Glaciers and Rain

Alright, my apologies for missing 5 weeks or so between blogs. We had super limited Internet access, and if we did not for more than 10 minutes at a time. It turns out it takes a really long time to write 7 pages of blogging. I am totally into chronicling this adventure. ITs a fine line between mundane events from day to day (journaling) and providing you with the details in a chronological order. But really, whatever, here it is. El Calafate and El Chalten a bit of trekking through insanity. Wish you all could have been there or that I could share pics with ya, but here we GO. (sidenote: blogger doesnt allow exclamation points....)

El Calafate and Argentina
    We began to take our trip North through the rest of Patagonia. We took a sunrise bus through the border back to Argentina and had to say good-bye to beautiful Chile. We took a bus across desert, insane lakes, and dropped off a valley wall into the relative desert of Argentine Patagonia. About 2 hours later we arrived in El Calafate. El Calafate, named after the wild Patagonian blueberry, is not the  most attractive town. First, it was super expensive and the only hostel in town was a massive hotel style place, quite a change from all of our previous hostels that were very personable hostel owners.

The town is full of people who have flown into Argentina for a week or less and want to do trekking in the summer or skiing in the winter. Therefore, most of the shops are gear stores, there’s a huge casino, and all the restaurants and grocery stores were the most expensive so far in our whole trip. But once you get over all of that there is a ton to do, but all outside of town with a tour, that inevitably you have to pay for. But to El Calafate´s credit, the town is the springboard for one of the most incredible wonders of the world: Perito Moreno Glacier.

So naturally we had to go to the Glacier. We had already seen some glaciers but nothing like Perito Moreno. We got some bus tickets and were swept off early in the morning on a partly cloudy day. About an hour later we arrived at the Southern Entrance of Parque National Los Glaciares. The national park is HUGE and encompasses some of Argentinas most massive Glaciers. You have to pay to enter the southern part (Perito Moreno Glacier) but the northern part is free (El Chalten, more on this later). So after paying our entrance fee the bus dropped us in front of a visitors center and the entrance to an incredible maze of suspended walkways that twist and wind all over each other closer and closer to the Glacier.

Perito Moreno Glacier is incredible. The setting: the glacier is half a mile wide and several deep. It is also close, if not over, 100ft tall. Just massive It emerges from a valley with treeless peaks on all sides that make their mountainy way down to Lago Argentina. Lago Argentina is a pretty huge lake (miles long and at least half a mile wide) that has a dog-legged shape. The glacier itself is one of the few Glaciers in the world that is considered “stable” in size and hasn’t lost any mass over the past century (unlike 95% of Glaciers worldwide). In fact the giant mass of ice move nearly 1meter every day. The coolest thing about the whole glacier is that because of its massive advancing it eventually races across the lake and divides the lake in half right at the dog leg. This happens every several years and eventually the pressure of the lake and the weight of glacier creates a rupture where massive chunks of ice, rock, and water spew, explode, and fly all over as the lake claims the dog-leg once again. This happens sporadically; 1998, 2004, 2008, 2010, etc.

About a month before our trip the Glacier had once again reached the other side of the lake (the more frequent ruptures a sign of climate change? heh heh). This created a crazy aspect to the lake where half of it was a different color, one side green, then the other side of the glacier blue. Also the two sides were even different heights. Totally a different lake, although it was the same. We were sure to bring lots of food for our bus was not returning to pick us up for another 6 hours. So when we arrived we walked along miles of these catwalks until we were only several yards from the Glacier which was spread out in an unworldly sprawl. So we did the only natural thing at this juncture. WE sat for 6 mind blowing hours, hypnotized and picnicking. Even after looking at it for hours its still difficult to fathom the actual size of this ice cube.

The Perito Glacier is an experience of all the senses. Even after the sun came out and bathed the whole valley in sunlight, you can feel the cool air blowing off the ice (not unlike a hockey game...). The most interesting, and unexpected, sensation is listening to the glacier. IT makes insane noises that I cannot begin to explain. IT gurges, gushes, creaks, and moans. It splashes, splays, cracks and whistles. Half of the enjoyment is listening to the unworldly sounds. But the real reason everyone is there for the spectacle. Because the glacier moves close to a meter a day the giant 100 foot face calves of in massive skyscraper size chunks. So literally, we found a place we liked and for 6 hours just watched the glacier. IT is comparable to waiting to see a shooting star or a strike of lighting. Waiting to see the awesome power of nature. The first glimpse you have is unbelieving, mezmorizing. And after that first glimpse you are HOOKED, so all you can do is continue to stare and wait. Sometimes you are rewarded and sometimes not. Then when the first piece falls, it is with such power, and insanity, that all you can do is watch and wait in anticipation for the next to fall. Even the smallest pieces that fall make a little cracking sound, then silence as they fall 100ft or so, then an INSANE crashing sound as they are obliterated on the waiting sapphire lake.

Highlight: The crown crash of the day came around 3pm or so, just as we passed the 5th hour of straight Glacier watching. The sun had been baking the face of the glacier since about 11am when the clouds finally broke and the glacier was looking a beautiful deep blue, swirling with whites, and greys shaped in insane spires and impossible shapes. Slowly, larger and larger chunks would break off. Every 20 minutes, 5 minutes, 45 minutes, until one little, itty bitty piece fell off the top. This piece was the keystone and soon a massive, 80feet or more, skyscrape size chunk roared into the water. You could feel it, hear it, smell it, taste it, not one sense was left unenlightened. It was unfathomable.

We returned to Calafate in awe, and the next day we jumped on a bus to El Chalten.

El Chalten:

This town is ridiculous. First off, it is the youngest town in all of Argentina. It was built in the early 90´s and was only started because Chile and Argentina were debating where the border was, so Argentina won. Secondly, El Chalten boasts having the worst weather in the world. Which is true. Thirdly, El Chalten is also the, most importantly, the springboard into some of the most raw, stunning, and impossibly beautiful natural landscapes that Patagonia, and the world, have to offer. So it seemed completely logical to go there.

We had heard from several travellers before we even made it to Patagonia that El Chalten doesnt have a bank, the only ATM rarely has money, and that food at the few grocery stores flies off the shelves. So we prepared by taking a bunch of money out in EL Calafate, buying most of our food before we arrived, and planning on camping to keep costs down. We also had talked to our Hostel owners in Puerto Natales about El Calafate for the best 5 day backpacking trip and had a pretty good itinerary set up. We were ready for anything. Then everything came. But first...

The bus ride was awesome. Only about 2 hours from Calafate, El Chalten is located off of famous Ruta40 in Patagonia. An epic highway that cruises the desert on the rain shadow side of the mountains in Patagonia, right in the foothills. The entire time there are beautiful jagged peaks in the distant, insane colored lakes and river, and tons of giant ostrich looking birds and herds of llama type animals. Its totally nuts. We arrived in El Chalten which is a gorgeous little, brand new town.

El Chalten is in the shadow of Mount Fitz Roy (seriously, google up a picture right now) and reminds me of Silverton, Colorado. All the roofs, and buildings are different colors and hunkered down tight for the insane winds and rain that come out of the mountains. There is also a bunch of construction going on because the town is new, and in the last 4 years it has seen a huge increase in toursim. Our hostel, it turns out was actually illegal and without papers, was still being built and the second floor was a skeleton of a building without windows, a roof, and only a couple brick walls. It was the cheapest place in town and everywhere else was double or triple the price of what everyone had been quoting us. This put us in a cash strain, even though we took out abunch of money, because the ATM was, of course, out of money. But not to dampen our spirits. We stayed one night, got some last minute food, and got a ride out to the boondocks to begin a 5 day trekking trip back to town. Oh boy was it epic.

Piedra del Fraile - Lago Electrico

We got dropped off on a partly cloudy day, where the mountains were doing a sort of dance with the fog and mist, right at the confluence of the Rio Blanco and the Rio Electrico. As their names imply, the Rio Blanco was a beautiful crystal clear river running over white granite while the Rio Electrico was an incredible electric blue/sapphire/turquoise meandering down a multicolored valley. We began our hike out to Piedra del Fraile away from the valley of Rio Blanco and along the Rio Electrico. It was perfect. The mist blocked the sun and made the temperature perfect for backpacking. When the sun is out its almost too hot when you are moving, but when its cloudly and cool the temperature is perfect for hiking and once you stop your body temperature cools in about 5-10 minutes so it naturally keeps you moving.

We made it to Fraile in a couple hours after walking along through beautiful forests, over creeks, and next to a couple mooing cows to the privately owned campground. We were sent here by our hostel owner in Puerto Natales solely on the reason that few people venture back here. He was right and there was only one other couple staying at the camp when we arrived. The gentleman that owns the camp is an awesome dude that 4wheels in the summer and backpacks in the winter to keep the place stocked, does epic climbing,and skiing in the winter and was stoked to talk to us even though we could barely even retort in our broken spanish. We put down the tent, payed some cash money, and took off up the valley further to check out the headwaters of the Rio Electrico, Lago Electrico. As we headed up a massive valley, that had obviously been abused by a glacier only a couple hundred years earlier, the clouds began to clear. we were in an incredible valley that ended only a couple miles ahead of us. To the south there was incredible colored rock in Reds, blacks, yellows, whites, and greys that peaked out at Cerro Electrico (electric peak). In front of us, to the west, was a massive glacier field and scraggly, treeless peaks that directly fed, the still hidden, lago Electrico. And narrowly on the North side was another giant, treeless ridgeline. Behind us, to the east, was the giant wash of the Rio Electrico and Piedra del Fraile, which really is one of the only rocks, a giant one, in the middle of the valley where the camp was nestled up in the forest. Beyond that was more mountains and rivers and epic Patagonia.

After much scrambling and jaw dropping scenery we made it to the cliffs on the southside of the Lago Electrico. The first glimpse was an onslaught on the senses. It was still cloudy, but the lake was the most insane color blue. Indescribable. I know I keep saying things like “impossible”, “insane”, “epic”, etc, but after weeks in this wonderful land Megan and I were mostly speechless with the frequent “wow”.  Then a couple more steps and “wow”. Its all just wow.

We continued on our Journey next to the lake over some orange, purple, black, white, and cream colored rocks that had obviously taken a beating from some glaciers not too long ago. We stopped to have a bite to eat with our legs hanging over the lake still about 30 meters above the water. Here, while we ate, the sun came out and gave the lake, if that was possible, an even more insane color as well as lighting up EVERYTHING.To our left we could see the massive glacier expanse covering a jagged black mountain with several peaks poking through the ice and stretching back to the right over across a huge valley. The right side of the glacier abruptly stopped into another incredibly orange, glacier abused jagged mountain that ran along next to the lake and most of the valley back to Piedra Fraile.

Now that the sun was out we boogied across the rocks and down to a pebble beach (florida?) next to the impossible lake. There we could see a peninsula that sticks out into the water which literally looks like it is floating. Without lagging too much we juanted up the the left into a valley next to a small creek that was feeding the lake and it was incredible to see the geological change. The rock type was changing at a pace reserved for weather in the mountains and not the usually relaxed meandering over millions of years. We were in a band of soft crumbly white rock which had huge boulders and white sand everywhere. I could have been in Jtree or in the hills by Santa Cruz if it wasnt for the granite peaks and glacier bays. But differing terrain is the name of the game here in PAtagonia so another 30 meters and we were in a different band of beautiful crystal induced yellow granite that to the step was super sticky. We followed this up to the top of the creek was another lake with another insane view.

This was insane. There was an absolutely glass lake that was being fed by 2 blasting waterfalls at least 10 meters each. Behind the falls on the right was an incredible granite wall with black streaks of water cascading down. IT looked like a wall of Northern California Granite except of being stained black there was a glacier sitting on the summit. It was almost as if we were watching Yosemite being formed. Then just to the left there, shrouded in its eternal mist cloak, was the giant Cerro Fitz Roy. The entire geologic party was being reflected off the glassy lake and we stopped to enjoy the solitude on a rock right on the border of mirrorlake meeting cascading creek.

We returned to the gorgeous Lago electrico in the still brilliant sunshine and once we got to the shores of the insanely colored water I had such a desire to jump in. Minutes later we found a nice spot on the beach and I went for a quick, and freezing dip in the awesome water. IT was literally swimming at the base of a glacier but it felt great to dry off in the sstrong patagonian sunshine afterward. Hands down the best swim I have ever taken.

The next day we headed straight up next to our camp about 1300 meters or so to a small valley and pass called “Paso del Cuadrado”. We had to climb straight up some beautiful granite and once we reached the treeline the color of rocks became insane. We were hiking next to a peak called Cerro Electrico which, true to its namesake, was striped in 5 different color rocks and was a brilliant peak on the way to some of the most incredible geologic formations in the world.  The rockfields above treeline were situated by color in an unbelievable precision. There was a giant band of black rocks from the summit of the many peaks running down to treeline, a perfectly distinguished line then a band of bright orange rocks, another line, and then white rocks. IT was crazy. Once we made it up to the top we were in a sharp bowl-shaped valley.

On the left were the 3 bands of colored rocks heading to several peaks that slowly crumbled down from the sheer faces of perfect granite Cerro Fitz Roy. IT was insane, probly the most dominating rock in the world. IT is soo much bigger, more sheer, and beautiful than any rock in Patagonia (the world?). Then tumbling down from that peak was a glacier right in front of us and lake. We were standing less than a kilometer from Fitz Roy and it was surround by snow, rock and ice. But today, the only day of the 6 we were in El Chalten, there wasnt a cloud in the sky. All there was was brilliant blue, perfect white granite, white snow, and the multitude of colored rocks tumbling down to the Valley. Not a bad place to be.

This blog is already too long for my tired fingers and the fact that it has been so hard to find time and a computer that I can sit at for more than 20 minutes, but I must go on without sparing any insanity (it all is insanity).

The day after Cuadrado We hiked around to the other side of Fitz Roy away from Rio Electrico and up the Valley along the Rio Blanco. However, now there were no more cloudless calm day of el Chalten. Fitz Roy had decided to live up to its renown as having the worst weather in the world, and it did a good job. The first day after Cuadrado was ok. We went from partly cloudy to insane wind to sideways rain in a continually revolving weather wheel. We also got to see some insane things including Lago Sucia and a whole bunch of other glaciers, epic rock scrambling with 40lb packs over rivers with no other witnesses except waterfalls and glaciers. However, that night when we reached the busy campgrounds at the trail head to  lago de los tres all weather hell broke loose.

We entered the heart of a 4 day storm of 40mph (or more) wind and rain for days. We had luckily got our tent set up before the drizzle went to the downpour but it lasted for days. That night was insanely loud. The rain was constantly dropping on our tent and water with nylon is exactly quiet. But that was a whisper compared to when the wind came and shook all the water out of the trees into torrents that you had to yell over to be heard 1ft away to the other side of the tent. This lasted for 24 hours or longer. The next day we slept in, moved slow, and were staying realatively dry in our tent, but shortly after noon we were getting cabin fever and put on all our rain gear, gaiters, and gloves and headed out for a walk to see what we could see. The answer was nothing. The mountains were completely cloud drenched and the rain was blowing sideways. We were able to walk for a couple hours, but with that much rain and wind not even the best goretex can keep you dry and we were completely soaked to the bone.

At this point we had to head to the tent. We were 3 hours from town and, because the atm didnt have any money, had nowhere to go. Our bus didnt leave for several days, we had enough food, but still needed to buy a little on our last day so we were camped out in a true patagonian rager with no retreat. That night, close to dawn, silence for the first time in 2 days meant that the rain had given up for a second. I had tied a clothes line and it gave us a couple hours to hang our stuff out and hopefully dry a little. After a couple hours the drizzle came back, but with less strength than the downpour. We decided we were going to see anything so we took off for the closest campsite to town, still an hour away but not 3.

So  we packed up all our stuff a fast as possible and right when we made it to the other campsite the downpour resumed. As we were hurrying to put up the tent to try to keep something dry the tent pole SHATTERED right on the plastic joint which makes it impossible to fix. . Mala leche. Quickly we pulled out the ducttape and a metal pole and tried to tape it together but the tent still wasnt holding its shape. So I had to cut a whole mess of guidelines to tie from the tentfly to trees, and other stakes and after a bit we had a tent that look like a tent. WE threw all our dry stuff in the tent, our wet stuff under the vestibule and in the insane downpour decided that we werent getting any wetter so we should do our last trip to town for some supplies.

The money situation was a bit dampening. Everything was more expensive than we planned for and we had 2 more nights. So with the ATM out of money the little cash we had lead us to 2 options. We could camp in town and have a meager last 3 meals, or camp an hour outside of town in the free camp and have a more luxurious last 3 meals (box of wine anyone?). So we decided that our tent might not make it through another breakdown and set up so we decided to spend our last remaining pesos on tasty vittles. So down the mountain we slipped in the down pour towards tiny El Chalten.

An hour later we were walking through the streets completely soaked and cold and ehadedd to the bus station so we could eat lunch somewhere dry for the first time in 3 days. After shedding some layers and getting some hot tea from some fellow trekkers with teh same idea at the bus station we tried the ATM and VIOLA. MOOuuLA. It was like winning the lottery. Now that we were ganster-balling-rich-folks our soggy fruit cake didnt taste as good so we headed for a pizzaria with a heater and coffee. But first we also decided we were going to get a hostel for our last night and dry out and warm up. There is something chilling about being soaked to the bone in 40+mph winds for 3 days that makes the price of a hostel not matter. We were tired, hungry and soaked. The lady at the hostel was so sorry she didnt have a room for us when we asked while we dripped a huge puddle on the floor from our soaked clothes. But was overjoyed when we told her it was for tomorrow. We booked our room, she even gave us a discount for nothing (probly pity) and pointed us to the cheapest pizza joint in town. WE left with our spirits much higher and camped out in the pizza joint next to the heater for a couple hours and some of the best pizza ive ever had. Afterwards, bought a box of wine and walked up the hill in the mud to our tent in the dark.

What we arrived to was an insane river running through our camp and threatening to wash our backpacks our from under the vestibules, the inside of the tent was still the driest place for a couple miles but had puddles building. That is when out came the most dynamic, useful, and my favorite tool I brought on the trip: my Spoon. Megans plastic “light my fire” half spoon, half fork/knife that seem to be very popular among most backpackers, had broken a week or so before at a hostel while we were eating Polenta, POLENTA. But the entire trip I was constantly crooning over my love for my MSR super strong spoon, and, truly, it was the only shiny thing in the dark hour in the downpour of Chalten. I was able to dig an entire trench around the whole tent successfully diverting the river from under our tent into a pretty good sized creek running safely next to the shelter. And it was flowing fast. But after a tasty meal and some wine we laid back down to the sound of rain beating our tarp for the last time...

A lot more happened, but Im going to end here until I bring us to El Bolson, Wwoofing, The Futaleufu, kayaking, MORE RAIN CAMPING, and the return to cities, friends, waterfalls, and Che Guaveras hometown. Hope you all dont get too bored reading. Holla atcha.
Ciaoito

Nic and Megan

Part 1/2 - Torres Del Paine - Sol en me hombros

¡¡¡¡SO no matter how much I mess with Blogger I cannot get the whole text to be the same color. Im Sorry. Also, this is only part one, its take forever to write these things, and I will try to get part two up as soon as possible. Megan and I are now Wwoofing down in Palena, Chile, which is awesome. Its only 1200 people and doesnt have too many services, including an ATM, so were a bit limited on resources. Hope everyone up North is doing well and enjoy the story to go with the pictures!!!!

Alright, back to the blog. It has been over a month since Ive been able to find a computer that I can sit at for more than 10 minutes and relay probly the most dense part of Megan and my´s adventures. We had finally arrived in Patagonia in Punta Arenas right on the Straight of Magellan. We  have a couple pics of Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine that can be found HERE.
Firstly, Im going to clear up what Patagonia really means. I had a pretty good idea in the states before I left, but only after bumming around the region have I begun to grasp the epic expanse of Patagonia. I run into travelers down here that still ask where the town of Patagonia is and are confused about the whole concept. Patagonia is a region of the South America. Its where the end of the Andes crash into the Ocean at the southern tip of the world before the insane Oceans break up the water between Antarctica and South America. Patagonia if you want to truly define it is Southern Chile and Argentina below the 40th Parallel. It has been described by many travellers and authors as one of the few great expanses of lands that has not been fully discovered. And true to this claim, there are immense stretches of land, mountains, and rivers that are incredibly inaccessible. There is no town, province, or state named Patagonia, its closer to a region (like the Southwest in the USA).

To give a general description from West to East. The West is insanely Lush, fully of a scraggely, wind blown tree called the Lengua and full of broken land, ocean and mountains-It reminded me of the inside passage of Alaska. Then you get to the Andes that at sea level give you the feel of being in the heart of the rockies at 1,000´s of feet. Because the mountains get so much snow and they are so far south Treeline is at about 3500 ft of elevation. And they truly look like the rockies, 1000s of years ago. The Geology is happening in front of you with glaciers, Alpine lakes, and rivers tearing through EVERYWHERE. There is no lightning, but the thunder booms through most valleys in the summertime as glaciers calve off and tumble hundreds of feet and destroying everything. Finally, when you make it east, (Argentina now as the Continental Divide is generally the border between Chile and Argentina) you get the feeling of BV or Grand Junction. I mean that in the way of the Rain Shadow effect. Where all the rain from the oceans dump on the Chilean side or in the mountains and have nothing for the massive Argentine expanse. IT is usually miles and miles of grasslands that go on forever with nothing but the shadows of epically huge mountains and insanely colored lakes and rivers collected from Glacial runoff. So here we are in Patagonia.

So picture this, a small tattered town, the largest of size in South Patagonia (60,000), the best brewery in Patagonia (Cerveza Austral), crazy ragtag houses of every color nestled up a hill of brilliant green and all the way to the emerald sapphire of the Straight of Magellan, This is Punta Arenas. The coolest thing of Punta Arenas, although im going to rush through it to get to even more epic things, was travelling to the Isla Magdalena and seeing 1000´s of Pinguinoes!! (penguins)  The first day we tried to go but as was explained to us there was a “little winter” going on so we had to wait a day. It was super rad and the first official “Tour” we have taken in our entire trip. But for 25.000 Chilean we were able to jump on a Ferry for 2 hours and cruise through the straight of Magellan north until we arrived at a Island with nothing on it but a lighthouse and insanes amounts of Pinguinos. Seriously though, nothing else, no vegetation, nothing but penguins. As were waiting to disembark there are flocks(?) of penguins swimming into the island after fishing. We got a couple hours to walk around and literally stand next to tons of penguins. Awesome. Then a gorgeous sunset and ocean ride on the way back. Then we were able to head 2 hours north to the heart of trekking in Patagonia, Torres Del Paine (TDP).

The base camp for the Circuit is a little town called Puerto Natales that really doesnt have anything going of except for the insane amounts of people heading and returning to the National Park TDP. It is insanely gorgeous with mountains, glacies, and the end of a 3 day ferry ride from Puerto Montt arriving, but the town is really just for backpackers. Every single store sells gas for trekking, tons of different food, dried foods, and is actually a perfect place for preparing for a trip. So we arrived at one of the best hostels of our trip, Patagonico Hostel. It is owned by a couple that are both Trekking Guides in the park and around Patagonia. Also this is the first place that we ran into the 100 year old wood fire stoves that are Always hot. There are super cool and used all over patagonia. They stay hot all the time and have a giant metal flat top that is boiling hot on the left and slowly cools to the right where simmering heat is. Always hot, and serves a double purpose of heating the house in the winter. This hostel was an awesome place to prepare for our trek as well as we had the two owners there to answer any questions before we headed off. This was the last place I sent the blog from on the Eve of probly the most epic, and revered backpacking trips on the planet-The Torres Del Paine Circuito Grande. I´m going to try to do the literary impossible and put the Circuit into words. (Ineffable)

The Torres del Paine Circuit Grande is a 100km (give or take 20 km, probly give) loop around Chile and Patagonia´s most prestigious national park. The 100km is a trek around 2 insane mountain peaks the Torres and the Cuernas. You literally hike around the whole thing, desert on the east and a HUGE glacier field on the West. The North is more mountains, lakes, and glaciers, and the south is tons of Lakes, and rivers with distant mountains.  A big difference between South American trekking and USA trekking is that in South America all the trails and hikes are in valleys to epic view points in incredible places with almost no summiting and in the USA people only want to climb to the top of things. I enjoy both, but I will take scenery over a summit 9 times outta 10. I love South America. There is a lifelong debate on whether it is better to go Clockwise or Counter Clockwise. After much debilitating and a 2 hour discussion at a hostel in Puerto Natales we decided to go Counter clockwise, which throughout the hike we determined there were about 300 or so reasons why this was the best choice. This is going to be really long, so read if you like or skip ahead to the return and Calafate, but im going to break down our 10 days into the routes we did and the epicness, that is impossible to describe, along the way.

Day 1. Laguna Amables - Campamento Seron --

After a 2 hour bus ride from Puerto Natales you arrive at the park entrance where you have to pay your entrance fee and can choose to keep heading into the park to catch a ferry to Refugio Pehoe, take a shuttle to Refugio Torre, or walk along the road to Campamento Seron across the Desert. Already at the entrance we were greeted with epic views of the Cerro Torres, the beautiful electric river of Rio Paine, and herds of Guanacos (crazy llama looking things). Then we began walking. The first day was 8 hours through desert, mountains, and the highlight was walking off the mountain to golden grasslands sandwiched between epically huge mountains and the sapphire Rio Paine. Just unreal, impossible colors, views, and nature. Then we arrived at the none to pleasant Campamento Seron. A big grass field, that was the most expensive camping, with the worst facilities.

A quick note about the park. Its Euro style trekking, takes some getting used to after trekking the wilderness of the USA, where you have to stay on trail and camp only in designated spots or you get thrown out of the park. This is good and bad. The good, is that you cannot get lost, and you have a set day of walking most days and keeps you moving (which is good and bad). It also concentrates all of the human impact, waste, trash, and crap into one place and leaves the rest of the park pristine and beautiful. The bad is that you are stuck with running into people the whole time, its impossible to find any solace, and that there is trash, and waste, and people everywhere. But once you get into a ryhthm its good, the views outweigh any negative aspect, and you end up hiking with the same people day after day, and you start making friends. Its pretty rad.

Day 2- Campamento Seron -- Refugio Dickson
    People say that the first day of trekking is always the hardest because you have the heaviest pack and we had the farthest to go, but that is untrue. The second day is the hardest, because you are now SORE and you still have a heavy pack. We also had one of our longest days and we thoroughly got our buts kicked on the way to the most epic place I have ever slept- Refugio Dickson. The hike there was the worst weather of the entire 10 days we were out there (I will describe the impossibility of this in a minute). But we hiked along the desert, mountain, emerald river combo for a while then hiked straight up over a hill to walk around the back side of the Cuernas peaks. We then walked slowly down the mountain, through a swamp, with just insane mountains and glaciers slowly revealing themselves. There was also a helicopter making trips to Refugio Dickson dropping off training supplies for CONAF (chilean forest service) and fire fighting. But at one point we were watching the helicopter, and then noticed a second helicopter, but soon we realized it wasn´t a helicopter but a bird. A giant freaking bird, the freaking 10ft wingspan Patagonian Condor. It was our first glimpse of this bird and it was surreal and totally mesmerizing. We then hiked up another giant hill and got our first glimpse of Dickson. Refugio Dickson is located on a peninsula nestled between 3 giant mountains, two glaciers and the lake that feeds the Rio Paine. Unnreal.

Day 3- Refugio Dickson -- Campamento Los Perros
    This was a shorter but no less insane hike. After waking up to an unbelievable morning of swirling clouds, sunshine on surreal peaks, calm lakes, and flowing fog we hiked off the peninsula and along the backside of Cerro Torres and Las Cuernas to the basecamp of Los Perros the night before the most insane day of the whole circuit, John Garner Pass. But before we got there we hiked out of the peninsula to a viewpoint (mirador) that was surrounded by mountains, glaciers, creeks, clouds, and forest. Then the we continued on through the woods and mountains.

On of the ultimate hightlights of all of Patagonia and especially the Circuit are the microclimates. Everytime we would venture over a hill, pass, or across a creek the vegetation and forest would immediately change. IT was crazy. The abrupt and obvious change of tree type, vegetation, moss, and everything else was incredible to witness and kept your mind off the miles and the weight on your back and your attention on the beauty at hand. Gorgeous.

We made it to Los perros which is surrounded on one side the valley and creek we walked up from Dickson. An incredibly lush forest in a narrow valley with tons of creeks, waterfalls and shear mountains all falling over each other. The opposite side was  a rocky slope to the inevitable John Gardner Pass over 1500 meters above our heads. Then on the South side was the Los Perros Glacier and an incredible Glacial Morraine holding a huge lake with icebergs floating everywhere. The Los Perros Glacier is huge and stretches all the way to Valle Frances (we´ll arrive there on Day 5), but we were only able to see a little stretch of it up on 300 foot cliff with a little sliver reaching down to lake (frozen waterfall). The opposite side of Los Perros Glacier was another beautiful grey granite valley with a creek coming down from another glacier a couple hours hike from the camp. Here we ate, made camp, and talked to some familar faces about the impending pass in the morning. There was a mysterious air amoungst the hikers because of John Garner Pass reputation for being the steepest, hardest, and worst weather of the whole circuit. It sends people to the frontside, shorter trek (the W) just so they dont have to do the pass. We sat around hearing stories of strong winds, upwards rain, people having to turn back, and somehow all got some sleep for the impending climb in the morning.

Day 4 Los Perros -- Campamento Los Guardas
    We woke up at 530 to get an early start and started to leave around 830 (pretty good time for breaking camp actually). Within the first 5 minutes we were trudging through roots and muck knee deep straight up the valley. After about an hour we put our gators on and the next rock field we made it to we were above treeline-typical. As we crossed the rockfields were slowly became surrounded by a narrower and narrower valley with insanely steep, jagged peaks, glaciers, and waterfalls, not to mention the most beautiful blue sky and sunshine ive ever felt. We slowly kept heading towards the saddle. On the way we stopped for some lunch next to a gushing river coming straight from the bottom of a glacier. Best water ever.

    One of the best parts of all of patagonia and especially TDP is the fact that all the water everywhere is drinkable. You see a glacier, then it melts in waterfalls and running down the rocks into a lake that flows into a river. It all happens above treeline and the cliffs are so steep and barren that there is almost no wildlife outside of birds and insects which means its the cleanest in the world. I always prided Buena Vista with having the best water in the world. I am now convinced its the 2nd best water in the world. the river we stopped next to on John Garner Pass, after hiking straight up in the Patagonian sunshine was the sweetest water Ive ever tasted. You walk up to the river and plunge your waterbottle in and drink the coldest, sweetest, most refreshing glacial melt. Every town and river is safe to drink in all of Patagonia, and every tap is cool, clear, and delicious. Reason 412 why Southern South America might be the greatest place on earth.

    Three hours, 4 false summits, and 1200 meters straight up later we arrived to the top of John Garner Pass. Despite being renowned for the worst weather in the world we had not a cloud in the sky and the golden ball of sun beaming down on us. We met up with the other jumble of hikers we had been traveling with for 4 days now and every one was laughing, eating, smiling and sun bathing in one of the most epic spots on planet earth. Behind us was the narrow valley yawning from glaciers, rocks, and jagged spires into lakes, creeks, waterfalls, forests and sprawling valley. In front of us was, if possible, an infinitely better view, impossible really. Glacier Grey is one of the most unfathomable views I have ever tried to gulp down. I will try to explain it without exaggerating one bit. From the top of the pass Glacier grey spreads out miles and miles below you. It is nearly a mile wide and miles and miles long. On the far side of the valley are numerous peaks (well say 8) and inbetween them are more glaciers flowing down into Glacier Grey, so many Glaciers in fact that not all of them have names. On the south side Glacier Grey falls into the massive Lago Grey the next spot of our hike, and miles later Glacier Grey disappears into more snow, ice glaciers and peaks. Ineffable really.

We then hiked down 1200 meters straight down, 2 meter steps, 3 hours more to Campamento Paso. But we wanted to keep going so we had 2 more hours to Campamento Guardas which turns out the craziest 2 hours in the whole hike. We were walking on cliffs right hundreds of meters above the glacier and sporadically crossing gorges with waterfalls and creeks and always, incredible views of glacier, lake, and mountain peaks across the way. Twice we came to such steep gorges that there were huge, super sketchy ladder to descend and ascend. We were also the last people through Paso to Guardas but at the last ladder this old guy caught up to us. We soon found out that he was an old smoke jumper from Montana and was called in by the World Bank to do consulting for the massive fire at TDP a month earlier. He told us of a trail that went down to Glacier Grey. Once we got to camp he disappeared down to Refugio Grey and we were stopped at the Campamento Guardas. It is situated in the forest and a 50 yard hike to a giant cliff overlooking the spot where Glacier Grey meets Lago Grey. The meeting point of these two epic natural phenomenons is over 80 feet high. So we camped and planned on some relaxing days ahead after the best possible day on the Pass ever.

It was here that after we had eaten dinner and played a couple rounds of cards I headed out to the view point and the cliffs overlooking Glacier/Lago Grey and was greeted with the best view the heavens have to offer. The Southern night sky is an incredible treat to be able to gaze at after getting more comfortable with our Northern sky. The obvious treat, the Southern Cross was gorgeous and even has a couple colored stars, like orion, an old red star and a fresh hot blue giant. The red one on the left cross and the blue one at the base, sitting over the lake and the mountain ridge from where I was standing. But the even bigger treat of Southern star gazing is the Milky Way. There is a fatter, more galaxy dense section of the Milky Way that only stretches over the Southern Hemisphere and it is quite a site to see. We were also miles and miles from any source of lighting but it was literally incredible colors of white, blue, and red gas lighting up the sky and just punching out all the darkness. Incredible.

Day 5 Campamento Guardas -- Glacier Grey -- Refugio Grey
    So we slept in today because we only had a to hike an hour to our next camp, but after talking to the Montana guy we decided to try to head down to the Glacier. A quick side note. You cannot leave the trails or camp anywhere off trail. Its not patrolled, but if you are caught off trail you will get escorted out of the park. So we headed back along the trail and bummed off the trail into a valley and followed some cairns down and down and down until we got to the massive glacier. Unbelievable. We climbed up onto the glacier with rivers, mountains of insanely sculpted ice, and an unbelievable view of the lake. Also the first time we were by ourselves in the whole park. Awesome. We headed back then made the hour hike south to Refugio Grey and the insanity that was there.

So the difference between Refugios and Campamentos is pretty grand. Refugios are more established camps that have hotel sorta things that people can pay for beds, meals, and you have to pay for a campsite. There are also showers at most of them, and stores to buy insanely expensive food. Campamentos are more rustic and there are two distinctions for them two. There are free ones and pay ones. The pay camps have showers and toliets and the free ones have hole in the ground to do you buisness. So going from the free Campamento to the Refugio was quite different. Refugio Grey is also on the frontside of TDP. The front side is consisted of the hike the W (which looks like the W) that A LOT of people hike then the circuit adds on 3 more days around the back of the mountains. So at Refugio Grey there was an incredible amount of people everywhere. However, we had an epic sunset out on a penisula looking at the Glacier and the lake and an incredibly content evening with our first purchase of the trip. One can of Cerveza Austral.

Day 6 Refugio Grey -- Campamento Italiano -- Valle Frances
    Today we cruised through the burn that happened in Mid January and burned for over 2 weeks. So what happened, there was an Israeli that wanted to use the bathroom off trail and lit his toliet paper on fire. Then in the windiest place on earth the fire burned over 115,000 acres for 3 weeks. We got lucky and the park opened 2 weeks before we opened. But it was a massive problem. Today we had no option to head to Campamento Italiano because we were walking through the area of the fire and there was no camping between R. Grey and C. Italiano. Only minutes after leaving Grey did we reach the fire and all the haunting trees and fire remains. For 5 hours or so we walked through fallen and charred trees and ground incredibly scorched except for the little mounds remaining from the grass roots. Incredibly sites and pretty eerie. It gave the place a different type of otherworldly feel. We walked South until we reach Lago Pehoe which was another insane version of blue-green-grey combination. We walked over a small pass dividing Lago Pehoe with another lake and were greeted with one of the most beautiful views of my favorite peaks in TDP- the three Cuernas Peaks.

    The Cuernas peaks are three huge scraggly peaks that are this beautiful dark rosey brown sandwiching a GIANT band, now blocks, of perfect white granite. The top band, and much softer rock, of the brown has been eroded away to leave jagged spires at top each peak and the much harder white granite is arrogantly refusing to eroded leaving massive domes of spectacular colors. We walked along an insanely colored lake and now we had the end of the burn in view to the base of Valle Frances where, at its base, Campamento Italiano lay. After a couple more hours we crossed a couple rivers on really cool/sketchy hanging suspension bridges and arrived at the camp.

Campamento  Italiano is an awesome free Campground at the base of one of the highlights of TDP, Valle Frances. We quickly set up our tent to sounds of thunder then took off up the valley to catch a Mirador. Valle Frances is unbelievable as it follows up a river then breaks off towards the Cuernas peaks. On the East side of the Valley are the 3 Cuernas peaks, on the West side is a HUGE, 1000 meters or so, wall of rock and ice that constantly had glaciers breaking off and tumbling and thundering down until they smashed on another glacier feeding the river. It was one of the  most incredible things to witness. Then the far end of the Valley was where the Cuernas peaks ran into the Valle of Silencio, Cerro Torre, and more towering granite domes creating the most epic Amphitheater on the planet. We made it to far side of this unfathomable amphitheater before we had to head back due to time. But the view down the valley was of insanely colored lakes, islands, and mountain peaks in the distance.

I need to talk about Glacial Flour. This is the fine powder of granite that glaciers grind as they slowly move, but this sediment is what is responsible for giving glacial melt such an insane color. They create minty blue waters as beautiful, if not more so, than any carribean beach with many different colors of blue. I love Glacial Flour.

Day 7 -- Campamento Italiano -- Campamento Torre
    Not much going on today. We just set off, across gorgeous forests and streams to hike up the Valley behind the Cuernas peaks. The highlight of the day came as we were walking up a hill to get to the valley and a HUGE shadow falls over us, then as we look up a GIANT condor soars only a couple meters above our head. The biggest bird ever. There were a couple that followed a little bit higher up. An amazing site to behold, a bit of natures best.

After climbing straight up and straight down we walked along the eastern edge of the valley North towards Campamento Torre and the Torres peaks. All the peaks were so massive we couldnt see them above the mountain we were trekking along until we made it to the Camp. The were stunningly gorgeous only poking about a giant glacial moraine. Only an hour away and straight up the side of a  mountain was the Mirador Torre. Which we eagerly awaited so we went to bed.

Day 8 -- Campamento Torre -- Valle de Silencio
    Today we woke up at 430am and packed up our sleeping pads, sleeping bags, breakfast, and all the warm clothes we could find and took off for the mirador with our headlamps on. We took our time up, with the stars bragging overhead, up higher and higher. We werent alone and there was a constant snake of bobbing headlamps far below and far above as we went up which was an eerie yet incredible site unto itself. We made it to the top just as the sky was beginning to change and lighten up. We found a spot on a rock, pulled out our sleeping pads, jumped in the sleeping bags and put the kettle on while we waited for the show to begin.

    The torres peaks are 3 giant spires, all at several 1000 meters, of perfect white granite that create the most perfect ampitheater with a glacier at their base that streaks water down into a lake that eventually feeds a river. We set up on the far side of the lake with a bunch of other fellow trekkers and just sat and watched. At first there were mist and clouds covering the bases of the Torres and only their peaks could poke throught. But as the violet sky began to transform to navy, and closer and closer to slate then blue, the clouds began their insane swirling dance first up the peaks, then down to the water until finally the sun came to join. At 703 exactly, the sun hit the first middle Torre to cheers from the crowd. From our spots in the sleeping bags we felt the rush of cold air as the last of the night air got sucked into the valley, running from the sun. The colors were impossible. We basked in the glory of this view for hours and were the last to leave close to 10am after the sun was high in the sky, the colors gone, and the first day trekkers only just appearing.

We had enough food so we decided to stay another night at Campamento Torre. We headed down, got a nap in, then decided to walk a bit more. There was a trail that went further north from the camp, but on every map it was marked for rock climbers only. So I decided to check it out, while Megan sunbathed on a rock near the river, basking in the shadows of the Torre peaks. As I headed North up the valley. After an hour I made it to Campamento Japones and a sign that stated “Fin de sendero” Do not continue. So I continued up the mountain to the West as the valley I was in ended and the Massive Valle de Silencio came in from the west. I climbed up a creekbed and straight up a bit more before I began to traverse around to the West and follow the mountain with the Valle de Silencio far below. After walking for another hour I met up the Valley and massive, multi colored morains, of just spectacular rock. After a bit more I was soon in the most remote place I had been in all of TDP with no one else in site and spectacular views of the backside of the Torres, Cuernas, and the massive peaks we had seen at Campamento Dickson 6 days earlier. IT was a place with such massive earth that it made you feel small.

Day 9 -- The Return
    On day 9 we continued with the perfect weather. TDP and patagonia is renowned for its insane weather. The only thing more epic than the views is the weather. We were warned of the two most dangerous parts of the whole park, wind and sunshine. But somehow, after 9 days, we only had 1 night of rain, and a couple windy spots. The majority of our days were full of insane sunshine and swirling clouds. PERFECTION. We headed down the  mountainside past lots of day hikers heading to Mirador Torre for their only day in the park. This is one of my favorite parts of backpacking. After we were 9 days dirty coming down, smelling ripe, giant, filthy pack on our backs and passing people in perfect white t-shirts and nothing on them but a camera around their neck and reeking of perfume/cologne. Hilarious. One of the highlights of the whole day is when we were only 100 meters or so from the beautiful, road accessible Refugio Torre there was a perfect, brandnew wooden sign that states “DO NOT BURN YOUR TOILET PAPER”. Awesome.
Puerto Natales
    Another great park of Backpacking is once you return to civilization you get to eat tons of awesome fresh food that was impossible the last half of your trip. These were a couple meals that Megan and I pondered over for days while just walking for the hours on the trail. I had mine set up as a whole bunch of homemade burgers and we were going to go to an incredibly awesome Vegetarian joint for Megan to feast on (which had an avacado, ginger, walnut smoothy). However, when we arrived in PN Megan realized that our little bathroom stop between the park and Puerto Natales she had left her Ipod, Journal, and all the little amount of cash we had which put a little damper on our reunion meal. The Ipod had all of our pictures from before TDP, and her Journal had everything she had worked so hard to write about our trip. So using our awesome Hostel owners we tried calling the store where we left the prefects, but there wasn´t even a phone, let alone electricity, at the place. So luckily, Andres (the other hostel owner), was out guiding in Argentina and needed to be picked up at the border (right where the stop was). So the next day Megan headed to the border and the little elderly lady that owned the pastry/empanada stop had kept her things in her purse. The lady wouldnt even allow Andres to take it back to Megan, she wanted to return them in person! It was a great reassurance of humankind.

    The rest of our time in PN consisted of some delicious food cooked on the woodfired stoves, including my new culinary love- Empanadas. We also had an incredible trip where we rented some bikes and went on a 34mile (55km) bike ride to a national reserve called the Cueva de Miladon. It turns out the first fossil of a Giant Sloth was found in these sweet caves out near PN. The ride was really the truly epic part in gorgeous valleys, insane winds, and not a short distance. We were then given a farewell with our Hostel owners as they surprised us with a shot of Calafate liquor. Its a tart blueberry type fruit that according to an old patagonian folk song, ensures ones return to Patagonia after eating them. Then we took off for Calafate the next day.

Segundo- Vino, Mar, y Montanas

---This blog is still being written on a public computer, in South America, and that any type of editing, or spell check is impossible, unless of course I write the whole thing in Spanish, but that would be detrimental to the entire point of writing this blog for my friends and family in the USA. Dontcha think?---

So Megan and I have arrived in Punta Arenas. The southern most city in all of Chile. It definitely has an End of the World feeling. Its not quite as far South as Argentina´s Ushiaia which is the base point for all Antarctic travel, but for Chile is the farthest south for any town of size. It is located right on the Straight of Magellan and is the equivalent of being on the panhandle of Alaska, located at 54 degrees south. Traveling has really opened my eyes to the reason why I have studied/loved history for so long. It really brings alive all the places I go. Being able to walk along the Straight of Magellan for example whispers the past of one of the most epic undertakings by any humans-the first circumnavigation of the globe. But trying to imagine what this desolate land, now called Tierra del Fuego (the Land of Fire), was like before any settlement is almost unnerving. In February in the south the sun is up and shining from 7am-11pm and its hot. But when the clouds roll in it totally becomes another season, and it is windy. Really, really, windy. It has to be 40-60mph gusts. For example, walking down the street is a constant battle of trying to lean far enough into the wind so you can continue, but then as the gust disperses you have to stumble not to fall on your face. A second later the gusts will hit you in the back and send you jogging a couple steps before you complete stop because you get hit in the face again. It would be hilariously fun if it wasnt so annoying. However, the easiest way to spot tourist vs locals is who can keep a constant pace in the wind because everyone is usually covered in a windbreaker of some sort. But the town is full of extremely happy, and friendly Chileans, and really reminds me of Alaska, as i guess it should. However, this is not where I left off.

After we finally made it back to Mendoza the second time the weather was completely different than what we are experiencing now. As I briefly described last time, Mendoza is an Oasis in the steppe of the Andes, a true Island in the Desert, one that Phoenix should be jealous of. It has very fresh water that comes down from the Andes and waters ever inch of its beautiful treelined streets and many parks. But as we arrived we met up with our new friend Ozlem. She is a fellow traveler from Germany who we had met in BsAs and ran into again in Mendoza. Once we were reunited our first goal was to find the Godzilla burger. And as the country that eats the most beef out of any in the world Argentines love to flaunt it. They took the Big Mac from McD´s and created the Triple Mac (really, just more beef), and all over Mendoza were ads for the Godzilla Burger which is essentially a double bigmac, 3 pieces of bread, 4 patties, less than 4 bucks. It was at a Mendoza fast food chain called Kingo. Although not the best thing ive ever eaten, it was still an epic undertaking, little did I know that the most epic meal of my life was coming the very next day.

So the last time we were in Mendoza we only had hours before we had to rush back to BsAs to deal with my stolen passport which meant we missed hooking up with Katie Shea, our friend from Redlands. So this time we made sure that we were not gonna miss a good time Bulldogging in Sur Americano. Katie works out in one of Mendoza´s/Argentinas most premiere Vineyards called Bodega Zuccardi. It is truly epic. She made us some reservations for Lunch and a free tour with her at 230 in the afternoon on a sunny Saturday. We decided to spend the morning cruising around Maipu, which is the neighboring town to Mendoza to the South where most of the wine production actually happens. So after lots of discussion with some locals we figured out which bus to jump on and 45 minutes later we were in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road, and no vines in site. So with a crappy little map with about 12 roads on it for a 100 sqkilo area we took off in search of a vineyard. After another hour or so we actually made it to the Maipu center which was gorgeous, full of flowers and fountains in the middle of the desert. And after even more walking we found a winery, but it turns out it didnt even produce wine anymore...At Bodega Giol we took a really cool tour of essentially a winery museum. There were giant casks, about 8,000liters, and over 200 of them! So we got to check that out, and then after tasting 4 different wines we rushed off to the first car ride of our entire trip.

About 40 minutes later we arrived out of town at the Family Bodega Zuccardi (seriously, check out their website). It is probly the premiere bodega in all of Argentina. And as we pulled up we saw the only blond girl in a 100km, miss Katie Shea! She was in her uniform and had to give a tour, but she was kind enough to walk us to the middle of the vineyard where the restaurant is located. Then began the most epic meal of my life. 

When we sat down we were already a little out of place as three young, dusty travelers sitting next to two types of people: couples in their 30-60´s swirling wine, or families with lots of diamonds and rolex´s. Then began the one price, all you can eat, epic mealtime. IT began with a white wine, we chose Savignon Blanc, which was amazing to go with the breadsticks and 3 types of homemade olive oil (we thought this was all table decorations it was arranged so nice). Then came the empanadas. Three types of empanadas, cheese, cheese and beef, and cheese and onion. All three were better than the others. Unbelievable what you can do with a little bread and cheese. I only ate 4 because we had 3 more courses coming. The second course was a giant bowl of fresh greens, tomatoes, carrots, the works, that we were able to drizzle that super fresh olive oil on, and a giant skillet of roasted zuccini, yams, potatoes, onions, some other unknowns. By this time we were on our 1st red which is the standard Santa Julia Reserva Malbec. Pretty fantastic, ultra smooth, and Im pretty sure one of their lowest end wines. Only partially through the second course came the Argentine specialty-the endless train of grilled meats. AT this point Megan had decided she was going to forgo her 2 year vegetarianism for this epic display. There was so much here that I cant even remember the specifics in the meat fog. WE had a couple different kinds of sausage, a couple different types of pork, baby goat at one point, the best prime rib Ive ever had, and it was all you can eat. This part was a problem for me, because the entire wait staff only spoke spanish, and were at 2-3 year old equivalent spanish, and I really wanted more of the Prime rib that was served before the baby goat. The request went something like ¨Beef yesterday babygoat.¨ while the waitress and everyone else just broke into laughter, but she got the idea. I will now never forget “antes de” (before the). At some point during this swirling meat buffet we got our next wine, this time another red but the grape is called a Tempranillo. And I thought Malbec was good. IF you have never had Tempranillo, you need to try it. IF you dont like red wine, its probly because you have never had a Tempranillo. Its really, really good. So we finished the meat buffet, 3 different wines, a couple hours, and we had our last course. Dessert. Although it was nothing special it was still some of the best ive had in S. America. Sweet bread with vanilla Argentine gelato (homemade) covered with mango chutney. They also served us this dessert wine (usually im not a fan), but it was pretty fantastic and unusually dry for dessert wines. Then they served us some fantastic Argentine coffee, and we were in food coma. The only thing that got lighter was our wallets a bit.

AFter this 3 hour ordeal we were set to receive a free tour by miss Katie Shea so we had to roll ourselfs down the road, out of the vineyard to where the office, and production goes on. On the walk we were able to pick grapes off the vine to our hearts content to try to cope with the imminent meat sweats. We got to the office and met up with KAtie and all the other awesome tour guides and she whisked us off for a tour. Compared to Giol, this place was prime. All organic, super streamlined, and state of the art. We got to see all the giant tanks where the Santa Julia Reserva was fermenting (our wines at lunch), see some guys dumping grapes into the converbelts for juicing, the giant stem collection that the Argentines make Gruppa out of (a super strong liquor 45-60% alcohol), and the 2 coolest rooms the Santa Julia “Q” and “Zeta”. Both the Q and the Zeta are their premiere wines, the Zeta even more than the Q and the difference is all in the fermentation process. Both rooms were huge air conditioned warehouses stacked to the roof with Oak casks. For the Q they use French and American Oak for their casks and up to 3 batches in the same casks. Pretty awesome, gives them some great flavor and awesome smoothness. The Zeta, however, is only fermented in 1st use American Oak and goes for about $200 a bottle. Super fine. Once our tour was complete we headed back to the shop for some more wine tasting.

WE got a little preferential treatment here cause we knew a girl who knew some people. But our wine list included some Torrentes (the premiere white grape of Argentina), more Tempranillo (you gotta try it), the Malbec Q (much nicer, smoother, more complicated than the Reserva), another great dessert wine (16.5%), and the renowned Zeta (its a blend of 75% malbec, 25% Sav Cab). The Zeta was really noticeably better than all the other wines. Im not a huge wine taster, but you could tell this was quality. IF you wanted to just drink it, the Zeta was the smoothest wine you ever had with almost 0 sourness/bitterness at the aftertaste. But if you wanted to break it down, it had the most complicated flavor of any of the wines. You could taste the oak, plums, chocolate, raspberry, so much in such a short time and the color was an incredible dark maroon with legs that dripped for minutes.  Then we headed out, got to check out Katies sweet digs in the middle of the vineyard, and then caught a cab with Zuccardi´s pimp driver Carlitos back into town for some shenanigans.

Although, everyone is waiting for epic bulldogging stories we were pretty beat up from our epic lunch and after heading to a restuarant on the hip Avenida Avidentes called Taco Tabasco (which didnt have any Tabasco, just wanted to point that out) we werent in the best shape for an all night Argentine evening. So instead we drank beers, exchanged stories, and had a merry time wandering from street table, to street table. Had some bomb Mojitos and called it a night and said our goodbyes for a couple days when we would meet up again for awesome Mexican/taco night at our hostel full of Tequila and good ol Mexican times.

Katie and her equadorian friend, Gaby, brought another Canadian named Matt to our hostel while we were packing for our journey off to Santiago. Long story short, it wasnt long before the grill was full of chicken and meat, guacamole was being blended in the kitchen and the bulldogs were teaching a lot of different nationalities the rules of Kings cup. On tap this evening was a beer called Iguana which is one of the cheaper choices in South America. That is one thing that there are choices of down here is beer. Every region/country has several beers and one unique to its own area. In Argentina the beer of choice is Quilmes which isnt too bad. They are all lagers and can be compared to different versions of Coors light, Bud light, Stella Artois, Rolling Rock, etc. Most of them are better than there american counter parts and everyone has their favorite. In Mendoza the Brew of choice is Andes and is pretty good. So we got a couple rounds of Kings in which was a grand ol time. Later into the evening I traded the last of my tabasco sauce for 2 shots of tequila, because although it was a Mexican taco night, the spiciest thing in Argentina is black pepper. We ended up having an awesome night talking in spanish while listening to argentines reply in English and had a pretty great language exchange. WE had to wake up at 630 am for our bus and made it to bed only a couple hours before we had to get up. In the middle of our couple hours of slumber we were woken up by one of the crazy microstorms that hit Mendoza. It was literally 40-50 mile an hour gusts slamming windows open, breaking glass, and you could hear tree branches ripping off of trees. After getting woken up and running around closing windows and cleaning up glass we finally got some sleep before one of the most epic bus rides of my life.

WE had bought our tickets about a week in advance for only one reason-to get the front. The bus system in Argentina and Chile is epic. Super effiecent, connects everywhere, really cheap, and all buses are 2 story and the front seat is a WALL of glass. you sit a little infront of the driver and waaaaaay in front of the wheels. So literally you are in a glass bubble in front of everything. The drive up the andes in one of the greatest passes ever was spectacular. We slowly left the plains of Mendoza and crept up the foothills and into the mountains. The Andes (at least in this small sliver of their epic north-south journey) are a cross between the Sierras with their steepness, and little vegetation, and the rockies, with their incredible colors, but really no way to describe. We headed up and the rivers turned more and more beautiful and blue. There were sections of incredible spots of vibrant oranges, reds, and purple dirt and rocks. Then it would fade back to what I would call “regular” mountains. This went on for quite awhile, and then we would zigzag next to rivers with incredible plateaus from the erosion all the way to the border crossing between Argentina and Chile which is the continental divide. So once the rivers because tiny trickles we stopped in a little town that looked a whole lot like Silverton Colorado and we were all forced out of the bus.

Anyone you talk to about the Chile/Argentine border always talks about how strict Chile is and you hear stories of people getting huge fines and getting held for hours and having to bribe their way out. So its well know that you cannot bring any produce in. So in line everyone is munching down on a whole bunch of fruits and checking and double checking their bags to make sure theyre “clean”. We were no different and I was actually a little curious to see what would happen considering I had a passport that was about 5 days old and not one stamp in the whole thing. Finally, got up and passed the customs officer my passport and my police report and he essentially was very confused how I got into the country. So they took my passport and took me to another backroom where i had to wait while they looked up my immigration date to make sure I legally got into the country. After about 10 minutes or so my passport got its first stamp, and Megan and I were the last ones into the room full of dogs sniffing everyones stuff. MEgan really had to go to the bathroom so she left and I headed to the room alone. We put our bags up on a table and the dog jumped up and runs the length of the room with a whole lot of intimidating officers stomping around in calfhigh leather boots. Finally, after the sniffing we put our bags in a xray machine, I had some MAte and half a loaf of bread so I asked one of the officers if that was ok and he assurred me it was. So we stick out bags through, everyone gets there then one of the officers hold mine up and is like ¿Quien es este? So i raise my hand. And as he is digging through I tell him I only have Mate and Bread then he pulls out an orange and totally gives me a tilted head, caught red-handed look. Mal la Leche!! So he roughly asks me my named and finds my declaration paper, and sassily asks me if I declared everything while holding it in my face. I was trying to tell hiim I didnt know, then he tears up the piece of paper in my face, and makes me fill one out and declare 1 naranja. Then tells me No Problemo and lets me get on the waiting bus. We made it to Chile.

The ride down to Santiago might have been even more incredible than the ride up. We pop out next to a ski resort with just impossibly towering cliffs on all sides then we begin the 32 switchback road down, next to a ski lift the entire time. This was the best(for me) and worst (for everyone else) as the driver went inches from the edge of the no guardrail road. As I said earlier, we were in the front and every turn we would stick waaaaaaaaay out over the cliff as the bus made the turn. Totally awesome, and they even decided to serve a cold cut sandwich and coffee during this portion while impossibly blue creeks tumbled down the mountains. Then we dropped down in the desert on our way to Santiago and got to see some Saguaro cacti and a nice little feeling of nostalgia. (pretty sure santiago is right on the redlands, Arizona, New Mexico lattitude, the desert is very similar. We made it to the bus station, then immediatley bought out tickets for Pichilemu that evening. After waiting for about 3.5 hours and having the bus be late again we jumped on and headed down south and our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. 

Before I continue, there are some immediate and striking differences between Argentina and Chile that are noticeable almost immediately (at least thats all we could gawk/talk about while waiting for our bus). The first is the money situation, everyone warned us that Chile was more expensive (and it is) but the inflation is totally different than Argentina. I went to the ATM and pulled out $200,000Clp. So I was balling. The largest bill is a $10,000 so I had a fatty wad of cash. To make this even better in Spanish “thousand” is translated to “mil” so I was literally a mil”ionaire”. Everything then is between 1000-9000 pesos, and with the conversion of about 491 pesos to 1 USD everything is a buck to about 20. Still not to shabby. The other differences is that Chileans look more “Chilean” than Argentines. What I mean by this is they all look very similar. They are usually darker, pretty short (im now the tallest person in most instances), and they are, as my mom would call them, fluffy. Argentines in comparison are very European (lots of Italian, Irish, Croatian immigrants over the past 100´s of years) and the cities and towns are as blended as the USA. You have lots of “white” argentines, but they are all mixed with something which leads to a total melting pot and most of them are gorgeous, thin, and dress to their best all the time. Chileans are noticeably not as attractive, and very few are in shape. We soon learned their favorite foods are white bread (everyone talks about how many breads they had for lunch, usually 1-4), ice cream (which is just as gelatoy dankness as argentina), and empanadas (here the main difference between Argentina and Chile is that all the Empanadas in Chile are fried). The Spanish is also a big different the “sh” for “ll” and “y” that Argentines use (po”sh”o for chicken, and shamo for llamo) are non existent and they actually speak a little slower and it has been easier for me to understand. But then we were on our 4 hour bus ride through the rolling hills and the major agriculture region of Chile on our way to Pichilemu, and had a gorgeous sunset then we arrived.

Ive always mentioned this to Megan as we get off the Subway, but arriving in a place that you have never been before, with no real plans on what you are going to do when you get there, and the sun going down wells up a feeling inside of you that you can only experience while traveling to a new place, and we happen to do this several times a week, day, hour. ITs a mixture of excitement, wonder, and terror as you try to piece it all together and it is only exacerbated when you cannot speak the language. This creates every situation to be more frantic, epic, and when you finally solve somthing, incredibly rewarding. So because our bus was late and made tons of stops on the 4 hours down to Pichilemu (Pichi from now on), it was late, pitch dark, and about 11pm at night when we rolled into Pichi. We had nothing more than an address of our hostel, knew it was near the center of town, and had read/heard from someone that the bus station was pretty far out of town. So after realizing we were close and seeing a main street of tons of people we decided to get off at a random bus stop. I tried asking the driver if he knew where the street in question was and he just laughed, told me no, and drove off. So the three of us with our giant backpacks headed toward the bustle main street of Pichi in the summertime. After crusing for a block or so we Asked a lady at a street stall if she knew our road and after a couple words turns out she spoke a little english. We were only a couple blocks away and it intersected the street we were on! This is one of those extremely rewarding moments. So we headed down to the Casino (the first ever in Chile, now an old library, but huge landmark in Pichi), took a right and were welcomed by Carlos and Vivian, two of the greatest souls on the planet. 

Pichi was by far on of the greatest weeks/places/vibes/etc I have ever spent in a place. I will try to describe it briefly to save your eyes, but im essentially in love with the place. The hostel we stayed at was run by Carlos and his wife Vivian who also run a tourism information store out of the bottom, Carlos is a god by surfer standards. He owns a great hostel, rents out boards, knows all the best breaks, is an incredibly friendly guy, and goes surfing at least once a day year round. I had many great conversations with him where neither of us really could speak so we just acted a whole bunch. Pichi is home to a surf break called Punta de Lobos which Quicksilver hosts a prosurfer competition at every year april-may time. Then there are several intermediate breaks, most notably Puntilla, which still has 2-4 meter waves most of the time, and the beginner break which is waist to head deep for half a mile and has the little waves to learn on. The Pacific down here is absolutley stunning. Super cold, Super blue, and really not that salty. Pichi can be compared to Buena Vista in the sense that for 3 months out of the year (the summer), every Chilean takes a trip down to Pichi to hang out on the beach and eat. Very few go swimming, some try surfing, but mostly they just hang around, eat, and party hard. 

Our main reason for heading to Pichi was to visit a highschool friend of mine (who I had not seen, spoke to, or contacted, since 2004, before deciding to visit him). He was a great guy then, still a great guy now. Sean Mackenzie snagged an English teaching job at a local language school in Pichilemu. After our first meeting, we saw him walking on the street with his surf board, he told us to head to the school to check it out. The school is awesome, owned by a couple from America named Chris and Val. They have had the school for 7 years now and are raising their 2 awesomely adorable kids in Chile, and running a language school that teaches english and spanish. In Pichi there is a huge culture that comes from everywhere only to surf its epic waters. So there are plenty of foreigners, and there is a pretty strong interest to learn English for the Chileans, if only to make more money. So it works out. Chris agreed to give us a 20% discount on spanish lessons cause we knew a guy who knew a guy, and after getting the cheapest deal on surfboards from Carlos in Viv, in only 1 day we were now spanish speaking surf prodigies. 

And thats how it went. Everyday we would wake up, go surfing for a couple hours, then eat food (usually Avacados), then go take Spanish lessons, and then hang out with Sean and do something super awesome. IT was perfect. And a quick note on Avacados. The three stores I frequented the most in Pichilemu, in order, was a Fruiteria (which had the first spicy peppers in South America and about as hot as an Anaheim), a Chicken shop (which sold a KILO [2.2lbs] of avacados for 800 clp [$1.50USD], and the only baked Empanada stand in town (right across the street, 5 ovens in the back, and a super great jolly old man working the place). And for that avacado deal we could not believe it. We bought 4 bags the first two days we were there. We made guacamole for everything. Turns out Seans favorite thing was to get some snacks. He always wanted to buy snacks (usually peanuts, bread, and cookies). But the first day, we got a kilo of avos and made guac. Then for lunch the next day we had another kilo and more guac. Then that night we got invited to a BBQ at Chris´s house up on top of the hill (where all the locals camped out from the Tsunami a couple years ago), over looking the ocean, with tons of great surfer folk. So naturally we brought a kilo of meat, half a watermelon, and a kilo of Guac. AT this point on day 3 I achieved a natural body wonder, that I know half of the people in California I know would be jealous of. My poo turned green from soo much avacado. IT was truly incredibly. For less than 5 dollars and I eaten almost ONLY avacado for 6 meals or so. Epic. That wasnt even my favorite part of Pichi. 

After hitting the beginner break for a few days I was finally starting to figure out the surf thing a little bit. I had pretty good timing, I could stand up, and could ride the waves for the little bit they existed. So on one of the final days I asked Sean if I could join him for a surf out in Puntilla (intermediate, not quite Punta De Lobos). So we headed out, still not the most mellow place to surf. Everyone you talk to about surfing, if you have never surfed Pichi, talks about the “corrientes” or the current, and at Puntilla is what they are talking about. So to surf here you walk way out to a point about a ¾ to 1 mile from the beach, walk out on some rocks, jump off on your board and start paddling to the waves that break off the point. I knew I had to do some duck dives (this is when a surfer goes under a wave to avoid getting pushed back), but soon I realized I had to learn them fast. So after 5-10 minutes of paddling we made it to the waves. The way the break at Puntilla works is its a left breaking wave (surfers left), which means you want to surf from right to left to stay infront of the whitewater and on the green wave. So we started on the surfers right on shore, paddled out, and our goal was to get to surfers left to be out of the break, so we could catch our breath and wait for a wave to catch. This meant that during that journey 6 to 9 foot waves would be crashing on you and you had to go beneath them. I got tossed, literally, for the first couple. ITs like being hit by a semi and thrown into a tornado for like 15 seconds until you resurface and get back on your board before another one comes. So after a couple beatings I necessarily learned how to semi duckdive to not get pummeled. We made it out to the break, and the waves are just massive (remember this is my beginner surfer view, but still huge). The first round out I didnt really catch anything, Although I was able to go 100mph just laying on my board until the current caught me and I had to paddle back to shore which takes 30 plus minutes anyway. Then after walking about a mile back to the point, catching my breath, Sean came back in after he got swept out too and we decided to head back out. I was a little more prepared this time after being humbled by Grand Daddy Pacific and I was able to make it out to the break. Although I didnt get a beautiful glassy, carving surf, I was able to conquer some 6 foot wave and ride the whitewater, just in time to see one of our American amigos get an incredible ride on his longboard. I finally understand the epicness that is surfing. After talking to so many people that love it so much, its not quite digestable until you are out on the cusp and can actually experience it. Amazing.

The final highlights of Pichi included hitchhiking out to Punta de Lobos with a couple bottles of wine to watch the epic surf and the huge rocks in the fading twilight. Catching a ride back in the back of a truck with tunage, and wine. Baking pizzas for the first time in South America at Seans house for hours. Riding the Carnival rides in Pichi that would never pass inspection in the USA. Hearing a truck with a loudspeaker drive around town EVERYDAY announcing the last show of the brand new circus (which was 80 years old). Watching the Super bowl at some random bar after being denied from so many others. Getting a couple pitchers of beer and learning the word “flacca” which means skinny person, and is HUGE compliment in Chile. We had horrible service in the bar until I started calling our server Flacca. And finally, instead of taking the bus back we caught a ride with German Olli who is this crazy guy who is setting up salon/lounges at shopping malls in Chile and just tries to travel around the world and surf all the time. Total German. A great and very interesting guy to talk to on the 3 hours back to Santiago. 

Finally, Before we headed south to Punta Arenas we spent 1 night in Santiago and there are a couple of extraordinary things to mention about this place. First of its transportation. IT is one of the most well organized cities in the world. I actually studied its system a whole bunch in my Environmental Science classes. But the highways are like 8 lanes and have DEDICATED lanes for public transportation. 2-3 lanes that only buses and taxis can use. Every trashcan in the city and airport has waste, plastic and aluminum, and paper recycling. The subway is super clean, and connects the whole city (totally opposite of Buenos Aires). And overall just a very pleasant place (although I have heard many stories of theft and other sketchy things). Then finally, we jumped on a plane and flew to Patagonia.

AFter finally making it to Patagonia after a month of hot weather and big cities, we caught a ride into Punta Arenas. IT had been raining and a crazy landing on the plane but a couple minutes from town it was all worth it. The Straight of Magellan welcomed us with a beautiful full rainbow resting above the water, as if opening its arms for us into Patagonia. Hopefully, it was a sign of our next travels to come as we head north to Torres Del Paine, El Bolson, and the rest of Argentina once again. 

Ciaoito Amigos,

Nic and Megan

P.S. - Thx for reading, and I heard some folks couldnt comment, try clicking on the 0 comments? maybe? but if you have any questions, comments, concerns, we´d love to hear them. It is the eve of us taking off for the Circuit Grande in Torres Del Paine National Park. So we are going to do about 65 miles in 8 days. It should be grand. Catch you all soon, and keep the sunshine on your shoulders.