Two Beers and a Pretzel

Saturday the 21st -

After renting those boots for the glacier hike and in lieu of the soles of my shoes already become worn, I decided to buy a nice pair of ankle high boots.  To break them in, I hiked another trail to the Southwest of town that takes 12 km to rise 1 km.  Katie and Erin were also on the trail ahead of me, but there was no way O could catch them.  I could tell these were heavier, and only made it about 10km and 750m before meeting the girls and turning back.  The way my knees feel today, I made the right choice.

Early in the day, you could actually see Fitz Roy in it’s entirety, so I got a pretty cool pic mid-hike…

However, instead of boring everyone with more and more photos of stunning scenery, I took a 10 minute time lapse video (compressed into 40 seconds) of clouds rolling around Mt. Fitz Roy.  This ought to give you an idea how patient you have to be to get a picture like the one above of the mountain without a veil of clouds.

I got back into town and stretched and rested before going out for dinner.  The sun had already descended past the mountains, but after dinner, the low clouds became luminescent, then dark as the sky turned dark blue and pink…  but I never actually saw the sun set – not that I feel like I missed anything…

Yeah, Patagonia is pretty nice…

So today, Sunday, is dedicated to letting my knees recover from 4 days of mountain and glacier trekking, catching up on the blog, and planning the rest of the South American portion of the trip – which is already a month beyond the original plan.  Tomorrow morning I leave for 2 days on buses with a night in Perito Moreno (the city) to get to Bariloche.

Thurs, Feb 19th

If yesterday’s hike wasn’t enough, we tried another one… and I overted a near disaster -

After booking tomorrows glacier hike I walked out of the office and a massive gust of wind blew my cap away.  I couldn’t find it anywhere, and it was my favorite orange cap that I got at the Ryder Cup last year in Kentucky.  I walked down-wind along the street and could not find it.  The nearby construction crew tried to help.  Lynne looked for it too.  Finally, when the lady from the booking office came out we had all but given up hope when another massive wind gust blew the hat into plain view.

WHEW…  close call…  It must have been either on the roof, or up in the porch rafters.  I felt like Indiana Jones when his hat always finds him…

Anyway, back to the real story…  Erin and Katie had started the trek to Laguna de los Tres (under the 3400 meter peak of Fitz-Roy) about 15 minutes before Lynne and I.  They said they would dilly-dally until we caught up to them.  It never happened because we were all too tired from the previous hike, so I walked as slow as possible while observing some interesting signs along the way…

…along with some stellar views… like the West side of the valley where El Chalten sits.

And Fitz Roy…

I thought this one was kind of zen looking…

Lynne and I stopped at a campground 2.5 km short of the Laguna – which was fine with me.  That last section rises 400 meters in just 2.5 kilometers, and we’d already seen some amazing views of Mt. Fitz-Roy.

The hike back was gruelling – shin splints and sore soles.  Even with cutting the hike short, Lynne and I hiked 9.5k each way with a 350m ascent.  So that was 41 kilometers total with 600m of ascent and descent in less than 24 hours.

The next day, Katie and Erin were in more pain than Lynne and I.  I’m pretty glad we didn’t attempt the last 2.5K.

Wed, Feb 18th-

The bus from El Calafate to El Chalten stopped the the Hotel La Leona – a totally unremarkable building except for the sign outside listing the distances to major cities of the world…

Oh, and the fact that Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (and Sundance’s wife, Elthel) all hid out here for a month before moving into Chile back in 1905.

Once in Chalten, I met back up with the Lynne, Erin & Katie and we hiked an 11km (250m vertical) trek to Laguna Torre, at the foot of Cerro Torre mountain and the terminus of Glaciar Grande.  Katie led the gung-ho pace and everyone was completely exhausted by the end of the 11km return trip, but the views were worth it…  We hiked off to the left in this next pic.  Fitz-Roy is the cloud covered peak to the right.

The glacier and the small lake at the end of the hike.

Zoom in on some interresting clouds on the mountains..

Here’s Me, Erin, Katie and Lynne during the hike.

a view of town on the way back…

I’ll post some more, but the internet is SLOOOOW here…

Today I took a bus to Tierra Del Fuego National Park and hiked along the shore for about 4 hours.  My pictures cannot do justice to the scenery…

The hike started as a relatively easy trail.

After passing a group of older tourists who obviously came from a cruise ship, the trail narrowed quite a bit and climbed up rocks and tree roots.  Then it opened up into a very stunning view of the mountains across the Channel.

The trail evened out in a few places, but mostly remained narrow and rocky – which was fine with me.  I only saw a few more people the rest of the day.

It’s kind of hard to make out, bet there’s a massive mountain on the right side of the next image.

I don’t know why, but when I take Pano pics on the G9, they’re coming out darker than they should.

I could not find a fare to Antarctica for less than $4500, and that’s nearly 2 months budget, so I decided to pass.  You can still find deals that are 1/2 off regular fares, but Lonely Planet guidebooks and some websites mentioned last minute fares around $2500.  All 5 of the the travel agencies I visited said that those last minute fares were available 2 years ago, but the cruise companies caught on to the demand and almost always charge more these days.

My only real regret here is not seeing Cape Horn, But cruises out of Ushuia are not allowed in Chilean waters, so it takes 4 days instead of 1, and it costs around $500.  Still, my dad will be happy to know that his version of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Ghosts of Cape Horn” is a huge hit here in the hostel.

So now I’m pretty much done with Ushuia.  I could have seen the glacier or gone fly fishing, but both are better at my next stop – El Calafate.  About 1/3 of the way back up Argentina – on the border with Chile.  I did finally fine a spare battery for my Canon G9 camera (oddly, here at the End of the Earth – but I could not find it in Rio, Puerto Alegre, or Buenos Aires).

Tomorrow morning I’m catching a 5 AM bus back to Rio Gallegos, and then a connection to El Calafate – arriving at 1 am on the 16th..

Also, as proof that civilization really exists here, I present you the Southernmost Irish Pub in the world:

And finally, in a country obsessed with Che Guevara, I found a t-shirt that tops the Chuck Norris one from BA (although no one tried to mug me this time)…