Hosteria Koonek El Chalten

... STEAK AND MORE STEAK!!!! great.

Health.
My front left foot arch still gives a little gip- but seems more tolerable day by day- especially with 2 pairs of insoles. The rest of me is fine!

Fellow group members this 3 weeks:-

one Middx Hosp. Geriatrician aged 62 and wife (teacher)
one Scottish Metereologist and teacher wife- same vintage
one 74 yr old widower who wends his way as well as eweryone else
a couple of 35 yr old ...

... dirty old man way back in May '08... I had to lean into it quite steeply and was still being pushed sideways off the path. But once I reached the top of the hill, the scale was redefinted once again!

I am not exaggerating at all when I say that I actually had to crouch down because it felt like I was about be be lifted into the air by the wind rushing up the hill. My windproof jacket was flapping so strongly in the wind that it sounded like a lawnmower engine ...

... you exhale when breathing condenses on the roof in cold weather (ie here in Patagonia), and like a normal tent, touching the sides draws water in too. As a result the roof of my tent was wet on the inside and dripping a bit when the weather beaded up. And when you roll the tent back up, all the fabric gets packed together and wet. It`s not really problematic (imagine swilling out the tent with water and draining it...it`s just the residual wetness) but it`s not something ...

We caught an early morning bus from El Calafate to a small place called El Chalten. We were coming here to check out the amazing mountains of FitzRoy and Cerro Torre. Actually, when we say the early morning bus, it's the only bus - as El Chalten is tiny. The town has only been in existence for 24 years. It sprung up overnight to stop the Chileans doing a land-grab back in the mid 80s, and is so young that no-one is, as yet, buried in its cemetery.

It took ...

... com aquela agua geladinha que vinha direto dos glaciares acima. Claro, molhei as luvas e meus dedos congelaram doeram muito, mas valeu!

O retonro a El Chalten foi tranquilo, a volta eh sempre “mais curta”. Ainda deu tempo de tirar fotos pelo caminho e tomar um copao de leite quente num restaurante da cidade,
minha unica refeicao depois desde o cafe da manha.

Pensei em passar a noite lah mas com as agencias de viagem fechadas e ...

... I am not a quitter.... 2:00 pm: Get to top... i shed a few tears.... the view is amazing.... it was the clearest day for past three months.. the pictures say it all (when we finally upload ...

... with as the name suggests home brewed beer and good food. Met up with an English speaking group including a South African who was about to sail with six friends from Antarctica to South Africa. Hope he made it! Day three we went up the other side of the town for a more panoramic view of the whole area and am feeling stronger every day. Next morning an early start back to El Calafate and Andy who had chased my hat was also on the bus. We arranged ...

... po wczorajszym dniu. Wielogodzinne prowadzenie samochodu w uciazliwych warunkach potrafi potwornie zmeczyc, tym bardziej ze poruszamy sie nasza "biedna" Corsa ;). Dzisiaj jedzie sie nam o wiele lepiej, czeste zmiany i stan drogi, dziala na nas korzystnie. Skupiamy sie glownie na jak najszybszym dotarciu do celu, wiekszasc drogi to typowy dla tego rejonu step . Dopiero tuz przed samym El Chalten , zaczynamy dostrzegac wysokie Andy pokryte ...

... Burberry caps, drinking Stella and throwing kebabs at each other. Innit.

The walk was allegedly 2 hours there and 2 hours back, but we thought that made sense because there was no point chucking ourselves into a more challenging 6 or 8 hour trek when we're out of practice. There's nothing worse that walking for miles out into the middle ...

... expensive) internet connection for a few minutes to update the blog and check the Liverpool & Chelsea CL results before collapsing in our basic but really comfy room.

It was so nice having some space after being cooped up in a bus for 2 full days.

We have very little to show for the last couple of days and we didn't really ...