27 hours...

Some more pictures

Budget update

We're exactly a quarter of the way through the trip and we've managed to spend half our budget.

Shit.

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.

Radio silence

It's going to be an early start tomorrow (5.30am!) and another fairly long bus trip down south to the Chilean border and across into the Torres del Paine (The Towers of Pain) national park.

The area is meant to be stunning and up there with the Inca trail in Peru. So we have decided to brave it and take five days and four nights to hike the 'W' trail around the area and do some camping.

Not sure whether we are going to have a good time or enter into a 'World of Paine' (sorry). The weather is meant to change pretty quickly - apparently you can get all the four seasons in one day.

So we'll be off the blog for a bit...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_del_Paine_National_Park

Perito Moreno glacier

The Perito Moreno glacier is up there with Iguazu Falls.

It is absolutely massive, and like, Iguazu Falls you see a section from one bit and then not realise that you are missing a whole section until you take in the full overview. Similarly, it was touristy, but done well - the tourist boats don't get in the way of a good photo and nor do the tourists.

We were told that the glacier is 60 metres high and more than 30 km in length. It's pretty massive! I'm not sure the photos do it justice.

We did a tour to get here which actually worked out well. We were bused out earlier this morning, crossing the vast expanses to get to the glacier.

The boat out to the glacier meant that you could see it looming over you (but difficult to get perspective, what with the large lakes and surrounding mountains). We then headed up to the panoramic viewpoint where you could really see the full scale of the glacier.

We're currently staying in a place called El Calafate, which is in the middle of nowhere.

View Larger Map

The glacier is the massive bit of white that meets the lake at the end of route 11.

El Calafate itself is a bit of an oasis in the middle of wilderness and desert - large beech trees and actual grass! There is really nothing outside of the town, huge open expanses with barren mountains and huge plains.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier

Update

Headin' dahn saff