BILL, JEANNE, BUCK AND SARAH'S

EXCELLENT ADVENTURES IN PATAGONIA

JAN 20 - FEB 5, 2012

(mouse click the thumbnail photos for a larger image)

"Would you be interested (Seriously!) in doing something similar in the Patagonian Andes late next fall or the fall of '12?  Google "Fitzroy mountains," "Cerro Torre" and "Torres del Paine."  I'm totally serious ... It's the one area on the face of the earth I want to visit, to see with my own eyes before I'm too decrepit."

Those words from Buck's email of August, 2010 were the kick-off for our trip to Patagonia.  Buck and I had just returned from our 50th high school reunion in Danville, VA during which we re-established our friendship after a 40+ year hiatus.  We had played together on the same street from about 5 years of age, were in the same classes in elementary and high schools and were roommates at the University of Virginia.  We then went our separate ways to raise families and build careers, etc. (Bill to California and Buck to Massachusetts).  We had a lot of catching up to do and what an awesome place to do it!!

So where is Patagonia anyway?  The geographic boundaries are not exact but extend from roughly 300 miles south of Buenos Aires to the very tip end of South America.  By some accounts Patagonia also includes the Falkland Islands or Malvinas as the Argentines call them.  (Las Malvinas are "illegally" occupied by the British according to some signs we saw in Argentina.)

 We chose the tour company, Andes Adventures, to make all the arrangements for us during one of their regular guided trips to South America.  Andes Adventures was highly recommended to me by some hiking pals in San Diego who had previously completed the same trip.  Our travel package included all air and land transportation, some of the airport/customs fees, guided hikes with local guides, all the meals (with wine!)  and lodging.   Our group included 26 hikers and 13 runners and and we were accompanied during the entire trip by Devy (the owner of Andes) and Abelardo who lives in Peru on the rare occasions when he is not doing a tour group.

FRIDAY JAN 20, 2012

Our LAN airlines flight from Los Angeles departed at about noon for a 13 hour flight to Santiago de Chile with a short stop in Lima, Peru. Some travelers had a similar flight from Miami. In Santiago airport we had a very short connection time for our last leg to Punta Arenas, Chile.  In Santiago we had to pay a $140USD per person "reciprocity fee" and we made the mistake of paying it in cash. The customs lady would not accept most of our $20 bills unless they were freshly printed with no folds or creases.  I still suspect that she may have pocketed a few bills during our mad confusion but we did manage to come up with enough cash and barely made it to the connecting flight in time.

SATURDAY JAN 21, 2012

There is a 5 hour time difference between California and Chile and it was about noon local time when we were finally squared away in our hotel, Los Navegantes, in Punta Arenas.  We finally connected with Buck and Sarah at about 6PM and then all enjoyed our first visits and dinner with the tour groups.

Punta Arenas is the largest Chilean city in this southern part of Patagonia and is situated on the north side of the famous Straits of Magellan. The straits connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via a long maze of passageways. At first glance of Punta Arenas Buck and  I both had  feelings of déjà vu.  I suppose it is due to the sort of European look or 1950s vintage eastern USA appearance of the buildings.

We had a little time for some photos and a quick walks around town.  It was chilly and windy but no rain.  The famous world explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, was here in about 1520 and his statue looks out over the straits that bear his name.  Accompanying Magellan on the statue are a few of the indigenous people who have long since all died off.  The origins of the name, Patagonia, are somewhat vague but the name apparently started with Magellan's chronicles and referred to the local people who were tall (giants) compared to the Europeans of the time and were said to have big feet.  There is a legend that visitors who rub the bare foot of the guy on the statue will have good luck and will someday return to Punta Arenas.  Apparently there are a lot of lucky return visitors to Punta Arenas since the bronze foot is shiny from so many touching hands.

SUNDAY JAN 22, 2012

We had an early (0800) departure via bus northbound from Punta Arenas.  After only one hour of travel we stopped at the Otway Sound to observe a colony of burrowing Magellanic penquins.  These birds come ashore from about Sept until March of each year to mate, lay eggs and raise their young.  In late March they return to the Atlantic Ocean and journey to the Brazilian coast for feeding.  At the time of our visit the off spring had grown quite large and were starting to lose their baby feathers.

At 1030 we resumed our journey north through vast miles of unpopulated, wind swept and treeless plains until we reached the town of Puerto Natales which is located on the shores of the "Last Hope" sound.  We had lunch and did a quick walk along the water front before continuing our journey.  Puerto Natales has a unique "mascot"- the extinct giant sloth or milodón whose fossil remains are found in the area.

At 5PM we completed a quick tour of the "Cave of Milodón" and soon had our first sightings of the Torres del Paine region- our destination.  We had a view from above the Lago del Toro and could spot the distant Grey Glacier. 

At 7:40PM after entering the National Park we reached the end of the line for our bus since it is too big for the bridge to our lodging at the Torres Refugio.   After a quick transfer of luggage and passengers to the smaller vans we were soon established in our rooms at the refuge.  Well, maybe "established" is not the best description since the 6 person rooms with bunk beds do not readily lend themselves to good order.  Regardless, we soon bonded with our roommates for the next 2 nights and were off to dinner.  Dinner here typically consisted of soup, bread, a meat and potatoes main dish, a dessert (maybe flan or fruit cocktail) and lots of red wine.

MONDAY JAN 23, 2012

Our stay in the Torres del Paine Park had to be modified from the original plan.  There had recently been serious wild fires in the park and some of the trails and hotels/refuges were closed.  Hence, we missed out on doing part of the "w" circuit hike, seeing the Grey Glacier and taking a boat trip on Lake Pehoé.  Well, maybe next time!

By the way: Torres means towers in Spanish. Paine is not some Englishman's name but rather is based upon some native word that means "blue" according to our guide, Armando.  The "blue" may refer to the glacial ice or color of lakes.  Armando and Nelson (who lives in Bishop, CA!) were our local guides for this portion of our adventure.

At 0830 the hikers and runners were all ready to start our first activity in the Torres del Paine area.  Our destination was the Mirador del Torres at an altitude of 2904 feet and our starting altitude at the refugio was 443 feet.  Hence, our gain was about 2460 feet.  However, we discovered that this number is not too important because of the constant up and down trail.  According to my GPS the cumulative ascent for this day was 4270 feet over a total distance of 12.8 miles!  The hike was mostly to the north and along the Ascensio Valley and River. We passed a camping area (Chileno) which was very crowded.  In fact, all the trails we visited in this area were crowded due to the recent closing of other hiking/camping areas.

This was actually the most difficult hike of the trip with a very rough, rocky trail and it was quite warm in the sun.  Buck and I arrived at the Mirador at about 1:30pm and then Sarah and Jeanne were about 30 minutes later.  Perhaps to compensate for our missed hikes due to fires the weather was absolutely beautiful for our viewing of the famed Torres.  In fact the weather was so perfect and un-Patagonia that we worried we might miss out on the true Patagonia weather.  (We need not have been so concerned!)

TUESDAY JAN 24, 2012

 This morning we packed our day packs for an overnight stay and stored our luggage in the refugio.  Our destination for this day was the Refugio Cuernos (horns) which was a westward 8.1 mile trek with cumulative ascents and descents of 1476 and 1556 feet respectively.  The trail followed the north shore of Lago Nordenskjöld and provided lots of good views of the peaks "Cuernos del Paine" and "Paine Grande" with their hanging glaciers.  We frequently heard a thundering sound which was caused by hunks of glacier crashing down into the valleys below.  I did not get a photo of these events.  These peaks are two toned in color with a dark sedimentary layer of stone on top with light colored granite below and then more dark colors below that. Very interesting geology.

An assisted crossing of the Rio del Arriero pouring down from the glaciers above added to our entertainment. I arrived at the very crowed Los Cuernos Refugio at about 3PM.  Fortunately, the four of us had decided to invest an extra $100USD per couple and stay in the private, one bedroom cabanas.  They were very comfortable and offered awesome views of the lake and surroundings.  We finished up the day with a dinner of soup, pork, mashed potatoes, canned fruit and, of course, red wine (Armando kindly carried the bottles from the Torres Refugio).  I discovered that a bottle of Austral beer cost $25 Argentine pesos or about $6USD.

WEDNESDAY JAN 25, 2012

Today's hike was the reverse of yesterday's.  There was some disappointment that we could not visit the French Valley but our guides felt that was just too long a hike for one day.  I picked up an interesting bit of information from guide, Nelson (I think), about trips to the King George Island of Antarctica.  One can fly there from Punta Arenas and stay at a hotel in Villa de Estrella. It may be a lower costs way to see some of Antarctica?

We returned to the Torres Refugio at about 2:20PM after walking under cloudy and light rain conditions.

THURSDAY JAN 26, 2012

Today Armando led the hikers on an optional walk to check out some ancient cave paintings and to observe the large herds of guanacos that live south of the Lago Amargo bus stop and bridge.  The hike was 7.8 miles long with a cumulative elevation gain of 1760 feet.  Buck and Jeanne decided to give their sore toes a rest and passed on this hiking option.  The rest of us got very wet since the true Patagonia weather returned with lots of wind, cold and some rain.

The guanacos and their cousin vicuňas are the only wild members of the llama family.  The llamas and alpacas are domestic animals.  The wild guanacos have no fear of humans and we enjoyed watching them watching us as we hiked along.  Their natural predators are pumas and the bones and remains reminded us that their seemingly peaceful, pastoral life can also be brutal.  The herds were accompanied by flocks of the rhea (ostrich-like) birds but I did not get any good photos. 

At the end of the day we said farewell to guide, Armando, since this was our last evening in Chile before heading off to Argentina.

FRIDAY JAN 27, 2012

This morning was partly cloudy and cool after some rain last night.  Jeanne and I decided that during the night's potty break at Cuernos we saw the Magellanic Clouds (star galaxies visible in the Southern Hemisphere).

At 0830 we were ready for our van pick up and departure from the refugios.  It was all private hotel rooms from now on!  After the bus exchange at the bridges of Lago Amargo we were off  to Argentina crossing the Chilean border at 1040 at the Cerro Castillo crossing.  There is a "no man's land" between the two countries and by ll45 we had transfered to our Argentine bus and were on our way.  Devy said we were lucky for such a fast border crossing and we arrived at our destination town, El Calafate, a bit early at 3:30pm and checked into our hotel under windy conditions. 

We had time to do some shopping before dinner in El Calafate (calafate is the name of a berry that grows here).  The dinner at La Tablita restaurant was a carnivore's delight with large servings of lamb, pork, chicken and beef. 

SATURDAY JAN 28, 2012

At 0800 we loaded up the bus for departure from El Calafate.  We took a long detour to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier which is one of Argentina's best known sights.  This is a popular tourist destination since it is readily accessible by road and there are excellent walking and viewing platforms.  The glacier makes a lot of noise as it slowly moves into the huge Lake Argentina calving off hunks of ice which go crashing into the water.  Perito Moreno is also famous for its occasional spectacular collapses as shown in this video clip on YouTube.

We then headed back to El Calafate for a pizza lunch, another one hour of shopping and then north towards our destination, the village of El Chaltén.

The drive was initially along the shores of the spectacular Lake Argentina then north across the Santa Cruz River which drains from the lake to the Atlantic Ocean.  We traveled along Patagonia's Route 40 (sort of like our old Route 66) following the River La Leona which drains from the huge Lake Viedma south to Lake Argentina. Both of these and other lakes are fed by the melt waters from the countless glaciers in the Andes Mountains to the west.  At 5:15pm we stopped for a break at the La Leona outpost which sits alone by the banks of the river of the same name.  Besides its toilets, pastries and drinks the outpost claims to have once hosted (1905) none other than Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and his wife, Ethel Place.  They were in route to Chile trying to keep ahead of the law.

I observed that this area was strikingly similar in appearance to that of the southwestern USA; especially the Mojave Desert area just east of the Sierra Nevada of California.  This is not too surprising considering that both of these arid areas are the result of being in a "rain shadow" cast by the western mountains (Sierra Nevada or Andes).  The major difference, however, is the presence of large lakes and glaciers in Patagonia.  Oh yeah-well, 10000 years ago the Sierra/Mojave area also had glaciers and lakes.  The Lake Manley that once filled Death Valley probably rivaled in size those we were seeing.

Finally, at about 7pm we were in our hotel rooms in El Chalten and ready for our dinner of bread, vegetable soup, steak, potatoes and tiramasu dessert.

Buck and I had a great time reminiscing about our youthful days together.  (Sarah and Jeanne were very patient.)  It was great fun to take a mental trip back to those innocent times; especially, those long, idyll summer days.  One of our favorite memories of mischievous boyhood activities was when we teased Old Man Franklin.  He liked to rock on his front porch trying to keep cool on a hot summer's night.  We would hide in the bushes and giggle and shake the branches to annoy him. If it was a good night and we were very lucky he would curse us and then dump  a bucket of water down into the bushes.  Oh what fun--well maybe not for Old Man Franklin!!

SUNDAY JAN 29, 2012

A 0830 we were back on the bus for a 40 minute ride north along the River de las Vueltas to a trail head in the Glacier Park.  It was then a 10.3 mile hike (ascent of 2686 feet and descent of 2921) back to our hotel in El Chalten.  Our local guides for the day were Gaston and Daniel.  This was a Patagonia weather day!  We passed an attractive hotel and then were in the typical Magellanic forests for much of the time.  These  forests are entirely of a type of beech trees (lengas or ñides, in Spanish).  From a distance they resemble the pine forests we see in the western USA mountains but pines are not natives to this area.  The forest are found only in a narrow band along the slopes of the Andes.  Most of the Argentine Patagonia is desert.

Along the way Gaston pointed out the Marconi and Piedras Blancas glaciers in the distance.  Our main destination for the day was the Lago de los Tres (Lake of the 3) which affords excellent views of Mt. Fitzroy,  Torre, Poincenot and others.  However, when we reached the base for the final ascent to the Lake of 3 it was snowing, wet, cloudy and cold and unlikely to have a good view of anything.  Some of us, including guides Gaston and Daniel, decided that final steep ascent was not a good idea.  Abelardo reluctantly agreed to accompany some hikers all the way and they seemed to be satisfied with the experience. 

After a lunch at Lake Capri we headed back down to El Chalten reaching our hotel at about 4pm.  Our bag lunches were always about the same: apple, tuna or chicken sandwich, cookie, nuts and juice drink or water.

MONDAY JAN 30, 2012

At 0830 we were off for today's hike directly from the hotel lead by a new guide, Diego, and our friend, Gaston.  The destination was Laguna Torre to the west of the hotel for a 12.3 mile round trip and cumulative ascent of about 1900 feet.  After about one hour's hike we reached a view of Mts. Solo and Fitzroy.  Cerro Torres was in the clouds all day so we never got to see that peak.  Fitzroy is named after Captain Robert Fitzroy who was the skipper of the ship Beagle that carried Charles Darwin on his famous trips.  The mountain Fitzroy was originally called chalten which was a native word for smoky mountain.  Some people thought the peak was volcanic (it isn't) because of the constant clouds swirling around it.

Diego spoke very good English and gave a good, animated explanation of how glacial activities have sculpted the landscape.  Diego has traveled extensively in the US southwest and has climbed many peaks there including the famous ones in Yosemite Park. 

At 12:20pm we arrived at the Laguna Torres with a view of the Glaciers Grande and Torre spilling into the other side of the lake.  We learned that the Patagonian glacial ice cap is the third largest in world after  those in Antarctica and Greenland.  The main mountain glacier in the southern Andes extends for about 300 miles north/south and around 120 miles east/west.  The various named glaciers that I have mentioned are simply places where the main glacier is spilling over mountains passes to lower elevations.  Diego sometimes leads a strenuous hike up onto the main ice but says he is about to give it up now that he is 40 years old.

Looking back from Laguna Torres we could observe where we had traversed over the several terminal glacial moraines which are huge hills of boulders deposited at the mouth of the glacier as it retreats-stalls-retreats back up into the mountains.  The windward (west) side of the moraines is bare rock while the leeward side is covered with trees and grass.

We had lunch at the lake although the Patagonia weather had set in with a vengeance.  The wind howled and it was very cold.  Sarah and I sat behind a big boulder to escape the wind.  The ambiance of our lunch was spoiled, however, when I realized I was sitting upon a pile of human poop!  Fortunately, the pile was old and desiccated and only a bit of fragrance remained.

We made a hasty retreat down from the windy lake and then followed the Fitzroy River back towards El Chalten.  It soon seemed to me that our hiking group had a competition to see who could walk the fastest back down to the hotel.  We were not interested to returning to the hotel so I told Gaston he could leave us and go home and we could find our way back.  He said he had to stay with us so he did.  If he was expecting to get off early today he was a bit disappointed.  Jeanne gave him an extra tip so it was all OK.  Buck, Jeanne and I became separated from Sarah who had gone ahead with the faster group.  She waited for us to catch up but missed us on the trail.  Anyway, she made some new friends who walked with her back to the hotel arriving shortly after we did.

TUESDAY JAN 31, 2012

This morning we had an 0600 (yuk) bus departure from El Chaltėn back towards  the airport at El Calafate.  We stopped for some last photos of Lake Argentina, now with wind driven white caps, and arrived at the airport at 0900.  Devy pointed out that Argentine president, Christina Fernández de Kirchner, was just departing having visited her hometown of El Calafate.  I got some good photos from the airplane of the Santa Cruz river carrying its glacial waters from the lake towards the Atlantic.

We arrived at Ushuaia (oos waa ya), Argentina at 1pm and were soon settled in a new hotel, Tierra del Fuego.  The wind was howling from the west and temperature about 42 deg F.

Ushuaia, located on the north side of the Beagle Channel,  is the southernmost city in the world.  The city is a regular port for cruises to and from Antarctica and we were only about 35 miles from the Cape Horn tip of South America.  Ushuaia is in the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego and is on the southern end of the large island of the same name.  The channel is named after the aforementioned ship, Beagle, which visited here with skipper Fitzroy in 1826.  Later in 1830 they returned with famed passenger, Charles Darwin.

We all hustled down to the boat docks for our 3:45pm departure for a cruise along the channel.  This was actually a half day excursion returning to the dock at 7:40pm.  (It does not get dark in these summer days until about 10:30pm.)

Buck, Sarah, Jeanne and I decided to splurge an extra $12.50USD for a first class seat in the VIP lounge on the top deck.  We had it to ourselves and got excellent views of the sea lions, gulls and penguins along the very cold and windy trip. 

WEDNESDAY FEB 1, 2012

At 0900 we were back on the bus to commence our last day's hike with guides Juan and Sebastian.  We headed for the Tierra del Fuego National Park west of the city of Ushuaia.  The bus dropped us off on the edge of the Beagle Channel and we promptly went to get our passports stamped to show that we had truly been to El Fin del Mundo-End of the World.  Actually, Juan says it is the beginning of the world.  Anyway, we had a great 6 mile hike along the shore line and through the beech forests under cloudy and sometimes rainy conditions.  Our lunch stop by the shore started out sunny and pleasant but in true Patagonia fashion quickly turned to windy and very cold.  We completed our hike at about 2pm at Lake Roca near the Chilean border.

We learned of an interesting custom in these parts of South America. Many of the local folks enjoy drinking their "mate" tea throughout the day.  The tea leaves are stuffed into a cup, hot water is poured in and the brew is sipped through a fancy straw with filter.  The locals frequently carry a thermos of hot water to recharge their cups and one cup of tea leaves is good for about 1 liter of hot water. I brought some home with me and gave it a try.  Apparently, it is an acquired taste.

THURSDAY FEB 2, 2012

We had a full day to wander around Ushuaia awaiting bus departure to the airport for our 8pm flight to Buenos Aires.  We visited the rather depressing old penal colony museum.  The jail housed various prisoners (including some political ones) from about 1902 until it was closed in 1947.

We were at the airport by 5:45pm only to discover that our flight was about 4 hours late and we did not arrive at our Buenos Aires hotel until 3am!

FRIDAY FEB 3, 2012

We started our city tour at 1100 with our new guide, Diego.  This was a quick tour of some of the highlights of the city-the Plaza de Mayo, cathedral, government buildings and the neighborhoods of La Boca, Puerto Madero, Palermo.  The last stop was at the cemetery in which Eva Peron (Evita) is interred.  This is a very exclusive final resting place for only the very wealthy and well connected.

That evening most of us went to a tango show and dinner.  It was very enjoyable and dancing was quite amazing.  It is a small world-at the show I happened to see an acquaintance from my San Diego hiking group, Rick!!  He was on his way with another tour company to Ushaia and then an Antarctic cruise.

Buck and Sarah did not go to the show,  Instead they had dinner with Buck's first cousin, Billy, who is a native of Buenos Aires.  Cousin Billy is an author of about 9 books. Check him out at Amazon.com under author, Guillermo M. Yeatts.

SATURDAY FEB 4, 2012

We had some time to walk around on this, our last day of the trip since the flights to Los Angeles and Miami departed in the evening.  The four of us took a long walk down to the Puerto Modero neighborhood with its unique pedestrian bridge over a canal which was once part of Buenos Aires's shipping port.

On this summer day in Buenos Aires it was warm and humid and felt like the old summer days back in Virginia. Buck and I noticed a number of trees that reminded us of our childhood days-sycamores, crate myrtles and the "bumble bee bushes" just like the ones in my front yard on College Avenue. Buck had once chopped a hole in our bumble bee bush with his sword and my father was mildly annoyed.

Suddenly it was 3:30pm and  time for the Los Angeles group to leave for the airport.  The Miami folks had a later departure.  Yikes! After a whole year of planning and anticipation this trip was almost over. Sadly, it was time to say farewell to Buck and Sarah.  Waiting 40 years for our next meeting is no longer an option.  As I walked out to the bus Buck said "hey this is just like being back on College Avenue and saying bye as we are called to dinner."  We agreed that right after dinner we will get together for a good game of hide and seek and then when it is dark, maybe we can harass Old Man Franklin.

SUNDAY FEB 5, 2012

After uneventful but long flights we arrived at Los Angeles at 0700 PDT. We picked up our car and headed home to San Diego and reached our house exactly 24 hours after departing the hotel in Buenos Aires.

This excellent adventure was over.

THE END