Checked out of the hostel and into another across the road (Rancho Grande) as i wante to meet other people who I could perhaps hike with for the day. Sure enough while I was eating my breakfast and looking at the map, someone approached me - Tim, also from Melbourne. He wanted to hike into the park and camp that night so we decided to hike in together (although there was no way I was camping so I'd walk back myself).
We went to the spermarket to get some food (saw a girl from Bariloche!) and set off to go the Lagos Tres at the nase of cerro Fitzroy. We had perfect weather, blue sky, bright sun and little wind - unusual conditions for the area I think as it stayed like that all day!
We had lunch at the mirador before the base and spoke to a couple from the UK who joined us on the hike for a while. They told me about a restaurant in the town that had lemon pie - somewhere i would have to visit later! Myself and tim hiked up to the base of Fitzroy and had a view into a couple of the lakes - the view was spectacular - a bit like the Swiss Alps - heavenly with all the snow capped peaks and low clouds! I hiked back to the town and found the lemon pie place (Patagonicas) - I had a great salad and the best lemon pie, and i told the staff that - they said it was homemade and you could certainly tell! Back at the hostel I got chatting to a girl who worked there. I told here where I'd been in the park and that it was´'muy caliente' (very hot). She laughed at me and told me not to say that but to use aother term - apparently that can be interpreted as you saying you are 'hot' in another sense..... No wonder guys look at me funny when i talk to them about the weather!
I noticed in my dorm there was a bag with Jagged Globe printed on it which gave me deja vu....it was the company hat sponsored the EWR exped so I asked the guy where he'd been with the company and we got chatting and turns out he also knows a guy from the team as he lives in his village - the same guy that the British bloke on the boat knew - he must get around the country! Today I went on an ice trekking excursion on the Torres Glacer where we could have a go at ice climbing. I was with a doctor from Luxemborg and a couple from Zaragosa, Spain so their common language was French, although some of them spoke fairly good English. After hiking for 3 to 4 hours to the glacier in horrendous wind that was causing even the guides to fall over they decided to make us turn back. The winds were at least 30 mph with gusts well above that as you couldn't stand up and I'd thought it was pretty dangerous for quite some time when we were walking! I was so tired as it took so much energy (can't imagine how that must feel on top of Everest!). We'd had to cross a river on a tirre bridge and on the way back I gt stuck as the wind caused the rope to dislodge off the pulley - not a great experience!
Whilst walking back to the hostel I realised my legs were in pieces then remembered I'd walked the circuit in Torres del Paine and hiked to Fitzroy in the same week, carrying a heavy pack for a lot of that distance (getting on for 50 miles!). Decided i would probably opt not to go to the glacier again as i wouldn't have wanted to hike all that way again. However, back in the office their first suggestion was a 70% refund which was reasonable so I took the money and ran. Got showered, told the hostel I wasn't staying that night, ran to Patagonicas and quickly scoffed more lemon pie and got the bus back to El Calafate and checked into the same hostel as before to see the Aussies from Sydney in there (who I'd seen running, been on the boat with and given me the sweets in Torres del Paine!).
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