Hosteria El Puma El Chalten

... lake, mountain passes pass by like london buses, and what towers protruding towards the heavens in dawn and sunset illumination( more spiky peaks than you can take in)Some days we walk 16 k.- and some days we don,t.!

Animals
a puma was spotted the other day by one guide and we have seen tracks and Puma Poo! Lots of Condors , buzzards,and llamas, guanacos, spring flowers, and wild country.
MUST JOIN THE OTHERS FOR A BOOZE UP BEFORE SUPPER ...

... If I understand the strange and confusing bus system, tomorrow morning I´ll head into Parque Nacional Los Alerces to do a 4-day trek. If I´ve misunderstood the bus system.. well, then I´ll be doing something else I suppose. In any case, I´ve got my Thanksgiving meal planned for a nice big parrilla (mixed grill, like I had in Arequipa, but should be better in beef-loving Argentina) in Esquel before heading up to El Bolsón.

Hasta luego amigos,
Dan

... vacations (although as home to over 300 glaciers, Los Glaciares N.P. is not really the ideal place for vagrants).

Continuing was a fine decision. Just around the corner was a sign saying that Los Glaciares was 10 minutes further along the trail. I know I said that the wind on Cerro Torre was strong, but climbing up that last hill has redefined my scale. Calling the wind 'strong' would be the biggest understantement since I declared ODB to be a disgusting ...

... the wind) after scrounging around for water. There was no refugio. Finally - this should have been a warm night!

It was, and it stared to rain at about midnight. And it rained all night! And realised some of the drawbacks of my ultralight single skin tent...

It is waterproof, and 99.9% of water and snow that fell that night stayed outside. A little came in where the army of zippers met in the corners, but that wasn´t really an issue. The problem is that all the ...

... o som da agua caindo e o rio congelado criavam uma atmosfera bacana.

Jah era quase quatro da tarde mas resolvih ficar um tempinho e apertar o passo na volta para pegar o onibus. Com apenas um gole de agua restando na garrafa, julguei que certamente aquela agua era boa para beber. O problema era pega-la entre as pedras e o rio congelado. Acabei achando uma parte descongelada e um tronco de arvore para me apoiar. Com um pouquinho de jeito enchih minha ...

... on earth... this is nuts... vertical climb.. no point turning back... have to do this.. Stephen giving me encouragement... you will regret if you dont see the view and all that ...

... other by the red jackets - and took the final descent down to Los Tres for another swim and another Tortilla and spectacular views of Fitz Roy and its glacier. Back down and we broke the rules and started back down the gulley hoping to find my sunhat. And there it was, stuck on a rock just above the river. Very satisfying to find it! Another very enjoyable eight hour trek. Vicky went back to her hostel and I found my way to a local bar La ...

Wstajemy przed osma, biezemy przysznic . Wczoraj nie starczylo juz sil na kapiel. Zdajemy klucze, nasz gospodaz poleca nam restauracje, w ktorej mozemy zjesc dosyc tanio i dobrze. Udajemy sie na sniadanie, zjadamy pyszna jajecznice, kilka tostow, spijamy kawe na pobudzenie i ruszamy w dalsza droge. Kierunek El Chalten. Czeka nas ok. 600 km po piasku i zwirze. Prowadzimy z Markiem na zmiane, po jednej godzinie kazdy. Ustalilismy sobie taka ...

... to the hostel, made ourselves some lunch and prepared for our first trek in a long time.

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 ...

... to getting up and about tomorrow.

The good thing was that we were dropped off directly outside the hotel that we'd booked because that was also owned by Chalten Travel, so at least that saved us the hassle of walking around town with all our bags at midnight!

After checking into our warm and lively hostel I jumped onto a ...