AHC El Chalten - B&B Nothofagus

Here are a few collected thoughts now that we have reached a small mountain town with about 700 permanent residents-100 restaurants and pizza houses and shops and walking tour agencies-and big Toyota 4x4 Wagons- a bit like Alaska and the Wild West. No elected Parish Council- so not much infrastructure to write home about.<br><br>Clothing:- <br>am I glad I brought a goose down RAB jacket AND a fleece and 2 pairs of lambmerino vests and thermal long johns. To ...

... thinking it's over the next hill, but then there's another one just behind it! About 15:45 is started getting much colder, winder and was snowing. I was also quite moody as I'd spend much of the last few hours thinking about how much I have ODB so I actually gave up and turned back. But after a few steps I decided to stop being such a losertron and go for it, after coming this far. If worst came to worse I'd just be a vagrant for a night, which I'd already done on ...

... Depois de muito barro cheguei a placa que indicava o inicio da trilha. Mais uma vez, um bocado de neve e gelo mas alih era tudo quase plano, tornando o trecho mais facil.<br><br>O Chorillo del Salto eh uma queda d'agua de uns 30m entre paredoes de pedra. Ao cair, a agua continua o caminho do rio mas boa parte da superficie estava congelada com a agua correndo por baixo do gelo. A queda d'agua em sih nao tem nada de especial mas o lugar eh muito bonito ...

... It´s so cool! It´s smaller than Hawley (or for those of you in Colorado, smaller then Minturn). Again, not a lot to do in the town, but incredible views. Well, I can´t wait to tell you all about El Chalten but it´s late and I´m very tired right now. I just arrived in Bariloche and have met up with Mike and Angie. Internet is now free and seems quite dependable. I don´t want to bore any of you too much so I will end this entry and write more tommorrow. Love and miss you all!!!

... for experienced hikers... very steep...we look up and see a hill... ah this will be fine... hhhmmm spot the stupid Paddies.... Few minutes later.... i am cursing every living ...

... in El Chalten and got a bit panicky when I remembered reading that the town has no ATM's, and most places don't accept cards. I had enough cash to survive for about a day. Some investigation later though and I discovered the towns first cash machine had just been installed.. phewww! Most of the main hostels were booked out so I ended up staying in an off the beaten track place, but it was just the job as ...

... while I reverted to my Himalayan system of 100 paces and then a rest. Now the wind was getting and the sky blue but scudded with fast moving white cloudlets. My Buenos Aries white sun hat fell off and shot into a ravine eluding the valiant rescue attempts of Andy Spink a keen trekker from the Peak District who was on the way down. Eventually I reached the top of the ridge, was greeted by two people who had also been on Polar Star - we recognised ...

... F.A. Cup, after beating my team Liverpool in the last round. Ahem.<br><br>Any of you reading this who have ever watched football with me will not be surprised to read that when Barnsley scored I nearly took the roof off, much to the 'delight' of the few English scattered around downstairs and the consternation of everyone else, especially Katie ...

... my attention to the iPod. Katie was rather more restless and tried to sleep the boredom away. <br><br>The only things I really remember about the journey were as follows:<br><br>1. Unrelentingly anonymous landscape.<br><br><br><br>2. The driver randomly screeching to a halt, running outside and coming back with some sort of armadillo-esque ...