puma-jam' -a road block caused by a Puma citing and everyone jumping out of their car to look and get the obligatory photo. Sadly we got there to late and saw nothing however apparently a lot of people got a brilliant view of a female Puma and two young.

The puma was up there somewhere honest...

The walk for day 1 was along the French Valley towards the 'Glaciar Frances' and on the boat to the start we got our first view of the Paine Horns that provide the backdrop for the whole of the day.

The boat ride was uneventful despite what appeared to be almost 2 times the number of people the boat should carry, and we landed just in time for lunch... no real walking done yet.

We ate lunch and then started our walk. Michael and Pablo very soon came into their own providing a great commentary on everything from plants, trees, wildlife to the geology and geography of the park. It was highly enjoyable, informative and physically challenging at the same time.

We made it around 6.5miles into the French Valley with a great view of the French Glacier (not in the same stratosphere in terms of scale as Perito Moreno) before turning back for the nights accommodation of the Paine Grande Refugios – a big hostel with school like cafeteria and bar.

French Glacier

Everyone in the group seemed to have a great day despite the implicit split of people who wanted to just stride on and get as far as possible and others who were interested in soaking up as much information as possible from the guides and taking in the picture postcard views along the way.

We got back to the Refuge at around 7.45pm, with about 13miles under our belt, and after some fun and games registering (involving passports, or the lack of them) we showered, went for dinner and a quick drink. The menu was not overly appealing on paper but it tasted great post a long walk and there was not anything but clean plates. At around 10.30pm we turned to our dorms for bed.

Footnote: No photos really do this place justice, everywhere you looked there was amazing views, stunning geological features, plants and birds.

El Calafate to Puerto Natales 14th November

We woke at 6am this morning thinking our transfer to the bus station was at 7am. It turned out it was actually 7.50am so we missed out on 50 mins in bed.

We got to the bus station and boarded the 8.30 bus for Puerto Natales – a 6 hour journey (nothing compared to the 18hrs we'd done before).

About 4 hours into the journey we hit the border with Chile. We had to all get off the bus and queue at the Argentinian side for our passports to be checked and then 10mins down the road we all had to pile off again, take all our suitcases with us and queue for over an hour for 1 man to check everyone's passports and then get all our bags x-rayed. We then all piled onto the bus and continued to Puerto Natales in Chile.

We were met off the bus by Pablo our assistant guide for Ecocamp, a trekking group we were staying with for the next 3 nights. Pablo took us to a restaurant to meet the rest of the group. There were 2 other Brits, 2 Belgiums (who'd actually been on the same bus as us), 2 Germans, 2 Americans and a token Ozzie. Our guide was called Michael and was from France, but was now living in Chile. We were given a very nice 3 course lunch and we then boarded the bus for Torres del Paine National Park....a 3 and a half hour journey.

On route we visited the Cueve del Milodon – a cave which was 30m high, 80m wide and 200m deep. In 1895 a large piece of skin was found in this cave which was eventually traced to a giant sloth called a milodon. The skin was deemed so fresh it was thought this creature was still alive but an expedition sponsored by England's Daily Express found no creatures alive and instead it was thought the skin must have been preserved in the cold Patagonian climate. A piece of the skin can be found at the Natural History Museum in London.

The Milodon is on the right !!

We then drove on to the Park. We stopped just before the park to admire the amazing view – the Monte Almirante Nieto, the Paine Towers and the Paine Horns. We were really lucky to see the full view as normally part is in cloud. Note the shape of the clouds – these are created by the exceptionally strong winds over the park !!

We then hopped back in the bus, collected our passes and drove into the park. See the bridge we had to cross – everyone had to get out and walk across it – it was just wide enough for the bus to get through.

Then we arrived at Ecocamp – it was amazing !!! We all had individual pods for rooms, there was the main bathroom pod and the communal pod with a big dining room and 2 lounges – really impressive!! We all had a pisco sour cocktail, 3 course dinner with vino and then headed to bed (with our hats and socks on) to get some sleep before our first walk in the park.

Perito Moreno Glacier - 13th Nov

Pick up was at 9am and so we got up around 7.30am and headed for breakfast. We had been warned via reading tripadvisor that there was not enough room for all of the hotel guests to have breakfast at the same time and so we attempted to get in before the rush... no rush materialised whilst we were there, maybe everyone had decided to eat out instead of go for the super sweet semi stale croissants or the no orange orange juice?

The trip was pretty costly as on top of the 500 Arg Pesos we had to pay entry to the national park and bring our own lunch, however it was very well organised and we loved every minute of it.

The Glacier is around 30km in length, 5km wide and is one of 48 fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes mountain system shared with Chile.

A group on the ice

We have seen and walked on Glaciers before in Canada and NZ but this was probably the best experience. You got so close to the face of it and the time spent on the ice was a good couple of hours and felt that you experienced much more than just the edge of the glacier – Garmin however puts it in perspective - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56581280 – within the map click on the Aerial view. There was a bonus also as the walk culminating in a drink chilled with fresh glacier ice.

Depending who you believe this is one of the few glaciers in the world that is currently not receding - it is in equilibrium at the present time. A Chilean later told us that whilst this is strictly true the average depth of the glacier continues to reduce over time – a fact that the Argentinians neglect to publicise apparently.

Sporadically during the time at the glacier you are subjected to loud thunderous noise that often signals the departure of a vast block of ice off the glacier into the lake in front, if you are very lucky you can see this occur or at least see these frozen depth charges come surging back to the surface as icebergs. These icebergs then slowly float down the lake often melting into recognisable shapes.

Tank or duck?

We got home about 7pm, showered and headed out for dinner – our last steak in Argentina. We went to a restaurant a couple of blocks off the high street that appeared to be frequented by a good number of locals and enjoyed probably the best steak of the journey to date.

We went to bed slightly apprehensive as tomorrow we started a trip to Chile and the Torres Del Paine National Park but unlike as promised we had no details dropped into the hotel about timings of pick up etc. We had however put some calls in and deduced via a very bad phone line and a language differential challenge that our pick up would be at 7am...

Buenos Aires to El Calafate 12th Nov

We got up early and took a taxi to the airport. We were heading south to Patagonia and the town of El Calafate (still within Argentina).

The main reason people go to this town is to see the Peirto Moreno Galcier and so we expected a similar town to Iguazu.

Landing in El Calafate we got on the shuttle bus and headed into town. The first couple of stops gave the impression of good basic accommodation, scattered here and there, with great views of Lago Argentino but on un-tarmaced makeshift roads. However as we approached our Hosteria it became apparent that El Calafate was an established and arguably a more prosperous place than Iguazu.

The town has exploded in size over the last 10 or so years, from ~6,000 to 22,000 locals however unlike Iguazu it looks like they have taken care to try to create a consistent theme, albeit one of 'traditional Swiss ski chalet'. The shops on the main street are mainly either Resto-bars, outdoor clothes shops or gift shops and like Iguazu has a whopping great big out of place casino taking a prominent position on the main street.

We spent the afternoon getting lunch, booking ourselves on to a trip to the Glacier, including a walk on the ice itself and buying food to make lunch for said trip.

Whilst the town was better presented than Iguazu our “Hotel” left a lot to be desired and not a patch on the Iguazu accommodation (but it was cheap!).

Our room, room number 1, was right by the entrance to the hotel and below the squeaky wooden thoroughfare, the shower was missing the knob to redirect the water from the tap to the shower head, the room temperature was like I imagine it would be if sunbathing on Mercury, there was not a fresh thing in site for breakfast and it had a window that would not shut but happily fly open at the slightest movement past it.

We got some snacks for dinner and had a drink in a nice bar, that would have been equally at home on the main drag in Verbier.

Buenos Aires Day 3 - 11th Nov

Today we had a relatively relaxed start, leaving the hotel late morning and jumping back on the tourist bus aiming to do the whole circuit in one sitting and see the bits we had missed. Having both woke up a little under the weather this was just what the doctor ordered – I think we are starting to unwind from work and hence prone to catching colds etc.... well I think I am starting to unwind, Emma should have done so before now!

The Commentary was very thought provoking...

Having spent the best part of 3 hours on the bus we got off at Recoleta and took a look around the 'Cementerio de Recoleta' that is home to the graves of some of the most famous dignitaries of the city, Evita being one of them. My personal favourite was that of a boxer who unlike most of the other 'graves' in the cemetery had gone for a statue of himself in boxing gown and boots. I say 'grave' however unlike what one would expect in a cemetery (grave stones maybe) this was more like a town in itself – a series of 2 or 3 storey small buildings laid out in street formation with the best positions given to the most wealthy - all with coffins on show if you peered inside.

From here we took the long walk back to the hotel via what has to be the most ugly library in the Southern hemisphere and easily the most distasteful building in an otherwise good looking city... I will spare you a picture as I was forbidden from taking one by the security guard!

In the evening we spoke to some of the family over Skye, repacked our bags for the trip to the colder south and went out for a late dinner (not steak)!

On the whole I like Buenos Aires, it is no doubt a good looking, friendly city however both of us came away thinking we could 'take it or leave it' and felt that 3 days was probably sufficient. They are highly geared to tourism and maybe if we came back again I would do some of the more unusual activities like the Urban Running Tour or the day trip to Uruguay.

I can, however, see it being a great city to live in given all the green space, great restaurants, relaxed atmosphere and pleasant weather.

Tomorrow we have an early flight to El Calafate where we will go to the Perito Moreno Glacier before heading into Chile.