Heading down through Patagonia

We left Chile as we started; getting ripped off with transport. The guy who was meant to drive us over the border didn´t turn up on time and we were shuffled into a different bus only to meet the first guy (who we´d already paid) at the border control but he wouldn´t give us our money back. bah. Over the border we were left in a tiny town called Los Antiguos waiting for a bus to civilisation. We went to find somewhere to get lunch and settled for the only place open a "Fast Food Restaurant". We ordered a drink and some empanadas and sat supping our fruit juice, twenty minutes later the supposed "fast food" hadn´t appeared but the staff seemed to be running around making things so we thought maybe they were making the empanadas from scratch. Another 20 minutes later we weren´t so sure, we knew Argentina was more relaxed than other countries but this was ridiculous. Eventually someone came over to us and asked if we wanted any food, incredulously we reordered our empanadas (which arrived in 5 minutes) and headed out the door with them wrapped in napkins to eat on the bus which was about to leave.

Not the best start.

After the bus ride we had to spend a night in Perito Moreno, a back water town similar to all the ones we seemed to be staying in in Chile, eventually finding a place to stay after the IMMENSELY helpful woman at the tourist office managed to circle every hotel/hostel symbol on our map when we asked for a cheap place to stay. The place we found actually had a heater in the room which we cranked up to full blast and revelled in the feeling returning to our extremities. Mark headed out about the town to find out information about the next bus out of there (again the helpful woman in the BUS STATION tourist office couldn´t help us, but at least she was good at knitting..) Finding the town mostly shut down after 4pm, we retired for a night of being warm in our snug little cabin room and ate yoghurts and oranges for tea (we were full of empanadas!)

We eventually got a bus out of the town and headed off down Route 40 to El Chalten on the bumpiest unsealed road ever constructed (or not constructed as was the problem) for a lovely 12 hour ride through the night. We arrived at 5am the next morning after no sleep and a few bruises only to find that none of the hostels would let us check in until 12pm - only another 7 hours away. Groaning and grumpy we settled down in the common area with cups of tea and watched the world go by. Eventually 12pm came around and we shuffled off to bed for a couple of hours sleep while the hostels walls groaned and creaked around us with the strong winds that had picked up over the morning.

The weather got worse over the day until rain was flying horizontally and the mountians in the distance had all but disappeared. An early night and a long lie in and we were feeling refreshed and raring to go so found out about hikes that could be done around the area. We opted for a 6 hour hike that was supposed to be "easy and mostly flat" and didn´t require hiking boots, which neither of us had. We packed a lunch, put on hundreds of layers of clothing (the weather can change fast out here, they say) and headed off.

The wind and rain had disappeared and left the skies blue with a few fluffy white clouds floating past the snow capped mountains, a beautiful day. We walked out of town to the start of the trail and headed up a steep hill, reaching the top a little out of breath we saw that this wasn´t going to be a "mostly flat" walk at all. We were now standing in a small valley surrounded by more steep paths leading off up the hills all around us. A quick breather and a couple of complaints from Nikki (I don´t like walking up hills!) and we were off again. The start was pretty hilly and took us up a valley with a hidden stream running off down the side of us and up over bolders and rocks.

Reaching the top and more in the swing of things we were chatting aimlessly when we both stopped short and silent looking at the view before us. We stood above a large flat plain that went on for miles before rising up a small hill behind which stood ginormous craggy snow topped mountains including the famed Fitz Roy peaks that consumed the skies and disappeared off into the clouds. After taking millions of photos we set off again, this time mostly heading down hill into the valley which must have been a river bed at one point as it was filled with thousands of rocks and bolders but now seemed to have been taken over by mostly bare, scraggly bushes.


The path led us off through an old forrest filled with dark imposing trees, many of which were also bare but some that stood out like flames with bright red, yellow and orange autumn leaves.


Reaching a sign saying we were an hour away from the lake we were heading for, we stopped for a quick lunch of bread, cheese and salami and set off again. By this point we started passing people that had already been to the lake and were on their way back to the town, we passed one couple who looked exhausted with full backpacks and camping gear that had hiked from El Calafate who asked us how far it was to El Chaiten and looked like they might cry when we said another two hours. Eventually reaching the (slightly disappointing) lake we took a few quick photos of the glacier and small iceberg that was floating by and headed back out of the cold wind from the mountians that was whipping us about.


As the sun had disappeared behind the mountains around the valley it was getting a bit cold so we walked faster and talked more to keep the cold thoughts away. The walk back was mostly uneventful as we were the last people on the trail apart from an odd fellow who stood contemplating the world in the middle of no where, 3 hours away from civilisation while it was getting cold fast and the sun was going down. We decided to take a different path back to town hoping it would be a bit flatter only to find that it was mostly flooded and went off down a steep cliff face with only a chain to cling on to and some dubious steps to climb down. Eventually seeing the town emerge below us we were happy and healthy (well feeling pretty fit at least, or knackered...) we went to the supermarket to get some chocolate milk and soup to warm us up and headed back to the hostel for a good nights sleep before catching the 8.30am sunrise bus to El Calafate.