Patagonia Trip Feb 22nd - Mar 9th, 2008
"I would writeth a web journal where any person can experience the joy of adventure."
Torres Del Paine, 6-Day "W" trek, Chile (~63.4 miles hiked):
Day 3 -- Feb 24th -- Buses, taxis, boats: A race against the clock (win some, lose some). (aka: Over the border and through the Steppe to Puert-"Oh no!" Natales).
Day 4 -- Feb 25th -- Blue Sky, Blue Ice, Grey Lake: The journey to Glacier Grey
Day 5 -- Feb 26th -- Reaching the Thunder in the Frances Valley...
Day 6 -- Feb 27th -- Light packin' it up the Frances, and a long escape from the wet to Los Cuernos...
Day 7 -- Feb 28th -- Splashing through streams to reach the glory of the Torres...
Day 8 -- Feb 29th -- Torres reprise, manic weather, and a speedy finish to the "W"...
Perito Moreno Glacier, El Calafate, Argentina:
Day 9 -- Mar 1st -- A bus to see the Biggest and Bluest of them all, and late night prep for trek #2...
Fitzroy-Cerro 4-Day trek, El Chalten, Argentina (~36.7 miles hiked):
Day 10 -- Mar 2nd -- Headline in El Chalten: Perfect blue sky speared by Fitzroy
Day 11 -- Mar 3rd -- Bright red in the morning, deep blue in the afternoon, black beans in the evening...
Day 12 -- Mar 4th -- "Oh Su-Su-Sucia" in the morning. Laguna Cerro in the evening with a preview for tomorrow's ice trek...
Day 13 -- Mar 5th -- Over the river (on a cable) and through the woods (over cliffs down to the lagoon) to the Torre Glacier we go...
"El Galpon" Estancia, El Calafate, Argentina:
Day 14 -- Mar 6th -- A final evening in Patagonia, with a heavy sheep theme...
Buenos Aires, Argentina (many urban miles hiked):
Day 15 -- Mar 7th -- Traveling back north to the big city...
Day 16 -- Mar 8th -- A journey to visit the dead, followed by soveniers, and vintage tango...
Day 17 -- Mar 9th -- Morning riverwalk, afternoon San Telmo market, and plenty of ice cream. Buenos noches Buenos Aires!
This trip to Argentina/Chile stumbled upon me unexpectedly in the first week of December 2007, when Wendy asked if I was interesting joining a trip to Patagonia that she and Christine were planning. I knew nothing of the area, other than it's reputed beauty, and hadn't been planning on an international trip anytime soon, but realized I didn't have a good excuse not to go. As I started researching the mountains, glaciers, and backpacking opportunities, I quickly became excited to join. The next week and a half was spent immersed on the web seeking airfare, bus, hiking, food, and activity info for the area (despite a deadline to finish recording my Xmas tune). Victor, a travel companion from Wendy and Christine's trip to Peru was also in for the adventure, so the fellowship of 4 was set. In just over a week, we had settled on a practical itinerary, packing in quite a lot, but also allowing some flexibility, and purchased airfare to and within Argentina.
The planning certainly wasn't as simple as might be interpretated from the first paragraph. The initial predicament was to decide whether to fly into Buenos Aires (BA), Argentina, or Santiago, Chile. Prices were similar, but it sounded like BA had more cultural things to do, and was a cooler place to hang out. Also, Chile charges an additional $100 fee for flying out of their country, compared to $18 in Argentina.
The big popular place in Patagonia is Torres del Paine (TDP) park in Chile, with the wild, multi-colored mountains and glaciers. We initially planned to do the 9 day TDP circuit, but realized that would use up most of our time, and equally impressive El Chalten had worthy hikes and scenery, so we opted for the very popular abbreviated 5 day W trek in TDP, which hits most of the highlights. There's lots of camping areas and huts (refugios) on the routes, so it took many considerations to find an ideal solution for our time there.
I proposed backpacking the entire time with our food and tent, in order to maximize our freedom and flexibility, as well as camp at tent only scenic areas. Christine and Victor preferred the lightweight pack approach by staying in the refugios and buying their meals along the way. Wendy was game with me on backpacking (as we've had several successful experiences), though she was certainly tempted by the lightpack alternative. This presented another challenge of coordinating mixed itineraries, trying to maximize our time together, despite different end points on some days. Likewise, this situation would emerge in El Chalten again. In the end, I think everyone exercised great freedom to reach their goals, and still got to share in a lot of group activity throughout the trip.
After spending much effort reducing the effects of plane/bus travel dead-time, our itinerary evolved into 6 days at TDP, 2 days at El Calafate, 4 days in El Chalten, and 2.5 days in Buenos Aires.