Day 6: Camp Torres -> back to Puerto Natales

Distance: 15.7km

Projected Time: 5.25hrs

Our Time: 3hrs

The rain has arrived and is coming down hard at times. It must be early morning, so there is time for it to move on and clear off before sunrise. I’m thankful the tent is keeping us dry even if the rain-fly zippers don’t work properly. grrrrr! We awoke at 5:30am to no rain, just cold. I put on all my layers as I anticipated there would be wind up at the lake. We started the 40min. climb up there without using our headlamps as there was enough light for us to see. Other people were using headlamps and I could see the lights up the mountain side. We arrived and found a place that seemed to be good for viewing the sunrise. Llew setup his GoPro to do timed exposures. We must have waited 45min. before we started seeing some light on the tips. Because there were clouds in the horizon, the light spilled all over the rock but didn’t bathe it gradually. The wind picked up to so I tried my best to work my camera and still keep my fingers warm. It was amazing to see the glow on the rock. There was some fresh snow evident from last nights precipitation. We moved up the slope away from the lake for a different angle and waited for the sun to bathe the lake in brilliance. When it finally did on the far side I was less enthused with its outcome and more concerned about never feeling my fingers again. I headed back down to camp.

The trek back down the mountain to where the bus would pick us up 15km away was easy. We came across a herd of Guanaco and I took some pictures. We went a little further and found a spot on the river we could cleanup and eat some lunch. By cleanup I mean get in the freezing water and act like it was so warm. haha! When I got out I was happy that it was windy so my shorts would dry out, but not happy that it was a very cold wind. haha! While drying there, a couple Guanaco came racing towards us and I wasn't sure if we were going to get mowed over by them. They veered off just before getting to us and one of them just stood in the river asking me to take his pictures with the Torres as the backdrop. I obliged him or her as I was all to happy to get the picture and still be alive. haha! After eating we headed up to the area where we needed to wait for the 2:30pm bus. It was important that we made it on time for this bus, because the next one wouldn't arrive until 8pm.

You can tell that Llew is enjoying the water temp.  Its only glacial water ;)

The buses arrived and our bus ticket was for JBA which already had a full bus as it had picked up people prior to our stop. The bus driver then tried to shift us onto other company buses. We were going to get on another when we discovered it was full. They motioned for us to leave our backpacks on this bus and get on another. A bunch of us decided that was not for us as we did not want to be separated from our packs. That’s all we have and can’t be losing it. The bus driver said another bus would be along in 20-30min. I mused to myself about seeing whether that was true. I think growing up in India has made me skeptical when things like that are said. A hour later and we were all unhappy about that bus drivers lies. There were about 10-15 of us stuck there. Around 4:30 a bus arrived that was headed to the administration and would end up being the bus that would pick us up at 8pm. One of our group was a Spaniard and he decided that we needed to hijack this bus and make them take us to Puerto Natales. So while the driver was off talking to another bus driver, we all got on this bus with our packs and refused to get off. The bus driver came back and was unhappy. He said another bus company would take us. But then the Spanish guy checked with the driver of the other company and he said he wasn’t. So again a JBA bus driver was lying to us. Then the bus driver called his boss and our Spaniard and another Chileno went and talked on the phone with the boss and they ended up deciding that the other buses could take the current passengers on JBA and the JBA bus would take us back to Puerto Natales. So we ended up leaving around 5pm and getting back before 7pm. Has anyone else had a similar experience as this? I think its quite typical in non-western countries.

Here’s our recovery meal. One big FAT taco salad. I sure missed my veggies on my 6 days out. I know I’m going to be constantly hungry for at least the next week. haha!

Ride-sharing to Puerto Natales

We were wondering how we were going to make our way to Puerto Natales after we failed miserably to hitch-hike from El Chaltén.  The bus was definitely an option and a reliable one.  It would cost over $400 pesos.  When we arrived at Los Pioneros Hostel, there was a paper asking for 2 people to ride share to Puerto Natales for $250 a person.  We signed our names and found the people ¨Jacob & Katerina¨ accidentally when trying to find a place to sit and eat dinner.  They’re a Czech couple traveling around for a few weeks and were headed to Punto Arenas to see the Penguins.  They were leaving the next morning and that fit perfectly with our strict schedule. haha!  We drove for a bit on Ruta (route) 40 (famous highway here that runs for 1000s of kilometers.)  We also traveled some gravel roads to cut down on distance and time and we ended up going through a lonely border station where the agents were so preoccupied watching TV that we could have probably driven through without them knowing. ;)

Fox in the middle of the pic

In Puerto Natales with our friends.  We look forward to seeing you both in Prague :)

El Chaltén Treks

Lago de los Tres
This day trek is the most popular one to be done. It takes you up to ¨Lago de los Tres¨ which is as close to Fitz Roy as you can get without being in the snow zone. It also gives you a stunning view of Fitz Roy with the lake in the foreground. Its about a 25km out and back hike with a 300m climb in the last 1km. The views you get on the trail of Fitz Roy are fantastic. We were fortunate to have good weather for our trek as the peak is covered in the clouds most of the time. The lake was so inviting that we both jumped in. We definitely had everybody's attention as we were the only ones doing it. It was cold but not freezing and well worth having that experience. ;)

Lago de Torre

We came up with a great idea to see Lago de Torre and also cut across the valley and view the glaciar Piedras Blancas and follow that trail out to the road where we would hitch hike ¨a dedo¨ back to town. The lady at the Park headquarters kind of laughed at that idea and thought it was to far. It made us even more determined that it was a doable itinerary for our day trek. A German gal named Charlotte said she would like to come hike with us, so told her what the trek was going to be, and she was very agreeable to go along.

We were a little disappointed that the clouds stayed sucked in so we couldn't see the peaks above Lago de Torre, but the rest of the views were amazing along the trek. The treks here are not full of ups and downs so its very easy going. When we arrived at the road after doing +30km, we were happy to ride in the back of pickup the 17km to town.

Piedras Blancas Glaciares

Treking along the rio

Hitchhiking to El Chaltén...

We're going to see if we can hitchhike to El Chalten which is about 200km away. The last time we tried hitchhiking was at Bariloche, coming back from Companario.  We didn't have any success.  I'm not sure if when we showed a little leg if that scared the drivers or our thumbs just don't have the proper curvature.  Anyway, we're willing to give it another go here. ;)

We didn't start hitchhiking till well after noon time as we were busy working on finally getting some travel insurance.  I'm not to pleased that there is not alacart options as I don't care about trip cancellation and some of the other options.  I want health coverage and equipment loss.  For now I have 1 months coverage with WorldNomads.

Back to hitchhiking, so we got out on the road when it was nice and toasty and when most people would have already gone to El Chaltén.  We walked about 3km to a control station as our hostel reception lady told us to walk there if we didn't get picked up.  There was a whole bunch of backpackers there hitchhiking as well.  We despaired a little until we realized that they were going in different directions to us.  We had a nice big cardboard sign that we proudly displayed for 45min and then this nice couple stopped and picked us up.  The guy drove at 140km and we made the 3hr trip in about 2hrs.  We also stopped a few places for pics.  Since the sun was overhead my pics are not that great of Cerro(Mtn) Fitz Roy.

El Chaltén, what a magnificent location for town nestled in the valley below the towering spires of Mt. Fitz Roy and its cousins. The town is small and I was told it was a hippie town. I discovered that its full of tourist from Argentina and around the world. It did not have a hippie feel at all, rather a very outdoorsy type town where you get to know everyone. There is some great trekking that can be done, and there is rockclimbing (sport) and some really good bouldering, which we gladly donned our shoes for.

Enjoying the life on the bluff above the town!

Night shot of big boulder near their climbing gym.

Whenever we got hungry there were Calafate berries begging to be picked.  They have little seeds in them, but are mostly sweet.  The best, was to pick a bunch of them and then have a Calafate party in my mouth. :)

When not eating berries, we ate some good pasta at a Pastaria shop with some friends we met while trekking.

We did 2 day treks which completed almost all the non permit and non-backcountry things you can do there.

Perito Moreno Glaciar

Today we went to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and saw some amazing calving of the Perito Moreno glacier.  On the way there we stopped at an estancia (ranch) and they had some lambs loafing around.  This little guy was in the perfect place and I really love this pic.

Our bus group did a small hike along side the lake which gave us some nice views of the glaciar and the surrounding mountains.

We walked with the coolest South African doctors.  Their names are Del and Lisa, and I have to say I felt quite safe with them in case I did anything crazy like jumping into the glaciated waters.  They're on a 4 month travel around S. America.

Now for some awesome calving pics.  I've seen calving in Alaska but the size of that glaciar was not as big as this one.  This is 50 meters high and 5 km across along the edge.  Its moving at 2mts a day at the center.

Here's a video that Lisa took of the same calving.