Active Volcanos, Glaciers and crazy horses
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El Calafate,
Argentina
Saturday, May 8, 2004
Hola Friends,
Well it seems a long time since our departure from Santiago. We are currently in Argentina in El Calafate which is about as near to the South Pole that you are ever g oing to get. We hopped on an overnight bus from SAntiago fearing the worst only to find that for 11 sheets we spent 12 hours on chairs that were almost as comfy as my bed and even had a host close our curtains and put a soft pillow behind our head. Something i havent experienced since i was 9 years old! The next day we awake after the best sleep in motion i have ever had and shortly arrive in Peurrto Varas.
We check into a wicked hostel that is empty appart from us. The pics so far are of this area, known as the Lake DIstrict. Its the gateway to the biggest v olcano in this region kn own as Volcano Osorno. YOu can climb this volcano, it takes 12 hours and requires some very techincal ice climbing. After learning the news that many people have been killed try in g to do this i promptly take my name of the list! 2 Irish girls moved into our hostel so we hired a car and went for a drive halfway up the Volcano and to some waterfalls that were formed from channels of laver that er upted from the volcano in 1982. It really was ab solutely stunning! LAter that evening we learned of some local natural hot pools that required paying a local boy to row you across a very fast flowing river, leading you through some woods to discover the oh so natural hot pools. After reassuring myself the locals were definitely not out of the film Deliverance, i don my boardies and jump in the hot puddle. The water was just a little hotter than a korma! I eventually tempted Michelle into the puddle. As you can see from the pics, my camera shutter speed un forunately wasnt quick enough to take a pic of her. We decided to try the next puddle. Michelle put her foot in and sank into mud about 2 foot deep. I put my foot in and witnessed a rarther large crab scurry across the sand. This was the end of our cool puddle experience!
Next stop we head off up North to Pucon. Here we could apparently climb a volcano without putting our life in as much danger! After convincing Michelle that a blind man with no legs could do it we signed up. That night we took a bottle of wine to some awesome hot pools. It rained but it just made the atmosphere that bit more special. THere were 5 deep pools that we relaxed in for 3 h ours right next to a river and a forest . Much m ore like it!!! We waited for 2 days b ut the weather was to bad to climb the volcano. ALso we were woken up on our las night by an earthquake and laver was seen seeping out of the volcano so we couldnt go up. Apparently it was too windy. When we asked our guide if the laver was a problem he replied what laver? An hour later we are on a bus to Bariloche in Argentina. Im not sure if Pucon is still there........
The boarder crossing took us right through the Andes displaying beautiful scenery with Autumn leaves glowing! We arrive in BAriloche and head straight for a getaway reco m mended to us in Santiago. After a 4 wheel drive up some hills we arrive at our house. A warm awesome house with some amazing views. I will put some pics on here soon. We went horse riding with a local guide who took us all around the mountain. It was the best h orse trek ive ever b een on and my horse for the first time felt like a motorbike cos it did everything i told it to! Seriously much fun and speed was had by all!
After a v ery rel axing time and book reading in Bariloche we c atch a f light straight d own to our current locati on El Calafate. At this poi nt can i j ust apologise for the gaps in my text. There is some young kid sat next to me playing Daley Th ompsons Dec atholon and i think his mate was prev iosuly on my pc hen ce the space b ar is som ewhat weathered. We have just ret urn ed from a day trip to m Oreno Glacier, its over 257 square kilom eters and over 100m above sea level. It was ab solutely breathtaking and you go up to it on a b oat watching huge ch unks of ice crash down o ff it and hear thundering sounds as they h it the water. Pi cs of this to follow.
Next stop Beunos Aires and more stories to f ollow hi to you all from ch illy El calafate
