5 1/2 weeks
37 busses
over 7500km
10 000 empanadas
enough steak
and a billion cups of coffee.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Full Circle - Back to Buenos Aires
Once again Buenos Aires mesmerized us with it's art and music... La Boca was the suburb of choice this time with it's tango feel and brightly painted houses.
This city is a drug that will forever line out veins.
We will be coming back.
Puerto Madryn
After 34 hours of traveling, 30 of which were on a bus…we made it to our last stop in Patagonia on the west coast of Argentina – Puerto Madryn. It’s here that the Southern Right Whales come with their young to teach them the ways of the wild. This is the “bay of the whales”. And we were not disappointed.
We camped just outside town at the end of a peninsula for two nights and sat drinking wine in the evenings and coffee in the mornings watching the whales (mommies and babies) dance in the waters of the bay. It was a wonderful, peaceful end to a superb five weeks of journeying. It’s a privilege to watch these graceful, powerful, but vulnerable animals in the ocean.
We camped just outside town at the end of a peninsula for two nights and sat drinking wine in the evenings and coffee in the mornings watching the whales (mommies and babies) dance in the waters of the bay. It was a wonderful, peaceful end to a superb five weeks of journeying. It’s a privilege to watch these graceful, powerful, but vulnerable animals in the ocean.
El Chalten and Fitz Roy
El Chalten is the gateway to the trekking capital of Argentina – Fitz Roy. Generally reserved for the braver lot who can go out for weeks of hiking or who are experienced mountaineers/ ice climbers. But thank goodness for us mountaineering plebbs there are 1 to 3 day treks that are totally manageable with beautiful views on beautiful days…we were lucky enough to have one beautiful weather day.
We headed off for three days in the mountains, free entry, free camping…what travellar could ask for more. The first day was only 4 hours to Poincette campsite at the bottom of the steep climb to the famous Laguna de los Tres, which itself is at the bottom of Fitz Roy. We headed straight there after the bus ride from El Chalten and fell asleep not 30 minutes after the tents were pitched…at 4pm
H and I managed the climb in treacherous weather the next morning, just 2 km up, but a good 500m climb in the wildest wind I have ever experienced. At times we were forced to the ground to take shelter against the gusts. But the view was more than worth it, the entire experience was wild. We were even lucky enough to see our first frozen lake and out of the mountains came a group of 6 crazy mountaineers who had spent the night sleeping on a ledge in the snow up on Fitz Roy's snowy skirt. We raced down in the rain to pack up and head onwards and out, cutting the camping from three nights to one and settled to drinking coffee and catching up on sleep in El Chalten.
We headed off for three days in the mountains, free entry, free camping…what travellar could ask for more. The first day was only 4 hours to Poincette campsite at the bottom of the steep climb to the famous Laguna de los Tres, which itself is at the bottom of Fitz Roy. We headed straight there after the bus ride from El Chalten and fell asleep not 30 minutes after the tents were pitched…at 4pm
H and I managed the climb in treacherous weather the next morning, just 2 km up, but a good 500m climb in the wildest wind I have ever experienced. At times we were forced to the ground to take shelter against the gusts. But the view was more than worth it, the entire experience was wild. We were even lucky enough to see our first frozen lake and out of the mountains came a group of 6 crazy mountaineers who had spent the night sleeping on a ledge in the snow up on Fitz Roy's snowy skirt. We raced down in the rain to pack up and head onwards and out, cutting the camping from three nights to one and settled to drinking coffee and catching up on sleep in El Chalten.
Perito Moreno Glacier - Argentina
Perito Moreno is the third biggest glacier in Argentina, it spans over 200km² and is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world, moving at approximately 2m/day… This means you’re bound to see some ice fall from the 60m ice face that looms above the lake.
What an incredible experience, nothing really prepares you for the enormity of this giant ice animal. Standing next to the glacier you can feel its alive with movement, you can hear the cracks and groans and thunderous cacophony as ice falls to the melting pot below. It was the perfect surreal experience definitely the top of the “wow” moments on this adventure for the three of us African babies who’ve never even seen as ice berg before.
We also decided to splurge out and we took a boat to the bottom of the 60m ice shelf…about 300m away and watched the glacier living life creaking and groaning as it’s done for millennia.
Somehow words just cannot begin to describe the experience!
What an incredible experience, nothing really prepares you for the enormity of this giant ice animal. Standing next to the glacier you can feel its alive with movement, you can hear the cracks and groans and thunderous cacophony as ice falls to the melting pot below. It was the perfect surreal experience definitely the top of the “wow” moments on this adventure for the three of us African babies who’ve never even seen as ice berg before.
We also decided to splurge out and we took a boat to the bottom of the 60m ice shelf…about 300m away and watched the glacier living life creaking and groaning as it’s done for millennia.
Somehow words just cannot begin to describe the experience!
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