Beagles and Albatrosses...

The Beagle Channel is named after the HMS Beagle, the ship that discovered it in the early 1800's.  The HMS Beagle was named after the type of dogs favoured by the royal family at the time, so these days it would be called the Corgi Channel. Love a bit of English eccentricity.

Captain Tigger driving the boat

We went on a boat trip to the lighthouse at the end of the earth, through the Beagle Channel.  The trip consisted of some of the most breathtaking views we have ever seen, the water was very still, and the only noise when the boat stopped was that of the sea birds flying around.  

Lighthouse at the End of the Earth

It was only when we went out into the channel, that we could really appreciate the size and scope of the mountains surrounding Ushuaia.  Having had very different scenery on the way across the border from Chile, the Andes were back in full view. 

We saw penguins, sea lions and lots of seabirds on the trip, but the best were definitely the Albatross.  The birds were all gorging on the sardines in the channel, but when the boat approached they all wanted to be elsewhere.  The Albatross literally runs along the water until it can take off, they reminded me of something as I was watching them, and it was only when I realised what it was that I knew they definitely were Albatross - the way they ran across the water looked exactly like Orville the Albatross in The Disney movie The Rescuers!  One of them kept trying to fly away, and in the end had to take the tactical decision to void its lunch of sardines so that it wasn't too fat to run... Not the most pleasant sight - interesting to see how much they could eat though!

Albatross

One downside of the boat trip was clumsy kat striking again - I dropped the camera on the lens and smashed the housing... Not ideal 2 weeks into the trip. It seems to now be working, and after a very long day trying to find a camera shop we have since got a new, contingency lens - so fingers crossed that will all be fine.

So this trip was on valentines day, and full marks go to Andy for getting our tour leader to go and get me a valentines day card - we'd agreed not to bother as we were travelling so that was a nice surprise.  Andy of course didn't make a fuss about this at all - I'm never going to hear the end of it!!  Lovely Ash had arranged a valentines day drinks party for us, you'll see from the pictures that we were all getting into it :)

The next day we went up yet another mountain, this time by chair lift. Now I don't really do chair lifts having never been skiing - you'll see from the picture that I was not particularly happy on the way up! We hiked up to a snowfield which felt odd on such a hot day, and then up to a panoramic viewpoint of Ushuaia - again, amazing.  The views just kept getting better.

Andy on the snow field

Ushuaia shipwreck

On walking through the hotel that afternoon I saw my tour leader Ben from the last time I was in South America, in 2005.  Ben was in Ushuaia to join one of the Antarctic cruises, which many of us were very tempted to jump onto as we were so close.  It was very random to see him, of all places for our paths to cross I don't think I'd have expected the end of the earth! 

Our last night was at yet another amazing restaurant, where bottles of Malbec cost $7, and the steaks are incredible.  It was a great last night before heading back to Buenos Aires.

Our last morning involved a search for the sign approving we were at the end of the earth. 30 minutes looking for it and then we finally found it - it was visible from our hotel. Oh dear!!

The flight later that morning treated us to hands down the best views we have ever had from a plane (although Andy thinks Fiji equals it). The pictures speak for themselves... It was unbelievable.

Pinguinos and the End of the Earth...

Wednesday was Penguin day. Having been given the luxury of a 9.30 start (at least an hour later than any other day so far on this trip!) we headed down to Punta Arenas, another gateway town to the beautiful national parks in the region.  From Punta Arenas it was a short and bumpy journey across the peninsula to Otway Sound, which feeds into the Magellan Strait. The wind was bitterly cold, and not many penguins came out to play, but we still got to see a few, and they were awesome.

Seeing penguins in the wild and up close is quite surreal, they are quite odd creatures. The way they walk is so cute, and they are so expressive - the one in the last picture fell behind the group he was walking with, and seemed quite indifferent!

The next day was a very long travel day to get back to Argentina, but with scenery as incredible as that in Southern Patagonia, the 11 hours passed very quickly. Passing through the province of Tierra del Fuego on our way to Ushuaia the mountains seemed to grow with every passing mile.

Ushuaia is the southernmost city on earth, although there are settlements further south - they are few and far between, and very small. It is the closest city to Antarctica, and full of people preparing for their Antarctic adventures on the cruise ships.  Once we realised just how close we were to Antarctica (relatively speaking!), we and several others were quite tempted to change our plans.  Part of what stopped us all is the knowledge that by not visiting Antarctica this time, we'll have to visit again another time, a perfect excuse!

Famed for its king crab and seafood, Ushuaia was not a culinary experience I was particularly looking forward to,  but as everywhere else in Argentina, the food was incredible - we've never eaten so much good steak and drunk so much lovely red wine in such a short space of time.  The January detox seems like a very long time ago :)

Too tired to write anymore, Ushuaia was pretty full on... Next time we will mostly be telling you about the importance of Beagles vs Corgis, and what not to do with your camera lens...!!!

Torres del Paine

Puerto Natales was our pit stop on the way into Torres del Paine National Park for the trekking part of our trip to Patagonia. A quirky little town with amazing food and everything someone going hiking could possibly need.  Our journey into the national park took a few hours, but the landscape got more and more dramatic as the journey went on, we were treated to views of guanaco and condors, and strange ostrich type birds which I couldn't even begin to spell...  

Day 1 when we arrived to the campsite (yes - campsite) was a trek up to the Grey Glacier lookout, the Patagonian wind was out in full force, and the terrain was a little tricky when dealing with wind gusting as much as it was. By the time we got to the lookout the wind had picked up even more, and the rain had joined in, so it was a question of a couple of quick snaps and get out of the weather.  The glacier was beautiful though, not quite as dramatic as Perito Moreno, but i doubt much ever will be.  There were beautiful blue icebergs drifting down the lake, it was quite surreal to see yet another huge wall of ice.

Our campsite was at the Refugio used by a lot of hikers, and they had a bar - we were all so cold that it seemed rude not to go and drink some red wine... Several bottles later between us it was to the tents we went. What followed was a night that reconfirmed that I do not ❤️ camping... The wind was so strong it felt like we were going to be blown away! 

Having survived, the next morning was the start of our full day hike to the French Valley. These hikes are all part of the renowned 'W' trek through the park.  We started off in clear blue skies and sunshine on day 2, the terrain was a little rougher again, and once we got to the valley we saw what we had travelled to see, the beautiful hanging glacier.  There was a rocky moraine that we could climb to get to the best viewpoint, an additional 90 minutes scrambling up rocky slopes in weather that was deteriorating rapidly.  I made the decision to skip that section and enjoy my hike back to camp, Andy made it to the top and came back a couple of hours later a little bedraggled, the weather turns very quickly here, and they were all very cold and wet when they got back.

Night 2 was spent in a private campsite run by G Adventures, we had a gorgeous dinner, and were spoilt with hot showers and panoramic views of the Torres del Paine, which would be our hike on day 3.

We had been warned that this was the hike with the biggest uphill section, they definitely weren't wrong.  90 minutes climbing the hills on what was a beautiful hot and sunny morning took its toll on a few members of the group.  The effects of hiking in the wind and rain the previous two days had caught up with us, and when we got to the halfway point to the Torres del Paine lookout, several of us decided that we had gone far enough.  The gamble of continuing the hike is that you don't know whether the towers are visible until after you have scrambled up the moraine for an hour... Our view was beautiful from the Refugio, so we decided to savour the moment rather than push ourselves to exhaustion. The disappointment of getting up there and not seeing them (particularly as I have mentioned before - we are not hikers!!) would have been too much.

This certainly felt like the right call when we were on our way back and could see the weather closing in behind us... 

The hike down was absolutely beautiful, one of the best things about South America is that everywhere you look you are faced with incredible views - 

We made the most of having been very active for a few days when we got back to Puerto Natales by gorging on amazing burgers... Exactly what was required at the time!

Did you want ice with that?

Yesterday we visited he Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the largest in the world, and particularly special because it is still advancing (apparently they usually retreat?). I was expecting from pictures that I had seen that it would be big, but when we actually got up close to it the size was staggering. 

We went out on a boat ride up to the face of the glacier at first, freezing cold out on the water as you would expect. Everyone was hoping for a giant portion to calve off while we were there so that we could see it up close, but at the same time it was probably for the best that it didn't happen, as we got pretty near to it.

After that we went up to one of the walkways above the glacier and realised that however vast we had thought the glacier from water level, it was nothing compared to its real size. The face was double the length that we had first seen, and it extended back as far as we could see through the mountains. We sat and had our lunch, and we all agreed that it was high up on the list of the most unusual places we've ever picnicked! 

The glacier had been creaking the whole time we had been watching, with inside sections cracking and small parts breaking off all the time. It is constantly moving and changing.  We all sat with cameras poised, hoping for the shot of a large piece calving, and we were lucky enough to see a few pieces go.  Whether or not we 'got the shot' is questionable, but when you watch them in sequence you can see the movement.  

On the way back to El Calafate we stopped off in the Glaciarium, where we could visit a museum and learn more about the ice, or go to the ice bar for 30 minutes of free drinks... We chose the latter; having never been to the ice bar in London this seemed like the thing to do :) Absolutely freezing as you would expect, but hilarious - it was like a mid afternoon underground ice rave!

We've now crossed over into Chile, it took us a while to get out of Argentina this morning, and adding that to the 4 hour bus journey, some very early starts and hectic days, Andy came out with the line that I'll probably never let him forget 'can't we go and check in to a 5* hotel??'.  Given that we are now in Punto Arenas preparing for our 3 days of hiking around Torres del Paine before a 12 hour journey to Ushuaia, this doesn't bode well!!!!

13,754km...

Arriving in Buenos Aires was not quite what we expected, having had scorching weather and sunshine for the last few weeks we were greeted with high humidity and rain (albeit warm!). We ate a lot of empanadas in our first couple of days in the city - essential to try as many as possible to find out which were our favourites - and wandered around the city. We're saving most of the sightseeing for the few days we have back in BA in a couple of weeks. 

Having spent a couple of days acclimatising to being in an all together very different part of the world, we met up with our group for our two week trip to Patagonia on Monday. That night we went out for our first steak and red wine dinner - where Andy had 'the best steak he's ever had'... For anyone that has been to Argentina I'm sure you'll agree that he'll almost certainly be saying that a lot! The guy from GAP who we were out with knew our part of the world very well, although he is Argentinian and grew up in Buenos Aires, he lived in Surbiton for a couple of months - you really couldn't make it up. 

We travelled down to El Calafete on Tuesday morning, and the first glimpse of Patagonia from the plane window was incredible, it is like New Zealand but on an entirely different scale, the Andes are immense, and the scenery is stunning. Our first stop was a three hour drive away in El Chalten, a tiny town which is known for hiking, a base to visit Fitz Roy Mountain.  Yesterday was our first opportunity to test out the hiking boots that we had the best of intentions of wearing in while still at home. This was certainly a decent first outing - we hiked around 20km up to Laguna de los Tres.  Full disclosure - the last half an hour of the hike would have involved hands and knees scrambling to get to the viewpoint, we went about halfway up and then thought better of it, ankles breaking on day 3 when we have so much more to do did not seem like the best idea. We're saving the scrambling for Torres del Paine in a few days.  We walked back via an amazing viewpoint of one of the glaciers that just seems to ooze out from a crack in the mountain, the scale of everything is unbelievable, jaw dropping scenery at every turn.  

My pedometer tracked us as having walked around 35000 steps yesterday, and climbing the equivalent of 330 flights of stairs... It has never known numbers like it! 

Things we learned on our first trek day were:

1) Andy makes a rubbish donkey/packhorse

2) It snows in Patagonia even in the summer

3) A local guides idea of 15 minutes and ours are slightly different (45 minutes later still walking...)

4) Dulce de Leche is delicious!

Last night was a well earned trip to the local microbrewery, where they make beer from the glacier melt water in the mountains.  Andy was a big fan, and by the end of it had talked himself into a tour of the room where they make the beer...

Andy has decided he's anti shaving... We are 5 days in and the beard is growing in well... I am undecided, not sure how long it it going to be allowed to stay!

We're back off to El Calafate today, and off to visit the Perito Moreno glacier tomorrow... More soon :)

A what???

So we're sitting at the airport waiting for our dinner to arrive, drinking prosecco to celebrate the start of our travels. Our flight is already delayed by an hour, but as someone wise said - that just gives us another hour to sip on the bubbles!!! 

It's been an eventful day to say the least, we've been up since 7 doing the few (ha!) last minute things that needed doing. The day didn't get off to the best start when we opened a drawer in the kitchen this morning and found a mouse. Really?? Today of all days??? Despite laying an elaborate bread based enticement trap for the mouse, he was too clever for us, and doing anything else with him fell firmly in the 'too difficult' column for today... It's all good, he was really cute - how much damage can one tiny mouse do?! (That is rhetorical - I don't want to know!)

Safe to say we are both very excited, we popped round to see family today and got and gave lots of hugs and kisses. It's lovely to know that however far away we are we can stay in touch - skype is magic! 

Bubbles calling, best be off - next stop Buenos Aires!!!! 

K x