South America

Hurrayyyy we have arrived home safely!!!!!

The drummers in the Montivideo Parade.

After BA the bus took us to Corrientes which was not all that exciting and 12 hours was enough. From there we did another 3 hours bus trip back to Mercedes (Arg) which also was not much. However, it was a stop along the way to a nature reserve - Esteros del Ibera - which is at Carlos Pelligrini. This 3 hour trip was made in a small mini van with 16 people and luggage inside and a pile of luggage strapped to the top and no air conditioning. We had to change a flat tire enroute. At the nature reserve we did some touring by boat to view the local wildlife which was very interesting - carpinchos (the largest rodent in the world - about the size of a wild boar). two types of deer that live in marsh areas and caimans (small alligators). There were also many beautiful birds and flowers.

The van during the tire change.

Us at the sign for the park

When the caiman is bigger than you the best option is to stay in the boat.

From Carlos Pelligrini it was off by 4 wheel drive truck/bus over a rough and dustyy road to Posadas. Here we did a tour of three of the old Jesuit Missons from the late 1600s. There are about 20 in the area. Some are restored and some are just as they were found with some trees removed so the ruins can be seen.

From Posadas it was off to Iguazu Falls by bus again - 6 hours. Iguazu Falls is absolutelty stunning. A good thing as there is not much else in the area. We did both sides of the falls - Argentina and Brazil. The trip presented problems later as on return to Arg we did not get our passports stamped when leaving Brasil and when we went back through on the 23rd they were querying why we were still listed as not leaving Brasil. Some fast talking got it straightened out.

Us at Devils Throat, Iguazu Falls

From Iguazu it was another 15 hours by bus to Sao Paulo. The countryside we saw was quite picturesque and may warrant another trip someday if we ever forget the hassles we had with Brazilian immigration.

Two days in Sao Paulo was enough as it is a huge city of 20 million with lots of poor people sleeping in the streets. Otherwise it has many tall buildings and some interesting art galleries. We caught the plane out at 2200 hours on Tuesday arriving in Calgary via Toronto at 1100 hours on the 27th.

A good trip all in all, however, we would do it differently if we ever decided to do it again. That is always the case as we learn as we go.

Now for a couple of untold stories......

While doing the "world's most dangerous road", you remeber the one with sheer cliffs and ditches 1600 feet deep, one of us had a major wipeout on the bike. We were all going too fast at some times for abilities and conditions. I ended up in the shallow ditch when I fell over while stopping. The other unnamed party did a major wipeout in the middle of the road landing on rocks. She had a big bruise on her left thigh, a scrape on her elbow and some other hurts. The bruise has finally gone away but she still has a dent in the thigh muscle and can just now straighten her arm out at the elbow.

While doing a leisurely stroll in Mendoza at 3 PM in a residential street with cars and people passing by a male tried to get us to go into a driveway by brandishing a gun at us. It happened very quickly and was very unexpected (what he wanted I think) and we are still not sure what exactly happened. However, the one closest to him knocked the gun to the side and in the struggle a shot (real or blank??) was fired off to the side thankfully not injuring us or univolved parties. The guy pulled away and ran off with no further incident. It took quite a while for the adrenalin rush to subside.

They were stories better left unreported until we got home safe. And we are home safe.

A word of warning... if we come to visit be prepared that we are used to putting used toilet paper in the trash can, not flushing it. South American systems can not handle TP so we have been trained not to put it in the toilet. We think we are retrainable but heads up just in case.

Take care and we will be in touch.

Love

Guy and Heather.

Hola again......

It is cloudy and threatening rain here, quite a contrast when we arrived from Cordoba.

The trip from Mendoza to Cordoba was uneventful. We did a night trip and it was awsome as there was a magnificent lightning storm for a long way - a good 4 hours. At one point there was forked lightning every 4 or 5 seconds. Of course there was wind and rain. When we arrived in Cordoba the packs stored in the bottom of the bus were soaked. One guy actually upended his closed pack and dumped water out.

Heather´s cousin and her husband (Alice and Ruben) picked us up and drove us to their house where we stayed. That night a whole passle of family came over and we met second and third cousins and families and had a big asado. Was fun! The next day we drove out to the Cumbria area (about 2 hrs) which was quite pretty and met another cousin and his wife (David and Alice) . On the way back we stopped off and met another relative - Ruben and Alice´s son Paul and his wife. Also staying with Ruben and Alice was Ruben´s cousin Lillian from Buenos Aires - she set up a hotel for us there. We did the inevitable tour of the city for a day. Quite picturesque and lots of history.

Ruben and Alice´s son Allan took us out to the hills north of town again and we spent the night at a small lodge. Very pretty hills and we did a couple of hikes (no wind). Across the hills are some stone fences built by the locals in the 1600s for the Jesuits, to separate their land holdings. They go for miles in more or less straight lines.

It was off to Buenos Aires on the 28th. This time we did a day trip and were able to see more of the country. Not a lot to see, mostly flat farmland - soya beans and corn. Apparently soyabeans are a major crop for Argentina. The weather was hot (35 degrees) for our time in BA - not as hot as it can be but hot for us.

In B.A we started the frustrating process of applying for a Brazilian visa. It was one of the most frustrating things I have ever done and ours went relatively smooth. First we had to get a copy of our bank statements + copies of our air tickets + copies of credit cards which we did not know we needed so had to go and get. Once we waited in line again they would not accept our bank statements as our names were not on them. So we left and had to come back the next day with $500 US in travellers cheques in each persons name and a copy of them. This time they took all the paper and told us to go and pay and come back in 3 days (Monday) to pick up . Apparently other people had been there 4 and 5 days and had to get something diiferent each time they came back. Standing in line was beneficial as others coached those new to the process.

We spent several days wandering around BA. Plaza de Mayo, Puerto Madero a Tango show, La Boca (original area and where Tango started), Tigre to the west (Lillian drove us out to there for the afternoon), Recoleta which is where the cemetary is located + museos and massive artensan area. We also went to San Telmo where we toured more artesans, old buildings and went to a live jazz session. We picked up our Brazil visa on the 4th with no hiccup at all and went to Uruguay on the 5th.

We took a boat to Colonia del Sacramento and rented a car. We toured Colonia which is one of the original settlements in the area and very pretty with cobblestone streets and interesting Portuguese architecture. We managed to take in another live jazz sesion at a restaurant too. We then drove north from Colonia to a small town called Mercedes (Uruguay) where we spent the night. A rural area with rolling hills and farming. We did a wine tour out of Carmelo and were introduced to a new grape - Tannat. It is apparently to Uruguay like Carmenere is to Chile and Malbec is to Argentina.

From Mercedes it was off to Montevideo, again driving through rolling hills of farmland. We just missed a bike race which snarled up traffic pretty bad. Apparently bike racing is almost as big here as football is.

Monteveideo is a big city on the coast. We drove around until we found a hotel - after about 4 turn-aways. They have a carnaval that goes for a month and the whole town goes crazy. We went out the first night to watch a parade which consisted of many drums and scantily clad women - Heather says they were scantily clad, as I was watching the drummers I did not notice! It was quite a drunken time for some. We walked around the town and looked at old buildings and a couple of museos.

From Montivideo it was off to Punta del Este where we booked a hotel close to the beach. We walked around the town and watched the ¨beautiful people¨parade around too. It rained again on the first day and in the afternoon of the second day - really rained. The second day we went to the beach and it was hot until we left at about 2 PM. Some sunburn where the sunscreen was not as liberally applied.

Yesterday we drove back to Colonia and caught the Buquebus back to BA. The drive was off and on cloudy and sunny and we arrived at Colonia in the sun. The boat ride was uneventful and we arrived back in BA about 8:30 PM.

We are now getting ready to leave by bus for Corrientes tonight (Tuesday). The bus leaves at 6:30 PM and we arrive tomorrow at about 10AM. Hopefully we get some sleep. From there we have a couple of options before we head on to Iguazu falls.

Not much time left in the 6 month adventure and we are both looking forward to seeing family and friends again.

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Evanne too. Sorry we did not get a card off.

Take care all.

Love

Guy and Heather

Sorry all, did not realize how long since last blog... we are well and in Mendoza at the moment.
Some pictures from before too.

Us at the lookout for Torres del Paine

Heather at Moreno Glacier out of El Calafate

Us with some of Mt Fitzroy in the background, out of El Chalten.

Did I mention the wind!? I think I did in the last blog.

From Pt Natales we did a three day boat trip up the Chilean coast to Pt Montt. The boat is a ferry with more people than vehicles. We boarded Thurs night and left at 0600 on the Friday AM. We went el-cheapo with an upper bunk each in a ¨dormitory¨. Worked out well with 4 bunks per each little pod. The scenery was quite picturesque and the sailing was smooth - no wind! We arrived in Pt Montt at 0700 and off boat by 0830 with no place to stay. Grabbed a cab and asked the driver if he knew of a place and he took us to quite a nice place in our price range. Very lucky.

Pt Montt is not much and we spent one day doing a tour (Spanish only) and a day walking around town. We then did the 7 hour bus ride to Bariloche.

We made a successful trip north from Pt Montt to Osono and then headed east over th Andes Mountains to Bariloche. The wind blew the whole way but not an issue as we were on the bus. The route was quite picturesque with farms and then the montains. We talked to some others who went from Santiago to Mendoza and they said all they basically saw was rocks as they went over that pass. The usual hurry up and wait at the border, this time for entry into Argentina. This made us late into Bariloche and our room was given away - ever tried to find a room in a town where you do not speak the language all that well and all the cheap places (hostels) are full. After about 8 calls Heather managed to find us a place right downtown that was reasonably priced and reasonably clean - our luck holds.

Bariloche was windy (go figure) and chilly. There had been snow the week before and there was some snow flurries the second day we were there and the lake was quite rough. We did a bunch of walking around town anyways and it is quite picturesque. We did a hike up Cerro Catedral (ski hill in part) which took us all day. We opted not to do the chairlift up and it took us 2.5 hrs to hike up. Then it was another 3 hours around th back side over boulders the whole way - not much up and down but lots of scrambling. Ended up at Refugio Frey which was quite nice. Lots of climbing going on there and even we could have done some of it. When we were leaving 2 condors showed up riding the thermals to get the altitude and passed in front of the climbing route below the climbers. Was very neat to see. It was then a 2.5 hr hike out to catch the bus to town - the bus was full to the point people were standing in the stairs, but everyone got on.

The next day we did a bus to Cerro Otto where we took the teleferico (gondola) up to the top and then did another 3 hour hike out to a view point. Were able to see a good part of where we had hiked the day before. Again it was windy with some rain.

We then did the car rental thing and drove around an area to the east of Bariloche but still in the park. An easy hike there to see a couple of small lakes. We stopped at a ¨Swiss Village¨ for a fondue lunch.

We then caught an overnight bus (16 hours) to Mendoza, arriving at 0830 AM. We had booked a place through Hostel World and it was reasonable and reasonably priced albeit HOT - where is the wind when you need it ??????

Mendoza is a desert and survives because of irrigation. We did a tour of two wineries and an olive oil factory the first day. The second day was a city tour with limited english on behalf of the guide, forces us to at least learn to understand Spanish. The city centre is quite historic and full of great big trees which sure help with making the streets cool in mid-day. The streets and sidewalks are wide and there are lots of open spaces/parks to allow people some where to go when the earthquakes happen - last big one in 1965. The sidewalk cafes abound and people watching is a past time here.

Friday we felt the discrimination of profiling. We booked a rafting trip from 0830 to sometime in the afternoon. After a 3/4 hr late pick up we drove for 2 hours out to the Mendoza River where they told us the cut off was 55 years old. We were some upset but there was no changing their minds. We took a local ¨stop everywhere bus¨back to town and drank beer. The company did give us our $$ back but our egos have suffered a great blow. Only answer is to drink, we be thinking, and lie about our age.

Saturday it was off for a day of horseback riding which is still causing us to suffer. Went back to sort of the same area but up into the hills for 3.5 hours. Very dry and no animals and few birds to be seen. Finished off with another asado and wine (see we are drinking).

Sunday was a day to do a tour west again on the road that heads to Chile. Saw several points but the highlight was seeing Mount Aconcaqua albeit at a distance. The highest mountain in the Americas apparently at 6962 metres.

Today we are hanging around town, walking in the park, drinking wine with lunch and a beer in a sidewalk cafe. A trend here????? Tonight at 2200 hours we catch a bus to Cordoba, arriving there at 0730 AM. At this rate we will learn to sleep in a car/bus/plane/train. We have a choice of seats and chose semi-cama which reclines quite far and has leg rests but does not make into a bed, decided not to pay for Business Class. In Cordoba we will be visiting and staying with Heather´s cousin and her husband for a few days before moving on to Buenos Aires - only 1 month left and lots to see yet.

The weather is hot here and we hear it will be likely hot for the rest of the trip. Will be rooms with A/C from now on we think.

Take care all and stay safe!!!!

Guy and Heather in hot Mendoza.

Happy New Year one and all!

Here we are back in El Calafate after a trip to El Chalten. No pictures again as the link here is sattelite and only 256 KBPS so quite slow.

We left Puerto Natales on Dec 26 and did the 6 hour bus ride to El Calafate. The border crossing was effortless. Argentina seems better organized than Chile.

At El Calafate we did a one day trip out to Perito Moreno Glacier. It is on Lago Argentino which is the largest lake in Argentina and 3rd largest in South America. The glacier is very active, gaining and losing 2 m per day. The viewing platforms are about 100 m from the glacier front and there is lots of small chunks breaking off and every once in a while some larger ones. Everyone has cameras poised waiting for THE BIG ONE, but it did not happen while we were there. Several chunks calved into the lake with spectacular noise and splash... we can only imagine how spectacular a large one would be - next one supposedly in next 3 months (as if they know). It was interesting watching the light play on the ice as the clouds moved around allowing the sun to pass through... quite stunning.

It was then onto EL Chalten. Here we stayed in a hostel that caters primarily to climbers. People come down and stay for 2 or 3 months and climb in the area. Some is sport climbing and some is actual major expedition climbing - very weather dependent. On the 29th we did an easy hike up to the base of Glacier Grande near Cerro Torres. The weather was socked in so we did not see too many mountains.. was still quite spectacular. Again the wind was howling, as I understand is common for the Patagonia area. On the 30th we hiked to another look out as the area we originally intended to hike was socked in. Again a relatively easy hike ( having only day packs helps) up to a mirador that overlooks the valley we hiked the day before. Not much wildlife to see here but did see a very bright red headed woodpecker. At the top we were assaulted by wind and snow pellets, hence, we did not stay long as everything was socked in still. On the way down we came out of the trees to see that the sky had cleared considerably and Mount Fitz Roy was almost in full view. It simply dominates the landsape. It stayed relatively clear the whole way down and we were able to get pictures from several angles, not always without cloud at the top. Nice shot too of the sunset on it.

Dec 31 was pretty well clear albeit windy (did I mention the wind here????). We hiked up to the base of Fitz Roy and it was in its splendour most of the way. Again a bit of a hard time getting a clear picture without cloud at the top. Still absolutely stunning!

That night the hostel had a United Nations New Years Party. The owner did up a big ASADO (BBQ) and there was lots of drink and food and about 40 people from all over the world (Canada, US, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Argentina and ???). A lot of trekkers but mostly people in the climbing community.

Jan 1 was a lazy day for us and it rained and guess what - windy - the whole day.

Today we took the bus back to El Chaltan and there was snow on the hills we hiked the days before.

We are in El Calafate tonight then back to Puerto Natales tomorrow where we catch a boat (Navimag) that takes us up the inside Chilean coast to Puerto Montt. It leaves 0600 Friday AM and arrives at about 0600 on Mon morning. We get on board tomorrow night and to save $$$ are in a dorm with 22 beds. Thank goodness for ear plugs.

We are both well and looking forward to the trip along the coast. We haven´t made forwarding plans yet but will scout out the area when we arrive. We do know we plan to go back into Argentina by way of Bariloche and probably some more hiking in that area and possibly another Spanish school. Will see how the wind blows us.....

Take care all, and we hope you are all safe and happy.

Love
Guy and Heather.

Well, here it is Christmas Eve (Feliz Navidad everyone) and we are at our B&B after 5 days of trekking in Torres del Paine National Park.

It is with fondness at this time that we reflect on our family and friends at home and the new friends we have met along the way (no new family). We are sorry we can not meet with all of you at this time but rest assured you are all in our thoughts. We both hope you are all well and have a joyous time over the holidays.

We made a successful bus 3 hour trip from Punto Arenas to Puerto Natales (PN). It was pouring rain when we made the 4 block trek to the bus terminal carrying all our stuff, however, it rains on all parades at some point! At PN we booked into our B&B lined up by the B&B people in Punto Arenas.

The next two days were spent getting ready for our trek in the park. Renting a cookset for 2, cuttlery, a stove and buying food and fuel. At 0830 on Dec 19 we boarded the bus for the 2 hr ride to Torres del Paine National Park. Along the way the bus had to stop for two herds of Guanacos (sp???) which are related to the camel. At the park entrance we boarded a small bus that took us and about 20 others into the Hosteria Torres where the ¨W trail¨starts. We all had to get off the bus as it went over a small single lane bridge - interesting. It was raining when we left PN but was partly cloudy and sunny at the park.

The first sojourn was up the trail to a camp site - Camamento Torres - which is a free one. We did this in 4 hours in a mix of sun, rain and wind. We saw two condors as we started off, but were determined not to let them have us for Christmas dinner! The trail is well used but not all that well maintained in parts. A lot of people at the start but they thinned out over time. A lot of people do this as a day trip from PN. At Campamento Torres we set up the tent and did the 1 hour hike up a boulder field to the mirador for the Torres themselves. The weather cleared for us and we had a good look at the towers and the glacier and lake below. After a few minutes of reflection the clouds started to build and a few snowflakes flew so we headed back down. The weather that night was dry and quite warm but cloudy in the AM. A group was up before dawn to hike up and said the towers were socked in.

The next day (20th) we were up and on the way by 0830 to overcast skies. For the next 7 hours we hiked through sun, wind and rain to Refugio Cuernos at which time the wind really started and the rain poured. We cheated here and rented a bed in the Refugio for the night. Was nice to hear the wind and rain beat against the walls and windows all night not our tent. 8 of us sharing a room was a bit noisy but the hot shower was fabulous. I talked to a few others who camped here and said it was the worst camp for lack of wind protection and campsites that sloped allowing rain to run freely.

The next day with the sun shining and the wind still howling we did the 2 hour hike to Campamento Italiano. We set up camp and then did the 4 hour hike up the ¨Valle Frances¨. Was very stunning hiking along the valley with a glacier on the other side that regularly let big chunks fall with a mighty roar. Again it was windy at the top but some very nice scenery and the hike was easier without the big packs.

The 4 th day we started under sunny skies for the 2 hour hike to Refugio Pehoe. We then turned north up the valley along Lago Grey towards the Grey Glacier. Immediatley we were ASSAULTED ( we thought) by the wind. It was coming staright at us and was quite fierce. We did this 11 km in 5 hours with rain for the last 4 hours and wind the whole route. Lots of up and down and as always, when it is difficult it is also pretty - the route is quite picturesque. There were icebergs floating in the azure coloured lake and the glacier could be seen from a long way off. The rain quit long enough for us to set up our tent and get everything inside and then started again. We made dinner in the shelter and had some nice chats with other travellers - again, a plus of the circumstances. The rain finally quit and we each had a hot shower (included in the cost of camping). We walked up aways and had a good look at the glacier before bed. Along here and other trails were many wild flowers in bloom and the light playing on the hills was beautiful.

The wind blew a bit at night which caused some concern as it can blow quite hard and I did not want to be chasing the tent fly in my undies. However, it held off as did the rain. On the 5th day we were on the trail again by 0830 but left our packs there and hiked further up to Campamento Guarda for a view of the top of the glacier. The ice was an awsome colour of blue and the sunlight bouncing off select parts of the icefield was quite startling. We started our trek back down at 1130 hours in a mix of sun and cloud with some rain sprinkles here and there. HOWEVER, about 1 hour into this 4 hour hike out, the wind started and it blew (it assaulted us this time). Fortunately the 70 - 80 km/hr predicted wind was at our backs and helped propel us along. This trail was the hardest of all as we ascended from and descended to the lake. At one point Heather was physically blown off her feet fortunately landing on some bushes rather than some rocks (unfortunately the bushes were prickly). Suffice to say we made it back to the Refugio and spent a few hours there waiting for the catamaran to take us back to the dock to catch the bus to PN. Quaffing an ale after 5 days of hiking is what life is about. We were back here by 10 PM.

The trek was a very nice hike through some awsome country and a great experience, albeit tiring after the lack of exercise we have both had ( or more appropriately haven´t had). It was a great time and we chatted with a whole mitt-full of good people as we have done throughout the whole trip. Not to take the place of friends and family at home but is sure nice to add more to the list plus the few casuals friends who have helped along the way.

We are having appetisers in our room and about to set forth for dinner - 9PM - so will be out with a few locals. Our B&B hosts are having a little party at 11 PM tonight which we have been invited to. Tomorrow we are having dinner at a good seafood restaurant suggested by our hosts. When in South America one should have seafood for Christmas dinner.

On Boxing Day we are going by bus to El Calafate for a couple of days to see the Morena Glacier (it is supposedly the most active glacier as far as calving goes). Then it´s on to El Chalten to hike in Los Glacieres National Park.

PS-
Heather here----- I´m really glad that Guy was with me on this hike as I´m not sure how well I would have done without him. He spurs me on with his - "not much further hon" and other words of encouragement. He definitely could have done it in a shorter time, but chose to let me lead the way, which of course was the slower speed. After all is said and done, I´m very glad we did it as it was an awesome trek. I can also state categorically that I´m happy to have my hiking boots off for a few days!!

Merry Christmas to everyone and we´ll be in touch in a week or so.

Love,

Guy & Heather