Pictures

Hello out there in computer land. I´ve been scrolling through some pictures on the computer here in Puerto Montt. My original intention was to write an incredibly in depth account of where we have been since our last post and where we are heading in the next week and a half. Alas, the combination of someone watching a TV show with lots eery music and horrifying screams (apparently satan is possessing people) a foot away from my desk and a bit of wine after dinner has stolen any ounce of concentration that I once posessed. The result, a selection of pictures from Parque NacionalTorres del Paine and PN Los Glaciares. Enjoy.

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

Monique getting her first taste of the Beech (Nothofagus) forests (Day 1)

Checking out the scenery on our way to Campamento Seron (Day 1)

Mo walking through an establishing forest on the terminal moraine near the Los Perros Glacier. (Day 3)

Interesting glacier near Paso John Gardner. (Day 5)

Near Paso John Gardner looking back toward Campamento Los Perros. (Day 5)

Glacier Grey over Paso John Gardner. (Day 5)

Glacier Grey over Paso John Gardner. (Day 5)

Mo near the lakeshore camp of Albergue Grey. (Day 7)

The east shore of Lago Grey, fed by Glacier Grey. (Day 7)

Lago Nordenskjold (Day 8)

Torres del Paine at Sunrise, a mountaineers dream! (Day 10)
Also our first cloudless morning. Que Suerte!

Parque Nacional los Glaciares

Lone Tree under beautiful, however, blustery conditions.

No purification needed! Collecting water with a rare, clear view of Fitz Roy and Poincenot.

Time for tea, Campamento Poincenot

Monte Fitz Roy.

A peek from the bus as we left Chalten. Cerro Torre (center, snowy) cleared just in time for our departure. Note to future visitors: Request seats in the front of a bus that arrives during the day.

Alojamientos--only the best

We´ve reached about the halfway point of our trip, and it´s a time of change for us. I think the fast paced travel is over, and we´re going to start spending a bit more time in some selected cities. The main goal after leaving Los Glaciares National Park was to make our way north to meet Kellen´s parents. Thankfully, that meant getting off track of everyone else, and passing some time in Chile. We travelled a bit on the infamous Ruta 40, Argentina´s unpaved Patagonian highway (Patagonia is brown when you can´t see the Andes, a more dusty and consistent brown than either Nevada or Colorado), then managed to finagle some charming accommodations for the trip:

I wouldn´t consider Mo or I particularly choosey when it comes to accomodations, but squishy second-floor bathroom floors (solved at one place by a piece of plywood infront of the sink), low doorways that seem to have their sights set on my skull, and hospedaje owners that don´t seem to remember that they´re running hotels leave a little bit to be desired. Overall, the free camping north of El Chalten with its array of semi-permanent tarp stuctures, was the finest lodging we had for a while, followed by the backyard camping we enjoyed in Coyhaique. Featured above are 1. Bus 2. El Campamento Municipal in Los Antigous, AR, complete with a white stucco fireplace and hot showers, and near a panaderia with the best Alfajores we´ve had yet! 3. Hospedaje Don Luis en Chilo Chico, CL. (note the concrete doorway behind the tree, classy touch!) 4. Hospedaje Las Piedras del Indio in Coyhaique... think what you will 5. The Coyhaique ¨campground¨ with makeshift greatroom and kitchen. We spent two nights here in celebration of the complete shutting down of town for three days for the Easter Holiday. There was, however, a cool three legged dog -the best animals always have three legs, not four- and with no way of moving any further north, we cooked a fine curry for Easter dinner.

In Puerto Montt we sprung for 4 nights at a really comfortable room in a hostel with friendly travelers, friendly owners, and homemade jam. So far we´ve enjoyed two days with Kellen´s folks, a day checkingout the artisan fair and fish market in Puerto Montt, and a day crossing the lakes from Puerto Montt to Bariloche, Argentina. They managed to bring sunshine with them, so we had amazing views of the Andes from the boats yesterday, and hope for more days of sunshine ahead as we spend some time in the Bariloche area.

Los Torres y Fitz Roy

Well, no, this isn´t our photo, but I have about 4 minutes to let you know that indeed, Kellen and I were there, dreaming at the base of the Cuernos del Paine, and during our 10 days in Torres del Paine national park in Chile, we saw many more amazing views. We´ve been part of this tourist circuit by accident for the past two weeks, turns out we´re not the only mid-twenties travellers in this world, and just about every young person from Holland and Isreal is out exploring the same areas as we are, taking the same buses as we are. So as we´ve travelled from big park to big park, we´ve been part of this little cohort of people, and gotten to know some faces and names. It was a little disheartening, briefly, but we´ve come to realize that travelling with good people in really cool places is pretty special.
We moved on from tourist central Puerto Natales in Chile, and thru the Estes Park-like El Calafate (though with better food) in Argentina, and found happiness in El Chalten, AR. Its a very small town, and you can walk to the National Park trails from the free campground at the north end of town, or the panaderia at the south end of town, or anywhere else, or you can gaze at the amazing views of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy from the street corner if you don´t feel like moving. We did a one night backpack to check out the glaciers and peaks, then enjoyed lots of medialunas in the morning, and finally got out and did some climbing this morning, taking the easiest hitchiking trip imaginable 7km up the road to a newly developed climbing area just out of town. Guys were setting bolts on new routes while one of their sons played with a tonka trunk at the base of the rock all afternoon, and the rock-god locals were all really friendly as we tried to learn strange words like bolt and flake.
We´re making our way north along the border of Chile and Argentina right now, headed toward Puerto Montt to meet up with Kellen´s mom and dad for 10 days. Though without a specific plan on how to get there, we have busses and ferries and hiking and climbing in our future. Though we were a little spent with all the tourist activity in the past couple of weeks, we got to see the sights you´ve got to see down here, and El Chalten has revitalized us.
Off to the tent now, we´ve got a 9am bus north tomorrow.