Posada Lunajuim El Chalten

... very challenging walks. My boots are worn out and will be left in south america- luckily i won,t need proper boots again on this tour- I have trainers and walking sandals left- and can always replace things. We say goodbye tonight to Luis &amp; Tato (ex PE teachers-now mountain guides- aged 34 ish) and Bernie the Rope-been up Aconcagua a few times) (he had us abseiling and climbing for fun one lunch break)<br><br>Topography<br>Glacier after glacier, lake ...

... Tijdens de klim naar boven kwam ik nog bekenden vanuit Torres del Paine tegen, erg leuk. Inclusief een offtrail detour naar een waterval die dag 7 uur onderweg geweest, bleek een goede opwarmer voor de daaropvolgende dag, ik had namelijk een gletsjer tocht geboekt.<br><br>Die tocht begon om 7 uur ´s ochtends dus vroeg uit de veren. Om de gletsjer te bereiken moest je via een touw over een rivier heen. Een persoon van een ...

... previous day with no problem. But it seems that the Fin drank water from a pond though, rather than the fast flowing streams and lagunas that I had been sticking to. She spend the whole of that night and the next day being sick :o( I do love setting off for a 9 hour hike over difficult terrain with only a 500ml bottle though, there's nothing better that ice cold glacial water straight from the glacier (even if my hands and face are already ice cold).<br><br>Day 3 ...

... trying to hitch any more or just throw rocks at passing cars in the hope that makes them pull over.<br><br>My feet were f*cked after 4 days of walking wet. Normally i can walk forever, even in these boots, but when the skin is wet it gets painful fast. We had perhaps a third of the way to go. It was going to take until the evening to get back with this wind. Really, the worst waited until last on this hike.<br><br>As the vehicle approached, a small truck, i began flapping my ...

... to do the 12km trek (6km each way which was meant to take 1 and half hours each way). This leads you to a viewpoint of the Fitz Roy which is the highest peak in these mountains. The town was shut down as its off season here so before we began we eventually found a bakery to stack up on supplies for the trek ahead. The trek was fairly lethal from the start. Going to the viewpoint was mainly uphill and the trek was covered in snow and ice (there was a sign at the ...

... called "La cerverceria" which looks like a wooden cabin. I had a plate called "Locro" which, as the menu described was the most authentic Argentinean dish you could order. It was like a stew. It was really good, lacked salt of course. Chalten also has a mini grocery store where you can buy food to make at your hostel. Just a warning the grocery store does not provide bags, so bring a bag to carry your food back to the hostel. Although ...

... eating... 8:30pm: Food and lots of sleep. Wake up with lot of pain but so glad of what we witnessed.. decided we going to turn into trekkers... we will be the new Tom Crean.... but need a ...

... going to be a tough day. We had already been walking for over 3 hours, hadn't even gotten there yet and I was soaking wet. The final hour was a climb of about 500 metres up a hill towards Laguna a Los Tres at the foot of the Fitzroy. The view was truly stunning. The colours and shape of the Fitzroy rock face is amazing, it just blew me away. You can see in the photos what a difference a nice day makes to ...

... supper time and I sat down to be told I had not booked! Eventually they gave me some soup and bread and after a second game of chess I plucked up courage to ask for a bed. They had one and I slept well on a top bunk in a dorm of about twelve. Next morning I set off for the fairly easy trek to the Albergo Chileno at the base of the Torres Del Paine - the top trek in the area. Again I was not expected (although it had been booked), but this time ...

... to the hostel, made ourselves some lunch and prepared for our first trek in a long time. <br><br>It was good to get the hiking boots on again (particularly as they're so heavy to carry around!) and minutes later we were consulting the map from the tourist office and heading off to Lake Capri, which would presumably be full of Essex boys ...