Archive for February, 2009

As I said before El Chalten sells itself as the National Trekking Capital. And, blimey they’re not wrong. Dominated by the ridiciously high, steep and pointy Cerro Fitzroy there are trails all over the place up to lakes, viewpoints and glaciers. Fitzroy didn’t really play a big part in my El Chalten experience as for the whole time I was there I couldn’t actually see it because of the clouds. But, it didn’t matter (not even the fact that as the bus pulled out on my way to El Calafate, the clouds lifted and the whole incredible thing was visible) and it didn’t stop me from trooping my way up hills, down hills, along valleys, across rivers, sometimes with a bridge, sometimes not, for 4 days. I loved it. Hooked up with others from the bus and people we’d met in the hostel and just walked for hours. In rain, in snow, in sunshine, in hail, in cloud. Nothing mattered except just putting one foot in front of the other. It felt incredible and honestly, I felt something change in me. My head felt clear, nothing to worry about, nothing could stop me, it all just fell into place. My God, could I actually be Happy? Certainly felt like it. And what’s more I saw condors. Lots of condors. And parrots.

Lago de los Tres

So, onto El Calafate. Like Bariloche, it’s much more geared up to a wealthy Argentine crowd and rich (or short of time) tourists who fly in (as opposed to humble backpackers such as myself who trudge everywhere by bus) from Buenos Aires for two days to see one thing, the Perito Moreno glacier about 50 miles out of town. And who can blame them, this thing is BIG. First seen by Western eyes in 1879, it extends down from the Patagonian ice field (3^rd largest in the world after Antartica and Greenland fact fans) and covers 257 km2. It rises 60m above the waters of Lago Argentina (itself the largest lake in the country) and its North and South faces are 5km long. If all that wasn’t enough it’s the only stable glacier in the world. While all others are shrinking in the face of global warming, this one keeps marching on. Can you tell I did a tour yesterday?

Perito Moreno

And what a tour. The basic option is to get to the park, stand on the 2 viewing balconies about 100m from the front of it and just watch. Because all glaciers move (even the shrinking ones) big chunks of ice are constantly falling off the front edge with an almighty roar, a huge splash and hundreds of tourists frantically turning their cameras on to take pictures of the ripples, having missed the fall itself. I did this for a bit, then we were all marched back onto the bus to catch a boat over to the other side of the lake where we walked for an hour or so through the woods alongside it, then put on our crampons, had a little lesson in crampon technique (duck feet going up, monkey legs going down) and headed onto the glacier itself. For 3 hours we tramped around, across crevasses, up and down little slopes, past streams,waterfalls, pools, ice caves (complete with ice slide weeeeee!) and ice. A whole lot of ice. It was magical.

Glacier Feet

It’s been a long time since I read the Hobbit so I can’t remember the name of the town where Bilbo Baggins lives (apart from it being in The Shire), but in Spanish it’s called Bolson Cerrado, they would like to think in honour of El Bolson, a little mountainous slice of the Summer of Love in the Patagonian Andes. Hippies came here in the 1960′s and liked it so much they stayed. It was declared a Nuclear-Free zone back in the 1970′s (hear that Russia? Now you’re scared) and still maintains a free and easy feel today. Legend has it elves live in the trees in the park. It was certainly a change from Bariloche, and a welcome one. The hostel was full of Argentinians and other Latin American types and I haven’t spoken English to a native English speaker in 5 days.

Lago Puelo

I get complimented regularly on my Spanish which is a very nice thing to hear, although there is a way to go yet. Like learning some verbs in the past tense, I get a lot of mileage out of I was and I arrived, but it would be nice to break out into new areas. Whilst I’m blowing my own trumpet here, every time I get asked my age, there has not been a single person in 3 months who has not said “you look much younger, you could easily pass for 30”. Some people have even asked me what the secret of my success is. Um, well, drink beer, avoid exercise as much as possible, eat whatever you want (not fish, don’t eat fish) and moisturise regularly. Oh, and giving up your job and going travelling helps. Maybe I should start a Keep Your Youth the JontyJago Way programme.

Anyhoo, I digress. El Bolson, like most places round here is in a valley surrounded by big old mountains covered in snow and is all very picturesque. There are plenty of 3-6 hours walks from the town, all of them with fantastic views over somesuch valley, river or mountain. On the first day I took a little stroll up to the Cabeza del Indio, which is a rock which looks like a Indian (of the Noble Savage variety rather than from Delhi). And what do you know, it really does. I then strolled further onto a little waterfall, which frankly was a bit crap. Once you’ve been to Iguazu, not much else does it waterfall-wise. The guy there told there was a “muy lindo” path which went back to town following the river. Well, path is stretching it. And he forget to tell me about the scramble up a virtually vertical 150m cliff. On loose gravel. And the arse-clenching descent on the other side (with a nice view of El Bolson cemetery, which was reassuring). I’m not one for hyperbole, but one little slip and I WOULD HAVE DIED. But thanks to my youth-prolonging lifestyle and superb physical prowess, luckily for you (and me) I’m still here. Muy lindo indeed.

The rest of El Bolson passed much less dramatically. Had a little trip to Lago Puelo with some people I met in the hostel, a National Park with a lake stretching all the way to the Chilean border. A very relaxing place, and I managed not to get into any trouble on the walk, didn’t nearly drown or anything. Next day went up a mountain with Laura, who is originally from Cali in Colombia but who now works in Buenos Aires, to the Bosque Tallado, a wood with loads of sculptures by hippies. Enjoy the pics. Not sure where the next stage is, but you’ll be the first to know. Well, I’ll probably know before you do, but you get the idea.

Bosque Tallado, El Bolson

Oh and a quick footnote, in the Bus post I mentioned that there was only one long-distance inter-city rail line in Argentina. It stopped running last year. Game, Set and Match to the mighty Bus.

I’d been warned about Bariloche.

Bariloche

Having lived in Switzerland for the best part of 5 years, people told me that I wouldn’t find the scenery that special, and I wouldn’t be seeing anything I hadn’t seen before. The town is on Lago Nahuel Huapi which is about the same size as Lake Geneva, surrounded by mountains and ski resorts and has a Saint Bernard in the main square that you can have your photo taken with. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? The shops all sell mountain gear and chocolate (not usually at the same time to be fair). But somehow it didn’t real feel Swiss. It surely felt richer than the rest of Argentina, all very smart and chalet style houses, but still had the nice relaxed feel of the rest of the country.

And of course the scenery which is fantastic, but I won’t whitter on about that, here’s a couple of pics and the rest will go up soon..

Cerro Catedral