Christian's posts with tag: argentina
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Hello Everybody! I hope all of you had some pleasant and relaxing Christmas days. I can not complain - Christmas at La Morada/Bariloche was wonderful! In fact almost every single day we were having great food... Thank you all for cooking such delicious meals! In order to compensate the binging, Anna, Kristin, and I set out for a three-day hike through the Bariloche Andes. We were staying two nights in mountain huts, which, although a little noisy, were really lovely and would serve surprisingly delicious food. We were really lucky with the weather and especially the second day (from Refugio Frey to Refugio Jakob) was a spectacular hike with ever-changing landscapes. Up through long slopes of snow to the pretty Laguna Schmoll (still covered almost entirely with ice!) and up climbing through some rocks to the pass. On the other side a great view over the Valle del Rucaco, which we were to cross. Down from the pass we were comfortably sliding through scree slopes and loose rocks. Then the walk lead through lush forests and meadows, where we had to cross the occasional stream balancing on rocks, fallen trees, or just jumping... Up again on the other end of the valley, climbing more snow to the pass Brecha Negra - with more spectacular views on both sides. Looking down into the next valley we could already see the Refugio Jakob. Enjoying the superb vistas across many snow-clad peaks and ridges we spent an hour or so on the pass. On the descent, following the traces of so many hikers before us, we quickly went down scree and rubble slopes. We should have rather tried to stick to the official path! And we were fully made to pay for our mistake; the scree slopes ended in Lenga scrub and forest which we had to cross - without any trail whatsoever. Hence very slowly progressing we started to be molested by Tavanas - big and hungry horseflies. Once out of the Lenga forest, we found ourself in a serious swamp surrounded by massive swarms of horseflies. Inching forward through the often knee-deep mud we almost got eaten alive. At this point I had a complete 'loss of sense of humor', being really pissed-off with myself for not making sure we kept to the proper trail (which I had actually known to lead down further north and which would have avoided the forest and swamp for the biggest part). After quite some time in the swamp, we came to the point where we could cross the stream that separated us from the hut. Just taking the boots off was almost impossible due to the zillions of horseflies enjoying their feast... Kristin could not even be bothered to get rid of her shoes and preferred wet boots to the hassle of the flies! Then a quick wade through the ice-cold water and a few hundred meters to the hut. There were still a few patches of snow around the hut and in order to cool down some of us hat a quick dip in the icy Laguna Jakob, drying ourselves on the huge rock in the remaining evening sun. What a day! Some of the worst walking I have ever had - just the last two hours! Everything before had been alright. Looking back now, I would certainly call the walk through scrub, swamp and horseflies an 'experience'! The last day walking out from Refugio Jakob lead through a lovely valley with beautiful bamboo forest, but after the spectacular landscape of the day before we did not really do it justice... And more horseflies made even the short brakes rather unpleasant. So now, back to Bariloche for New Years Eve. Lots of cooking again in the hostel... The first picture below shows Anna, Kristin, and me at the Laguna Schmoll in the snow, the second is just me in one of the many snow fields, the third has the two girls enjoying the view on the Laguna Jakob from the pass before the last descend. There are more pictures here. And, before I forget: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!    
Have to catch up... Just arrived in Mendoza, a pleasantly green city
with the Andes always in the background. The bus ride of 14 hours was
quite fine.
Long distance bus travel
Maybe a few comments for those of you who think a bus ride of 14 or
even 20 hours would just be a sort of unbearable torture. To start
with, the seats are really big and comfy, there is plenty of leg space,
even for a guy my size! Business class in an airplane is usually not
better, rather a little more cramped. Then, the friendly steward or
stewardess is handing out a snack and drinks briefly after departure.
Soon after, dinner is to follow. After the starters which I often
confuse with the whole meal, the main course is served. White wine? Red
wine? Whatever you like... Then you usually get to see a film or two
(of mixed quality). Some folks enjoy a Valium tablet to make them sleep
through all the night. Apparently you can buy Valium freely in
pharmacies hereabouts. The seats almost recline to fully horizontal and
hence sleeping is no problem, anyway. In the morning, you are served
breakfast with coffee or tea. For me, this is the ideal form of
traveling, since you do get an idea of the distances. And the
landscape in between is basically always the same - a lot of nothing!
Well, approaching Mendoza was quite spectacular with the snow-capped
chain of peaks of the Andes in the background.
Buenos Aires Intermezzo
After Bariloche (last weekend), Volker and I went to Buenos
Aires. Volker had to catch his plane back home on Thursday... In fact,
I did not do much except than enjoying the relaxed coffee shops in
Palermo. On Friday Juliana took me out to a local folk music show of a
band of students in a community center, which was lovely. After the
show we went to a parilla "at the corner" in her neighborhood, which
was cram-packed with people - at about half past midnight... Mainly
meat, basic but very nice - and incredibly cheap! Saturday night we
went to an open-air music festival in an area near La Boca with five
very different bands playing: Tango (Orquestra tipico de Fernando
Fierro - crazy boys around 30 with dreadlocks and sunglasses, hard to
believe they play classical Tango, but they do! And very good, too!), a
percussion group (very good as well!), a rap trio (interesting, but
well, not exactly my cup of tea), Portón - a fusion/pop group with very
nice songs and yet an other which we did not listen to, anymore. A
great night out.
So here I am, having really exhausting time on the 3rd Advent - with plenty of snow on the mountain tops in the background! The hostel here has the most exquisite panoramic view I have ever seen in a place like this (about 6€ a night). I would rate it the most fantastic place I have seen so far! Plus it features a huge and very comfortable lounge and kitchen area with open fire and the most lovely people running it. This is a true gem. So if any one of you should be heading for Bariloche, ask me about it. The only downside is, that given the superb view we could not be bothered to do any much hiking here. And since also the weather has now switched to perfect summer, we had almost no reason to leave the place during the two days we stayed here... The hostel can only be reached by a short drive in a Landrover (it is the highest hotel in Bariloche at about 950m above sea level!), normal cars would not survive the rocky track up here by any means. So what was your 3rd Advent like?!
I should add that we ran this fancy dinner competition during the last days. It all started when Volker was making the nice pasta dish - farfalle with mashed pumpkin. Simple but very yummy! Next day, he felt more energetic and we ventured for fish. So we had trout cooked with vegetables in the oven, delicious! The next day we went into lamb with rosemary and tomatoes with which we made the whole hostel envious... But we could feed quite some of the other travellers, too, with this absolutely superb dinner. After that, Anna decided to enter the competition and we had a "proper English Sunday dinner" - roasted chicken, loads of steamed vegetables, gravy... and apple crumble, yum!!! We ate until we could not move anymore. And finally yesterday Ronny cooked a fantastic meal again - fish... I will not eat any more food for a whole week, I think!
 
Make sure you have read the previous journal entry!
So we spent a lazy day in the big and cozy lounge of the youth hostel of El Chalten. Watching the day-trekkers setting out into the rain and storm just to get to see nothing of the mountains. No time to get bored, though. Many other travelers to discuss matters of previous and future trips with, talk about life, and the weather, of course. It just continued to rain all day and the storm occasionally picked up. The weather forecast was certainly the most discussed topic. It was traveling by Word of mouth from the other end of the village where the ranger station was situated. Although the official weather forecast was predicting terrible weather for the rest of the week, the local ranges were talking about a "pocket" of nice weather which would typically evolve from the current weather pattern. So there was hope. Others would report, that the local trekking agency refused to take customers for tomorrows ice-climbing excursions because of the weather. Not promising, hence. Other rumors had it that the local climbers were getting ready for the next day… When we turned in the weather was still as bad as ever and we did not expect much. Since we would take the 6pm bus back to El Calafate, we would probably have to live with not having seen anything...
At about half past five I happened to open one eye sleepily to see Volker in the bunk bed next to mine waving his hand and pointing out of the window. I was quite tired and felt I could not be bothered - about to turn around and continue sleeping. But Volker kept waving his hand intensly, so I decided to open the second eye and take a look out of the window. A spectacular sunrise was setting the clouds ablaze! No rain and blue skies! So we decided to get up and hit the tracks at about six for an early start. The remaining clouds slowly dissolved while we were walking all the way back to camp Poincenot where we had spent the night in the tent. Cerro Fitz Roy was still covered in clouds, so we decided to first continue to the Glaciar Piedras Blancas, a spectacular ice fall on one of the flanks of the Fitz Roy mountain. After this two-hour excursion, I went up for an hour on the snow-covered slopes toward the Laguna de los Tres, a lookout directly in front of the mountain. Volker had to skip this additional side-trip as he had a little trouble with his knee. The views were spectacular, the clouds had disappeared entirely, and there was almost no wind anymore. After the laguna we took the traverse toward Cerro Torre. On the path we met most of the other travelers we had been talking to the days before. Near Cerro Torre we unfortunately did not have enough time to walk up to the ultimate lookout on the moraine, since we wanted to take a shower before getting on the bus. But the views from the viewpoints farther away were very impressive nevertheless.
What a great day! We were really lucky the weather had changed to dramatically overnight. Hard to believe I had been walking around in just a T-shirt for most of the day where we had been battling against the snow and storm a couple of days before... It sure was a long day, about 10 hours of walking with only a few short brakes, about 35 kilometers, but with constant spectacular views! Dozing off during the four-hour bus ride across the pistes of Patagonia to El Calafate after some beer was a great reward.
The three pictures below show the Glaciar Piedras Blancas, the Cerro Fitz Roy with my sunburned face in front, and the Cerro Torre.   
Very brief update, it is hard to catch up. The excursion to the Perito
Moreno Glaciar is a little touristy - but certainly "vale la pena"! The
gigantic mass of ice, constantly cracking and rumbling is a quite
humbling sight. We spent about six hours at the lookout, four of them constantly staring
at a huge slab of ice, which we expected to collapse every second. But
it didn't... It only peeled off a few "crumbles" occasionally, which
still gave rise to heavy thunder when thumping into the lake.
To be continued...
Who said the weather was terrible in Tierra del Fuego?! Clouds, wind, freezing cold?!? Haven´t seen any. Well, not so much at least. The last three days were really spectacular - blue skies and sunshine all day. Just when we really needed it - walking around in the gorgeous National Park near Ushuaia! And yes, we are really sunburned now... Not too badly, though (don't worry mum!). The landscape is really beautiful; meadows, lakes, hills, snow-capped mountains, streams and lagoons shape a perfect ensemble. The Beagle Canal dotted with many little islands... The night temperatures were a little chilly, way below 0 degrees. But thanks to our good tent and sleeping bags - no problem.
After this first little test-walk we had a great dinner last night in Ushuaia with a decent 'bife de chorizo', a nice huge slab of tender meat. The meat hereabouts is really great, other food (chicken, fish, sweets, salad) is edible, nicely cooked vegetables - never heared of any! I think Argentina is a vegetarians hell... Well, you would survive I suppose. There are potatoes.
There are two things typical - dulce de leche and mate. Dulce de leche is a great invention for the sweet tooth - caramelized condensed milk! Yummy. And yes, since yesterday we are also proud owners of our own mate straws. Nothing to stop us assimilating now. Many Argentinians would not leave home without their mate cup, straw, and a thermos with hot water so they can enjoy their beloved mate wherever they go.
I will upload a few pictures a soon as I get hold of a computer with USB port... In a couple of hours we will fly out toward El Calafate in the Patagonian Andes. But since we will be staying on camping grounds, it may well be uploading is going to take a while. Somewhere in the wilderness the internet availability is bound to decrease... (I hope!!)
 Brief update in transit. After driving about on the Peninsula Valdéz
for almost three days and a quick visit to Gaiman, a pleasant little
town founded by Welsh settlers, we have now arrived in Rio Gallegos
after an entirely uneventful 18 hour long bus ride through Patagonia.
The
wildlife on and around the peninsula is truly amazing, spotting wales
even from the coast is no big deal and at one spot they came as close
as just a few 100m to the cliffs. We were extremely lucky with the
weather - three days of sunshine in a row. Only the wind is a nuisance
at times, it ensures that the ultra fine patagonian dust gets into
every piece of equipment you have got. The car looked like it had never
been cleaned in the last four years after the trip... And it was
spotless before we left! Driving on the many hundred kilometers of dirt
tracks is not a big deal, we only had to change a wheel once for a flat
tyre...
So now we are in Rio Gallegos - only for a couple of hours,
though. There really is nothing to see or do in this provincial hub and
we will catch a plane to Ushuaia in the evening. I hope we get a decent
view of the Andes from the plane!
Finally, traveling has truly begun
and I thoroughly enjoy it! Patagonia is quite impressing - so much of
nothing! Really nothing! Endless planes, heaps of sky. Very long and
straight roads... Hundreds of kilometers between even the most remote
settlements.
We will hopefully have decent enough weather to go out
for a few good hikes in Tierra del Fuego before traveling up north
again toward the famous glaciers and mountains of southern Patagonia.
So much for now. All the best to all of you for now!
(picture courtesy Volker)
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