Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Hiking in Torres del Paine


From Puerto Natales, we hired a tent, sleeping bags and mats and a camp stove and set out to trek the "W" route of Torres Del Paine around the base of the statuesque Patagonian hills over five days.

Couch surfing

Our first couch surfing experience was a strange one. We ended up sharing a bottom bunk, in a dark small house containing a family of four, five other couch surfers and a hyperactive little dog. We were allowed to stay on the proviso that we hired gear or booked bus tickets through the family (albeit at below-market rates), which is not strictly in keeping with the couch surfing ethos, but it was a budgetary necessity. The host family were lovely, and we met some amazing people including a four people from France who are riding their bikes around the world. We got some tips from them, shared stories, and got to practice our french. 

Lago Grey

The weather when we arrived was pretty good (only slightly snowing) so we went straight over to the west side of the park and marched to Lagos Grey to see the large glacier there. It was pretty amazing, with icebergs breaking off the body of the glacier and floating down the lake. We stayed in the campsite and marched a couple of hours further on down the (closed) path to get a closer look then turned back to make sure we would get to the next campsite before dark.










Autumn colour

Everywhere we went the trees had turned to red, making all the scenery extra spectacular.












The tent graveyard, nailed down tents

Our hired gear turned out to be pretty good, even if Sam's pack weighed about 600kgs. 


We met three other groups of campers whose tents had broken during the trek; all of them at Paine Grande campsite "the tent graveyard" where we managed to weather the wind in reasonable comfort. 

Next night was v gusty as well with little shelter: the solution was to nail our tent down to a wooden deck - no joke, we had to scavenge and straighten a bunch of old nails first from the old wood using rocks that were lying around.




Bad weather

After three days of good-great weather we were pummeled with heavy rain and 180kmph gusts of cold wind on the next day's modest 5 hour hike up to a high pass near the base of the Torres peaks. A terrible day, we were completely soaked through to the skin, and shell shocked from being nearly blown over precarious cliff walks. We weren't the only ones; about 15 others squelched our way to the refugio and took shelter from the terrible weather.  Turns out the rain had flooded the rivers and washed away a bridge farther up the path, so we were evacuated the next day for fear of getting stranded if bridges lower downriver were also razed (which they were shortly after we crossed them).




El Calafate

After the trek, we shot over the border to Argentina for a rewarding mountain of meat from a parrilla, and an easy day trip to the epic Perito Moreno glacier. 

This glacier is still moving forward  at a rate of 2m per day, and constantly breaking away into the lakes around it. You can get really close and see house-sized ice cubes falling, hear the thunder clap as they break off. The face of the glacier looks like it is carved into a line of statues by the constant erosion and movement





Sunday, April 19, 2015

The journey through the fjords of Chilean Patagonia

A four day boat ride through a diverse landscape starting in puerto montt, a harbour town at the beginning of Patagonia where sea lions laze their days away on buoys. 














After exiting the harbour of puerto montt we met the ocean, baby sea lions playing and even a blue whale or two. Tons of southern fulmas and petrels and albatrosses. The weather has been pretty horrid - misty all day long, rainy and around 5 degrees but we've been lucky with the swells which haven't passed four metres.



We then moved towards the channel systems of the fjords. Here we're surrounded by sharp-cliffed islands with waterfalls from the peaks right into then channel, leading to small rocks, home to a penguin colony or southern fulmas, among other wildlife.







The narrow English Channel includes a an old shipwreck. When you think of shipwrecks you would generally think the boat was sunken, but in this case the boat got stuck on a rock and sits perfectly perched on the water as if it is anchored. Spooky. On either side the water is over 1300m deep.

With the weather being so miserable, we've had extra time to get to know our shipmates, many of whom are also traveling for months at a time so we trade tips and stories. There's also a science expedition team on board, looking at the habitat of species living at up to thirty metre depths. It was great to have them aboard - we learnt a whole lot!

For instance, the top 5-8m layer of water if the fjords is fresh (7000 mm of rain per year), and from 15-20m it  is salty, with a mixed intermediate layer in the middle. The salty layer is a biological hotspot with lots of new species of invertebrates, including cold water coral, and tube worms that are only found in deep sea areas >1000m elsewhere. While there are some robot photos from 200m deep showing new species, there are no samples and no one has ever gone deeper. There is a large threat from salmon farms as well as general litter, which has apparently already driven some blue whales away.

We stopped outside of puerto Eden, the only place along the fjord that is inhabited, with a total population of 90 people. The port is too small for our ferry so the boats come to us. While more cargo and people are loaded, a pod of dolphins play in front of the boat for us. Distinctive from the bottled nose dolphins we{re used to, these guys have beautiful white bellies with grey back. As we leave puerto eden, two baby sea lions jump playfully right next to the boat, trying to chase the white wash. The weather doesn't get these little pups down!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Hola Chile


We have arrived in South America.

The last couple of days we spent in Santiago or en route (overnight flight, overnight bus - notice a trend?) and now we are about to embark on a barco, for a four-day ferry ride through the fjords of Chile, from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales.

Bella Vista
Santiago has a bohemian underbelly located in the Barrio Bella Vista. We loved walking through the graffitied streets, theatres, shops and bars.

















We came across a Coca-Cola themed bar and radio station, where all the interior decoration was made of Coke cans, bottles, and packing materials.

Bella Vista is set at the foot of the metropolitan park (and zoo) on a steep 1,200m hill, which you climb with the aid of a funny-killer (funicular), to attend mass an outdoor amphitheatre church and see the statue of the pregnant madonna on the top.




She is much beloved of couples who leave messages (dummies, baby socks, photos) thanking her for her assistance in their conceiving.







At the traffic lights there are no windscreen washers - here drivers are entertained by jugglers (and ninjas) while they wait for the lights to go green.



Poetry in the park

We took a snooze break in the Parque Forestal (still suffering from jetlag), where there is a lot of comfy grass, and also public facilities for the very large, calm wild dog packs which live side by side the people everywhere we have been so far in Chile.

We also purchased a poem "le jardin" from a final year poetry student who decided we were giving off a romantic vibe, and needed to pay his tuition.


Guillermo Nunez
We saw an exhibition of Guillermo Nunez, who made light-hearted pop art in the 70s, before he was arrested, tortured and exiled during the Pinochet years. When he returned his art had taken a decidedely more dark and broody style. He is still making and exhibiting work now, at age 85 which explores the impact of torture and exile.