Damian and Sarah's travel blog: February 2009

After a few days in El Bolson we took a bus a couple of hours north to Bariloche which is a small city on the shore of a beautiful lake.
It was nice to spend a few days relaxing and walking around shops having empanadas for lunch and drinking coffee frappes at cafes. Stayed at a nice hostel with a crazy woman on the front desk. You could hear her mad laugh two flights up in our room!
Sarah wasn't in the mood for walking so she stayed at the hostel one day while I walked to the top of Cerro Otto, a hill a few kilometres from town with a fantastic view over the lake. Our 10 day hike must have had an effect on me as I didn't think twice about walking almost 20km to the top of the ridge and back to town. Only took me 4 hours.

You might have noticed that the blog updates have tailed off a bit. Possibly the marathon one for Torres Del Paine wore me out but also a likely reason is we have been a little disapointed with Argentinian Patagonia.
Patagonia is the whole of the bottom pointy bit of South America, Chile and Argentina. Apart from the Western edge around the Andes mountain range it is pretty much all flat featureless barren plains. Very windy and dusty. The trip from Puerto Natales down to Ushuaia was 12 hours of mostly featureless boring scenery. Even the fabled Tierra Del Fuego, apart from the southern edge, was almost desert with only an occasional oil pump or refinery to look at from the bus window.
Getting out of Ushuaia was a repeat of the journey there, followed by another 24 hour dull trip to El Bolson. There we found some vegetation and mountains at least and after a few days in Bariloche we headed straight to Buenos Aires which was another pretty featureless trip of 21 hours.
Also adding to our malaise about Argentina is the people. We have dealt with plenty of unfriendly and unhelpful 'service' staff on our travels but the locals here seem to have stepped it up a notch. And there are a couple of nasty habits that are quite prevalent as well.
Smoking. Almost everybody smokes. It's like Australia in the '80s when there were no health concerns and people were free to smoke wherever they wanted like in dining rooms and hospitals. A couple of the hostels we stayed at had smoking downstairs in the dining area and the whole place was full of smoke. You are trying to cook or eat and people are chain-smoking next to you. Nice....
The other unpleasant habit is an obsession with Mate. This is a tea made with a plant called yerba. (Not Coca leaves like in Bolivia.) The unpleasant aspects of it is the unhygenic paraphanalia and addictive behaviour that accompanies it. They drink it out of little gourd mugs with a metal straw with a sieve on the end. The mug has leaves put in and gets topped up with hot water from a thermos that they carry everywhere.
I will admit that I have a mild caffeine addiction. I like coffee and usually have one most mornings and may get a headache if I go a whole day without. But I don't drink coffee continuously for the entire day every day! That's what these yerba drinkers do! On long bus trips at every stop a legion of thermos weilding Argentinias run around trying to find somewhere to fill up their thermos with hot water. Most service stations actually have a coin-operated hot water bowser outside for this purpose! At the bus stations they just rudely push to the front of the line of people queuing for coffee (me) to get their thermos filled. And where do you think they empty their mugs of used yerba leaves? Wherever they feel like of course!

When we were on the ferry enroute to Puerto Natales we probably embarrassed ourselves a little by having never heard of “Torres Del Paine” National Park which apparently the entire boatload of people apart from us were coming to visit and probably hike something called “The W”. We did have vague plans to go hiking in Patagonia as it was recommended by Ryan when we were in Belize like 4 months ago but hey, we’d only just arrived in Patagonia and had done fine without any forward planning so far in the trip.

So three days later after a couple of nights in Puerto Natales we are being picked up at 7.30am for a bus trip to the park to do the “Q” circuit which should take us 9 days of walking carrying tent, sleeping bags and all our food!

We went to a talk at one of the hostels yesterday about hiking in the park and had been thinking of doing the 4-5 day “W” walk (called that because it goes up and down a couple of valleys and is the shape of the letter.) but after the talk Sarah was all enthusiastic to do the whole Circuit which is the “W” plus a loop around the back of the mountains. So we spent yesterday afternoon hiring camping gear and buying food in town and have reduced our packs to the bare minimum of clothes to make room for the large sleeping bags and a tent.

Day 1 started early at 5am or so when we woke to finish packing our bags and had a quick breakfast before the bus arrived. It was about 2.5 hours (would have been less if not for an obligatory stop at an overpriced tourist trap on the way) to the park entrance where we all had to pay 15000 Pesos Chileanos ($45AUD, not bad for 9 days, bit of a rort if you were only doing a day trip!) entry. From here we got our first look at Los Torres, the towers of granite the park is named after.

The centrepiece of Torres Del Paine national park is a striking small range of snow topped mountains of jagged granite peaks up to 3000m high. Geologically it is quite interesting as they are separate from the nearby Andes range and were formed by a magma upwelling under the surface igneous rock. Over time as the land has pushed upward and been eroded by mainly glacial action, the granite has formed the peaks.
Between these mountains and the Andes is Glacier Grey, part of the largest Glacier field outside Antarctica.

From the park entrance it was still a couple more hours to the Administration centre at the southern end of the park where we arrived at noon. As it was the first day we took it easy and only walked 3 hours to Campemento Las Carretas along a fairly featureless windswept plain. The free “Camp” was a pit toilet and shed sheltered by a small hill close to the bank of a large fast flowing river. After setting up camp and cooking pasta for dinner on our portable gas cooker in the shed we went to bed fairly early. Sun was still up of course as this far south it isn’t setting until some time after 10pm.

Day 1: 3 hours, 11.5km

Day 2
Woke up and packed up the tent and after a breakfast of cup-a-soup and sandwiches we headed on our way. The route followed the river for a while before crossing the ridge with a fantastic view of the mountains and then skirting a large lake. After 3 hours walking we arrived at Refugio Paine Grande which is quite large as it is serviced by boat from the bus route and is where most people start or finish the “W”. We weren’t staying there until the end of the circuit so we just stopped for a lunch break and a beer and pushed on another 2 hours to Campemento Italiano, another free camp site in a pine forest on the bank of yet another raging torrent of a river. This one was so cold it was painful to collect water from it as your fingers almost froze. We found out the next day that this is because it had been a glacier just a couple of kilometres upstream!

Day 2: 5 hours, 17.6km
Total: 8 hours, 29.1km

Day 3
Left camp travelling light as we were heading up the valley and left the tent set up with our packs inside. It was a steady climb up Valle Del Frances for 3 hours past the large glacier Del Frances which was pouring itself in stages down from the very top of the range formed between three peaks the highest being 3050m. We kept stopping when we heard the crack or roar to watch little avalanches of snow crashing down the cliffs.
Near the top of the valley we reached a lookout and stopped for a break with a truly spectacular view back down the valley before retracing our steps another 3 hours back to Italiano where we reluctantly struck camp and walked a further 2.5 hours to Refugio Los Cuernos. Being a Refugio rather than a Campemento meant that they offered accommodation and meals and charged for camping. We were able to take advantage of hot showers though which was well worth the 8000 peso fee.

Day 3: 8.5hrs, 20.5km
Total: 16.5 hours, 49.6km

Day 4
Left camp for an undulating 6 hour walk between part of the range and a couple of lakes. We turned up the steep Valle Ascencio (Ascent Valley) and passed the rather unpleasant Campemento Chileno (cramped small campsite with stinky horses pitched right next to the tents.) to go another 1.5 hours to Campemento Torres which was the nicest campsite of the trip. On a heavily wooded slope with a lovely little stream running right next to the tent. This would be our base camp for an early morning assault on the famed “Los Torres del Paine“! The Towers of Pain! (Actually it’s “The Blue Towers” due to the blue/grey granite but “the towers of pain” sounds kinda cool..)

Day 4: 7.5hrs, 20.9km
Total: 24 hours, 70.5km

Day 5
Woke horribly early in order to climb the hour to Los Torres to hopefully see them lit with the dawn’s first light. Apparently they are so often shrouded in clouds, rain, snow etc that this is an unlikely scenario but the weather had been good to us so far. We took one pack with our sleeping bags, mats and cooker and after an hour climbing a rocky slope we came to the lookout and found a nice flat rock and settled in nice and warm and snug with a hot coffee to wait for the sunrise. Dawn finally came and lit the escarpment briefly with warm pink and orange light before going behind a cloud. The sight was quite beautiful and the photographs don’t quite do the colours justice.

Finally we decided we had to leave and emerging into the cold morning air from our snug sleeping bags we climbed back down to camp to dismantle the tent.
The walk down the valley passed quickly with lots of people passing us heading up to the towers. This section of the trek is the busiest as many people come from Punto Arenas (large city where Cruise Liners stop about 300km south) for day trips and are dropped off by bus at the bottom of the valley and told they can hike up to see the towers. Now it would take a fit person about 4.5 hours to walk there making it almost 9 hours return being a bit quicker downhill. No way the typical Cruise passenger would be able to do it in the time they have. So along with sweaty determined looking people rudely pushing past carrying nought but a water bottle (and sometimes not even that.) we also had Horse Riders. Now some people like to ride horses, that’s fine with me. I just object to having to walk in horse shit and be pushed off narrow paths by inconsiderate people who are too lazy to walk. Thankfully this was a particularly bad stretch of path and the rest was mostly horse-free.
We arrived at Hosteria Los Torres at noon and set up camp. It was another paid campsite with showers and toilet block and shop nearby. Also the only camp of the trip that allowed wood fires so we had a relaxing afternoon and evening eating and playing cards beside the fire and drinking probably a little bit too much red wine.

Day 5: 5 hours, 15.9km
Total: 29 hours, 86.4km

Day 6
Set off from camp along what was now going to be a far less travelled path as we had now finished the “W”. We walked 4 hours over a ridge and through some woods and a river flat to Campemento Seron. This was one option for staying the night but would leave us with the need to do 10 hours waking the next day due to the spacing of the camps or two short days with an extra unnecessary night camping. It was 6 hours to the next camp, another 4 to the one after that, 6 to the next etc. Lucky for us a fellow camper Tim (odd Aussie fellow who wore shorts even when it was freezing cold) had mentioned an old campsite which was midway between Seron and the next camp Dixon! We even spotted it marked on an old map on a Hostel wall at the last camp and had an idea of where it was located. This would give us 7 hours walking with 7 the next day, much better than 10 in one day. Also Campemento Seron was pretty uninspiring. Just an open windy field with bored unhelpful staff at the shop. So we set off again after lunch (treated ourselves to some eggs at the shop and boiled them.) not quite knowing where we were going to sleep the night but confident we would find somewhere flat to pitch the tent.
We passed a couple of young guys as we left camp who I guess were debating whether to push on 6 hours to Dixon as it was 3pm by now or stay at Seron. They confidently strode past us a few minutes later obviously not phased at having to set up camp at 9pm. Suckers!

The next three hours were very scenic along the river passing a pretty waterfall before climbing to a horseshoe shaped perched lake and then over a high ridge to an impressive sight of the large Lago Paine, (Lake Pain! Sorry, Blue Lake) framed by large mountains with glaciers running down to it. We thought the camp was at the other end of the lake so continued on along the lake still quite high up the hillside.
We stopped at the first creek past the lake as I thought that would be a likely spot for a camp and a bit of exploration found quite a number of flat campsites along the creek. We picked one and set up camp while being devoured by millions of mosquitos. Covering all skin and a liberal application of Bushmans repellent kept them at bay for a little while but I still ended up cooking dinner mostly from inside the tent. Before dark another three tents were set up nearby so I figure the old camp is a well known secret.

Day 6: 7 hours, 18.5 km
Total: 36 hours, 104.9km

Day 7
Left the campsite early as we couldn’t really spend any time outside the tent without the mossies attacking (maybe that’s why they closed the camp?) and headed along the valley. There are two rivers running into Lago Paine with an impressive delta and wetland and after a couple of creek crossings (darn, wet foot!) the path took us through a stretch of very boggy marsh. The first 100m were traversed on an impressively wide boardwalk which then ceased to have planks but still a frame to walk on and then nothing. Seemed fairly aged too as if the people sent to build it had given up after a couple of weeks and nobody had been sent to finish the job. Bit of a shame as the rest of the walk through squidgy mud was on multiple paths formed by people walking on the vegetation to try and avoid getting wet feet. You would think for the $15000+ USD a day income the park gets from visitors they could maintain the trail a bit better to avoid people creating new paths. I’m quite happy to cross creeks walking on rocks but it saddens me to see the vegetation destroyed in wet marshy areas like that when a simple wooden boardwalk could be built across it.
We reached Dixon after three hours walk but didn’t waste any time there as the place was full of horses and horsy people (BTW, I’m not a total horse hater, Sarah is highly allergic to them.) so continued the 4 hours on to Campemento Los Perros.
This section of the hike was a steady climb up from the valley floor through forest following a river toward Glacier Los Perros which looked quite scenic on the map, forming a lake next to the campsite. The following day we would be climbing over a high mountain pass as well so we spent some time on the walk trying to identify where we would be walking the next day.
The glacier was quite small but rewarded us with a little avalanche as we arrive at the lake and the camp was not far past it. Camp site was nice with lots of trees and a clean toilet block.

Day 7: 7 hours, 18.5km
Total: 43 hours, 123.4km

Day 8
Started out up the steep valley up to John Gardner pass. It soon started raining which hadn’t bothered us with the brief showers previously experienced as we quickly dried out and you don’t get cold while you are walking, but this was a bit heavier and as we got higher and reached the snowline, turned to sleet and then pretty much a blizzard. It was very cold and windy and we knew we just had to keep moving or there was a good chance of getting hypothermia. Sarah complained her head was very cold and I pointed out her hair was covered in snow and she should put her hat on! We kept slogging on past another glacier and patches of snow and eventually reached the top of the ridge where the snow stopped and it was surprisingly less windy. From here we had our first view of the massive Glacier Grey stretching off into the distance and continued down the slope alongside the glacier through forest until we reached Campemento Paso. This camp was in thick wood, high on the ridge with white glimpses of Glacier Grey through the trees. Small creek running alongside. We arrived about 3pm and got a good private tent site but lots of people arrived late in the evening and it got pretty crowded. Toilet block was the most disgusting squat toilet I have ever seen!

Day 8: 6 hours, 12 km
Total: 48 hours, 135.4km

Day 9
Walked 5 hours along the slope beside the Glacier to Refugio Grey where we had planned to stay the night. Arriving at 3 pm we were quite unimpressed with the campsite though. It was a small area on a sandy and rocky beach beside the lake and was quite cramped already even though by our calculations the 12.30pm boatload arriving at Paine Grande wouldn’t have got there yet. There was a massive tent set up near the shelter shed for people doing boat trips and ice walks on the Glacier. Probably noisy party central at night! Also we had thought to stay there for the facilities however there was only a single shower for the whole campsite and this had a large queue already. We asked a staff member if we could pitch our tent anywhere as there were some open spaces along the lake but he was quite rude and unhelpful so we decided to continue the 3.5 hours to Paine Grande. As we were leaving we found a little cove on the lake on the north side of camp which had a few tents set up but was much more private than the other end of camp. Unpacking our tent we started to pitch it until another staff member from the refugio came to say that this area was only for refugio staff and we couldn’t camp there! So we packed up the tent and hit the road again for another 3.5 hours to Paine Grande. This section of train was quite steep as we had to pass over a large ridge and was very windy towards the end. It was quite a relief to finally get to camp after about 8.5 hours walking and 21 km for the day.
Paine Grande has the largest campsite of them all and we found a nice spot to set up in the bushes and after a long hot shower we felt a lot better. Having walked so far today meant we would have a very lazy morning tomorrow needing to only pack up camp and walk 100m to the jetty by 12.30pm.
Had some dinner, played cards and drank red wine while watching a very strange cloud formation across the camp.

Day 9: 8.5hours, 21 km

Total walking time: 56.5 hours, Total distance walked: 156.4km

Day 10
Slept in late and woke up to intermittent rain. Packed up the tent and found shelter in the provided kitchen/dining area until it was time to go catch the boat across the lake to connect with the bus to Puerto Natales.
Arrived back in Puerto Natales about 5pm and dropped our hired gear off before staggering back to the hostel where the rest of our gear was being held. Surprise, surprise! they hadn’t held our reservation (common occurrence in Sth America we have found) so we booked into another hostel a couple of streets away and after another trip to the supermarket for supplies, made dinner and went to bed!

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