You last heard from us as we left Punta Arenas in Chile aboard
a bus destined for Tierra del Fuego. Hopefully everyone had a Happy
Christmas and has embarked upon a successful New Year. Now read on...
Argentina
Tierra del Fuego
Itīs about 200 km of paved road and 300 km of gravel from
Punta Arenas to Ushuaia! That makes it a long way from somewhere
quite remote. We split the journey in two. Leaving
Chile, we took the ferry across the Magellan
Strait on to the island of Tierra del Fuego, which is half Chilean
and half Argentinean. About 80 km down the island you get to the
Chilean border and another 14 km on, you enter Argentina. Itīs real
outpost territory; thereīs nothing here but a few shacks and the
odd horse. The land is low, flat and wind-blown with little or no
vegetation. Quite reminiscent of Mongolia
in fact. We broke the journey at Rio Grande and, because we were
in Argentina, checked into one of the best hotels in town and
ate in their posh restaurant. Prices here are about a quarter of
what they were a year or so ago when the currency collapsed! Next
day, we travelled the remaining 230 km to Ushuaia. The landscape
gradually changed into mountains. Real, spikey mountains with snow
still on them. The road climbs up through the mountains to the
Garibaldi Pass before descending to the Beagle Channel and Ushuaia,
the most Southerly city in the World - 3000 km South of Buenos
Aires.
Ushuaia
We immediately tried to get on a boat to Antarctica, but the
best we could find was $4500 each and weīd have to wait about 2
weeks. For that price, we could do the trip from the UK! There
seem to be plenty of boats and normally there would be spaces
but itīs Christmas week. If weīd known, we could have phoned
ahead and tried to arrange something. Prices seem to be discounted
to about half price about a month before the sailing so itīs not
necessary to wait until you get to Ushuaia to find the best deal
(which weīd believed at the time). Maybe next time.
Having just saved somewhere in the region of $9000, we felt
justified in checking in to a decent hotel! This is the most
expensive city in Argentina (it costs nearly GBP5 for the two of
us to eat in a restaurant). Isolated it may be, but it has all the
services youīd expect. 60 000 people live here at the "end
of the World", as the locals like to call their town.
We went walking in the Tierra del Fuego National Park, which
lies along the side of the Beagle Channel. Itīs a spectacular
location. The views are stunning and thereīs bags of wildlife.
At one point, we had a pair of foxes following us along the path
and we spotted the large red-headed woodpecker
("carpentarus", apparently). Even though itīs
mid-Summer, the weather is still unstable. The ozone is pretty
thin here; there can be scorching sunshine and rain at the same
time. Climbed Cerro (Mt) Guanaco to get amazing views of the
Beagle Channel and the Southern mountains of Tierra del Fuego,
which are snow and glacier laden even now.
We also took a boat trip along the Beagle Channel and saw a
few more penguins and some ship wrecks. The Argentinians, in an
attempt to populate the area, built a gaol here. It housed the
usual low-life, plus quite a lot of political prisoners. Now itīs
a maritime and Antarctic museum. Itīs very well done, but we had
to rush around it as weīd booked a an Aerolineas Argentinas (!)
flight from Ushuaia to El Calafate.
El Calafate
Arrived safely in El
Calafate (much to Steveīs surprise).
The wind was blowing off the Andes and it was freezing cold.
Very festive for our Christmas but strange as itīs supposed to
be mid-Summer! This is a small town, rather like Pucon in Chile,
and the sole reason for its existence is the proximity of the
Patagonian ice field and some of the largest glaciers in the World.
The Moreno glacier flows 25 km down from the ice field and is
unusual in that it is neither advancing nor retreating. It flows
down hill at about 3m per day and melts at the same rate.
Consequently, it "calves" like crazy. That means great
chunks regularly fall off into the surrounding lake. Itīs an
incredibly active glacier and the constant cracks and bangs of
breaking ice sound like gunfire. We were lucky enough to see a
large lump of ice fall off. Between 1968 and 1988, 32 people
were killed by flying ice chunks!
Whilst in glacier mode, we took a boat trip to see the Upsala
glacier - the largest in the Patagonian ice field. Its surface
area is four times the size of Buenos Aires and the face where
it meets Lago Argentina is 4 km wide. Oh, and itīs 60m high
at the end too!
Torres del Paine National Park
Those of you still concentrating may realise that Torres del
Paine National Park is actually in Chile. We nipped back over the
border to walk in this fantastic area. Itīs a mere 6 hours by bus
from El Calafate and involves another "shed in the middle of
nowhere" border crossing. Puerto Natales is the local town
serving the park. Itīs where we hired tent and sleeping bags and
where the bus to the park entrance leaves from. Itīs a mere 130 km
by bus from Puerto Natales to the park entrance!
We hiked what is known as the "W". Itīs four days
along the side of the huge turquoise Lago Nordenskjold with side-trips
up the spectacular glacial valleys. On a map, the walk is W shaped
hence the name. Las Torres (The Towers of Paine) are large,
vertical monoliths of granite towering 1800m above a high
glacial lake. Itīs a reasonably hard trek up the valley to see the
towers but incredibly dramatic when you get there. We also hiked
up to glacier Grey. Spectacular views are everywhere in
this park. The lakes are coloured by the sediment carrying glacial
waters and the towering craggy peaks are snow and ice covered.
Up the French valley, we sat and ate lunch watching huge lumps
of ice break off and tumble with a thunderous roar down the
3050m Mt Paine Grande. All the while, condors circled above us.
The Spanish for "2 packed lunches please" is
"dos box lunch por favor". How we laughed.
Originally, weīd aimed to be in Ushuaia for New Year but, due
to bus problems and our flying South, we were running ahead of
schedule so we spent New Year in a tent in the park. In actual fact,
the local refugio put on a buffet meal so we celebrated with
loads of other exhausted hikers in relative comfort. The staff at
Refugio Las Torres did us proud.
El Chalten
Having been so successful in our walking exploits, we thought it
only right to head on up to El Chalten to explore Mt Fitz Roy. This
is part of Los Glaciares National Park and back in Argentina
again. This park is quite similar in appearance to Torres del Paine
but, if anything, the walking is even more spectacular and the park is
much less crowded. The park contains the 3045m Mt Fitz Roy and the
2500m Cerro (Mt) Torre - once reputed to be the hardest mountain
climb in the World. Itīs basically just a granite spike!
This area is a climbing mecca and it was recognised by Argentina
that it would be a valuable tourism asset. However, the border with
Chile was disputed so Argentina hurriedly constructed
the town of El Chalten in 1985 to gain a foot hold in the area. Itīs
basically a wind-blown hamlet at present but beautifully located
in the foothills. The Patagonian wind whips up an incredible amount
of dust from the unpaved roads. Itīs so remote here that, come
time to leave, we had a 12 hour, 600km dusty, gravel road ahead
of us North on Route 40.
In fact, 600km only got us to the "middle of nowhere" town of
Perito Moreno. We still had another 950km to our next destination Puerto
Madryn. Undaunted, we pressed on.
Puerto Madryn
Itīs 27 degC now but fortunately, weīre on the coast. This place is
a favourite destination for Argentinians so itīs teeming with scantily
clad Argentine beach bums. Itīs also the part of Patagonia where the Welsh
live! Weīd kind of thought Patagonia was quite small and full of Welsh people.
It actually turns out to be unspeakably massive with only small pockets of
"Gales" left. We hired a car for a couple of days [rip-off] and
drove out to a place called Gaiman. Here you can view orthodox Welsh
chapels, take Welsh afternoon tea and buy those useful little spoon things
and tea towels with pictures of the Ffestiniog railway on them. And, if
you happen to be Megan, meet half the people from the village you were
brought up in. Of course, Steve missed out on this as most of the conversation
seemed to be in Welsh, which is the first language around these parts!
Notwithstanding all the above, Gaiman is a pleasant enough town as long
as you only have a few hours to spare. It was pleasing though, to actually
find some Welsh people down here as thatīs what the area is known for.
Whilst we had the hire car [rip-off], we drove out to the Peninsular
Valdes to try and spot Orcas feeding on sea lion pups - sick eh! Unfortunately
for us (but fortunately for the sea-lions), the Orcas only show up in Feb/Mar.
So, we spent the day driving along 220km of the worst gravel roads weīve seen
to date. The woman in the [rip-off] car hire company only seemed concerned that
we bring the car back the right way up - apparently most donīt.
Puerto Madryn is also a popular centre for diving in Argentina so we
thought weīd better have a go. Conditions here are very similar to those in
England - 16 deg C in the water and about 5m visibility. We dived a
purposefully sunk fishing boat in about 22m called the Albatross. It was only marginally
interesting. Normally, a wreck sunk deliberately for diving is prepared to remove
any hazards. In this case, they didnīt seem to have bothered, you could get
into places it would be hard to get out of and get entangled in all sorts of
stuff - so we didnīt! They did a second dive in 4m of sludge so we stayed on the
boat which the Argentinians couldnīt understand - and our Spanish couldnīt
explain.
Buenos Aires
Another hectically long bus ride and we rocked up [as we
travellers say] in Buenos Aires - written by the locals as BS. AS.
The temp was a cool 37 degC but it was also horrifically humid,
which meant tramping the streets was not exactly a delight.
None the less, we took to the city. There are wide boulevards,
including what must be the widest street in the World. Blvd
9th July runs right through the centre of town and has 22 lanes!
We made extensive use of yet another underground system that puts
Londonīs to shame; trundling around checking out all the glorious
colonial architecture. This place is quite reminiscent of Paris
or London architecturally.
Megan wanted to see some Tamgo and sheīd discovered a display
in a rather ostentatious shopping plaza, so off we went. True to form,
the display went ahead about an hour late, after the generously
proportioned gent with the box of wires [aka fat roadie] had sorted
his technical problems. A string bean of a girl in a red dress
proceeded to be thrown around by some bloke with half Argentinaīs
oil reserves in his hair. And all in the food court of a shopping complex
- rather incongruously accompanied by the smell of barbecued cow innards.
Whilst in BS. AS., we took the opportunity
to pop over to Uruguay to
have a look see what they had. You can read
about that excursion here.
Laguna Ibera
Another over-night bus trip Northwards put us in Mercedes where we hired
a local guy to drive us the last 120km in his truck to the settlement of
Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and the Ibera Nature Reserve. Not easy to get to,
this area is said to be better than the Brazilian Pantanal. We arrived with
nowhere to stay, but managed to get a room at
Posada Ypa Sapukai, where Pedro made us feel exceptionally welcome and went
out of his way to help us see the local sights - and what sights they are! In
addition to being an Argentinean Nature Reserve, the area is a UNESCO Biosphere
and thereīs more weird wildlife here than you can imagine. Birds, alligators,
capybarras, anaconda, howler monkeys, pirhana, boa constrictors and
loads more with crazy Spanish names we canīt remember. There are huge
floating islands of vegetation in the middle of the lake which are home to all the
creatures.
Pedro took us out in his boat
to show us the lake and wildlife. At one
point, we got out of the boat to walk on a floating island. Rather like trying
to balance on a sponge. Millions of photos and one spectacular sunset later,
we returned to the Posada for a great evening meal and an insect killing
fest [the only real drawback to this area - but still not as bad as the
swarms of black flies in Kakadu, Aus].
We went horse riding with some local Gaucho muchacho [kid].
This is a wildlife wonderland and twitcherīs paradise. If you get the
chance, you should come here. If you want fantastic hospitality, great food and
helpful guides, stay at the Posada Ypa Sapukai.
If you do come here and you plan to visit Iguazu Falls, think carefully
before taking the rather primitive road North out of Carlos Pellegrini to
Posadas. We hired a guy with a 4x4 for the 120km (3 hour) trip. Unfortunately,
it rained overnight... This road appears to be a mixture of sand and mud and
the trip took about 6 hours - often sideways, but fortunately always the right
way up! El Choffer (the driver - Hugo) had driven down the same road the night
before in the rain to pick us up and had taken 8 hours. We felt a bit sorry
for him and a bit guilty too! Still, it turned out better than the 32 hours it
took some others to go back round via Mercedes.
In 1696, the Jesuits started building their largest Mission at San Ignacio
(between Posadas and Iguazu) and now thereīs an impressive collection of ruins
here, including the dwelling houses for 4500, a prison and a large church built of sandstone
and mud and completed in 1724. We stayed overnight here to catch a bus connection
to Iguazu. The ruins are excellent - overgrown in a very atmospheric manner.
Iguazu Falls
1750m3 of water flow over Iguazu Falls per second. Itīs
70m high, 2.5km wide and there are some 265 individual falls. This is one
big waterfall. Probably the most impressive in the World. Itīs not the
highest (Angel Falls, Venezuela) nor the biggest (11m3/sec, on the
Mekong), but the layout and shape of Iguazu Falls make them absolutely stunning.
The highlight is the Devilīs Throat (el Garganta del Diablo) where water
flows over a horseshoe shaped fall and disappears into a cloud of spray and
mist filling the bowl. Las Cataratas, as theyīre known locally, lie at the
confluence of the Rivers Iguazu and Parana. At this confluence, 3 countries
meet; Aregntina, Brazil and Paraguay. Itīs possible to visit the
falls from both the Argentinean and Brazilian sides and this is what we did.
Both sides vie for visitors, but Argentina wins on imprssiveness. A gantry
has been constructed where you walk out over 1km across the Rio Iguazu to a viewing
platform overhanging the Devilīs Throat. At this point, the roar of water is
deafening and the spray is camera soaking, but itīs an incredible sight.
Itīs tradition to get soaked by the spray but Megan took her umbrella!
A day trip to Brazil took us to the other side of the falls
for an overview of the whole thing and a bit more success taking pictures
without filling the camera with water. Youīre a bit further away on this side,
but can see all the falls at once. There was also less water as thereīs
a Brazilian hydro-electric station up river. Apparently,
some days they turn Iguazu off - almost. That would be a bit disappointing
given it took us quite a while to get here. Itīs pretty touristy here, but
most people seem to be from other parts of South America rather than guide-book
toting gringos like us. It is pretty hot (mid 30s) and humid (90%)
but by no means unbearable.
After Iguazu, we took a
shortcut through
Paraguay to get to the North West and Salta as we headed towards Bolivia.
Salta is situated in a valley on the Eastern side of the Andes. Itīs a very
pleasant town with a large leafy square, grand colonial cathedral and some
fine colonial council buildings arranged around cobbled courtyards and housing
an excellent museum on local history - one of the best weīve seen. We are
starting to meet gringos coming down through Bolivia. They all seem to
be very relieved to have arrived at an oasis of civilisation after the
rigours of battling through the more Northern countries. All the locals in
Salta were complaining about
the heat. It did not seem too bad - mid to upper 30s but nothing
to write home about. We soon discovered why. One day, a cloud appeared above
the Andes and the next thing we knew it was raining... and raining....
Just like New Zealand really. The locals tell us it rains all of Feb - all the
time. Then the power cuts started - for 6 hour stretches we were without
power. Apparently the whole of Northern Argentina was affected and they went
on for days. The papers were full of it - itīs a scandal. Some
huge transformers were exploding up North somewhere. The heat and humidity
had grown to such an extent, everyone had their air conditioners on all the
time. Bang!
Mind you, thatīs not the only thing that went bang about that
time, but youīll have to wait for the next episode to find out more...
Observations
The biggest surprise of this whole trip to date is how much there is to see and do
in Argentina.
The Argentinians are very friendly. They seem to like talking to us even though
their English is little better than our Spanish. Not many of them have been to
Europe as they donīt get much in the way of holidays. Of course, now itīs virtually
impossible for them to travel abroad as everything is 4 times more expensive than
it was 12 months ago. The standard of living within the country doesnīt seem to
have been affected other than the price of imported goods. People seem quite
philosophical about the situation and certainly donīt resent foreigners coming
with lots of money. We have heard some reports of protests in Buenos Aires and
itīs the only place where we saw tangible evidence of the financial
problems. All the city banks are covered in sheet metal and graffiti. There
are constant protests and thereīs a significant police presence. Never the less,
there doesnīt seem to be much tension any more. People seem resigned to the
situation and are just waiting for upcoming presidential elections in April where
there is a strong feeling that Menem will be back and will sort everything out.
Who knows what will happen if he canīt.
Food here is excellent. Of course, we can afford to eat pretty well. Thereīs
lots of fresh fish and sea food. Steve never thought he would become sick
of eating pizza but he has! They also seem to like roasting whole creatures
in front of you. Hmm!
Weīve done a lot of travelling by bus and, even where the roads are poor
quality, the trips have always been comfortable. Steve had expected to encounter
"Mexican bus drivers" here in South America but it all seems very safe.
In fact, weīd expected South America to be much more like Central America, but it
couldnīt be more dissimilar. Perhaps, as we get up to Bolivia and Peru, there will
be more Alpaca hats, Andean flutes and Lama kebabs. Safe and comfortable they
may be, but the buses have proven to be by far the most unreliable weīve
come across anywhere. Weīve had to sit at the side of the road in the dark for
4 hours waiting for the man with the oily rag to turn up. Suspension has
collapsed, exhausts fallen off and numerous unexplained stoppages including
waiting for a mystery truck load of extra passengers. Not good and perhaps
a sign of excessive economising!
Donīt think weīd appreciated exactly how big this country is. Travelling all the
way down to Ushuaia was well worth it but took a lot of time. On the way, we
passed through some spectacular scenery the like of which weīd not seen before.
The closest would be New Zealand, but the sheer scale and majesty of whatīs
here simply dwarves anything in NZ. Plus, of course, itīs miles cheaper here and
you get good weather! Canīt understand why people donīt come here. Of course,
it did used to be very expensive for the average traveller but, at the moment,
we couldnīt think of a better place to visit and we definitely plan
to return.
Arrived safely in El
Calafate (much to Steveīs surprise).
The wind was blowing off the Andes and it was freezing cold.
Very festive for our Christmas but strange as itīs supposed to
be mid-Summer! This is a small town, rather like Pucon in Chile,
and the sole reason for its existence is the proximity of the
Patagonian ice field and some of the largest glaciers in the World.
The Moreno glacier flows 25 km down from the ice field and is
unusual in that it is neither advancing nor retreating. It flows
down hill at about 3m per day and melts at the same rate.
Consequently, it "calves" like crazy. That means great
chunks regularly fall off into the surrounding lake. Itīs an
incredibly active glacier and the constant cracks and bangs of
breaking ice sound like gunfire. We were lucky enough to see a
large lump of ice fall off. Between 1968 and 1988, 32 people
were killed by flying ice chunks!
Those of you still concentrating may realise that Torres del
Paine National Park is actually in Chile. We nipped back over the
border to walk in this fantastic area. Itīs a mere 6 hours by bus
from El Calafate and involves another "shed in the middle of
nowhere" border crossing. Puerto Natales is the local town
serving the park. Itīs where we hired tent and sleeping bags and
where the bus to the park entrance leaves from. Itīs a mere 130 km
by bus from Puerto Natales to the park entrance!
Having been so successful in our walking exploits, we thought it
only right to head on up to El Chalten to explore Mt Fitz Roy. This
is part of 
Pedro took us out in his boat
to show us the lake and wildlife. At one
point, we got out of the boat to walk on a floating island. Rather like trying
to balance on a sponge. Millions of photos and one spectacular sunset later,
we returned to the Posada for a great evening meal and an insect killing
fest [the only real drawback to this area - but still not as bad as the
swarms of black flies in Kakadu, Aus].
confluence of the Rivers Iguazu and Parana. At this confluence, 3 countries
meet; Aregntina, Brazil and Paraguay. Itīs possible to visit the
falls from both the Argentinean and Brazilian sides and this is what we did.
Both sides vie for visitors, but Argentina wins on imprssiveness. A gantry
has been constructed where you walk out over 1km across the Rio Iguazu to a viewing
platform overhanging the Devilīs Throat. At this point, the roar of water is
deafening and the spray is camera soaking, but itīs an incredible sight.
Itīs tradition to get soaked by the spray but Megan took her umbrella!