Patagonia is an immense territory (representing nearly 1/3 of all Argentina), a desert of exceptional beauty. The landscapes are vast, infinite, the silence is impressive, and the luminosity of the colors reinforces the harmony between the sky, the wild animals and the earth. I especially like these extents of golden and olive green landscape, scattered with hundreds of sheep and guanacos keeping warm into their generous fluffy wool.
Among this immense nature, the inhabitants are rare, very rare. We will cross on the road small houses in the middle of nowhere, or these fabulous estancias with immense space, cattle and fields.
El Calafate
We finally arrive in the small town of El Calafate after 28 long hours in the bus, spent sleeping and admiring the splendid landscapes of the Patagonian desert.
On our arrival at the coach station, we are welcomed by Analia, our Couch Surfing host for two days. Argentinean lady of approx 45, divorced, Anna registered on the site in January 09 and since then accommodate couchsurfer after couchsurfer.
In her small house lost uphill outside the city, Ana lets her hosts sleep in the tiny room of her 9 year old daughter, Valentina, who now shares the bed of her mum. Ana does not live in great luxury and often tells us her theories about human relationships, share, and the futility of materialism. Like we do not need a lot to live happy and feel fulfilled. Two years ago, she was living 10kms away, in a shed / house in the middle of a field without electricity nor gas. The conditions being too extreme, she decided to buy a small parcel of land and plant there a small prefabricated house where she still lives today with her daughter. Inside, it is small and a bit (very much according to Delphine) of a mess. We will have the strange feeling of being locked up, claustrophobia, even with the door opened or in the garden, although the house is lost in a desert!
El Chalten
The city of El Chalten has itself little interest; it is a very small village with many new constructions of hotels, restaurants and shops for tourists. El Chalten is an essential stop village stage for hikers, who come from the whole world to discover the wonders of the Patagonian nature.
We spend a night there and leave the village with on our backs our camping equipment and enough food for 5 days, on our way to discover the marvellous mountainous landscapes.
At the beginning we felt rather heavy, especially due to the kilos of pastas, sausage, bread and local cheeses in our bags, so heavy that Laurent even had to sacrifice his Argentinean wine bottle!
After a few hours of hike towards the Mount Torre we were amazed to discover two woodpeckers, perforating a tree with their nozzles and singing at the same time. The male has the red head and the female is very black with a small spike on the head. Our hike starts very well and we are delighted to be able to see these birds.
Located about sixty km off the city, the Perito Moreno, UNESCO classified, is one of the rare glaciers in the world which is alive, moving each day approx 2 meters from its center.
Already from far, the view is impressive. At the foot of the mountains, immense runs of ice seem to stop in the middle of a lake with a bright blue color. Approaching more closely and watching a boat sailing nearby, we understand the vastness of the phenomenon. The layer of ice actually measures more than 60m from top of the water to top of the iceberg, and twice more underwater (for the scientists, see Archimede). The surface of the glacier is equal to the entire city of Buenos Aires. What a show!
After a smart trick from Ana who made us pass like locals (saving us 35€ of entry fees), we leave the car and start walking on the various footbridges bringing us as close as fifty meters from the large creature of ice.
We can hear it thundering. Small and large cracks appear, and a few seconds later, to the pleasure of all the spectators, huge blocks of ice detach themselves and fall into the lake. Waves, a detonation which resounds all around the mountain, the show is imposing! We remain an hour in the park, admiring Perito Moreno, its spiky icy hairstyle and his very pure bluish color.
On our way back home, Ana drives us down to a small dirt road taking us along the edge of another famous lake, the Lago Roca. We pass the details of a rather twisty adventure, but we will not finally see the lake, and return at the house with a one hundred kilos tree trunk. Weird, huh?
We though crossed the immense extents of the Patagonian pampa. Fields as far as the eye can see, with at the horizon bluish lakes and mountains. An impressive view, wild, with very contrasted colors, we can see here the true face of Patagonia! In the fields, sheep graze quietly. Delphine loves them. They are not like at home in France. Small and large, they have a lot of wool and look like cuddly fluffy toys. Condors also circle around, looking for an easy prey, one of these thousands of hares running in the fields and on the road. After this long but enjoyable and picturesque drive, we go back home to enjoy a French crepe party made in Delphine.
After a first evening spent in the house eating Ana-made pizzas (mmmh!!!) and drinking mate, we spent the whole morning in the house again sharing the company of Valentina ‘the terror’ while Anna had left to work. We were also lucky to share the company of her three dogs, Nikita the cyclop, Pakita the blacky, and Shreck who is unfortunately confined to spend the rest of his life attached to a bench in the garden.
Frankly, we are not far from bursting. Valentina, who is bored to death, needs us every second. Taking a shower was like an adventure. And this feeling of claustrophobia, hard!!
Ana back and prepared, we all leave in her camper truck, direction the famous Perito Moreno glaciar, the local tourist attraction.
The following day, we do not waste time at Ana’s, and leave straight after waking up… Direction: El Chalten.
We will return to El Calafate one week later, for two days of work, rest and home made pastries feasts: if you pass round the corner, go to the confiteria Don Luis, it is like an Ali Baba cavern. We set our tent in the municipal camp-site, well equipped, but dirty and populated with the famous ‘dogs’ gang’ of El Calafate, ensuring 24/24h the campsite animation with barking contests, peeing on tents and dustbins nosing.
For our last evening, we treat ourselves with a `tenedor libre', the famous local formula for ‘eat as much as you can’ roast meat! Chorizo, chicken, beef, sausages… and the speciality of the area: lamb. It took me two days to recover!
After a quick lunch break in front of a superb panoramic sight we walk through plains of great beauty. The green, yellow, brown colors mix with one another and even with the wind blowing harder and harder, we feel great walking in the middle of a wild nature! We set our tent in a protected camp site with no facilities, very close to the Mount Torre and the Fitz Roy river. We like very much this place where other hikers have also set their tent.
Our second hiking day will be rather difficult thanks to my sore left shoulder, I have surely a wedged nerve, and the long rise to get to our second camp site almost killed me due to the weight of our rucksacks. We will cross very beautiful places though, and also many hikers and runners competing for the Trekking Festival happening this same week end!
Arrived at our camp site, the weather conditions become very difficult: icy wind gusts, rain, in short I am forced to wear two coats and of enrobe me in my sleeping bag. Laurent full of courage will hike by himself up to the Laguna dos Tres, where the panoramic sight is breathtaking.
After a dinner of pasta and tomato sauce, we are ready for a good night of sleep and rest before our next stage: the 3rd day of hike!
Tea, Coffee, biscuits, 9.30am and here we go on the trails again! We follow the river of Rio Blanco during a few hours, crossing thousands of stones, from the smallest to the most gigantic. We eat small bays with red fruits to warm up against the freezing wind. After a short but nice picnic (carrots, sausage, cheese, bread, apples), we stroll through a very beautiful forest remembering us of Theillay in France, where wild horses graze grass quietly. We will follow the river of Rio Electrico to finally arrive in a refuge, the Estancia Ricanor. It is there that we will finally take our first hot shower, or rather first shower… that we obviously enjoyed. This evening we treated ourselves with an excellent pizza with ham, cheese, olive and bacon, yummy!!!
The following day, after a night of rain and wind, we set out again on the road towards the Lago Desierto. After two hours of walk we arrive on the only road leading to the lake. The remaining distance is 21km that we could either do walking for more than six hours, or hitch hiking with a car if successful!
We continued walking and only after two long hours, right beside an exceptionally turquoise lake, we had the luck that two sympathetic Argentinean guys finally agreed to drive us to the lake in their 4x4. They also offered us two sandwiches, with Coke and orange juice please!
At the end of the afternoon, towards 4pm we finally arrive in a place that stroke us by its exceptional beauty, the sun heating us and filling us with wonder, all the colors in the mountain and the surrounding hills. We will set our camp in a beautiful natural camp site managed by a friendly Argentinean man called Carlos. After a very beautiful hike up to the Huemul glacier where we can admire a spectacular view on the Mount Fitz Roy and the Lago Desierto, we enjoy a choripan made by Carlos. I believe that it is the best sausage than I ever ate, roasted well in the barbecue, the meat was a treat! Our night was very cold but there was no wind blowing us away this time.
The following day, we take the road again direction El Chalten that we had left 5 days before. After a quick but friendly mate offered to us by Carlos, we get ourselves ready for eight hours of walk! But after two hours, a friendly Argentinean couple from La Plata has the kindness to bring us back to El Chalten in their 4x4. We saved much money as the bus transfer was 80 pesos per person (£15)!
Once arrived in El Chalten, by chance we end up in a nice and comfy chalet that also was the least expensive of the city. We enjoyed there my delicious French crepes for dinner. Well comfortably installed, it was such a nice feeling to be warm and take hot showers, especially after all these days out in the cold and wind. This time we looked at the storm through the window!
These five days of hiking were difficult particularly because of the climatic conditions, but we left with very beautiful memories: unique landscapes, wild woodpeckers, breakfasts in the nature, and our picnics sitting on tree trunks. After 5 days without Internet, without chocolate, and without shower, I can assure you that little things like drinking a hot chocolate at home was a pure delight!!
Ushuaia
It took us 17 hours of bus to finally reach the end of the world: Ushuaia!!
Southern Patagonia is a torn out territory which comprises more than 1000 wild islands and coastlines. History is long, but Argentina and Chile disputed this territory a lot to finally agree on borders sometimes not very logical. From the main land on our way to Ushuaia, we had to cross the borders 4 times, and by the way had to leave some of our provisions there: fruits and chorizo. The Chilean custom officer was really unpleasant, and it is not without a certain provocation that we swallowed 4 plums and an apple in 35 seconds in front of her.
After having crossed the Magellan Strait on a shuttle boat, we finally arrive on the big island ‘Tierra del Fuego’ (literally ‘the Earth of Fire’). On the sides of the road, the same landscapes of desolation, rocky deserts with sometimes these large mounts, looking like an `elephant in a boa', as likes to say Delphine, and… Saint Exupéry.
After two more hours in the bus, we arrive at Ushuaia, this small town built at the foot of the mountains and on the banks of the famous Beagle Channel. The camp-site being too far from the city, we comfortably settle in a ‘casa familial’, at Maria’s, who rents us a small but comfy flat.
We will spend in Ushuaia 5 days rather particular, where we will have shared emotions. Ushuaia seemed to us like a very singular city, very far and different from the rest of the country and the world.
The inhabitants are sometimes strange, and have in addition to their Ushuaian pride a mysterious side that we struggled to understand. We even wondered sometimes whether Ushuaia was not like a sect, where everyone knows everyone and consult one and other before getting involved with a foreigner. Every evening, we could hear a crowd of people singing and praying in a big room. Through its walls of frozen glass, we could cast our eyes there and see people dancing with large white dresses. Weird!! Surely these meetings were legal and sain, but given our relationships with a few inhabitants and the atmosphere that we created around us, it did nothing else than increase our feeling of mysterious city.
The historic centre of Ushuaia has some character. We can see many houses made of planks of wood. Aged by time and the rain, they seem fragile and about to fly away when the wind start blowing!
Ushuaia being expensive, we selected only one excursion within our program. We dropped the hikes in the national park (we had done some in El Chalten), the sea museum (expensive and small, and due to the fact that we had documented ourselves already much on the history of the area), and the walk to the glacier (we had seen bigger ones already!). We then chose the 4 hours boat ride on the Beagle channel.
Bariloche
After 27h of bus and splendid landscapes, we finally get to Bariloche. The weather is already fresher than in Buenos Aires, but the sun is back shining. On our way to the information center, Danièle, a Frenchwoman of about fifty years old approaches us. She explains us why she loves Argentina and decided to recently settle down in Bariloche. She gives us her phone number. I find it nice that this type of person still exists today!
We will finally decide to set the camp nearby Bariloche (3 km away), in the Selva Negra camp site. Fully equipped wit BBQ, kitchenette, wooden table and bench, sea view on the lake, we feel well comfortable for our 5 days stay in the area.
Between several working sessions with nearby hostels (in vain), we visit the city and especially its surroundings, made of marvellous landscapes, lakes of intense blue and majestic mountains. We are very quickly seized by the calmness and the beauty of this still virgin and wild nature.
The small town of Bariloche reminds us of French skiing villages of the Alps. Houses / chalets made of wood, tourist stores with local products (here the chocolates!), everyone in winter clothes, we could have been in Chamonix! It also feels good to breathe the fresh air, feel some cold after two months of heavy heat in Brazil and Buenos Aires.
We will do two long excursions in the area. The highlight was the Cerro Campanario. After taking the mechanical rising seats like when skiing, we got to the top of the mountain. The panoramic views from there are breathtaking. At far, we can see the snow-covered summits of the Andes Cordillera. Around, lay other hills and mountains with imposing shapes, with at their feet many lakes and rivers. The air is fresh and pure and we fully enjoy these moments of communion with a nature that we had been waiting for so long. In this new decor, we also start shooting the first scenes of our new video clip `Patacrazy', a special wink for our friends in Buenos Aires, Matías and Violeta.
From Bariloche to ‘the end of the world’ Ushuaia, we travelled through Patagonia in four stages:
By bus we took the famous ‘Ruta 40’ on our way from Bariloche to El Calafate, and could admire the superb landscapes below:
We loved the boat trip. We saw otaries, playing in the water and waving us Hi, splendid cormorants (birds), sea lions and also a famous lime house. The weather was very cold and the wind icy, but we liked very much our time there.
Ushuaia gave us wings. Our next project will surely be the exploration of Antarctica, I hope on a boat with geologists and scientists. If you are one of those, give us a shout!!
VIDEO
LaThe immense nature of Patagonia inspired us and gave us wings to shoot this video clip. It is a special thanks to our friends from Buenos Aires, Matias y Violeta, who nicely lent us their winter clothes. Without them we would probably still be frozen in Patagonia!!... Enjoy these moments of craziness!!