From South to Mid-Way up!

Well, it`s the first of December - a fact I`m trying to ignore, because it means Christmas is coming, and it`s gonna be bloody weird not being at home. Luckily, with some diligence, I found an apartment in Mendoza capable of holding all 7 of us for Christmas week, so we won`t have to spend Christmas day in a hostel - which means we can cook a Christmas dinner, and do secret Santa with each other. Should take the sting out of the tail a little! I`ll just have to try not to think about Mam`s beautiful turkey, which will be complemented this year by Snuffles, or Truffles, who gave their lives so that we might have ham!

Anyway, I`m in El Bolson now, about half way up the west side of Argentina - in the Lake District, below the more popular Bariloche. It`s a little hippy community, with wooden houses and craft fairs and all sorts of fresh organic food on offer. We`re about 4km outside of the town (small as it is) in a hostel which is really a bunch of log cabins strung together in the middle of the woods, run by a long-haired German man who seems to have just dropped out of life to spend his time relaxing here. And we thought, why not join him?? It is a beautiful place, we`re surrounded by snow-capped peaks, and wooded hills, and rushing rivers - another hiking paradise, as if we haven`t had enough of it these past few weeks! I suppose I`d better catch you up on what we`ve been up to...

We left Puerto Madryn for a long journey south. We needed to get to Rio Gallegos, just above Tierra del Fuego, and then switch buses to get to El Calafate, where we wanted to stay in order to see some glaciers. The journey was pretty horrible, and I think it was a bit of karma for me going on about how great Argentinian buses were in my last blog! But we got there! Rio Gallegos was a do-nothing kinda place, but we only had to sit in the bus station for a few hours before we took our bus out of there (although, after the horrible 22-hour journey we`d just had, it felt like longer!). El Calafate looked amazing as we drove in - lot`s of alpine-looking houses, and a fairly bustling main street. We were staying in the HI in the hills just above the town, and it was lovely - the usual kinda HI place, very clean, great brekkie, but a bit lacking in craic. We booked ourselves in for a couple of tours to see the glaciers - and the first day after we arrived was put aside for the Moreno glacier. And I couldn`t wait to see it! It`s one of the very few glaciers in the world which is still advancing, and is an active little bugger! We arrived up to the national park, and as we walked down the steps towards the viewing platforms, we could hear what sounded like rifle cracks coming from the lake below. We rushed down, and were amazed to see bits of the glacier falling into the water, and from such a height that the resulting sounds and splashes seemed completely disproportionate to what we were watching. As we were sitting on the platforms watching, a boat came across the lake - obviously filled with tourists who wanted to get closer to the action. And it was only then, with the benifit of this ship for comparison, that we realised that this glacier that we were looking at towered 60 meters above the lake it was reaching! The total ice depth can be as high/deep as 170 meters, and the glacier itself is 5km wide. Very impressive!

As you watch, shards of ice are pushed from the front into the water, with cracking sounds and the echo around the valley reverberating for miles (it can be heard up to 10km away, for big chunks - like when the glacier advances enough to dam the lake in the centre, and the lake pushes through and forms a brindge of ice, which then collapses in a resounding roar), and you can also hear bits cracking off internally, which don`t hit the water, but nonetheless make for exciting sounds. We sat for ages watching the glacier - at least three hours of just staring at it. And our patience was justified by watching a huge chunk, about the size of a two storey house, slide off the top and crash into the lake, breaking into icebergs, sending a huge wave to shore, and making a noise like thunder cracking across the whole valley! Wow!! The shards of ice shooting off can be dangerous, and even though the viewing platforms are situated a safe distance away, 32 people have been killed in the last 20 years by ice falls. So it makes it all a little bit more dangerous, seeing how powerful and amazing a glacier can be. Eat your heart out, geography classes, because NOTHING can do more justice to the carving of mountains and shearing of valleys than actually seeing a glacier and witnessing its awesome power.

The next day, we took a boat trip out to see the Upsala glacier - a huge glacier meeting the massive Lagoa Argentina. Unfortunately, we were informed when we got on the boat that the planned excursion - boat trip round the lake, over to the Upsala, around the lake islands to stop off at shore with icebergs around for lunch, and then back to port - would have to be cut short, and that we may not get near the Upsala glacier, as there had been a huge break in the glacier last week, and massive icebergs and glacial sheets blocked the entrance to the glacier. We were disappointed - until we set out in the lovely catamaran boat! We shot through the lake, with icy mountains all around, until we came close to the Upsala entrance. There we encountered the first of many icebergs floating in the water. I was expecting something like we had seen at Moreno, little chunks of ice floating in the water, but what we got was far superior! Icebergs jutting out of the water twice the size of the boat (with another 85% still below the surface, it was hard to imagine the immense size of these things!). Myself and Alan stood up on deck for the entire two hours, wrapped in every bit of clothes we had with us, watching as the captain cut the engines and we just silently floated through the ice fields. Unbelievable! And actually, the disappointment of not being able to get closer to the Upsala, or land the boat, was far outweighed by the other glacier we managed to get up close to further up the lake, floating in our boat looking upwards at the tower of ice above us, and by the beautiful icebergs floating past our boat. I actually kinda preferred that the planned excursion couldn`t go as they liked (although there were a lot of American tourists there who weren`t so happy!), because it meant that nature had just decided that we couldn`t have everything our own way. I don`t like the "Disney" appearance that you can sometimes feel at national parks, or natural attractions, and by blocking our plans for the day, I actually felt like I was seeing nature proparly. You can`t expect a glacier to behave itself just because a few tourists want to take a boat up to it! And as the captain said, we were very lucky, because usually there are no icebergs in the water, and all you see is a glacier, so we got a unique experience! On the way back to shore, the crew hooked some smaller ice chunks out of the water, and we all had a chew on glacial pops! Very refreshing!

We met two lovely Scots (Highlanders, no less) in El Calafate, Alan and Gail, who are an extremely well travelled couple. They were heading to El Chalten the next day, so we decided to head that direction too. We were getting a little sick of how ripped off you are in El Calafate - no big shock, as it is a huge tourist town, but still. Bones and Welly had already bought their tickets up to El Bolson when we arrived in Rio Gallegos, as the roads system in Patagonia means that if you wish to get back up to the north from El Calafate, you need to go back east, and then up that way. A pain in the ass! So, we parted ways - they for a 32-hour trip to El Bolson, and us for a four hour trip to El Chaltan - a town within the National Park Los Glaciers. The public bus stopped at the ranger station on the way into the park, and we all had to disembark to listen to a lecture from the ranger. He was so passionate about his park! The National Park is free - and I think is the only free park in Patagonia - and the way it is kept free is by everyone making an effort to look after it, and abiding by the rules.

The two main mountains in the range are Fitz Roy - above - and Cerro Torres. Fitz Roy gave the name to the village, El Chalten, which means volcano in the indigenous language, as clouds are pulled up from behind the mountain and blow out through the top, giving the appearance of constant smoke pluming from the summit. We got to El Chalten with a bang - literally. The buses front wheel blew out, and the driver crashed into the sidewalk. When we arrived, we met Alan and Gail in our hostel, and we all decided to take a short hike, as it was only lunchtime. We took the hike to the viewing spot above the village where you can get perfect views of Fitz Roy, on a clear day. The weather was amazing - sun splitting the skies, though obviously as you got higher, the wind got a little chillier (blowing, as it does, in off the snow covered mountains). We hiked up to the viewing spot, and had perfect views of Fitz Roy - incredible! It is an amazing looking mountain, and we all agreed that had we not known the local story on the mountain, we would definitely have thought it was a volcano, so convincing is the strange wind draft that draws the clouds straight upwards. It was only a three hour hike, and we had booked onto a glacier trek the next day, so we went to the only supermarket in town and found a meagre dinner from the offerings, as well as our usual ham and cheese sambos for the next day.

Ah, the glacier trek! We had assumed, like all other treks, that we would be collected at our appointed time and brought somewhere to begin the trek. But no - we were to be collected at 7, and wouldn`t be home until 7, and would walk straight from our hostel into the hills. So I got up early the next day, and cooked a big pot of porridge to help us on our way! What a hike! We left our hostel, walked around the back of it, and began our ascent up the surrounding mountain. After 2 hours of uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, desert, trees, and more uphill we arrived at `base camp` for some brekkie - namely tea, coffee and some bikkies, plus the last toilet until the way back! We were all strapped into harnesses to wear on our hike, and given a little bag with our crampons, and off we trotted. We walked for another 2 hours, and got to the edge of the lake gazing over to the other side at the glacier, and up above it into the ice sheets covering the mountains behind, buffeted by winds so strong they were blowing some smaller girls (no, not sturdy me!) off their feet and down the gravel gorge beside us! We climbed across the moraine, and found a deep and fast flowing river coming from the lake - both that cerulian blue that only water filled with hundreds of nutrions and minerals can be (named `glacial milk`). And across this river? A zip line. So, one by one we were hooked onto the line, and we had to lie into it and climb across the river slowly, pulling ourselves along the wire, and trying not to look down at the rushing water below! I went very slowly on my first go - bit embarrassing really! The way back was better.....

After the excitement of this, we had an almost vertical climb over a huge hill to get to the side of the glacier - there were ropes attached to some parts of the trees to help pull us up the next chunk! We climbed over the top, and rested at the edge of a waterfall - all the water in the national park is potable, so we all had a nice refreshing drink of the water. The climb down was almost as scary as the climb up, and an hour after leaving the river, we finally made it to the edge of the glacier and got to put our crampons on! As the instructer was putting on ours, he commented that the hiking runners would make it difficult for ice climbing, as the soles bend within the crampons instead of staying stiff like hiking shoes. We were soon to find out what he meant!

After a short teaching trip on how to walk in crampons, we set off in a single line, wrapped up in waterproofs, and thermals, and hats and gloves and scarves! They took us around the glacier, showing us sink holes (some caused by the river below - you could look down the hole and see the water rushing almost 40 meters below you - and some caused by rocks sitting on top of the glacier heating up by the sun and slowly melting their way down through the ice - the melted water above them creating a lens, so the melting speeds up the lower they go). The glacier is 3km wide, so it was like being on the surface of the moon, or some other planet anyways! And though you imagine glaciers to be smooth and flat - well, I did! - the constant movement of the glacier means shards are pushed upwards and against each other, meaning you climb as much as walk through the ice, and around huge canyons of ice below you. The crampons made a very satisfying crunch in the snow, and the sun shone the whole time, with passing clouds releasing the blue of the glacier to counterpoint the white we saw when the sun beamed down. We stopped for lunch in a mini-canyon of ice, as our instructers set up a rope system over an overhang of ice above us. Ah - we were to CLIMB the ice? So, they asked for a volunteer to go first, and I hopped to it! They put my helmet on, attached my harness to the rope, and gave me two ice axes. Lean forward, hit the ice axes in one by one, and then kick your feet in one by one after it, and in this way make your journey vertical, and then almost over on yourself on the overhang. And wow, what a feeling!! I was climbing up the ice, and feeling very adventurous - especially when I looked down! - but then I discovered what they meant about our hiking runners - they bend within the crampons, so you couldn`t get a firm grip with your feet in the ice without hurting your toes A LOT. So I only made it half way up. Ahhhh...

Alan had the same problem, but made it a little further than me, Ed`s runner actually fell off while climbing, and only Daragh made it to the top - worked through the pain!! After the ice climb, we hiked back across the glacier - drinking some water flowing across the top (ice cold and very refreshing - as well as being packed with minerals...called glacial milk for it`s milky blue colour), and up the vertical hill again - ouch! Then back the other side, and to the river. This time it was no shame, and I flew across it. Very proud! When Alan was going across, our instructer, Mathies, rocked the rope like mad, so Al was bouncing up and down like crazy! So funny! He did the same to Mac, but it was just hilarious when he did it to Al, coz Al couldnt`t see why he was bouncing, and thought it was the wind! Brilliant! We hiked back two hours to the campsite, and were taken out of our harnesses and gave back our crampons - and thanked our wonderful guides for a fantastic day! (220 pesos - less than 50 euro). From the camp, we made our own way back to the village, and finally stepped through the door of our hostel, weary and sore, at 8 that night! What a long day of hiking and climbing and fun fun fun!!

We had decided not to go back to El Calafate, and on to Rio Gallegos, to make the long journey up to the Lake District, so we joined a bus journey called Route 40, which makes its way (so we were told) up through the Andes to Bariloche, and takes two days with a night stopover in Puerto Morino on the way. Well, the next morning, tired and weary, we got up for our 12 hour journey, which turned out to be a bus with no air conditioning or toilet. Fun. And we had no packed lunch - for the first time on the trip - and had to rely on the stops at petrol stations for sustanance. Not pretty! We arrived in Puerto Monino tired and dusty! A 12 hour trip with no views, just hot sun, and desert! Our hostel was nice enough though, and we decided to have a couple of drinks in the bar, as the bus was at 7.45 the next morning, and we were pretty wrecked! However, we met an English girl (from Hong Kong) in the bar, and ended up showing her what Irish and Scottish can do if they put their minds to it! The hostel bar closed at 12.30, so we went to a bit of a deliverance pub across the road (earlier in the evening, we had been beeped at by a car of lads who drove up and down the same street four times to slowly cruise by us and stare)...the door closed behind us to silence! However, beer did flow, and by the time I left at 3.30, I had the phone number of Lucias, who is from Mendoza and would like us to come to his house at Christmas time, and beer bought for me by Rodrigo, and pizza given to me by I don`t know who, and we had all made fast friends, despite them not having any English, and us having very little Spanish. The joy of a friendly smile, eh? Daragh and Ed went for a later spin in the desert, but that`s another story....

So it was with sore heads we made it on to another 12 hour journey across dirt roads in a bus with no suspension. Great. But the arrival at El Bolson was well worth it! Beautiful mountains, log cabin, free spirit....it was heaven to lie in this morning, and wake to the sound of trees and birds and general nature!

WOW!

So, we had a hippy market today, with all organic food and lovely things, plus stalls with dirt cheap local handcrafts and wooden jewellery, as well as knitted and woven clothes, which they were doing as they sold them! Beautiful!

Anyway, there`s hikes to be done, and bikes to hire, so today is my lazy day, and I`ll get back into the swing of things tomorrow. We are leaving for Bariloche on Tuesday, where we will zip line through forest canopies, white water raft, hang-glide, and generally live it up in the adventure capital of Argentina, before heading to Santiago to pick up EJ from the airport to make our Christmas complete.

Nice life! I`m off to enjoy sitting out under the stars, with no houses in sight, and listen to the sounds of the world not rushing past.