Dec 2006

The last little while has been pretty low-key with mostly ¨you had to be there¨ moments that are difficult for poor writers like me to describe.

Crossed into Argentina about a week and a half ago and hit up a couple small tourist towns - El Calafate and El Chalten. Calafate is famous for its proximity to the Perito Moreno glacier but we skipped that in order to do some actual ice climbing on some other glacier in Chalten. You can only spend so much money to see so many friggin blocks of ice. Unfortunately, we chose the wrong one. The trip was cancelled shortly after we reached the glacier because the winds were too severe. At one point the wind kicked up all these small rocks off the ground and pelted us in the ass and neck with them. That stung almost as much as the disappointment of not getting to hang off ice sheets with pickaxes.

One more quick note about the wind. It´s wicked, it´s wild, it´s Patagonia defined. Chalten was ridiculously as such. At night, the howl completely penetrates the walls, keeping you awake and mystified. I´m not sure if that´s why so many roofs around here are shaped like the ones below. It takes a while but after you embrace the wind, you feel more calm than unnerved by it. Zen-like I tell you.

Been taking the long scenic road up Ruta 40. The landscape for the most part was flat and desolate, occasionally giving way to a low backdrop mountain or blur of light shining off the water.

And sometimes the bus driver would abruptly stop the vehicle to chase after armadillos.

The most recent stop was Perito Moreno, population of 1700. The bus that goes through here only does so every other day. And it only stops because it gets in late at night and the driver has to rest. The attraction is a nearby cave with paintings of hands. Not exactly a must-do on most people´s agendas. Therefore everyone left with the bus the next morning. For whatever reason, we decided to stay for 2 days...and we didn´t even bother seeing the stupid hands. So what goes on in a wannabe tourist town with no tourists? More than you think (or less depending on how easily amused you are).

There was a disco that was closed on Saturday night. Apparently Saturday is not a convenient night to go out around here.

Sunday was pumping though with the local rodeo. Sketchy guys in funny hats getting booted off horses while everyone else drinks beer with wind blowing dirt into your face.

At night there was a town party, complete with live music and fireworks that were being set off by 5 year olds, I kid you not. And I don´t know the reason for it but I´d like to think it was to celebrate our arrival.

The only thing larger than the men in Perito Moreno are the women. Sorry no pictures, just trust me on this and use your imagination. The tourist ¨lady¨ had a beard. The construction ¨girls¨ were heftier than the machines. And the internet ¨woman¨ who hated Andrew with a passion could not fit through the door.

But if you´re anyone in this town, you´ll have a beat-up vehicle and do laps on the main street at night, circling past the same 8 blocks on first gear for hours on end. Apparently the crappier and more broken down the car (or dump truck), the greater the street cred. This is officially where automobiles come to die.

At first we were confused by this local pasttime. Then amused. Then intrigued. Strangely, by the end of the two days I found myself aimlessly walking laps of the main street, much like the cars themselves. No purpose, no destination. Peaceful as the Patagonian wind. Like I said, you had to be there.

Some of you have asked me for more photos. I admit, I´m too lazy to upload more, especially since the most recent towns have been advertising their 512kbps connections. But luckily Andrew is much more diligent...plus he is whipped so he spends hours at the net bar anyways chatting with his girlfriend, j/k. Check out his Flickr site - I will try to start one very soon too. Be warned that the creator of the site is the same person who broke our toilet last night.

At around 9am, the bus had reached the entrance of the park, dropping off its load of eager hardcore hikers...and also us. Off they raced towards the first ascent, armed with trekking poles and space material gear. And off we went to the nearby hotel bar to have a couple beers and hang out with our friends who worked there. Only about 2.5 hours later, we finally willed ourselves towards the trail, thinking we had given everyone else a fair enough headstart. After an hour, we were gasping for air and sweating perfusely. How we made it across, up, and down the 76km in 4 days, I dunno. But I think it went something like this:

Day 1

Camp was somewhere up there.

Sometimes the trail consisted of nice flat stretches through the valley...

...although more often than we´d like, we struggled mightily climbing up rocks and mini-boulders.

The goal was worth it however. These are the famous granite towers of the park. I swear everything was much more impressive in person. It also lightly snowed just in this little corridor.

Despite our 5-star accomodation, sleep was hard to come by that night. And there was no puma to be seen.

Day 2

Morning mist...

...gave way to a glorious sunny day as we completed an 11km hike beside one of the brightest lakes I´ve ever seen.

Along the way, we´d stop to admire the view...

... and to also eat one of our many delicious meals. Truth be told, we gained a notorious reputation around the campsites for having the worst food around. But we earned some respect back for lugging around a 1 litre bottle of pisco sour (alcohol of choice in Chile).

The next campsite was further than we originally thought but we powered on.

And as night fell, we slept marginally better with dreams that we might see a puma the next day.

Day 3

Back uphill alongside this glacier peak...

as well as a raging stream...

that occasionally required a small leap of faith.

The trees at this height were bare yet beautiful...

which is more than I can say for this chump at the mirador.

Speaking of chumps, we were getting a bit delirious at this point. That can be attributed to aching bodies, lack of nutrition, sleep deprivation, the inhumane scent of Andrew´s feet, but mostly...

...due to the fact that there were still no pumas in sight.

Day 4

The final day was all about glaciers...viewing them...

...holding trophies of them...

...and stupidly climbing aboard pieces of them.

We were running on fumes to the finish line, thinking of burgers and beds but still in awe of all the amazing scenery we were priviledged to see over the past 4 days.

Along the way, we also got acquainted with some pretty cool people.

Team Holland

Team Britain

Team USA

Team Denmark (he got really sick along the way)

Team South Africa...

And their grandparents! Ages 78 and 79. How inspiring! They even took the wrong route one day and hiked an extra 2 hours. The grandfather also once got lost in the Himalayas for 7 days without food and was too scared to go to the village for fear they might kill him! Nuts!

We even ran into our buddy Christian. He´s the 16 year old son of a famous Chilean gaucho whose house we´re staying at. This kid is amazing. He works in the park in the summer as a horse guide and can zip around the circuit with his eyes closed. He´s also super connected with everyone around here...bus drivers, boat drivers, porters...can you say Chilean Mafia? Between him and Carlos, we´re set for the next 50 years in Chile!

So that´s that. One of the highlights of this entire journey lived up to its billing and more. Except for the fact that we never did see a puma. Unless this counts...