Patagonia (part 2)

We arrived in the Chilean town of Puerto Natales on a cold and showery day but had a great coffee and lunch at a veggie restaurant in the main square. Puerto Natales is an older town than the places we had been in Argentinian Patagonia with mant buildings dating back to the early 20th century (I think).

The following day was a blue sky day for our journey into the Torres del Paine National Park. This was a super trip as we started with a three hour catamaran journey along the Ultima Esperanza ("last hope") fjord which gave us views of sea lions and our first distant view of the actually Torres del Paine massif. After this we took a river trip in a couple of "zodiac" boats up the river Serrano for another three hours. The reason for using two boats was that it was necessary to walk for five minutes part way to bypass a small waterfall and transfer to the second boat. Then 20 minutes in a minibus to a further catamaran, this time across a lake, to our first "refugio",

This first refugio was large but a bit soul-less with its cafeteria style dining room. As well as the occupants of the refuge (I'd prefer to call it a lodge) it also served meals for the significant number of campers. We stayed there for two nights, making a walk to Glacier Grey from there on another perfect day.

Then a cloudy and drizzly day to the Refugio Cuernos, with the option of a side walk in the middle of this up the French Valley. This is apparently a very spectacular valley, but there was not a great deal to be seen on this day. I walked a bit further than the rest of the group, to a viewpoint, but did not achieve much by this! The refuge at the end of this day's walk (another two night stay) was a much cosier place and quite crowded as they could not quite fit everyone in for one sitting at dinner though the extras remained in the communal area as it was the only place with a nice warm stove to dry off damp clothing.

The day trip from here was to the Bader Valley where I experienced a small taste of Patagonian wind. Not quite getting blown over (unlike some - but I've had Scottish experience) but on hands and knees at times. Saw some dramatic peaks and rock walls but no distant views.

From here to the Refugio Chileano, another cosier hut and with very friendly staff and good food; a bit slow in coming but free drinks to compensate so can't be bad. I arrived in time to have an afternoon walk to the Torres del Paine lookout while it remained clear. The next morning we skipped the sunrise option as it was not clear enough, but went to the lookout after breakfast when we had a reasonable view but with some cloud hovering around the towers.





From here we descended past the Refugio Chileano to our final night in a large refuge, or more of a hostel, before returning the next day to El Calafate and on for a post-midnight arrival in Buenos Aires.

Two days later and I was on my way home after a fantastic trip.

Patagonia - Part 1

My visit to Patagonia was interesting but busy and hence it's been some time since I've updated the blog. I started this part of the trip by flying three hours south from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, where I met the remaining six members of the group I was doing this (organised) part of my tour with.

We started early the following day by driving the three hours to the small town of El Chalten, which is the base for access the Fitzroy range of mountains. Mt Fitzroy is also known by its local name of El Chalten. In the afternoon we took a short walk to a nearby viewpoint and managed to see both Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, though there was also a lot of cloud about.



The cloud tended to be a feature of the next few days when we did day walks, typically 8 hours, and we did not really get to see too much of Fitzroy; it was usually just playing with us, with the top always seemingly just about to clear. I did manage one fairly spectacular sunrise when it appeared briefly.

There was some wildlife to be seen including a colourful Magellanic Woodpecker, Flamingoes and plenty of Condors. We also managed to see an Armadillo which was great as they are not that common.

On return to El Calafate we had a day trip to the spectacular Perito Moreno Glacier. This goes right down to the large lake, Lago Argentino and at times cuts off one arm of the lake completely. Then every few years the force of water causes the blocking part of the glacier to rupture in dramatic fashion; this last happened about 2 years ago. Although I've seen glaciers in many parts of the world this was an impressive one, especially the incredibly deep blue colour, enhanced by it being a cloudy day.




From here it was on to Chile for the Torres del Paine National Park, which I'll describe in a separate post.