Travel Blog 2010

So Another week or so has passed. We arrived in Bariloche in the Lake District to find our campsite closed (like most in the cocking guide book) but found a nice central hostel for 2 nights and got to grips with the town. It is set, suprisingly, on a lake and has the ambience of a European ski resort, complete with fondue restaurants and St Bernards to pose next to.

We managed to find a campsite in the national park 45 minutes south again, predictably, next to a lake. Here we found epic camping pitches #3 and #4. The place had so many good spots we had to try two.

Here, having now got the hang of camping, we went parilla crazy, as it was only a 4km round trip to a pretty decent supermarket.

The lake setting was stunning and the surrounding mountains made for some nice hikking.

The weather here is much warmer than southern Patagonia, but on our last day camping it rained continuosly all day so we packed up and went back to town for a night in the hostel before heading to Mendoza.

I had been really looking forward to doing a cycle tour of the vinyards in Maipu, on the outskirts of Mendoza (apperently so had every other tourist in South America the day we were there) which we did on the first day. This turned out to be rubbish. The vinyards are not as old or as interesting as those in Europe and set along a busy industrial road (the cycle route), the tours are cliched and uninteresting, and tastings actually cost money. We met some Americans from California who assured us that it is much better there, so something to look forward to.

That all being said, they do make some excellent wines here, especially the Malbec. Nikki and I got stuck in appropriatley. That night we had dinner in the hostel and got chatting to some Argentinians, Jose, Carlos and Santiago. They are awesome. They are from Cordoba, where we are now and have been excellent hosts. More of that later.

Were it not for what I am about to recount here our stay in Mendoza was fairly non descript. However, as you may have worked out by now, my biggest terror in life are spiders. My second? Heights. this is why I found it very strange being here:

Our hostel owner, Mario is also a paragliding instructor. Here he is with Nikki.

Also, here is a link so you can see Nikki in action. Watch her legs after take off. When he said dont stop running i dont think that is what he meant….

Nikki YouTube Link

Mario is the most charming Hostel owner/paraglide pilot/drinking partner you could hope to meet. His place, Hostel A, is awesome. I highly recomend it to anyone visiting Mendoza.

We are, as I mentioned before, currently in Cordoba, Argentina’s second city. Jose and Carlos took us out for dinner the other night at the typically Argentinian time of 11:30, followed by a 3:00am sight seeing tour of the city (all on a school night, they had to be in the office the next day at 8:00am).

Cordoba is a great city, with amazing architecture dating back to the Christian Missions of the 15th and 16th centuries.

We have one more night here then it is onto Salta, then Northern Chile where we hope to update you again. Until then, Be Prepared!

Before I go, back by popular demand, a quick update of “New Stuff I Like”

16) Milka Paradise. take 3 oversized Oreo cookies. Sandwich between them chocalate cream. Dip the whole thing in Milka Chocolate. Paradise.

17) Melonzita. Not sure whether Jose Carols and Santiago invented this one themselves, cant seem to find any reference online for it anyway. Take one Melon. Remove seeds. Fill with booze. Insert straw. Drink.

Firstly, the reason this update is so late is that the internet in Patagonia is so slow it has basically stopped.

Anyway, we have been away now for 2 months and I can hear you all shouting ” Nick, what are your travel stats!!??”. Well here you go:

• Countries visited: 5
• Different accommodations: 19
• Hours spent on buses: 149 (6.2 days)
• Hours spent trying to hitchhike: 4.5
• Successful hitchhikes: 0
• Fridge magnets: 11

Now, Back to the trip. From Rio Gallegeos we travelled via Chile to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the southern most city on Earth. A fairly pleasant place it is however horrifically expensive and touristy, but we stayed in a cheap campsite outside of town, a ski area in winter, where we found Epic Camping Pitch #1

The campsite is based at the bottom of an old ski slope, not used much any more due to the lack of snow, but which leads to  12 mile round trip hike to a Glacier.

Until we reached the glacier trail (3 miles of the hike), we didn’t see another soul, and the scenery was amazing. Unfortunately after this the weather turned and we had freezing sleet and rain for the next 2 days, which in a tent makes life a bit tricky. So it was time to leave, via Rio Gallegeos again, to El Calafate.

El Calafate is, again, a very touristy town, but its main attraction is Glacier Perito Moreno just down the road which is fairly amazing.

We were in a hostel for 3 nights which was relative luxury compared to camping, and it was near Lago Argentina, a nice walk itself.

From El Calafate it was time to head to the mountain town of El Chalten to Tackle the Fitzroy range.

As you can see, El Chalten is tiny and has in fact only existed since 1985, built due to an anticipated boarder dispute from Chile. It is known as “the trekking capital of Argentina”, and in the 5 days we spent here we clocked up 50+ miles of hiking, including one to Lago Torre to see an amazing glacier, and Cerro Torre mountain, normally shrouded in cloud, but luckily for us bathed in sunshine.

We also had a small hike to a waterfall

Then an epic 15 miler climbing 1000 meters to a panoramic viewpoint which was so cloudy that nothing could be seen in the direction that mattered, but the view the other way was nice enough.

Still, at the summit we managed to shelter behind a rock and enjoy some lunch.

In El Chalten we found Epic Camping Pitch #2

Life was fairly tough here, the only time we spent inside was to buy food, but we survived by drinking the free Evian

Being a twisted fire starter

And enjoying the occasional Parilla

We are now back in El Clafate filling up on real food after a week of jam sandwiches and spaghetti with tomato sauce, and prepping for our next 28 hour journey to Barioloche. Keep well and remember, Stay Alert!  

Arrived in Buenos Aires and things felt strangely familiar

What a fantastic city. Nikki said on our first day “it feels like New York Paris”

Found a great hotel, the type that big chains have almost killed off in Europe.

Like a lot of Buenos Aires, it feels like how i would imagine Europe did in the 1960’s and 70’s.

We stayed longer than we had planned to as we took a day trip over to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay (4th Country) a really well preserved town just up the road from Fray Bentos. (google it, so weird…..)

On our fifth and final day we went to check out the cemetery which has the most amazingly elaborate tombs.

Here we witnessed the most crass, embarrassing and awkward tourist moment ever. A short plump female New Yorker of about 60 started to sing and dance  to “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” outside Eva “Evita” Peron’s grave. They almost had to bury me too.

From Buenos Aires we travelled south to Patagonia to the Chubut region where there are colonies both Welsh and Penguin. Firstly the Welsh:

A Welsh tradition they keep here is high tea, and my lord how good a cup of English Breakfast tasted after all these weeks.

We were in a town called Gaiman, which seems half Argentinian half British. Lots of beautiful rose gardens and Victorian architecture.

Moving onto the Penguins. About 60km east of Gaiman is Punta Tomba, the worlds largest breeding site of Magellanic Penguins.

We have ditched Hostels, Hotels, Pousadas, Guest Houses etc for the wilderness and have been camping for the last week or so.

This has proved to be not only hugely cost saving but also a lot of fun. We are going to try and camp at least 5 days a week until Bolivia at the end or April.

Currently we are in Rio Gallegeos, just breaking up the 30+ hour journey to Tierra del Fuego. Should be in our campsite in Ushuaia by tomorrow evening, will update shortly. Stay Strong!

Just before I go a quick update for “New Stuff I Like”

13) Choripan. One of the best things Pork has given us. Ideal when steak gets too much.

14) Bus Bingo. Who says 21 hour bus journeys have to be dull.

15) Mate. When in Rome….