Patagonia; Not Just the Name of my Fleece

If you had asked me a year ago what "Patagonia" was, I would have said a pretty typical American answer, "a high-end outdoor clothing company?" Well today I know better. After having spent the last 3 weeks in Southern Argentina and Chile, in the actual Patagonia (and I imagine what the clothing company named their brand after) I have a whole different perspective on the word. Even though it is summer here, the temperatures are cold, the winds are brutal, and the snow is prevalent. The sun sets each day between 10:30 and 11:00pm, and rises around 4:00am. Sometimes we felt we were in the most plush ski town of Switzerland, and sometimes we would comment that we must be in Bahgdad with the barren, desert-like landscapes (minus the heat.) Despite all these things, Patagonia has been by far the best place I have seen so far in South America; with tons of wildlife like whales, sea lions, penguins, condors, guanacos (they look like llamas, and spit like them too), amazingly beautiful snow capped mountains, glaciers and ice fields, aqua colored lakes in every valley, and the most amazing hikes I have ever been on. If you can brave the weather, Patagonia is definitely a place to visit!


Three days in the coastal town of Puerto Madryn was too many. A city surrounded by sandy and barren landscapes, is the gateway to the Valdes Penninsula, where for 400 Pesos ($100USD) we went on a day trip, whale watching and to see penguin and sea lion colonies. On the second day we tried to take a 17km bike ride, but once we left the city and entered "Baghdad", we had more sandstorms than my eyes could handle. Mick wanted to press on for the adventure factor (as always), but I insisted we turn around, and still ended up pulling sand out of my hair for the next week.


We then took a bus to Gaiman, a Welsh colonized town thats claim to fame is serving Welsh teas and biscuits, and since we arrived during the Siesta hours (1pm-4pm) the only thing left to do was sleep in the park, until a places opened up, and then food was definitely eaten! We then headed to Rio Gallegos, where no pictures at all were taken, because there was nothing eventful to see. Apparently Butch Cassidy robbed a bank here back in the day, probbaly because no one would have noticed him.

After a night in Rio Gallegos, our next stop was El Calafate. This touristy town, by all apearrances, should have several ski resorts nearby, but it doesn't. The main street is lined with souvenier shops, restaurants, and disneyesque log cabin buildings. At the edge of town is the beautiful Laguna Nimez, a wetlands sanctuary surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and attached to an inlet lake with a beach. This was worth the 20 pesos. The following day we took a day trip to the Glaciar Perito Moreno, located 80km away in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. What a strange experience to come over a hill and see the biggest chunk of ice you'll ever see, resting on a lake. Floating in the water nearby are massive blue ice cubes that break off while you watch, and take only a few days to melt away; so each day the glacier is different. We took an up close boat ride, and then walked around the viewing platforms, waiting anxiously to catch a break (literally, waiting to watch ice break off the Glacier) which only happend a few times during the day.


We spent three days in El Chalten, a remote town 2 hours north of El Calafate, described as the trekking capital of Patagonia. Fortunately we had the BEST weather, and set out for a 6 hour hike the first afternoon we arrived. After several hiking games ("movies starring Bruce Willis", the Name game, the shopping list memory game, etc.) and lots of beautiful scenery, we came to the base of a mountain, with a massive glacier resting on a lake. The wind was so strong that I could barely stand, and birds were getting thrown around in the wind, but it was breathtaking (literally, it was hard to breathe.)


The next day we did an 8 hour hike to the Fitz Roy range, where after a long 3 hours, the trail went completely uphill for the last hour. It was exhausting, but as we climbed into the center of these two mountains, below was the most beautiful glacier pools - hands down one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The third day was spent resting, and since it was snowy and cold, we didn't mind!





THE W TREK
After talking to some girl at a hostel weeks ago about it, Mick decided he wanted to do the W trek in the Torres del Paine national park in Chile.
When I agreed I didn't know exactly what I had gotten myself into, but after a scarily blunt introduction lecture from a local guy in Puerto Natales (the jump-off point for all hikers) I realized I was in for 5 days of pain (pun intended.) He said to expect 160kmh winds, torrential snow and rain, and hours of tiresome hikes. We packed up our backpacks with 5 days worth of food, cooking gear, sleeping bags, a tent, and limited clothing all packed up tight in trash bags, and even got lame hiking poles (which turned out to be amazingly helpful) and set out for the mountains. Luckily we had amazing weather, and met some really great people along the way. This was by far the most amazing experience of my life.



Here is a run-down of our 5 days:
Number of miles hiked: 62
Number of times I fell down: 8
Number of times I got blown over by the wind: 2
Number of granola bars consumed: 38
Number of showers taken: 0
Number of times we used a whole salami stick as a substitue for butter in our dinner: 1

After arriving back at the main lodge on the 5th day, we ate our moneys worth at a buffet breakfast, and vegged out for the rest of the day.

Now we are currently in the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia Argentina for 4 days!!