Torres Del Paine - Puerto Natalas (Chile) - September 30 to October 8

--- Apologies in advance for any errors, I am more concerned about getting behind that having everything perfectly accurate ---

As usually happens, any bus ride or flight begins with reuniting within someone from a previous hostel or bus ride. I bumped into Susan who I had met at the 41 Below Hostel in Bariloche. I was aware she was on a similar schedule to me but was a couple of days behind, but I guess my layup day in El Calafate allowed her to catch up. She as travelling with a chap from Italy, Ivan, who I would later get to know better. The bus to Puerto Natalas, the launching platform for the Parque Nacionales Torres Del Paine, is only about 4 or 5 hours from El Calafate, crossing over into Chile an hour or so from Puerto Natalas. The scenery was flat, brown, dusty and seemingly typical or all the scenery even a few kms away from the Andes mountains but were were treated to flamingos and a few ostrich type birds (I must find their proper name) which was a little exciting. We crossed the boarder into Chile and headed into Puerto Natalas.

Jacqui had said the town was pretty cute, situated on a nice lake and pretty laid back. I took her advice and did not arrange any accommodation as I had her assurances that were would be mobbed by desperate people at the bus stop wanting to rent out a room in their guest house: she was not wrong! We first headed to the Erratic Rock, which my previous hostel had recommended and also featured in a guide Susan was carrying. Nobody was around and after 5 minutes of waiting and calling out we decided to move on to the first guesthouse in the stack of pamphlets. Pretty terrible and not exactly homely and for 5000 pesos (around 15 dollars) we moved on pretty quickly hoping that we could do better. After wandering the streets with our backpacks, Susan, I and Ivan were approached by a couple of ladies in a van who we recognised from the bus stop. They offered to give us a ride to their house for a look so we pile on in. Hostel Paulette turned out to be pretty darn reasonable, with a large room for the three of us to share, great breakfast including eggs, an awesome kitchen and cheap rental gear, what more could one want?

We settled in and started our planning for the Torres del Paine trip. We had thought of hitting up the track the very next day as the forecast suggested that were would get better weather. My cold still hading fully recovered and it was getting pretty late in the day to organise things for a 730am departure so we made the call to take it easy, relax, and launch into the planning proper the next day. Staying with Susan and Ivan was working out really well. Ivan could speak Spanish but not very good English, probably only a little more than my Spanish, and Susan could speak (amongst other languages) both English and Spanish so she was able to act as our translator as Ivan and I tried to communicate in our weaker language. I was already looking forward to the 5 day trek to pick up some more Spanish and be around Spanish speakers. I had a funny conversation with Ivan trying to explain what has been doing for walk. It transpired that he worked in Peru with disabled children, but it was classic all his gestures to try and demonstrate disabled kids....first the whole groaning and dripping thing, then trying to lick his lick his shoulder staggering around the room, then he pulled out the imaginary zimmer frame! Communication between people without a common language really is like pictionary and sharades combined!

Puerto Natalas seemed nice enough. We strolled around and checked out different prices for hire equipment and went back to the Erratic Rock for their free information session they run every day at 3pm (we missed it the day before partly due to our clocks being an hour out due to the time difference). We got some useful advice about the way to best approach the trek and some truly awful advice about appropriate clothing to wear. Apparently, according to the Yanky guy running the joint, one should never wear a gore tex jacket during the day, irrespective of what the weather is doing. One should, instead, simply get wet, snowed on, cold and basically exposed to the elements in every way because at the end of the day one can simply change into the dry clothes protected inside the pack. If one should choose, the a gore tex could at that point be worn to keep the dry clothes dry. Absolutely useless advice given the nature of the Patagonian climate and would (as we would find out on our trip!) prove to pose a real risk of exposure or hypothermia in the horrible weather conditions.

We managed to organise all of our hire gear and purchase the food from the supermarket. I had a one person tent from Erratic Rock and a sleeping back from our hostel. I made a late night walk around town to track down an extra gas cylinder after the hostel provided us with an extra one which only had a few minutes of burn time left (we had purchased 2 for ourselves). By late evening the weather had started to pack it in. I was walking around in my gore tex just to get to and from the supermarket. The next morning wasn´t any better and the bus ride out to the park proved to be an adventure in itself. Only a few km out of town it started to snow and as we neared the mountains the entire road and paddocks were covered! The windscreen wipers on the bus struggled to keep up with the huge snow flakes falling from the dark sky. We stopped at a cafe for a toilet break about half way to the park. Getting out of the bus we all just looked at each other at the cold hit us - were were about to spend 4 nights in the snow and would likely not see anything if the weather didn´t clear. There was a feeling in the bus that ´we didn´t buy into this sort of weather!´

To get to the start of the trip we had to first pay a fee of 15000 pesos (it had rise from 8 the day before to mark high season!), which got us a map and little else. We got back onto the bus and made our way along the lake edge to the catamaran which would deliver us to the track start at the western end of the massif. We occasionally got views of the mountains as the sky broke and of guacos (lama like animals) grazing the paddocks. We had time before the catamaran to duck up to a nearby waterfall, only to be struck by a snow Storm on the way back down! The weather was just amazing, and very cold.

The catamaran cost another 11000 pesos (around 30 nzd) for the 30 minute ride (a total rip off!) but we did get tea and coffee and did save 18km of walking. Getting off at the main lodge (name) were were greeted by people coming out the park, who said the 4 days to that point were amazing and that today was their first day of snow - maybe the weather would be set in for a while, perhaps our entire trip! Day one we were off up to the head of a large lake to a camping around near Glacier Grey. This would take around 4.5 hours and we would be presented with great views from a mirador (look out point) approximately 2 hours from the ferry drop off point. This leg of the trip would be the first stoke of the ´W Circut´which is usually completed in 4 or 5 days. We walked for the first few hours in falling snow and strong winds, occasionally taking refuge under trees and shrubs while eating snacks and having a drink. We were lucky with the view from the mirador, with relatively clear views and dramatic beams of light issuing from the clouds. On a clear day mountain provide a beautiful backdrop, but we had to settle for dramatic clouds haha. We arrived at Campamento Glacier Grey slightly a head of the suggested track time and set up our tents. The camping area had not officially opened for the season so camping was free (and no facilities provided). We cooked behind a service building huddling around to keep warm while the pasta bubbled away. Later that night we would pop into the refugio for a cup of coffee use of the toilet facilities. The regugios cost around 20000 for just the bed (around 60 dollars) and food has to be purchased there, for around 20 a plate so we were happy with our choice to camp!

Day two we set off by making a trip to the main mirador close to the glacier. The weather appeared to be slightly better than the day before, although the wind was still bitterly cold. By the time we had back tracked to Refugio Grand for lunch, the weather had packed it in and the thought of heading back out into the cold after a lunch with hot tea was not that appealing, but by the time we had sat around for 40 minutes I was cold and keen to get walking. We made our way along the lake towards Campamento Italiano, which stands at the bottom of the middle stroke of the W, around 2 hours from Grande. Terrible weather hit us with lots of rain and heavy winds. By the time we got to camp it had stopped raining enough to put the tents up without too much wetness entering. Susan and Ivan pitched their tent inside the basic shelter to provide a bit more protection. I unpack my gear and nearly drifted off to sleep after getting cosy in my sleeping bag, before Susan roused me to bring the cooking gear into the shelter to make tea. We prepared tea, then soup, then rice and had a nice evening yarning away. By this point Ivan had identified that his shoes were going to be a problem. He had loaned them from Erratic Rock and they were proving to be pretty useless, letting in lots of water and not giving his soles of his feet much protection. He decided that if the weather was rotten the next morning he would not make the trip up the W to Glacier Frances and Campamento Britanico, opting for a shorter route to Refugio Los Quervos.

The next morning the weather wasn´t much better. I packed up my tent and joined the others for breakfast. Ivan took much of the load as he was only having to undertake a 2.5 hour walk to the next refugio as Susan and I headed up the valley. The weather in the valley was terrible! We were unable to get any decent views of Glacier Frances which, from photos we have seen, is absolutely amazing, and by the time we got above the bus line en route to Campamento Britanico at the head of the valley, it was obvious we were not doing ourselves any favours. The wind was incredibly strong, the snow under foot was getting deeper and the snow was falling harder and increasingly more horizontal with the straightening wind! We decided that it would be better to just head down and make an early approach to the refugio to meet up with Ivan.

It was another miserable day of walking to get to Refugio Los Queros after we had returned from our short walk up Valley Frances. It was simple heads down and jackets closed all they way along the lake front. We arrived around 1pm to find Ivan looking for a tent site in the rain, which he soon opted out of upon our arrival for a hot cup of tea. We were early at the refugio due to our short walk and could have pushed on to the next camping areas to knock a day off the trip, but we decided to hang out for the rest of the afternoon to give the weather a chance to improve. The camping was 3000 pesos, which included as much hot water as we wanted and even a hot shower. I made good use of the hot water but did not have a shower as I thought that was just taking a bit to far. Ordinarily there are amazing views of the mountains behind the refugio, but we only got a peak every now and again. Perhaps the most spectacular site was the mini typhons on the lake, generated by the winds which showed no sign of dropping. We would, after even window bending gust, stand up to see if our tents were still tucked safely amongst the trees.

We had a great afternoon just drinking tea and chatting to people in the refugio. We laughed when an America couple said that they had booked a cabana for 69000 pesos (like 200 NZD) and it didn´t even have a hot shower or any heating!! They spent all their time in the refugio with all us campers before heading up to their cabana at the very last minute!

The next day seemed more promising, with lower winds and slightly clearler skies. Ivan made the decision to head on out given his shoes were rubbish and had given him big blisters which were bleeding a bit and causing quite a lot of pain. Probably a good call given the guys at the refugio said that Campamento Torres had a foot of snow there! We said our good byes to Ivan a few hours into the walk before we started our climb to Refugio Chilano en route to Campamento Torres. We blitzed the track time of 5 1/2 hours by almost an hour and a half which was pleasing. We had our lunch and drank many cups of tea at Chilano before begrudglingly getting back into our wet gear to make the final 45 minute trudge up to Campamento Chilano.

We soon came upon more snow as the track gained height. Around 20 minutes into the walk it started snowing and we were trudging through ankle deep powder. We crossed a snow covered valley leading into the trees that provided shelter for the Campamento Torres. A laid back kiwi couple had beaten us to pitching the tent in the wooden shelter; they were camping out an extra night in the hope that the weather would clear up. We set up out tent in the snow before cooking up some soup and then rice, chatting away to the kiwi couple about their trips through Bolivia and Peru. The temperature had dropped and the snow was really coming down now, so Susan and I headed into the tent to cook up a pot of tea before bed and had a heap of mint chocolate. It was the coldest night so far and I slept in all my clothes and was still restless. The rubbish sleeping bag was totally inadequate but I survived.


We looked out of the tent around 8am, having decided to skip a sunrise effort, to see clear blue skies!! We were ecstatic, giving chears of woo whoo and high fives, before packing up all our breakfast stuff into my day bag, strapping on a bed mat and heading up the hill. The vista had changed dramatically from the evening before, with fresh powder and intense blue skies. We made our way up the 1 hour climb to a perfect view of the towers with only whispy clouds near the top which would later drift away. We prepared hot porrige and tea on a large rock slab and took a heap of photos and shared the moment with an Asian chap from Sydney who had gotten an early start from Chilano. What perfect timing to have 4 days of horrible weather for it to fine up on our last day..just awesome!

They trip down wasn´t so great. I slipped on some snow on the only really steep section of the track, which pushed me forward starting something that resembled an olympic tripple jump attempt, resulting in me jumping from a large rock and landing some 10 or so feet down the hill. Susan looked on in horrow as I literally flew past her and came to an abrupt end in the snow. I sat stunned, not wanting to get up in case I couldn´t walk or had broken something but hadn´t yet realised it. Fortunately I was able to move with pain in my left foot only. However, it become apparenty withing 20 minutes or so that this injury was worse than I first though and would give me difficult in walking normally with any comfort. We packed up the tent and headed down the hill, with me hobbling along in considerable pain. We decided to make a longer route, backtracking our previous day to get views of the mountains and lake in fine weather. I managed okay but knew that getting off the bus after sitting down for 2.5 hours would not be comfortable so I kept on moving not wanting to stop until we had completed the walk. We got back to our mini bus at the track end which would connect us to the park entrance. Pretty crappy given we had already paid 15000 to get into the park that we still had to fork out more to get back to the park entrance!


I spent the next few days hobbling around Puerto Natalas and backing up my photos at an internet cafe. I was on a street corner when a female backpacker saw me hobble up in pain, and she asked what had happened. We had a short conversation before we both clicked that were had met in Montevideo a month or so back! Crazy gringo trail. She would eventually end up in my hostel with her other friends I had met too, which was pretty good value.

Susan and I headed off to the supermarket to make a packed lunch for the 14 hour trip to Ushuaia. We weren´t expecting much from the Chilian bus (except for a big price ticket) so we stocked up well. We departed the hostel early in the morning and boarded our bus, which would go via Puerto Areanas and Rio Grande, or so we thought... We were an hour or so into the trip when the bus pulled over and the attendant chap (who was a bit slow) was gesturing to put our jackets on and get off the bus. It turned out that were were to change bus in the middle of nowhere onto a bus going back the opposite direction but presumably the ´correct´direction! It was all a bit strange but we took comfort in the fact that our tickets were checked and bags swapped over. The bus ride seemed to go quickly chatting and sharing music etc. We changed buses at Rio Grande to continue out journey into Teirra del fuego and Ushuaia, which was immediately a great improvement to the scenerary. Windswept and moss-festooned trees lined much of the road side as we drew closer to the mountains, at times climbing over passes and looking down into large lakes far below. We arrived into Ushuaia a little after sunset, and were rushed away from the bus stop by waiting hostel pimps, which suited me given my sore ankle.

El Calafate and El Chalten - 24-28 September 2008

Before leaving Bariloche I made a trip to the supermarket to stock up on the food for my 33 hour journey to El Calafate, including ham and cheese rolls, empanadas, pastries and various drinks. The bus was only a semi cama style so no food would be served on the entire journey, although I expect it would stop along the way at small cafeterias and bus stations.

The weather was superb on my last day so I did one final trip down to the lake to take a few photos of sights I had missed. I had a pretty nasty cold coming on so I was having trouble phycing up for any great distances so I just pottered around at a leisurely pace.

I arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to wait so played tour guide to some lost looking Americans. I always think it is nice to turn up to a new place and have a fellow backpacker provide a few useful tips and advice on hostels and the key sights, and they seemed to appreciate the same.

Upon boarding the bus it became obvious the difference between a cama bus and a semi cama bus. I had been on semi cama buses before but only for short trip. For a start, there are 4 seats abreast, as opposed to 3, so there is a lot less room in each seat and there are more rows so reclining is pretty limited. I just hoped that nobody else would take the seat next to mine! I was given a great book from the Aussie chap in Hostel 1004, The Boys of Everest, which I had every intention of starting, and finishing, on the bus. However, those plans were quickly dashed when I discovered that the bus had no air conditioning to speak of. At one stage we managed to pop the roof vents but they really did little to help. I am not good with enclosed unventilated spaces so found myself drifting off to sleep in a matter of minutes. Not a productive use of time in the bus sleeping during the afternoon so that was a bit disappointing.

We made our way though many small towns on route to Comodoro Rivadavia, where we would change buses at 0630 to another bus heading towards Rio Gallegos. It was a long afternoon and night in a hot bus and no ability to read my book. Fortunately my seat wasn´t occupied so I was able to spread out a bit. While stopped at Comodoro Rivadavia I met a friendly German couple travelling on their honeymoon, Jacob and Catalina. They were trying to decide whether to stay a night in Comodoro Rivadavia before heading down to Rio Gallageous, as we had several hours to wait around before the bus departed. They eventually saw my logic in doing the entire trip in one big hit and purchased a ticket. Our bus eventually turned up again (my luggage was still on it!) and we set off for our next 14 hour leg to Rio Gallegos. There really was little to see on the entire journey, except for massive expanses of dry desert and not a lot else. We stopped for a lunch break at a petrol station literally in the middle of the desert hundreds of kilometres from anywhere. It was like a setting for an American movie set on route 66 with tumble weed drifting in the hot wind and nothing to look at except the odd car passing by. Very remote indeed!

Arriving in Rio Gallageous was quite interesting. It was obvious from the mood of people at the bus station that the town is used simply as a stopover for people making their way further south or up to the popular trekking towns in Patagonia, such as El Calafate and Puerto Natalas. I met some interesting local guys on the bus heading for El Calafate for work, which provide some good chats with the three of us struggling with the other´s language. He had a beer at the bus stop and boarded our bus.

Arriving at El Calafate at 1am was fine, with a taxi from the hostel waiting. I shared it with an Irish couple, who would later join me in my dorm. The hostel, America de sur, was pretty amazing, with only four beds per dorm and private bathrooms, not to mention a heated tile floors and a huge chill out area with great views over the mountains and lake. I settled into bed while the Irish couple decided to read their books at 230am after 36 hours on a bus!!

The flu I picked up in Bariloche had progressively gotten worse and I was contemplating having a layup day at the hostel but after a great breakfast and a chat with the German couple we decided to bolt to the bus station and head out to Perrito Mereno Glacier for the day. The bus headed off to make the 80km journey towards the glacier, stopping once or twice to take in panoramic views as we neared the main attraction. From the first stop it was obvious that we were all in for a very cold day, perhaps the coldest since arriving in South America; the cold memories of Foz de Iguacu and hot cup noodles came rushing back.

We stopped at the shore of the lake to take in icebergs and a charter boat weaving it´s way through to collect passengers before heading back up the hill to the central office and cafeteria. I had all my layers on, including my jacket and beanie, and was still feeling the cold. The three of us headed down towards the first look out platform and were instantly blown away by the immense size of the glacier, even from quite some distance! Measuring over 4km wide, 50m high and 14km deep, the glacier is (I think) the largest creeping glacier in the world. The overcast day turned out to be rather a good thing, adding to the deep blue colour of the mass of ice, which, during full sunlight, takes on a much white appearance. With pockets of blue sky and beams of light shooting through, the glacier was a very photogenic subject! We made our way around the many lookout platforms, stopping at each one to shoot the glacier from a different angle, before retiring to the comfort of the café.

In dire need of warmth but in no way prepared to form out cafeteria prices, I purchased a Gatorade….my plan was to drink half of it then refill it from the matte (Argentinian tea) hot water dispenser outside, to provide a hot orange juice. My plan worked a treat, and soon evolved further to providing me with hot water for my bottle which would now act as a hot water bottle inside my jacket. Perfect! We waited around for a number of hours for our bus to depart, make short bursts back outside to see if the weather had changed but by this stage it was simply too miserable to remain exposed to the elements for any length of time!

Back at the hostel that night the three of us made a huge salad and steak dinner (the vegetable shop proved to be further the Catalina thought so we taxied back from it haah). I decided after dinner that I would spend the next day in the hostel and around El Calafate backing up photo, completing my blog and just chilling out reading in the comfort of the hostel letting my flu do its worst. That morning after breakfast I hit the computer for some serious blogging. Another Irish chap sat down next to me and we started to yarn away….and it soon become clear that we had a similar schedule to this point and that we in fact spent a few nights together camping in the Pantanal in Brasil! His wife came over and we recognised eachother also. That happens way too often haha

I decided that El Chalten sounded like a great destination for the following day as it is reputed to be the ´trekking capital´ of Patagonia, that is all I knew about it. I purchased my bus ticket for 150 pesos which included a night´s accommodation at a hostel. That evening I was sitting reading my book at America De Sur when I spotted Natalie heading out the door. We had parted ways in Uruguay some 2 or 3 weeks before so it was a surprise catchup and an introduction to her boyfriend, which was great. I told her that I had bumped into her future colleagues in Montevideo, which was random. Even more random was the fact that I had earlier been chatting to Emma Bradshaw on facebook and she asked if my dad´s name was Rad…which is a name I believe Dad is only know by to his university friends and those of his generation. It turns out that Emma´s dad and my Dad went through Victoria University law school together back in the day!!! Crazy small world…and I thought knowing Emmas cousin was as random as it got!

Early start the next morning to get to the bus station for El Chalten for a few days. The bus was a typical common class setup with no air con and the heaters going full blast in the heat of the day which put most people to sleep pretty quickly. The drive to El Chalten was pretty uneventful until the last hour, when the view of the Cerro Fitzroy and Cerro Torres became visible. My lack of research into the areas except for the ´trekkers capital of Patagonia´ write-up in the lonely planet meant that I was pleasantly surprised to see these mountains which I immediately recognised but did not realise were in this particular area; for some reason I thought they were in Torres Del Paine! The bus driver kindly pulled over just before town to allow us to take photos. We entered the town via the park headquarters, where we were given a terrific rundown of the paths and what could be achieved in limited time or on extended trips.

I enjoyed a perfect two days of day trekking in the area, helped by perfectly blue skies and warm temperatures which the ranger informed us they had not had for weeks! I completed the walk to Cerro Torre the first afternoon, carrying nothing but a bag of horribly sweet biscuits because everything else in the town was closed (although I did discover a baker nearby the next day). The next day I did the second significant feature of the park, Cerro Torre, which is a jagged outcrop sitting at the head of a lake and towering above a magnificent glacier. The walking was easy and I made good progress, although later I could hardly walk due to the near running pace I had set myself on the decent!

The bus ride on the way back was perfect, with much lower temperatures, better ventilation and low traffic. I sat in the back of the bus and read for a solid 4 hours, including a few hours with my head torch when the interior lights went out, proving that carrying the torch in one´s daybag is always a good thing.

The next day was taking it easy, organise my bus ticket to Puerto Natalas and generally kicking around. Looking forward to Torres Del Paine now that I am in the trekking mood!

Bariloche 20-24 September 2008

Well my mission to Bariloche started from BA, a 22 hour bus ride from Retiro bus station. Retiro comprises over 70 platforms and stretches for about a km so finding the correct platform can take a while!! I was travelling on Via Bariloche which is reputed to be one of the better companies and one that my mate Rich from Bariloche had travelled on a week earlier and passed back favourable reports. I settled in to my seat on the lower level of the bus, which I chose because it is more cosy with only around 10 seats in total and close to the bathoom (which can have a few smelly drawbacks but worth the risk) and perhaps a less of a rolling movement. It also has the benefit of being next to the kitchen and bar area so the drinks and snacks can easily be obtained from the chap running up and down the stairs. I passed the time until dinner by reading, listening to my eyepod and trying to say a few words to the Spanish chap next to me, who was travelling with his family. His young daughter was noisy to start with and I was beginning to imagine a sleepless night ahead. I guess if you can´t beat em, join em, so I tried to have a yarn with them all and play a few little games with the daughter, which provided quite a bit of amusement for us all so it all worked out pretty well. Dinner wasn´t as good as the trip from Iguacu to Rosario but we were still served hot food and wine, although beer wasn´t available. It amused me when the chap next to me asked for a ´vaso de vino e sprite´, which is pretty much a red wine shandy!! Apparently all the young kids do it to get into wine and apparently this guy was never weaned off this idea hahah. I asked him ´te gusta vino tinto e sprite´, to which he replied ´si si, esta buneasimo´, classic! The attendant chap came around and offered whiskey, which I happily accepted ´con pepsi´ which he managed to understand after a while (perhaps whiskey and coke is not a common drink and judging by his proportion of 2/3 whiskey I think he thought he was doing me a favour hhaha).

My greatest moment of happiness that night came when the final movie started to screen after dinner. To this point I had to endure 3 terrible Spanish films, or at least try to block them out. I was going to ask the dude if they had any English movies but didn´t get around to it so was stoked when I am Legend with Will Smith came onto the screen. The chap next to me was a bit surprised, as I must have jumped forward in my seat with elation, rummaging through my bag to find my headset to plug into the ceiling jack. Kind of ironic really given I am Legend lends itself perfectly to being dubbed over in Spanish given there are only about 2 characters and very little dialogue whatsoever so English speaking and Spanish sub titles was an awesome bonus!

Arriving the next morning in the Lakes district was pretty incredible. It is now becoming pretty apparent that the southern areas of Southern America (i guess i will soon find out about the northern areas...) are characterised by enormous areas of desolate and barren terrain with pockets of beauty. Unlike New Zealand where the drive to a destination is often as rewarding as the destination itself, I often wonder if the long bus rides over completely uninspiring landscapes is really worth all the hassle as there is much travel through boring scenery and incredibly flat dusty roads to get to anywhere of any notable aesthetic quality. That being said, the lakes and cliffs that greeted me as we approached Bariloche were pretty amazing! The road wound its way down lower and lower through green lakes and rocky crags; I occasionally spotted some great lodges and batches on the lake front. Soon were were on the lake front of Bariloche, Lago Nahuel Huapi, looking north towards the main township. Perfectly blue skies reflected in the dark blue water was an incredible sight and something I had been looking forward to since the beginning of my trip. Stepping outside for the first time at the main bus station some 3km south of town was crisp but refreshing after a long bus trip. I found my way to the urban bus stop and headed into town.

My first stop was Hostel 1004, which is renowned as having the most amazing views of lake and of any hostel (and perhaps building) in Bariloche. I had a reservation for the following night and was told to try my luck for my day of arrival in case people had checked out. No one had so I made my way to Hostel 41 Below, which is run by a laid back kiwi guy, a point I had forgotten until i arrived. I was knocking around the reception checking in and a laid back chap with a very Flight of the Concords accent started to yarn to me, asking me how I was getting along in my jandals and t shirt in Bariloche...it was obvious to him that I reeked of kiwi ahah. Paul had been running the place for around 4 years with his striking Argentinian partner, travelling for around half the year in the off season. The walls were plastered with numerous photos of far off destinations, including Nepal, which provided great flashbacks.

I decided to make the most of the day rather than moping around the hostel. I sought suggestions as to decent day walks to pass the afternoon. Cerro Otto was a four hour return walk from the the hostel and provides great views over the lake. Off I went, via the supermarket and several frustrating return trips to the hostel to collect gear which I had forgotten; perhaps my lack of sleep was catching up with me! I also realised at this point, being my first trip into the Patagonian outdoors, that my idea of going light in South America might have been taken slightly too far as it had become alarmingly apparent that most of my basic thermal clothing had been left behind in Auckland. I had a fully set of heavy weight thermals but no mid layer or light base layers. This annoyed me greatly as the space required to pack several additional sets of thermals is nothing and the value added is huge. I was also kicking myself for not getting trekking pants from Mike before heading off...although many people seem to trek in jeans I could not bring myself to do such a thing on any serious walks! I would have to buy some... Anyway, off up Cerro Otto. I found the turn off and started to charge up a mountain bike trail which cuts a few corners off the windy road to the top, eventually re joining the main road a bout half way up. The trail was semi covered in snow and great views over the lake were around most corners. After re joining the road I soon came upon a ski resort and a bit further on the centre for cross country skiing or something. The road ended at this point and I was off up a snow covered track to the top of Reserva Telefonica. This view point is serviced by a gondola and then a cable car..pretty lazy really given the walk up is only a couple of hours and more rewarding, but that´s just my view. Upon getting to the top the guy at the office said it was 25 pesos to get to the viewing deck but I said I would just have a walk around and take a few photos...then snuck up under a fenced off areas to get to the same place so felt pretty good about that.

I met some cool guys at the hostel that night and had a yarn to one chap about Huayna Potosi in Bolivia, which is 6085m and something I am keep to do, if Bolivia is safe! Some good info obtained. The next morning I headed back to 1004 to check in. Upon arriving I figured that I didn´t really like the vibe and the people hanging around there so decided to stay only a night there and head back to 41 below for a couple of additional nights to catch up with the other chaps there. I dropped off my stuff and headed out to Cerro Campanario, which everyone said is the best place to soak up amazing panoramic views of the lakes and surrounds. The weather was perfect and a 30 minute walk from the bus stop bypasses the chair lift to the top, saving a crazy 40 pesos! The views were indeed amazing! I sat around in the sun eating ham and cheese baguettes and doing my best to talk to some locals, which is always entertaining.

I headed back down to the road and asked for direction to a beach, or playa. I am beginning to be capable of asking questions in Spanish, which is great, but I am still hopelessly unable to understand 90% of the responses so I trotted off and took a wrong turn and didn´t really come to a beach (I found it the next day on a separate trip) but did find the Bariloche Yacht Club tucked into a very calm bay, a simply awesome spot by the lake front! I headed into a nearby store and got a beer to accompany my remaining baguette and made my way down to the water front, ignoring the members only sign. Sitting on the lake front on an awesome day with a beer was just awesome...simple but very rewarding. Once finished, I simply jumped back on the bus and headed back into town to relax for the afternoon.

Hostel 1004 turned out to be pretty decent in fact! Totally chilled out in a very hippy sort of way! I waited for the sun to set which was a bit of a fizzer, although nice enough. I went inside to prepare dinner in the most amazing kitchen I have even been in, hostel or otherwise, with several 8 burner stainless gas cookers and a massive array of utensils and festooning every available wall surface! After about 10 minutes I looked outside to see a mass of red over the lake....the sunset I had expected and hoped for had put on a display afterall. I quickly threw down my cooking tools and ran to the room, drawing some attention to myself on the way but when my room mates made it outside with me and their own cameras they all realised what the rush was for. It was perhaps the most amazing sunset I have seen and I quickly shot a few panoramas in the fading light. Magic. I spent the rest of the night with a cool young Aussie couple (yes, one was a lawyer, cant escape them!) and planned to ride the around the Circuito Chico, a 35 km ride around Lago Llao Llao. We sat around drinking with the very alternative hostel owners, one of whom looked very like Jesus, but was amazing on the guitar and violin and did a duet with some chick on the recorder...awesome live music much to the delight of a drunk and loud American knob. The aussie chap and I headed into town around 1am to get more beer but couldn´t find anywhere (probably too early) so headed back to the hostel, which had shut down for the night.

The ride was amazing! We met up around 1230 the next morning after I had rechecked into Hostel 41 Below. The bus was crazy full!! Never had I been on such a full bus, packed with school kids and people going hope for a siesta or something I suppose. Everyone keep making room at each stop when 20 more people go on, madness but fun. The ride took us the full circuit of Lago Llao Llao and provided superb views of mountains, beaches and forest. At one point, pt panoramico, superb perfect mirror image views of the hills surrounding the lakes were to be had, which made the steep uphill grunt on the bike worth it! Only a small ride to return the bikes and get back on the bus remained.

That evening I caught up with Rich and Tara (I met tara in rio and again in BA) for a nice meal out at Pilgrims restaurant. We had a nice platter of wild bore, venison, salmon, duck, trout etc and a pizza. A really nice meal but from that point I realised that such luxurious eating out (especially after the expense of Brazil and BA) really is totally unsustainable and not nearly as rewarding as preparing food in hostels with others. It is great to become aware of these things as it has provided an important insight into the style of travel I prefer and the sorts of things I can do without. I am realising that the more simple thrills of living cheap but spending time and money seeing great sights and ´roughing ít´ provides a great deal more satisfaction and enjoyment than eating out in restaurants etc. However, that said, I still need to splash out somewhere in Argentina for a decent steak!

The next day was a simple kicking around sort of day. I bought a pair or pants and a fleece from the Garmont store, setting me back around 300 pesos, which is like 150 nzd so not too bad I guess, and abit cheaper than home. I now feel prepared to hit the outdoors! I met a cool guy in the North Face store and struck up a bit of a conversation. He had travelled to NZ and intends to return. He invited me back to his hostel later that night for a beer, which I happily accepted. We spent the night chatting, learning a bit of Spanish and sharing a few stories. He is going to set me up with his mates in Cordoba in Northern Argentina when I head up there so that should be interesting! Its great meeting locals and getting off the tourist trail a bit.

I bought my bus ticket and did a final walk around the town before starting my 36 hour bus ride to El Calafate via Comodoro Rivadavia and Rio Gallegos! That is a whole new story altogether.

Uruguay 16-18 September 2008

A pretty early start to the day, checking out of the Milhouse at around 7 to get down to the Baquebus ferry terminal for a 730 check in. I met Natalie there and got a coffee...making the same mistake I seem to be making in BA, that is, that a cafe doble is double the price (and coffee I hope!) as a standard cafe con leche....not really that good forking out $5 for a coffee!
Anyway, we were on our way to Rosario, just over the Rio do Plata an hour on the fast boat. It was a quite interesting experience crossing into another country by boat. First, the immigration procedures took place entirely from the port of departure, with one person stamping the departure stamp on the passport before passing it to a person directly next them him who would provide the incoming Uruguay stamp/visa. When the boat was about half way through the journey, the duty free counter opened and hoards of people rushed up to make their purchases. I guess crossing to Uruguay is a good way to get cheap alcohol and smokes etc, similar to Brazilians crossing into Paraguay.

Rosario was pleasant enough. Not really much to take one by surprise, having only heard that it is a town of old buildings on the coast....that was certainly true. It was nice to walk around and take photos of the cobbled streets which are predominantly pedestrian only (some barely suitable for pedestrians!). We went up the lighthouse and finished our grand tour at a nice restaurant at lunch time. The weather cleared up dramatically so we decided to repeat the top spots to re-shoot photos with a nice blue sky background...clearly not a huge town. Natalie jumped back on the ferry around 5 to complete her day trip and I headed for the supermarket to prepare dinner. The hostel was nice enough, set in a old restored building (go figure!!). It was pretty quiet, which suited me and allowed me to have free rein of the DVD player, finally settling on Babel, which was a terrific choice.

Have decided to stay on in Uruguay for a few days, I was off to the capital Montevideo for a night. I boarded a bus with a few chaps I met at the hostel that morning. We decided to do a sort of city tour upon arriving at Montevideo but soon after arriving I was reminded of why I have begun to really appreciate the freedom of travelling solo. Waiting around for the others to book tickets, make phone calls, go to the bathroom, flounder around with maps, loose maps etc etc I was pretty ready to kick it by myself. However, I put up with the initial slow start and had a great afternoon checking out the sights with a couple of really nice guys, one from Peru and the other from Argentina. Montevideo is a great spot, with a mixture of old colonial buildings and decent shopping precincts, as well as attractive beaches. I met a hard case aussie guy at the hostel and together we endured two Steven Segal movies head to head, which is an achievement in itself worth blogging about!

The next morning I decided to head to the beaches for a walk; I probably should have hired a bike like the Aussie but chose to leg it given I had time to kill before the bus with no other ideas. As with several other places I have visited before, the beaches of Montevideo were certainly worth seeing but I was left wondering what they would really be like in high-season with lots of people, street vendors and a happening vibe. As it was I had the place to myself (except for a few dogs) which was nice. I got my bus back to Colonia to meet my ferry connection. I sat next to a lovely french girl who was visiting family in Montevideo (her mum was born there) so was able to pass the time having a good chat and learning a bit of Spanish.

I had opted for the slow 3 hour boat on my return to BA. It was amazing, with dance floors, casino, and helipad on the top deck. I explored and took photos of the sunset over Colonia, before bumping into girl from the hostel in Montevideo, who, as it happens, will be starting work with Natalie at Herbert Smith in London (as well as her 3 travelling companions)...small world!
My arrival in BA was simply enough, heading to Retiro at 1030 to get a bus ticket with the girl from the boat, although my bus counter was closed for the night so I jumped on the tube back to Milhouse for a quiet night....or so I thought. I met some crazing English guys in my dorm (lawyers....I only seem to met lawyers or drunk Irish on my trip!!!) and decided to head out to Club 69 in Palermo. After a few drinking games and some food we were merry enough to get a cab...still pretty early at 2am but what the hell.... The que-jump tickets we bought didnt´ really give us any advantage and we waited for about 45 minutes to get in. It turned out (i had heard but didnt´ appreciate the full extent of it) that Club 69 is a gay club with transvestite shows!! Worth a laugh and certainly colourful and decent enough music. Pretty weird dancing around watching guys fully of kissing each other or in threes and getting groped continuously by ever guy under the sun! I managed to get out on sunrise and head back to the hostel for a few hours sleep before jumping on the tube to organise my bus ticket to Bariloche.

Good by cities, bring on the Lakes District and Patagonia.

Buenos Aires and around

Well I arrived in Buenos Aires with only a few dramas. The hostel in Rosairo had my money belt in their safe but when I went to check out they did not have the key for it as the boss was not around. This was a problem because I was supposed to be meeting Natalie in BA in the afternoon and I needed to get a four hour bus ride before 11pm. The owner eventually turned up and I jumped on a bus to get to the long distance bus terminal, only the bus the hostel told me to catch didn't go to the terminal, so I had to get off and leg it about 15 blocks with my pack on! So it was all good in the end but a hot and sweaty start to the day!

Arriving in BA around 3pm at the Retiro bus station, with over 70 bus platforms it was a huge setup. I made a quick walk to the subway and headed into town. The whole underground covers most of the city and is seems pretty efficient and cheap. The stop at Mayo was only a few hundred metres from the hostel so everything worked out pretty well. I couldn't get into the well known Milhouse hostel until Saturday night because they were fully booked so I was booked in at BA Stop for a couple of nights. I met Natalie at the Milhouse, which is a central point. To get to Milhouse from my current hostel, I had to head over the main 'road' running through the center of town, which is actually 20 lanes of traffic and one of the wides roads in the world, truly amazing and requires several crossings to get from one side to the other.

Natalie and I booked into the Milhouse for a weekend of partying and headed out around town for a night walk, which turned out to be perfectly safe and very interesting, despite getting lost a few times after poor navigation on both our parts. While down near the waterfront and the Pinkhouse (like our government house) a large blackhawk helicopter landed on the front lawn, so that was pretty amazing!I caught up with my mate Rich who I first met in Rio. Nat, I and Rich went to Palermo for dinner and drinks. Amazing different in the culture - we were at out second bar after dinner having yet another bottle or wine and looked out our watches to find that it was 4am. Incredible given the bar was still full and a new band were just about to start playing!!

The next morning the three of us went out to La Boca, which is essentially a shitty neighbourhood in BA with a pretty strong Italian influence, but has several really colourful streets and tango shows and restaurants. No doubt it is one of the more tourist orientated places more akin to the hustle and bustle of a Thai beach or market with people trying to sell their wares and get you into their restaurants but it is a must see. Not that I really needed any more excuses to take a whole heap more photos, but La Boca really was a very picturesque place and provided a low-key way to spend a hung over morning.

Saturday night rolled along pretty quickly after we got back and had a bit of a siesta. The hostel was running a trip out to Pasha, which is a massive club playing electronic music. We managed to convince Rich to come along which was great. We also caught up with a friend Tara who was staying with Rich and I at the Rio hostel, so we all headed out their together. Tara, didn´t last all that long before having to go home a bit worse for ware (about 10 minutes!) so not a great way to spend 80 pesos. Rich went to find her and check if she was okay, only to walk face first into a glass door and split the front of his head open, a great start to the night but all good after that. The club was fully of lots of local posers on drugs all wearing sunglasses inside! I have heard that it is not just fashion but also to provide a bit of comfort when they get out of the club the next morning in full sunlight! We left at sunrise and headed back to Milhouse by 730.

Nat and I got up to watch the F1 racing at 9am so not a great deal of sleep. We again met Rich and an Aussie guy Dan who I met in Santiago to head down to the Antique markets in San Telmo. I arranged to meet up with Gabe, another other guy who I stayed with in Santiago, at the markets also, so that was pretty cool. The markets were amazing, stretching several kms through the cobbled streets of San Telmo, terminating in a nice plaza. We had the largest empanadas on the planet and a beer before heading back. Another chilled out day after a big night on the booze.


Nat and I bought out boat tickets to Uruguay for Tuesday, heading over to Colonia. Nat planned to do a day trip whilst I was going to do a couple of days to take in both Colonia and Montevideo. That evening around 8pm I decided to have a short kip before joining people downstairs for a musical jam session or something. However, when I actually woke up from my small nap it was 330 in the morning and the light was still on and I was fully clothed - clearly the lack of sleep had caught up with me and I wasn´t capable of surviving on a mere 90 minutes that morning!!!

I had nothing planned for Monday, so I bumped into Dan downstairs and checked out the activities board. They was a suggestion to go to El Tigre outside of BA by train, from where one can have a river cruise and so on. A very popular holiday destination for wealthy BA folk who have holiday homes on the waterway, not to dissimilar to Pauanui or something. He had a great day out in the sun just relaxing. The whole return trip on the tube and train was only 3 pesos, which is NZ$1.50 !! We took a 2 hour boat cruise for about NZ$20 which was pretty great. We met an interesting chap from the Philippines whose family had purchased 15,000 hectares of land in Queenstown many years ago and cashed up for tens of millions of dollars! He was a camp as a row of pink tents and enjoyed chatting to dan and I and getting photos with us, which he kept describing as cute, which was a bit weird.

A low key night at the hostel on Monday night, with Dan and I knocking up a good home cooked tuna pasta salad. An early night for me, check-in for the boat to Uruguay was at 730am so early departure from the hostel!

Rio to Rosario - Part 1

Well, a lot has happened since my last post in Rio. I managed to recover most of my photos so they have now gone up on facebook. I was tossing up between a trip down the Brazilian cost to Florianopolis or going to the Pantanal wetlands outside of Campo Grande. I decided that a wetlands trip would be the ticket (although more expensive) as I am keen for as much outdoor adventures as possible. So I got my ticket directly from the bus station using very basic Spanish (in a Portuagese speaking country!) which was about a 1.5 hour round trip on the local buses - bit of a mission. My departure from Stone of a Beach hostel in Rio was a bit rushed as I needed to back up the rest of my recovered photos and get money from the ATM so as not to incur a 5% charge on my credit card through the hostel. Funny story there - I got the money out and stuffed it into the front my my undies as I didn´t have my money belt. I got back to the hostel with only a few mintutes to complete packing and leave. I rushed upstairs to the dorm and popped into the toilet to take a number 1 as I was dying to go for ages. I rushed into the first toilet and ripped open my pants, only to see $400 fly straight into the toilet!!! I instinctively fished it out and bound it back up into a soggy ball! I had to apologise to reception for my money falling into a puddle outside in the rain...figured the truth could have lead to a rejection of payment!

Well, to the long distance bus station for the second time in two days and onto my first long bus ride to the Camp Grande. 22 hours went by pretty quickly, although simple lack of language meant I didn´t want to venture out of the bus too long at each stop because I couldn´t establish when it was leaving again! Arriving in Campo Grande was abit of a shock. It was considerably hotter and I wasn´t feeling that fresh from the bus ride. I was immediately swamped by people selling Pantanal tours but I went over the road to the youth hostel with Ecological Expeditions as I had heard of them before and they gave a free night at the hostel with each tour, which I decided to use as I was too tired to leave straight away! I spent the rest of the day by their pool reading and getting refreshed for my trip leaving the next day. I decided to do the lodge option because I met a few people in the hostel. The mini van trip from Camp Grande was around 4 hours, stopping a few times for food. It was so incredibly hot in the van with the windows open fully, like standing by the door of a fan-forced oven! It was around 37 degrees outside with no clouds or anything!

We arrived at the pickup point for the lodge and were met by a truck with seats on the back tray. We still had about 35 minutes along dirt roads into the Pantanal to get to the lodge. I met a few girls on the truck who were from London in good law firms and who will be working with some of my friends from New Zealand when they get back. We all arrived at the lodge and were shown around by our guide. It was pretty decent with a pool, outdoor hammock area and games room etc - not really roughing it! After our first day of activities, which included horse back riding and a river cruise with Piranha fishing, I decided to swap over to the camping option, which proved to be a lot more fun with a younger backpacker crowd and sleeping in hammocks and eating around large communal tables. The location of the camp was next to the river so much more wildlife going on too. I spent my nights at the camp and my days with the others from the lodge doing activities so a pretty decent balance really.

We had some great times on the trip and memorable moments. One classic one was with out guide piranha fishing. He didn´t speak much English and his descriptions of the wildlife resembled that from the Ricky Jervis comedy show Animals, such as 'a green parrot' followed by a 'slightly larger green red beak parrot' etc, it was funny as. When were were fishing for piranhas one guy Johanas finally caught a fish after having no luck the whole time, flinging it onto the bank and calling the guide over to de-hook it, huge smile on his face, only to watch in horror as the guide kicked it back into the water. We were pissing ourselves when the guide looked up and simply said 'catch a bigger one'!! Awesome

Well we got a bus back to campo grande, where we would transfer to another 15 hour bus ride to Foz de Iguacu, via Cascaval. 24 hours of travelling to get to the falls, but totally worth it. We arrived in Foz on a bitterly cold day, around 6 degrees, so quite a change for 36 the days before, so uncontrollable shivering for the first few hours which were partly controlled by a hot shower at the guesthouse. We got in our warm stuff and headed off to the Brazilian side of the Falls. On the bus the girls said 'the lonely planet says to bring wet weather gear' and looking around it seems that we were the only ones without. Being a cheep dude I didn´t but a $8 plastic poncho thing and just toughed it out in my t-shirt and light pullover, but the beanie was a lifesaver! Miserable weather but awesome view! We had an awesome night in Foz, at LaBella Pizza, with all you can eat pizza, chicken, buffet pasta and other goodies! It made up for a cold day in a shit hole of a town.

The next day was a stunner! We got up and started looking for the international bus over to Argentina. We didn´t have much luck so bargained with a taxi driver to get over for around double the price, which is pretty good given he just drove us through instead of getting off the bus and changing over etc, not to mention door to door service to our hostel - one of the downers travelling alone is not being able to justify a taxi, so it is good having company. We arrived at the Hostel Inn and checked in quickly before heading out to the falls. I had another money nightmare when I forgot my Visa so i couldn´t get money out at the falls, once again having to rely on my room mates for cash until the next day I could get into town and get cash out - i really should learn!

We had a great time at the falls with perfect weather and good sights to see. We manged to cover the entire park in the 6 hours which worked out really well because the girls changed their flights to BA to a day earlier and I got my bus ticket out of there to Rosario that same day too so all hunky dory.

A week in Rio

Its been a week since my last post and quite a lot has happened and I have done quite a bit of exploring. I made a trip into the Centro by metro with Nectarous to have a look around and check out the highlights of the CBD and Santa Teresa. The central area is really nicely done, with many nice old buildings, a mixture of interesting European architecture and nice parks. I had a walk through some busy street markets and had a terrific fresh orange juice. After taking some great photos of Lapa and the arched aqueduct (which the camera subsequently deleted....trying to recover them now!!) we found the little tram to go up Santa Teresa, the station for which was tucked in behind the large Petrobas building. It only goes on the hour and it was totally packed! I had to stand on the side rail and just hang off it. Along the way, many little kids ran after the tram and piled on - it looked like great fun for them. The street of Santa Teresa are narrow and the tram shares the road with all other vehicles as it winds its way up. There is a very European feel to the place as we got off the top and walked our way back down looking into shops, fine restaurants and some pretty amazing houses. We ended back at Lapa from where we made our way to the metro, a full day out!

I went on the Favela tour organised by the hostel. The tour was through the largest Favela in Brazil, Rochina, which accommodates around 300,000 people! We took a shuttle to the bottom of the Favela, from where we got motor bikes to the top to start the walk down. It was a bit scary, as we were under strict instructions not to photograph any people caring walkie-talkies or machine guns as they are the people controlling the narrow streets for the drug lords! Pretty odd seeing 15 year old boys walking around with fully automatic rifles etc. It was a decent experience, walking around taking in how all these people live in the 'slums'. It's pretty classic to see how they get their services, simply by wiring their own house for cable etc to the house next door or the main line at the bottom of the Favela. Apparently they do the same for the water. I was a bit surprised by how many things they did have, such as cable tv, electricity and so on, but it is all pretty modest that's for sure. A great trip and well worth doing!

I also took a few buses to beaches I had not been to, such as Botafogo, Flamingo, Ipanema and also the Botanical Gardens in Leblon. Ipanema is really nice! A group of us had a good night at a bar there during the week, playing a few drinking games and cracking up at the bar man/proprietor open throat skull 3 beers in the space of about 5 minutes. It's all pretty reasonably priced, although not Asia cheap. The whole night including taxis and enough booze came to about 45 Reals so not bad.

I decided to stay for Lapa street party again before heading off to Campo Grande for the Pantanal. The hostel gives a night free if you stay 7 so I decided to do that. Booking my ticket to the Pantanal was a bit of a mission! I couldn't get a ticket from an agency in town so I had to make a 1.5 hour round trip to the central bus station to get it. It cost 245 Reals which is pretty darn expensive for a 22 hour bus ride but has to be done I spose! I looking forward to having a tour of the largest wetland on earth!

Lapa last night was pretty interesting. It was pissing down with rain which put a bit of a dampener on things compared to last week but still pretty awesome dancing in the rain before deciding to head into a samba club. Its great at Lapa, with people walking around with bottles of Tequila and everything else to do shots, and the dirty cheap street meat is just awesome! We had this American guy with us who was pretty classic. A nice guy, full of energy and keen to take charge like most full on Americans seem to be. He peaked a little early and didn't make a good lasting impression with a cool young English couple we were with when he shared a taxi back to the hostel, basically comered in the back, couldn't find any money to pay for it and spend about an hour trying to find his room at the hostel at 3 in the morning! We got in around 5 in the end I think.

Now just killing to until my bus tomorrow. I hope to get all my photos backed up and start a fresh when I leave Rio. It's a real pain having to deal with photos all the time! I hope for better sailing from here on!