At home with the Patagonians
My wife Emily and I have both yearned to visit Patagonia – each for various reasons but with sufficient overlap of interest to merit a month long trip there recently. I favoured mountains and wildscape, she favoured beaches and culture, so we combined both in what was an epic trip.
Of necessity this was more a sightseeing trip than a mountaineering expedition but we were out and about each day and got some good walks in.
After getting to Buenos Aires our first port of call was Bariloche in the Argentine Lake District – their biggest ski tourist and in many aspects reminiscent of Chamonix (on a smaller scale). It being November in the southern hemisphere it was end of the ski season but remaining snow on the peaks made for fantastic scenery. We hired a car to explore, travelled the 7 Lakes route (a well-known
outing), developed our expertise in driving on the rough roads known as ripios (of which there are several) and did several short walks around incredibly scenic areas.
Next we took the Andean Crossing trip linking Argentina to Chile. This is a regular daily excursion involving a boat/coach/boat/coach/boat/coach that takes all day and happens 364 days a year. It’s not cheap but it was a key link in our planned itinerary to do a circuit of Argentina and Chile. It was on this trip we had the first sightings of condors. By the end we had seen several, nearly all in pairs and coasting gently on the wing but never quite close enough to get a decent shot with a phone camera.
A couple of days in Puerto Varas Chile before an internal flight further south to Puerto Natales. The pre-booked (LH side) window seat was perfectly calculated to get a ringside view of the Torres del Paine – almost close enough to touch.
Andy Lafferty had visited Torres del Paine earlier in the year and we took his sensible advice to find accommodation outside the park to avoid the Ritz level prices of even the campsites within the park – which need pre-booking. On our day excursions in we managed a leg of the famous W trek (call it the ‘I’ perhaps), walks near Lago Grey, and some impressive waterfalls. Again the scenery
throughout was sublime. The estancia where we stayed had no wifi, very little English and great food. The horse trek we did there was a highlight.
A day excursion to Puntas Arenas allowed us to track down references to Emily’s ancestor explorer who predated Shackleton by 50 years – the latter’s influence also being there with the remnants of the boat – the Yelcho – that salvaged his party preserved on the seafront.
Coaches then took us over the border to El Calafate in Argentina and onto El Chalten for access to Los Glaciares park. From here we were able to do a day excursion to Lagos des Torres, a popular trail but well worth the effort, despite cloud masking the tops for most of the day. Back at El Calafate we visited the Perito Moreno glacier marvelling at its colour and watching its ice occasionally cascade into the lake where – until recent years – it had been advancing.
A flight took us northwards to the east coast – Trelew and the Valdes peninsula. Here we experienced the Welsh influence of the colonists who arrived here in the 19 th century. Our car hire assistant was inevitably called Jones and we took a Welsh tea in nearby Gaiman. Onto the peninsula proper we had a successful boat trip whale watching Southern Right whales before viewing Magellanic penguins, and then orcas stalking their prey – sealions – along the beach. Our beach walk
elsewhere the following day was more relaxing and less life threatening.
It only remained to tango in Buenos Aires on the way back through. But having seen the price we opted instead for the prospect of watching Strictly for when we were home.
John B
PS. Some learning points:
Key car hire advice – keep both hands on the wheel use the Dutch technique to open doors – else the wind will take charge!
You always know where you are in Argentina as a sign giving the distance to Las Malvinas is never far away.
Take plenty of US dollars for any cash transactions in Argentina as the currency is volatile and the most you can get from an ATM is about £20
The locals are incredibly friendly so always acknowledge people as you pass by even – mainly – in busy Buenos Aires.
Some knowledge of Spanish is almost necessary in remote areas.
PPS. If you Google the title of this piece you’ll find the connection with Emily’s ancestor