In.Land.Sis Guesthouse El Chalten

... travelling companions"(not sure!)- IT and Insurance
a single 34 yr old girl IT specialist with volunteer agency in Sudan
a 60 yr old German single girl Postie from Southend
a 64 yr old (marriedYorkshire man- left his wife, just for 3 weeks, in UK for this trip- cross between Fred Trueman/Ken Dodd/Einstein and Frankie Howard- so he,s quite fun- but he,s brainy and nonstop talking machine (with anecdotes and jokes ) and a nuclear physicist and ...

... something and the wind was so fast that it was difficult to even breathe, like accelerating into a bungee jump or a sky dive. My hood was constantly being blown off my head and snow blown into my face at probably about 100mph. I put my video camera bag on the ground (weighed down by the camera, 3 batteries, 2 cassettes and some other junk) and it started blowing along the floor, and this is a very compact bag with nothing for the wind to really catch hold of. I took ...

... d want to return to for day on end. I`ll take a towel for this next time...a quick wipe and it should be ok to re-use each night. Not a problem here though, that was our final night on trail.

We skipped breakfast in the rain, hammered back a few packs of cookies and set off. It was like the first day - boggy, wet, overcast and drizzling. By this point i had stopped caring about the wet conditions underfoot and was just walking through streams, bogs and puddles, whilst ...

... 5 hours to travel from El Calafate. As the bus slowly nudged around Lago Argentino, the day's crystal blue skies afforded distant, yet magnificent views of the mountains in which we were hoping to go walking. By all accounts, blue skies can be a rare commodity in these parts, so when we arrived in El Chalten, we quickly dumped our bags at the hostel and headed for the base of Cerro Torre.

The forecast gave two clear days before a band of snowstorms and ...

... gelo pelas trilhas, nao teria muito pra fazer no dia seguinte e ainda precisaria achar um hotel aberto e com vaga. Nao parecia ser bom negocio. Saih de lah com bastante vontade de voltar pra conhecer e aproveitar mais. O onibus chegou a El Calafate lah pelas 9 da noite e faminto jantei algo muito
gostoto, que nem lemro o que era, antes de voltar ao hotel bem cansado.

Esse passeio foi o ultimo da viagem. Agora eh descansar no Domingo e me ...

... Met some experienced trekkers that have just told us we have climbed the hardest trek in all of Patagonia.. feeling very proud but the pain is starting to hit in.... Just realised we have ...

... have dinner later in El Calafate Another early start for Torres del Paine, the iconic three needle mountain in Chilean Patagonia. This time I would stay in mountain refuges for four nights completing two thirds of the famous W which means climbing and descending three valleys carrying my gear on my back. On Nigel's advice I only took what was absolutely necessary - a set of dry clothes - and precious little else. The tour bus took us through the ...

... Przejezdzamy obok jeziora Cardel , a tuz przed samym miasteczkiem mijamy ogromne jezioro Viedma. Samo miasteczko jest bardzo male, nastawione typowo na turystyke, przynajmniej jesli wezmiemy pod uwage ceny. Szukamy hosteli z przewodnika Lonely Planet. Niestety ceny sa juz w nim mocno nie aktualne. Decydujemy sie na szukanie metoda "door to door". W koncu zakotwiczylismy w jednym, postanawiamy zostac na jedna noc.50 peso za osobe, to ...

... nowhere and not having the energy to get back.



I think we did the right thing because we enjoyed the trail, which had a lot of uphill sections, but it was sunny with a nice breeze.

It was also pretty varied so we had some nice views down over the valley...



...through the woods...



...and up ...

... much time looking out of the windows much because there was literally nothing to see!

The landscape was monotonous and nondescript, the roads unsealed and indirect, so we were very glad to be at our destination.

Now we couldn't wait to get out there and use our hiking boots again!


Lots of love,


Al & Katie xx