COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO, URUGUAY

14. April 2011

From Buenos Aires it was only a short, one hour boat trip to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. All border issues were done at the terminal in Buenos Aires. The Argentinian and Uruguay officials standing directly next to each other, sharing one desk. I've never seen migration and immigration of two countries that close to each other.
Sun was shining when we got to Colonia and it seemed to be a nice town. And it really is a lovely little town. Very quiet and with lots of old buildings and cobblestone streets. There were a few restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating but very few people. And the river seemed to be on all sites of the historical town center. I liked walking around between the historical buildings and enjoyed the tranquility of Colonial. Definitely one of the nicest cities in South America I've visited so far.

BUENOS AIRES

10. April – 14. April 2011

From Ushuaia I took a plane 3000 km north to Buenos Aires. There I stayed in the hostel Artfactory and met up with Beatrice. The hostel was nice with most of the walls painted with different designs. We didn't waste much time at the hostel before going on the first city tour. We walked for a while through San Telmo, the neighborhood the hostel is located in. Nice area with cafes and old buildings. At night we decided to check out a Tango Show at Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires' most touristy cafe. It was more show than dancing but nice anyways. I guess, you have to watch some tango dancers while in Buenos Aires. To me, Tango doesn't seem to be the most fun dance. It's a serious dance and there doesn't seem to be vitality. But than again, I guess it's not supposed to be a fun dance. Sunday morning we went to the neighborhood of La Boca. I really liked this area. Colorful old buildings. Most buildings are not well maintained and a little rundown but with a lot of charm. It seemed to be an working class neighborhood near the port. I also walked by the Boca Juniors stadium were Diego Maradona played before moving to Europe. Unfortunately I missed to watch a game. Afterward it was time to check out the market in San Telmo. Lot's of artisans selling everything you don't need. The rest of the time in Buenos Aires was mainly spend with walks around town, some internet time and hanging around in the hostel, eating ice cream and drinking wine in the evening on the hostel terrace. Buenos Aires is a nice city but it didn't seem special to me and I wasn't as impressed as a lot of other travelers.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ARGENTINA

04. April – 09. April 2011

I went to “The land of fire” because I was so close (only a 12 hour bus ride away) and the name of the southernmost city in the world “Ushuaia” just sounded cool. People that I talked to before on this trip had totally different opinions about Ushuaia – from amazing city to not worth going there. Guess, it's the same with all places – some people like it, others don't. Anyways, I really liked Ushuaia. I can't really explain why, but it had a special atmosphere and the surrounding landscape was very beautiful. Maybe to know that one is so far away from almost all places in the world helped to make it special. And I also liked the rough and constantly changing weather – cold wind, rain and sometimes sun. Already the drive there was beautiful. It was snowing when we were getting close to Ushuaia and the mountains, trees and streets were covered with a thin layer of snow. Most of the time in Ushuaia was spent relaxing and catching up on blog posts and emails. After the long hike and the four weeks before with little downtime, a few relaxing days were necessary. Besides walking around I didn't do much most days, the only touristy things were a visit to a Penguin Colony and to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. In Ushuaia, I also had to say goodbye to “my guys”. First Ruediger left to go back to Germany and his desk. Than it was time to say bye to Micha as well. After traveling together on and off for 6 months it was quite sad to say goodbye without knowing when we would meet again. THANKS for an amazing time!

Penguin Colony
By bus we went to the estancia Haberton from where we took a boat to the Isla Martillo. The bus ride itself was good with amazing views of the fall-colored trees and snow covered mountains. We also stopped at the so-called flag trees. Trees that are bend from the strong winds. After coffee and cake at the estancia it was finally time to go to the island. There were lots of penguins on the island. And they didn't mind if you got close to them. At least if you didn't get too close. Eventually they would pick at your fingers if you hold them very close. Most of the penguins were Magellanic penguins and some Gentoo penguins. But we were lucky and there was even a king penguin. King penguins are not native to this area but somehow this one penguin made his way to the island and stayed there. He was taller than the other penguins and more pretty with orange neck and beak as well. We stayed on the island for a while, walked around the penguins, watched them, talked to them (even if they didn't answer) and took lots of photos (especially me). Before leaving the island we could see some penguins swimming and arriving at the island after a day of fishing.

Tierra del Fuego National Park
I went to the park for a few hours of walking along the lakes. It was nice. Especially since the trees were fall-colored and the mountains covered in a thin layer of snow. The park was very quite and there were very few other people there. Since it was raining I stayed only a few hours and did some short walks before heading back to Ushuaia.

HIKING WITH RAIN, SNOW AND MICE IN TORRES DEL PAINE NP, CHILE

24. March – 02. April 2011

After some time in Argentina it was time for a side trip to Puerto Natales in Chile to hike the Torres del Paine circuit.
We arrived around noon and with shopping and packing the afternoon went by quickly. Unfortunately, we wasted an hour at the info-talk about the park where we didn't get much useful information. For dinner we went to a very nice African-Chilean restaurant. Not the typical combination. The atmosphere was nice and I even got a curry that tasted good. (I was trying curries every now and then in South America and almost gave up on finding a good one – Maybe it helped that my expectations went down as well)
There was only one bus going to the park at 7.30 am in the morning, which meant another day of getting up early. We arrived at the park around 10 am and started the hike right away. Most people hiking at Torres del Paine NP walk the “W”, a hike that resembles the letter W on the map. We decided to hike the circuit around the Torres, finishing the hike with the W – a ten day hike.
The weather the first few days was almost perfect – at least for this time of the year. It was quite late in the season and it was too cold to sit around after getting to the campsite but it was sunny every now and than and wasn't too windy. The first two days we were hiking at “the backside” of the Torres. Mostly the trail went over meadows. Sometime along burned trees or forests, sometimes along lakes or rivers. We could see mountains and glaciers in the far, the sun was shining and it was very nice, easy hiking. On day four we had to get over the 1200 m high Gardner pass. According to the guide books this was to be the most difficult part. But again we were lucky with the weather. Only a little bit of rain and snow and almost no wind. Since the trail up to the pass is very exposed, it can be extremely windy up there. (Later we found out that only 5 days later due to the weather conditions, it wasn't possible to get over the pass anymore) So, getting over the pass wasn't as hard as I thought. And the view from up there was amazing. We could see the Grey glacier from above. With rainbow!! We walked along the glacier for a few hours before getting to the campsite. Amazing views. Especially if you like snow and ice. As the nights before (and the following as well) we had visitors at night. Mice! They tried to get to our food. Ate holes in my rain pants and Rudi's backpack. Since they couldn't get to the food, they ate the toilet paper and even gnawed holes in the water bottles, when there was nothing else lying around. The worst thing about the mice were the noises they made when walking near the tent. The next morning we got to a little bay with great views of the glacier, many small icebergs and condors. It was very beautiful and we spent quite a lot of time there. Exploring the bay, watching condors and taking pictures. At night we did not cook the usual 800 grams of Spaghetti with Ketchup, Salami and cheese but had dinner at the refugio to celebrate Michas birthday. The weather got worse over the next days with more and more rain. And snow. But the landscape was still nice. Our plan was to camp at the end of valle del frances, but on the way we met people that just came from there and suggested we don't camp there since it was snowing to heavy. So, we followed the recommendation and walked to the next campground. The next morning we made a day-trip to the valle. Snow was getting higher the further we got into the valley. At one point we had to start making our own trail in the ankle deep snow because no other hikers had walked that far on that day. We didn't see the apparently beautiful scenery surrounding the valley but it was fun to walk in the snow anyways. And pretty as well, with all the trees and mountains covered in snow. The next day we hiked to the valle ascencio. There was even more snow here and we had to set up camp in the snow. At least this night there weren't any mice. After we set up camp we hiked for an hour through the almost knee-deep snow to the Torres mirador. And we were lucky and there were only a few small clouds in front of Torres. The last day we only had to walk back down to the last refugio to take the bus back to Puerto Natales.
After a nice hot shower and clean clothes, Micha invited us for dinner (Patagonian lamb and wine). THANKS!

GLACIERS AT LAGO ARGENTINO, EL CALAFATE, ARGENTINA

21. March – 23. March 2011

Calafate was only a three hour bus ride south of El Chalten. Beatrice joint us to El Calafate where we wanted to see the famous Perito Moreno Glacier – one of the few glaciers that are growing. There were a lot of options for seeing the glacier and we decided for a full-day boat tour which was cruising Lago Argentina and also went to other glaciers. Evidently that was something that not a lot of backpackers wanted to do (it wasn't the cheapest option to see the glacier either) and there weren't many young people on board. I guess, the average age of all passengers was around 60.
From the harbor the view of the mountains and the lake at sunrise were a good start. First we sailed to the Upsala Glacier to see icebergs. The boat couldn't sail nearer than 15 km away from the foot of the glacier, since there are too many icebergs. And really, there were a lot of icebergs. In different colors and all sizes. Unfortunately it is difficult to judge the size of the icebergs. I would have loved to kayak around the ice to get up close for a better feel of the size. Well, next time.
Next stop on the tour was the Spegazzini Glacier which is over 100 m high. Cruising in front of this big wall of ice felt like being really close to the glacier. But the boat still was 300 m away from it.
After that we finally sailed to the Perito Moreno Glacier – 60 m high (above water) and 4 km wide. Quite impressive. Again, it was difficult to appreciate the dimensions without anything to compare.
We stayed close to the glacier for quite a while. I saw a few smaller pieces of ice breaking off but didn't see a big chunk falling off.
Since I always liked snow and ice, I really enjoyed this tour to the glaciers. Besides the glacier tour we didn't do much in El Calafate - went for coffee / hot chocolate in a chocolate factory and ate a lot of good food. Rudi – DANKE fuers taegliche kochen!! Sehr lecker.

HIKING AT LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK, EL CHALTEN, ARGENTINA

17. March – 20. March 2011

We arrived in El Chalten around midnight after a rather long bus ride. The next morning Rudi suggested to start a four day hike in the afternoon. Expecting to do a few day hikes within the next days, that option hadn't crossed my mind before and I was quite surprised. It brought stress and some logistical difficulties with it but was a wise decision. The weather that day was perfect. El Chalten is a very small town and only has one supermarket. And that supermarket didn't have a big selection and closed for siesta from 1 to 5 pm. We just made it there to buy some Granola (breakfast), Granola bars (lunch) and Spaghetti (dinner) for the hike. Of course it wasn't very smart to spend two hours in a cozy cafe for breakfast / lunch before shopping. In the afternoon we started our hike (only three hours on day one) with blue sky and an amazing view of Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy and the whole mountain range. After walking a while we stopped for an hour at a viewpoint with good views of Cerro Torre and enjoyed the good weather. We set up camp before walking to Laguna Torre. Again, the view of Cerro Torre, the glacier and the lake with small icebergs was amazing. Walking was easy the next day as well - through forest and along a lake. It started raining half an hour before we reached the next campsite and didn't stop all night. Weather still wasn't very good the next morning but at least it wasn't raining anymore. After a short sidetrip to Laguna de los tres (without good views) we continued the hike along Rio Blanco. I walked behind Micha and Ruediger (I'm not fast enough to keep up with the guys) and followed them over huge bolders to Laguna Piedras Blancas. With my big backpack it was no fun at all. When I got to the lake we found out that we have to go all the way back over the rocks to the maintrail. I was not happy about that! Anyways, the view at the lake was stunning - the color of the lake greenish and the glacier at the other side of the lake white and blue. We even saw (and heard) a big junk of ice breaking off the glacier. The last day we did a little sidetrip to a viewpoint of Fitz Roy. Beatrice, who was hiking alone, joint us. The trail went up a pretty steep hill over gravel. It was exhausting but the view from up there was amazing. We even were lucky enough to see Fitz Roy a few times when the clouds opened up. After a hot tea in the refugio back at the camp it was time to head back to El Chalten. We only wanted to hike to the road and catch a ride there to El Chalten. I was quite surprised when I realized that the road was just a wide gravel trail. We were lucky and after a short time a pick-up truck stopped and gave us a ride to El Chalten. Back in town I enjoyed a hot shower, lamb for dinner and a good nights sleep in a bed before taking the bus to El Calafate the next day.

RUTA NACIONAL 40

16. March 2011

To get to the South of Patagonia we had to take a 28 (yes, twenty eight) hour bus ride. The bus left at 8 pm, stopped the next day for two hours in Perito Moreno (a small town in the middle of nowhere) around noon and arrived at midnight in El Chalten. Most of the way was on Route 40 a mainly gravel road running more than 5000 km from the south to the north of Argentina. The landscape was interesting but didn't change much all day – flat steppe and a high sky. Sometime it was possible to see some Andean mountains or glaciers in the distance. There were no towns, villages or houses for hours. But along the road there were guanacos (the Patagonian lama) and nandus (the Patagonian ostrich) to see.
The company also offered some great entertainment with movies like "Titanic 2" and "Dance Classics 4" - it was better to look out of the window!
It's unbelievable but - after almost traveling South America from north to south by bus - I still like traveling by bus and looking out of the window.

A NICE DAY IN BARILOCHE, ARGENTINA

15. March 2011

Unfortunately Bariloche was only a short stop on the way south. We arrived late at night and didn't do anything else than finding something for dinner before going to bed. First thing to organize in the morning were the bustickets to El Chalten in the South of Argentina. It was only possible to buy the tickets at the busstation out of town and since the weather was nice and we hadn't seen much of the town yet, Micha and me walked back to the hostel. A long but nice walk.
We didn't have much time in Bariloche and only went to a lookout point on Cerro Campanario. Very touristy but a great view. Rumors have it that National Geographic named it one of the Top 10 lookouts worldwide. The view was amazing. Green forrests, many lakes and mountains in the background. After a cup of coffee it was time to head back to town and get ready for the 28 hour bus ride south.

CLIMBING VOLCANO VILLARICA IN PUCON, CHILE

11. March – 14. March 2011

It was cold and raining when we got to Pucon in Chiles Lake District. We had some problems finding the hostel where we had made a reservation and were walking around in the rain for a while. But once we found the hostel "El Refugio", we were welcomed very friendly by the amazingly nice and friendly hosts Dave and Tanya. THANKS!! I think besides the great things we did in Pucon, I will mostly remember the nice time in the hostel.
Since it was raining pretty much all day, I spent the time mainly on the couch in front of the fireplace – computer in my lap, a cup of hot tea in my hand and the dog to my feet. Life could be worse. At night we had a barbecue at the hostel. Surprisingly the meat was that good that even I liked it. It definitely doesn't happen often that I really enjoy eating meat.
The weather still wasn't great the next day but good enough for an easy four hour hike to a waterfall. The walk wasn't very exciting since it went mainly along a gravel road. But the last half hour walking through the forest and the waterfall itself were very nice.
Sunday it was time to climb volcano Villarica. The snow and ice covered volcano is 2847m high and it's fairly easy to get to the top. I cheated a little (to save my energy) and took the ski lift up to 1800 m. There it was a walk up many switchbacks for about one hour. Then we had to put on crampons to walk over the ice. The weather was perfect – no wind, a few clouds, no rain, not too much sun. It could not have been better – especially after three days of rain and clouds. There were a lot of tour groups on the mountain and sometimes it looked like ants walking up the mountain. After about four hours of walking uphill we got to the top of the volcano. The view of the surrounding landscape with several lakes, forests and volcanoes was awesome. And being able to look inside the smoking crater was great as well. After hanging around at the top (where it was quite cold while standing around) for too long, we started our way down. This was the fun and easy part. With plastic sleds we slid down most of the hill – so much easier than walking up. We only had to walk down the last part. It was a wide trail and I used the extra energy - that I somehow often have at the end of a hike - and ran down. When getting back to town we were welcomed at the travel agency with beer while returning all the gear. After organizing our onward travels we enjoyed a big meal and a beer after a good days hike.
Since Ruediger is only here for five weeks and doesn't have as much time as Micha and me, we decided to travel south the next day. Otherwise “El Refugio” would have been the perfect place to hang around for a few days.

SANTIAGO DE CHILE

07. March – 10. March 2011

The first evening in Santiago we went for some beer and dinner to check out Barrio Brasil – a neighborhood near our hostel with lots of bars and restaurants. The next day Micha and me walked for a long time through Santiago. Downtown was very modern and felt like a western city with Starbucks, McDonalds and Co. In the afternoon we went to Cerro Santa Lucia - the park was nice and the view over the city was quite good. Unfortunately, due to the smog,it wasn't possible to see the mountains around the city. Wednesday morning it was time to go to the airport to welcome Ruediger to Chile. Ruediger will be traveling with Micha and me for the next five weeks mainly in Patagonia. DANKE fuers Wanderschuhe,... mitbringen! In the afternoon we spent some time walking around Santiago - trying to find a good Pisco Sour - and planning the next few weeks. The last day in Santiago, Ruediger and I went to the cemetery. Very depressing experience. Rows of rows of gray concrete walls and tombs. Although Lonely Planet recommends visiting the cemetery it's definitely not a nice place to visit and I was glad when we left.

Santiago seemed to be a very modern city. The streets are clean, the subway runs until midnight, there are a lot of business people walking around downtown at lunch time, every neighborhood has plenty of cafes and bars. And there seemed to be a lot of universities all over town. But there are no cheap set lunches or small corner stores that sell everything like in Ecuador and Peru.