Patagonia is vast

Yesterday we finished our five day trek across some of the most surreal landscapes at the Torres del Paine, Chile. Tomorrow we're looking at a 27-hour bus ride from El Calafate to Bariloche - there's pretty much nothing in between and it's not even halfway up Argentina.

The trekking was pretty tiring, covering more than 40km going up and down rocky paths around the Torres del Paine. We camped, we cooked over a little stove, ate watery rice, spaghetti (again watery) and watery hot chocolate. We also walked...and walked.

Overall it was definitely worth it. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and the weather was pretty good. Throughout our five-day trek we had one morning (at the end) when it rained, and the rest of the time it was pretty good - cloudless skies.

We climbed up to the Torres del Paine on the first day - daggerlike mountains in the centre - scrambling up bolders to get there. Day 2 - was taking in the lakes and the endless wilderness beyond; day 3 - the forests, waterfalls, small glaciers, avalanches; day 4 - the final overview and the long walk round the other base camp; day 5 - midnight patagonian mice eating our food, climbing all over our tent and then taking the boat and then bus home.

The bus to and from Torres del Paine - the high / lowlights:

1. People paid a lot of money to get on a bus from El Calafate, Argentina to go five hours to Chile, to then sit on a different bus and be shuttled around the Torres del Paine for five hours, before being changed to another bus and driving home for another five hours. 15 hours on a bus...out of choice!
2. Chilean passport control is insanely over the top - we were in the middle of nowhere in a small Patagonian border town / village and we had our bags x-rayed. We were not allowed to take any fruit or fresh food across from Argentina and our names had to be presented in advance to the customs officials by the bus company. Going back to Argentina? A cursory look at the passport and a stamp.
3. Tour guide - "To the left is the patagonian ostrich - the adult can run up to 50 kilometres per hour, the baby can run up to 500." A genuine highlight.
4. The bureau de change at the border control in Chile had the worst exchange rate ever - Johnny Foreigner walks out £30 - 40 lighter having attempted to change £150 worth of notes into Chilean pesos. Chile is even more expensive than Brazil (it's up there with Switzerland).
5. Personal knowledge of Israeli history and home affairs is fast outgrowing that of South America. There are so many Israelis here.