Gigantic Patagonia

Heading for Patagonia we stop at Puerto Madryn to pay a visit to the Peninsula Valdes, known for its rich wildlife. We go to the tourist office to enquire about the best spots to watch the whales from the shore. They tell us to drive 15 kilometers out of town to a particular beach at a certain time (high tide) that evening, but when we leave the tourist office Hans spots some big black ´blobs´ floating right in front of the tourist office! From the nearby jetty we can closely observe at least 10(!) huge southern right whales playing around in small groups of 2 or 3. Apparently they are mums with their ´babies´. And where the mums are probably about 12 to 15 meters (25-35 tonnes) long, the little babies are at least 5 or 6m. That´s what we´ve been told anyway. Hans refused to jump in and swim with the whales so I could get a sense of the scale of these enormous animals...

The same afternoon we head for the Peninsula Valdes which is a huge marine wildlife reserve. Cruising with the car around the islands beaches and shore the next day we encounter huge elephant seal colonies, a penguin colony, some seals and everywhere we look we see the whales out in the ocean, playing around very close to the shore. To be able to observe this much wildlife from up close is quite amazing. Our very pleasant campsite is in the dunes of Puerto Piramides probably only a 100 meters away from the whales. The remaining road from here to Ushuaia is another 1700kms and after 2 more days of driving through the vast Patagonian landscape we arrive at Tierra del Fuego and at the most southernly spot we´ve ever been! Ushuaia lies on the coast of the Beagle Channel and is surrounded by beautifull snowcapped mountains. It is also the gateway to Antartica and one boat will be leaving in the next few days. We give it a go, hoping to find some sort of last minute deal, because we hear the cruise isn´t fully booked. At a staggering 16.500 US$ per person we can hop on.... and we happily decide to skip that one...

The budget option to enjoy the Ushuaia area is to go hiking. So we leave for a short 2 day trekking of the Passo the Oveja. After a very muddy and beautiful hike we set up camp close to the Oveja Pass that night, to wake up with snow the next morning. In snowy conditions Hans finds us the trail over the snowcovered pass and we descent back to Ushaia while admiring the stunning views. Quite happy with this succesfull ¨practice trekking¨ we head towards Torres del Paine National Park for the ´real thing´. After some preparations in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales which consist of foodshopping (´Smac´aroni and muesli bars) and buying some equipment (gaiters or mudguards for the muddy and snowy conditions and an old ladies walking stick for me, Fem) we head for a last proper meal (huge meat parilla) with our new Chilean friend Sebastian (or Bas as we quickly rename him). He has been in Torres del Paine 4 times and provides us with a lot of information. Besides that he has just finished his architectural degree and knows a lot more about Dutch architecture then I do.
We drive to the park the next day planning to do the Big Circuit, a 8-9 day trekking around the Torres, even though we heard rumours that the Circuit is closed. When we arrive at the park and get out of the car we can hardly open the doors of the car. The famous Patagonian wind is blowing our socks off at 115km/h! At the park entrance we get a confirmation that the Big Circuit indeed is closed because of damage to the trails by avalanches earlier in the season. We pretend to be disappointed, but secretely relieved (me at least) because of the severe wind weather conditions, we decide to skip the ambitious Big Circuit plan for the more conventional W-circuit (5 days) and an additional 2 days alternative trekking to the Zapata Glacier Mirador.

The trip starts with a wild catamaran ride to Refugio Pehoe with waves and spray as if we are at sea, amazing. From there it is a nice five day hike with four seasons every hour, typical Torres weather apparently. Everyday we are treated to new stunning views of the Grey Glacier, the Valle Frances, the Cuernos mountains, more glaciers and the many turquoise coloured lakes. We have quite a bit of snow at Campamento Torres, and we do not see much of the famous ´Torres´ from the Mirador, but the hike to it was a lot of fun with a bit of snow. Also because the first hour we are there on our own, there´s no other tourist in sight, they are scared off by the snowy conditions. And we are rewarded the next day with clear views to the Torres although from a greater distance. After the W-circuit we do a two day hike to (and back from) Mirador Zapata and it is only on the last day that we really encounter horrible weather, cold and very very wet, so we are glad to find a warm hotelbed and hot shower that night at Cerro Castillo.

Right now we are in El Calafate, where we went to see the famous Perito Moreno Glacier yesterday. And we were suitably impressed, because you get to see the glacier ´up close and personal´ from the walkways opposite the glacier. The incredible ice-formation is 30 kilometers long, 5 kilometers wide and 60 meters high above the water. Big blocks of ice crash into the water regularly while making a gigantic roaring thundering noise. Again it is difficult to get a sense of scale of this gigantic monster. (Strangely enough Hans did not particularly feel like swimming that day either...)

Anyway heading for some more trekking in Los Glaciers National Park tomorrow! And yes Patagonia is as vast and windy and impressive as you would imagine! Have a look at the pics and then try to imagine it is all way bigger than it appears on a photograph.