Torres Del Paine

I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, a small town beautifully situated along the southeastern flank of the Chilean fjords. Besides its great setting, the town doesn´t offer much besides supermarkets and camping stores where tourists stock up on supplies before heading up to Torres Del Paine National Park, a 2.5 hour bus ride to the north. This park is well known for its fantastic hiking or (trekking if you like) possibilities. I will be doing a 8 day circuit of the park, about 70 miles total. This sounds like a lot but the elevation change is supposed to be minimal as the route takes you around most of the big mountains, not through them. Still, the first few days might be tough because I will have 8 days of food on my back. Like on the previous trek, I will be out of touch because of this. Though in a rather shocking sidenote, someone did tell me that there is a small portion of the hike frequented by those doing 1-2 day hikes that does offer internet access at a cabin!!! The hike should have quite a different feel overall because it is much more visited than the area outside Ushuaia where I did my first hike. Because of this, open fires are not allowed, you actually have to pay for most of the campsites, and you have to camp at designated spots, not wherever you please. Though these restrictions might limit how much of a true wilderness feel the Ushuaia hike had, these restirctions are in place for a reason. The park is supposed to be quite a beauty and the authorities are doing their best to protect it.

One other thing, as you´ve noticed I like putting wikipedia links for a lot of the places I´m visiting and things I´m seeing. Obviously I´m not doing this for everything but if you do actually have the time and interest to learn more about some of these places I´m visiting it is truly amazing the depth of listings that wiki provides. Granted most of them are rather brief and could be improved but a little bit is better than nothing. I´ll report back sometime first week of March.

Penguinos

I feel like I saw quite a lot yesterday. My overpriced Penguin tour headed out to the boat at 7:30 am. It was a 25 km drive north of punta arenas and the mini van was filled with 5 Israelis, 2 other Americans, 1 Brit, 2 Swiss, 1 Chilean, and myself. Strangely, no women came along for the ride. The boat was a bit strange. Approximately 25 feet in length, it was the biggest zodiac/hard bottom inflatable I´d ever been in. We pounded our way out to Isla Magdalena, a large island smack dab in the middle of the Straight of Magellan. The penguins were there to greet us on the shore. You could hear their loud brays 100 yards before we had even tied up to the dock. We were emphatically told that we were to take no more than 1 hour walking along the designated path, up to a lighthouse at the highpoint of the island and back. To my amazement, the Penguins showed little fear of us as we slowly gawked up the trail, snapping photos at an astounding rate.

This type of penguin is known as the Magellanic Penguin; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_penguin which makes sense considering I was seeing them on an island in the Straight of Magellan. The hour quickly passed and we were hoarded back onto the Zodiac. Our next and final stop was Isla Marta, home to a huge colony of sea lions. This island has special protected status, thus not allowing us to disembark. Actually, I think this protection status was providing protection for us as much as for them because there were so many of these things flopping around on the beach that I´m pretty sure anyone would be pulvarised and then flattened in no time if they tried to make a landing. Like the penguins, they let off loud calls, even louder than those of of the penguins. It sounded a bit like an elephant call if you can imagine what that sounds like. After 20 minutes of sitting 100-200 yards off shore we were told it was time to head back to home base. By now we were quite far out, and the winds had picked up considerably from a few hours earlier. The trip from Magdalena to Marta was already quite rough and everyone knew the ride back would only be longer. I started down below in the covered area, hoping to stay dry. I realized this was a mistake as our route back had us going directly into and over the 6-8 foot swells. Every 20 seconds the boat would take off from the apex of the previous wave and levitate for a few milliseconds before pounding with tremendous force into the next trough. After a few minutes of this a couple of the Israelis looked like they were due to empty their stomachs at any moment so I hastily scrambled into the open air rear cockpit. It was much nicer back there, although the wind blasted your unprotected upper torso, the pounding was much less severe in the back and your legs were able to absorb most of the blows. The best part though of getting into the open air was spotting a couple of Commerson´s Dophins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerson%27s_Dolphin They are only found in this tiny geographical region of extreme southern Patagonia and they are quite beautiful with their unusual white and black markings. They almost look like miniature orchas.

Strong winds and currency confusion

I blew into Chile yesterday, quite literally. I scambled to the bus station a little before the scheduled departure to Punta Arenas. They had told me the day before the bus was sold out but I was hoping for come cancellations or no shows. Luckily, I think that was exactly what happened as I was quickly sold a ticket. The journey took 8 hours, mainly through the desolate unihabited grasslands of Chilean Tierra del Fuego. Part of the journey was a 30 minute ferry ride across one of the narrowest portions of the Straight of Magellan. The winds at the Argentina/Chile border were fierce, a constant 50-60 miles per hour. Poor old ladies were getting knocked down.

Punta Arenas is a very pleasant city. The central plaze has nice mature trees and the center of the plaza contains a large statue of Magellan himself. Legend says if you touch his toe you will return to Punta Arenas again someday. It is by far the largest city in Patagonia, with about 120, 000 citizens. I booked a Penguin sightseeing boat trip this mornning. It departs at 7am Thursday and it is done a smallish zodiac type boat, maybe 20 feet in length. The colony I am going to see supposedly hosts 120,000 penguins this time of year so it should be quite a sight. One side note about this trip, I booked quite an expensive tour, a lot more than I wanted to spend party because I got confused converting the Chilean Peso to dollars. Chile is one of those countries with rediculously high currency values, approx 500 to the dollar. (Not as bad as Vietnam but still, couldn´t they just change it to 5 and be done with it?) Anyways, I thought I was paying about $30 but it ended up being $60!!! Yikes! Maybe it is good though, the other tour operator going to this colony only charges about $35 but they use a huge boat with lots of people and hopefully my extra cash will by me a closer and more unique experience.

Viajar a dedo

Either not enough of you wished me luck or the Fuegian drivers were not feeling generous today, but I had no success at my attempt at viajar a dedo or ¨traveling by finger¨. I waited for an hour about 10 km north of Rio Grande town and nobody stopped for me. I would say about 25 vehicles passed in an hour and not one even slowed down. I tried to make myself look as non-threatening as possible but it did not work. Oh well, I will try to buy a bus ticket for tomorrow and I really really hope there is a seat open. Getting stranded here for a week waiting for the next bus seat out of town could get old really quickly. I don´t particularly have anything against this town it´s just that there is nothing to do and I´m ready to get to Chile and visit some penguin colonies.

Sleepy Sunday

With the possible exception of Buenos Aires, Argentina shuts down on Sundays. Not only is almost everything closed, but you see very few people walking around and even sginficantly less traffic. This makes it difficult to get much done, such as doing laundry, buying bus tickets, etc. Being in a small town like Rio Grande on a Sunday only exacerbates things. The only things open appear to be the supermarket, a small internet place, and the local cinema. I´m considering seeing of the offerings there tonight, though both look equally uninspiring. It´s either ¨A Night at the Museum¨ or ¨The holiday¨. I have learned through the years that part of the fun of seening movies oversees is you almost inevitably end up watching movies you would never bother seeing at home. Going into the theater with this attitude can make even the worst of flicks somewhat managable, if not downright enjoyable. If all the buses are sold out to Punta Arenas, Chile tomorrow, I will attempt my first extended hitchhike of the trip. Wish me luck!

Rest Day

Today is a rainy day in Ushuaia. It is also my rest day. It is a day to sleep for extended hours in my tent, watching the rain bead down the exterior walls of my tent. I will purchase a bus ticket this afternoon and leave tomorrow morning for Rio Grande, the next town of any size noth of Ushuaia. I plan on spending just a quick night there before continuning on to Punta Arenas, my first stop in Chile. Part of the journey will require a short ferry ride over the Straight of Magellan, a body of water I have long heard about it history books. That is all for now. Will write more when I get a chance or am feeling particularly inspired.

A round at Augusta National

Imagine you are 27 years old and have never played a round of golf in your life. This is not that unusual, plenty of people have never golfed before. Now imagine yourself traveling in a foreign city, say Augusta, Georgia. You happen upon a couple of other travellers (who themselves are fairly experienced golfers). These guys are planning on playing a round at Augusta National, home of the annual Masters golf tournament. (Please omit the fact that this would actually be impossible, being that Augusta National is an exclusive members only course). Stay with me now...August National is reputed to be one of the most scenic courses in the world, a place people will see on television and just shake their heads as the camera sweeps over the manicured greens and lush spring flowers. You join the others and play a round here. It is difficult, you don´t have the right equipment, your putter and driver was bought at a discount shop for five bucks, and you are spraying the ball left and right. Still, you love it. You find yourself stopping every few mintues and just shaking your head at the simple beauty of the place. You know that all courses can´t possibly be so beautiful but you can´t sure, you don´t have anything to compare it to, right?

Sorry to make you read all that but I couldn´t help but using an analogy such as that to describe the experience I feel one my hiking partners must have gone through during my recent 4 night trek through the Fuegian Andes in extreme southern Argentina. At the campground in Ushuaia I met a 24 year old American, Paul, and we agreed to hike a 30 mile section of the Fuegian mountains to the northeast of Ushuaia. The next morning we ran into Vincent, a 27 year old Irish man who was also travelling alone and looking for a hiking partner. The three of us quickly decided to team up and off we went. On the way there we had to stop in town and buy supplies. For Paul and I it was mainly just food, but Vincent had very little of the necessary equipment as he had never done an overnight hike before. He bought a tent, he already had a very cheap sleeping bag, and we were able to share the rest of our equipment with him. The hike itself was stunning. The scenery was constantly changing, from boggy crimson red valleys where your feet sank to your ankles, to high mountain passes with jagged rocks and some lingering summer snow. I attempted to capture it all with my camera, but I am afraid it is one of those places that a camera will never be able to do fully capture. Every night we camped in a different idyllic spot, first along a snaking river in the valley, next in a high alpine meadow surrounded by an ampitheater of mountains. It is always difficult to compare hikes to others but this had to be right up there with the best I have ever done. We lucked out with the weather as well. All the nights except one were clear, offering a briliant display of constellations. We made camp fires every night and I slept like a log after each days long up and down stretches.

Most of the hike was done without the aid of a trail, and our route finding and map reading skills were tested. Having two others people to bounce possible routes off of made things a lot easier, as there would have been stretches where if I had been alone, I would have been a bit uncomfortable in not knowing if my chosen route was the correct one. Coming back to the golf analogy, I could not believe that Vincent was having this type of true and beautiful wilderness experience for his very first overnighter. If only he knew the countless dreary hikes and campsties the average hiker is required to slog though. Just like the average golfer is required to toil at their poorly maintained local municipal course, most hikers do the best with what they have, even if it is a short hike through a flat and featureless forest. If only we could all be so lucky to save the very best for the first time.