More Photos!

Hey peeps, I´ve uploaded more photos on to Flickr...they are on Facebook as well. I´m back in El Bolson at the moment relaxing and visiting the people at El Pueblito hostel that I befriended last time I was here...gearing up for the next chaper of my trip: Chile (Noemi you better be buying a ticket to Santiago as I write this) and hopefully some WWOOFing! Happy holidays to all, besitos

A hiker´s paradise

Well it has been quite a while since i last updated this blog, but I have been under the spell of Patagonia for the last two weeks hiking like a madwoman (and my feet are paying for it now). I left El Bolson and started heading south with my new hiking buddy Hana. We made it all the way down to El Calafate to see the famous Perito Moreno glacier, which was unbelievable. It spills out between mountains looking like a valley of jagged blue lava slowly pushing itself and spilling over on to the unmovable cliffs in its path and farther into the lake beneath it. All day you hear the sound of gunshots and thunder echoing in surround sound as the glacier moves and shifts, cracks, and breaks. Huge chunks fall sporadiacally off of its jaggad peaks falling into the water with an amazing spray of ice meeting water. The perfect ending to the day came minutes before we pryed our huge eyes away from the glacier to return on the bus to town. Suddenly a piece of ice 10 times larger then anything we had seen throughout the day let out a thunderous crack and broke off plunging into the water sending a wave of ice and water into the air and a gasp throughout the people lucky enough to see it. After leaving El Calafate, we continued on our way to El Chalten, a tiny little town only 23 years old situated inside a national park. This meant that in the morning, we simply rolled out of bed and walked 2 minutes to the trailhead of our choice for the day. We got amazing views of Fitz Roy, which people actually climb (I will be forever in awe of mountain climbers). The town inself is quite nice as well, one of those towns that is so small that by the time you leave, you feel as if you know the entire town. Our last night there we went out to the only 2 bars in town to drink fernet y coke (fernet is an alcohol made with herbs that is quite bitter that I actually like unlike most) and home brewed beer with some locals who had befriended us. We ended up being pulled into the celebration of some climbers who had just returned from a week of climbing Fitz Roy and were celebrating by singing, drinking copious amounts of beer, and screening their unreal photos from atop the mountain on the wall of one of the bars. It was hard to tear ourselves away from El Chalten, but we soon arrived in Puerto Natales, Chile and were in awe of our new surroundings all over again. We spend a day getting all our ducks in a row before heading to Torres Del Paine National Park to tackle the ¨W¨trail for 4 days. Our first day we hiked along a glacier lake against the infamous Patagonian winds. For the first time my backpack was a blessing and not a hinderance as I probably would have gotten blown over without the weight of it on my back. Day two we hiked through meadows and along tourquoise lakes that looked as if they belonged in the Greek Isles save for the snow capped mountain tops rising behind them. Day three we hiked for over 10 hours, which was a push mentally as well as physically as my hiking shoes began to turn on me...blisters galore. It was worth it however as we hopped across numerous streams and rivers drinking the delicious, fresh, and icy cold water from the snow melt off the above mountain ranges. We arrived at the final valley in the ¨W¨hiking into the valley via a thin path carved high up into the mountain side with glimpses of the Torres around every bend and the rushing river hundreds of feet below us. We hiked out on the fourth day dreaming of a hot shower and a hot meal, but completely thrilled to have experienced that gorgeous park for 4 days.