Big Towering Wonders

So I said I needed a dose of cockroaches and amoebic dysentry to feel like we are "properly" travelling and I´m happy to report we had our first seriously sized cockroach incident, which Steve dealt with admirably by chopping him in half (and then still felt really guilty several minutes later). However, this happened on a little bit of paradise so still didn´t have the desired effect.

The little bit of paradise is Rapa Nui (Easter Island) which is surprisingly at the top of both our lists so far - surprising for me because I thought Torres would keep the title, and it is a very close call. But Easter Island is going to be one of those places where it is very hard for me to keep this short and no doubt Steve will have plenty more to add.

Coming in to land was a little freaky but amazing. We flew over the island (about 12 miles long at its lengthiest point) getting fantastic views, then continued over and past it as we got lower and closer to the pacific - I was praying for the pilot to bank - the next bit of land is around 2000 miles away!

The island is beautiful. It has a few white sand beaches and the bluest sea I´ve ever seen - not as clear as the sea around Phi Phi of course, because the waves are significant, but a beautiful colour. There are several extinct volcanoes, the rock of one of which was used to carve out the famous statues, the Moai.

How to describe the Moai? The first thing that struck us about them was how huge they are. They all have different characters, a feature nowhere more noticeable than at Tongariki where 15 have been restored to their Ahu (platform) and form an impressive line along the coast. Many on the island are still fallen, (did they fall or were they pushed?! Various theories exist on why this happened but it seems most likely they were flattened during wars and by Tsunamis) and we found these really sad, especially those that had fallen face down - the ones on their back seemed to be enjoying the sunshine!

The "nursery" is particularly atmospheric and was our favourite part. The Moai were carved out of the rock here, then raised and buried up to their necks so that the faces could be carved. The nursery is Rano Raraku, the volcano, and the Moai are all over the slopes and in the crater by the lake. Wandering around here in the early morning with absolutely no one else on the slopes was a magical few hours (definitely worth getting there before any tour groups).

Also magical were the sunrises and sunsets at the various Ahus. But while sometimes the island seems magical, sometimes eerie and mysterious, it is also a lot of fun. The statues have a lot of character, the roads are very bumpy and great fun in a jeep, (we always tend to end up associating places we visit with a song - Easter Island will always be "All shook up"!) the beaches are beautiful and the waves make for really great swimming.

It was an unbelievable place to spend Christmas. And once again this place is going to be one that makes me fail miserably to find sufficient superlatives!

And after a very brief second sojourn in Santiago, and via the very nice Lima airport (yes, anyone who visited it in the past as I did 7 years ago may be amazed to hear that, but its true!)we find ourselves in the lovely Cuzco in Andean Peru, a day away from starting the inca trail. Last time I was here I was actually in the throws of amoebic dysentry and consequently missed out on nearly all of the inca trail, so actually I think I can feel "travelly" enough without it this time thanks!


Mandi

Brrrrr! Tad Windy

When I was a kid, I vaguely remember reading a book about a viking (I think he was called Erik) who sailed his ship of the end of the Earth and found some great hall in space. When we got to the end of the Earth on this trip, we instead found that there was just a lot of wind, wind and then a bit more wind. OK, I know that the Earth probably isn´t flat and resting on the back of an Elephant supported by Turtles (don´t ask - I think it is Indian Mythology), and therefore being a sphere, we were no more at the end of the Earth here than we would be back home, but this was the furthest south we would get on this trip - only a few hundred miles from Antarctica, so it certainly felt like the end of the Earth, and the thing we encountered most was a lot of very strong, very cold wind!!

Reading through that last paragraph, it probably doesn´t come across as a ringing endorsement for this part of the world, but the Patagonia region of South America (spanning both Argentina and Chile) is the most impressive we have encountered so far on this trip. I´ve already mentioned in my last blog about the Moreno Glacier and Fitz Roy which were both fantastic to see, but then when you cross the border into Chile, you get the Torres Del Paine National Park which is something else altogether. The national park includes a number of lakes and peaks, but the main attractions are the mountains of Los Cuernos (the horns) and La Torres (the towers) after which the park is named, along with the Lago Grey lake and the Glacier Grey which slowly rumbles down from the mountains to feed it.

The well used route which takes you between these three highlights is called the "W" (because the path when looked at on a map is shaped like a letter W as it takes you up the three main valleys), which takes between three to five days to complete and on which you can either camp, or stay at refugeos of varying quality. We chose the middle ground of a 4 day option and the comfort and relative warmth of the refugios - at least we knew there was less chance of those being blown away in the wind (I also read the three little pigs when I was a kid).

During the walk, we experienced gusts of wind that must have reached over 150 miles an hour at points and nearly took us off our feet, we had rain, snow and hail, we had fantastic sunshine and we had a great time! We managed to see all the main sights in varying weather conditions, although never quite got the perfect weather, but when we finally finished the "W" and went to the hosteria on Lago Pehoe for our final night in the park, we got blueish skys for 45 minutes allowing us to be able to view the horns in the best conditions that we had experienced so far, and as the horns were the things we had come to see, we can´t complain too much - we´ve spoken to people who got only 15 minutes of clear sky on their entire 4 day trek.

The horns, as Mandi has mentioned, were the highlight of our Patagonia visit. They were the things we had come all this way to see and they were definitely worth it. They look like a wall of rock that has gradually been eroded by the glaciers and thrashed by the winds to give it a crooked, jagged appearence as it still stands in defiance of the elements at the end of the Earth. It´s a hard scene to describe and our pictures also don´t really do it justice, but it was definitely not a disappointment, and worth every hour and every mile of the bus journey´s that got us there.

The "W" trek and the sights down there are my favourite part of out trip so far (just pushing Iguazu into second place), we saw some amazing scenes, we met some brilliant people (Mandi has already mentioned this in her blog but thanks again Jeremy and Evelyn for 500!), and, in amongst the wind and rain, had a great time. Our trip back up north was on a ferry through the Chilean Fjords, but unfortunately the weather wasn´t on our side this time and so we were unable to see much until we arrived in Puerto Montt where we then had to jump on the next bus to Santiago. We will give an update on Santiago in a later blog, but one thing I will say is that it is nice to be back in the sun. The weather here is over 30 degrees, there isn´t a cloud in the sky, and best of all, there isn´t a breath of wind!

Steve

Beautiful Torres Walk

Seriously, the buses weren´t that bad! I slept through the music, the crying baby and the 7am breakfast - but admittedly it still wasn´t ideal. However it was more than worth that and the extra 7 hours to arrive in Puerto Natales. Even this simple little port is lovely, but the park for which it is an access point is unbelievably beautiful, even in abysmal weather!

We´re very conscious that it is an enormous priviledge to be in a position to be able to see the places we have seen and still plan to see, but there are still occasions where you have to actively avoid an "is that it?" reaction that comes from amazing past experiences - this may sound churlish, but when you have seen the Nepalese Himalayas, other mountains can´t compete, when you have experienced India, it will be hard to find a culture so vibrant and diverse, ...

So having studied THAT picture (as in from the most used viewpoint) of Los Cuernos in the Torres del Paine national park hundreds of times for I can´t remember how many years, and having longed to see it "in the flesh" ever since first laying eyes on that photo, it was hard to believe it could live up to expectations. It even had the added pressure of our version of the "W" trek being planned around the opportunity to stand in the spot from where THAT photo was taken by studying maps and other people´s blogs on the internet to figure out where it was taken from and then booking our last night in the hosteria nearest to that point. Having now experienced Torres, we also realise what a gamble this was considering the weather - it changes faster than anything we`ve experienced anywhere in the world, including Scottish winters!

But without a doubt Los Cuernos surpassed every expectation. Obviously it is nowhere near the size of a Himalayan mountain (every time we´ve been to the Himalayas I have to try and convince my Dad that a mountain is not just a mountain and you have to stand in the Himalayas to appreciate the scale because no photo can capture it - even the IMAX film can´t!) but this is the most dramatic and unusual piece of landscape I have ever seen and probably will ever see. Definitely my favourite mountain. The trek was fantastic and incredibly varied within such a small area, with glaciar grey, the Valle de Frances, the Torres, huge lakes that are a gorgeous blue whatever the weather, and we certainly did get every kind of weather too! We hardly saw the Valle de Frances because it was a really cloudy/rainy/windy/snowy day, which was our only real disappointment as from the glimpses we had through the cloud it is obviously very beautiful. But all the time our eyes were focused on Los Cuernos (the horns) - this is what we had come to the other end of the world to see.

To demonstrate our devotion (and good luck!): when we arrived at Refugio Chileno on the penultimate day (fantastic salmon fillet for dinner there - much appreciated after eggs, eggs and more eggs!) we could see the Torres (towers, from which the park gets its name, and for many people the highlight of the park) were completely clear from the clouds. But it was a bit late in the day to head up there, and the wind was living up to its reputation in this area so we decided to stick to our original plan and aim to leave it until the next day and try and see the sunrise. So the alarm was set for 3am, but when it went off we could hear the wind and rain pelting the refugio and decided there was no way it would clear by 5am.

We had breakfast at 7.30am and as anticipated the Torres were still in cloud, but it did look like they would be clear within a couple of hours. So now a dilemma - do we risk the 4 hour return walk up to the Torres viewpoint assuming it will clear or head down to get to the hosteria where we hope to see THAT view, sooner? Of course we headed for the hosteria, and as we got to the end of the W, the Torres were completely clear in glorious sunshine! But we had a great drive through the park to the hosteria and arrived to THAT view with 45 minutes of really good weather left! Needless to say we ran around taking photos and then when the final bit of blue sky disappeared, just sat looking at the view with our jaws still on the floor! The worst weather we had experienced came in at around 8pm and was still in full swing as we left the park. Had we decided to go up to the Towers we would have missed those precious minutes. Now we´re praying that one of the photos comes out well! We didn´t get our sunrise, but to expect that as well would just be greedy!

To add to the whole amazing experience, the people we met throughout the trek were all lovely, especially Evelyn and Jeremy who also gave us the gift of the 500 game - thanks guys! I might actually remember the Jack rule in a year or so.

Mandi

Bus Travel - W**k (sorry mum)

When we began planning this trip and looked at ways to get from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, the idea of a 36 hour bus journey (to Rio Gallegos) followed by a 6 hour journey to El Calafate wasn`t the most appealing option. In fact when we first booked our tickets we tried to use one of our 4 internal South America flights to fly to Rio Gallegos but couldn`t because LAN Argentina wasn`t part of the oneworld alliance. In the end, we weighed up the cost of buying an extra internal flight against the bus travel option and decided to save a bit of money and go with the bus - after all, we could spare the time and the "cama class" (bed class) that you can get over here is comfortable enough to sleep in. If anyone ever finds themselves in the same situation, take our advice, whatever the cost, get the flight instead!

It turns out that there is very limited operators that provide cama class services this far south so we were instead left with the much less comfotable "semi-cama" option. That may have just been comfotable enough to sleep in, except that the bus driver obviously found himself also getting a bit tired at around 1 in the morning and so put his favourite album on very loud. On repeat. And sang along with it.

3 tortuous hours later we stopped for a while while the bus picked up supplies and, apparently, a new driver who must have had a good nights sleep already as thankfully the music then stopped. Unfortunately the on board baby (who had amazingly been asleep through the music - maybe it was an Argentinian lullaby or something) then took this as a queue to wake up and start crying. I don`t know when it finally stopped wailing as mercifully I eventually fell asleep around 5 in the morning. Only to then be woken at 7 with breakfast. Two hours sleep is not a good way to start a 36 hour bus journey - note to self, next time use earplugs!!

Anyway, we eventually made it to El Calafate which was originally founded to support a local "Estacion" (Ranch) but has now thrived due to the tourism industry and the fact it is the closest town to the Moreno Glacier. The glacier is one of only three in the Patagonia region that is not receeding and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the region. It also flows very fast for a glacier with the frozen water travelling at a rate of up to 2 metres a day in the centre. This allows for (apparently) frequent spectacular displays as huge chunks of ice are eventually pushed off the edge of the glacier and plunge into the waiting Lago Argentina (Lake Argentina for the Spanish-ly challenged!) producing huge swells of water. We were there for five hours, camera always at the ready, even took a boat trip out on to the lake and for five hours, never once saw this happen! Finally, the boat pulled back into the dock signalling the end out our tour and we waited, ever optimistic, whilst everyone else funnelled back to shore, until eventually we realised that it just wasn`t going to be our day and so put the camera away so we had our hands free to decend the slippy steps of the boat. It was at that point that a huge side of the glacier wall, probably 30 metres across, broke free as promised. Unfortunately, we didn`t have a hope of getting the camera back out in time to capture it, but it was an impressive sight.

The Glacier as a whole is well worth a visit and even when ice isn`t falling dramatically into the lake is an interesting place and stunning piece of nature. The rest of the area around El Calafate is something we didn`t get much chance to explore, but we did manage a trip 2 hours north (by bus again!) to El Chalten for a walk in the mountains up there and a view of Mount Fitz Roy which was a lovely day. Overall, the place was nice to visit, but still not sure if it justified the 36 hour bus journey. Luckily, the journey down here wasn`t predominantly for that and the next stop on our list was just across the border in Chile, the Torres Del Paine National Park, which is something both Mandi and I have been looking forward to seeing for a long time and would be well worth the trip down here all on its own, and it was all just another 7 hour bus journey away!...

Steve