Patagonia Trip Planning

This map image covers much of the territory we are contemplating exploring further in about 2 years from now along the spine of the Andes.
We've spent about 5 weeks in Patagonia so far: first time in 2007 when we went to the small town of El Bolson, Argentina after our trek to Basecamp at Aconcagua and then all of December 2010 as part of our 3 months Andean trip spanning Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
I am scheming already: can we live there - trekking and climbing mountains - for 3 months again? More boldly, how can travelling become what I do?

Meanwhile I am putting pre-requisites in place:
I'm continuing my Spanish studies begun in early 2010 at UNAM. And we are looking into training re: independent mountaineering skills. We also want to spend some time in the Adirondaks for winter ascents of some of the High Peaks. And we are checking into ski trips to the mountains of Colorado.

More than dreams.

180 South = Trip planning!

We just watched this awesome movie on DVD. There are a few stars in it but none greater than Patagonia itself. I love Patagonia.

I learned that there's a new park about to open to the public: Conservacion Patagonica. Who's behind this new park? A couple of Americans; one who once was a blacksmith, climber and surfer and started first Black Diamond and then, well, Patagonia, and the other the chap who started The North Face and later ESPRIT.

The footage in the movie is everything I have ever seen and loved about being in Patagonia. And, it conspires  with some trip planning: we have begun to think about climbing Aconcagua and when you go that far south it's only natural to want to spend a little more time ... and it is an objective that will take some training to do well.

Meanwhile, check out this movie to see for yourself what it is all about.

Chile volcano eruption pics

Dubbing itself "Probably the best (non-governmental) earthquake reporting site in the world" Earthquake-Report.com has assembled some of the most awe inspiring pictures as well as status updates on the weakening volcanic eruption.

Nature is a powerful thing. There's been quite a bit of seismic action in this part of Chile - happily none while we traveled in the area in December. I trust that Chileans will continue working together and make good choices to deal with the fall out from this eruption.

Volcano eruption in Chile

Chile is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire - the most seismically active region on Earth. Today, one of its many volcanoes erupted spewing smoke and gas up to 10 km high."End of the worlders" appear to relish in this occurance as another sign that the end is near.

I take it as a sign that Earth is alive and ever changing. And that it's good to pay attention when travelling as to where one is and what reasonable actions are to stay out of trouble. Chile's volcanoes don't present a huge threat to human activity, but when they erupt they create some challenges, in particular with ash and sulfur getting spread over large areas. The present eruption is the cause of a government evacuation order for about 3,500 people in the area.

Black underlines = where we travelled last year.
Red underlines - area being evacuated due to eruption.

English-language media has not updated its reports much it seems. I've tried to get a sense of the magnitude by looking at Chilean media.

The area affected appears to be just a bit north, maybe 100 km or so, of where we were travelling in last December near Puerto Montt/Cochamo. Click on the map to enlarge.

Chileans are a resilient people, who are accustomed to the big picture geographic challenges they live with. I hope and trust they will deal with this eruption by being smart and following the precautions to stay safe.

You might remember the huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake last February was a shock in particular as the tsunami that followed came without warning, which meant many people were caught off guard and had not gotten to the necessary higher ground. From what I've heard people now tend to self-evacuate when bigger earthquakes happen rather than wait to be told to seek higher ground. That is a good thing.

Knowing that many earthquakes have happened leading up to this eruption, might mean people were already alert to the possibility of a bigger issue.

Passing over "The Pass"

Finally, here´s a 360 degree video of the highest point of the Torres del Paine trek: John Gardner Pass. From knee-deep snow on the way up to ferocious winds that blow you down to amazing views of the huge Southern Icefield and a rather muddy and steep descent to camp - this pass had it all in store for us!

Hope you´ll enjoy it as much as we did :)

Cochamo hiking

Another short video showing some of the hiking path. It is hard to get lost as the valley is narrow and the path is deeply forged. In many places the trenches are 2 meters deep, you just hope that there are no horses coming your way when you in one of these. The path here is relatively dry after 3 stellar and sunny days. On the hike in we went through many very wet spots as it had been raining. A different kind of experience best enjoyed with waterproof boots and gaiters. Also, a sense of humour helps :)

Jan loved the hike in, mud or not! (I did, too)
Total time about 7 hours starting at the dirt road.
Hike out took about 6 hours back to the road.

Mud. Like I said :)

Our ride to Cochamo village

After our hike out we had planned to camp at a private spot at the trailhead. When we got there, noone was there. Two locals told us the owner was in the hospital in Puerto Montt - we had just talked to him on Boxing Day on our way in! We took a rest and then hiked out to the main dirt road, 6 km, and then started the hike into Cochamo village another few kilometers up the road. On the way, a lovely woman in a pick up truck stopped and offered us a ride. We gladly accepted after more than 6 hours of hiking :)

She did not want any money for the service and dropped us off at her brother´s camp site - it had a gorgeous view of one of the vulcanos here  - and noone else was camping there that night.

Here is the video from the back of the truck. What a blast. Jan is happy.

Cochamo is how we spell Paradise

Unbelievable.

Jan climbs up under tree roots.



Another fixed rope ascended.

In a word, that sums up our 4 days of the most amazing trekking on this journey filled with most amazing treks.
Cochamo lived up to its billing as an outdoor adventure of a different sort - and then some. Granite walls a 1,000 m high rise from the valley floor. Rainforest sits between the valley bottom at 300 m and the start of many of the walls at 800 or 900 m.

The hiking is mostly developed by climbers (big wall climbers), so many of the hikes are quite demanding, exposed once they get above treeline and have fantastic vistas. There are rope sections on some hikes like the Arco Iris one. 

The above pics (click on them to enlarge!) show how Jan took the advice from the doctor regarding "resting" her left hand. She did rest it: on rock, on rope, on tree roots :) Awesome hardly begins to describe how we saw and felt this valley.

Big walls. 900 to 1,000 m of pure granite.

Trinidad mountain.

Cochamo valley has some stunning rainforest, think bamboo, old man beard on alerce trees (must look up English name, but they are like 4,000 years old!). Rainforest means it is wet, so you are prone to encounter mud, lots of mud, especially after a little rain, or a lot of rain. Gaiters highly recommended.

We completely fell in love with the place.(Just thought I spell it out in case you had not figured that out by now:)

Jan and Cochamo river on hike out

Trenches forged over 150 years
by cattle drives.

We will post more on Cochamo soon. Meanwhile a few choice pics to enjoy!

Oh, we arrived in Viña del Mar today for fireworks and street party in Valparaiso tonight. Valparaiso apparently has the best party in Chile and one of the largest fireworks anywhere.

Arco Iris just over 1,600 m. Jan made it all the way
 into the snow at the summit.

Patagonian flora is all about the small details

Someone said this is a tiny orchid.

Torres del Paine contains 11 different ecozones, according to a guide we met along the way. It makes for interesting and varied flora. Here are a few examples for your enjoyment. Almost all have one thing in common: they are so small.


These flaming red and orange flowers grow on mounds of
bushes that look rather sparse without them.



Lovely aren´t they? We saw plenty of dandelions and
butter cups and then some that are similar to
flowers up north but aren´t the same.

These were everywhere, almost.
Reminiscent of cranberries.




Despite its smallness, this gorgeous
 flower packs in a lot of beauty.

 





Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Frohe Weihnachten

We woke up on this Christmas morning in Puerto Montt, capital of the Lake Region, in Chile - about 41 S. As you would guess by the latitude, there was no snow for snow angels and the Christmas tree by the harbour is more like a ship´s mast than a conifer. Appropriate, however, given that Puerto Montt is one of Chile´s more important harbours.

The other huge difference is that we are far from our family and friends (indeed, this is the first time in my 50 years that I have not been in Ottawa for Christmas -- I hope that there are some of my mom´s awesome shortbread cookies left for when we get back : )

Despite the distance, I hope that our wishes for a warm and memorable Christmas and our good vibes find you all as you make merry.

Bunches of love,

Jan and Inga
P.S. Santa managed to find us!



Christmas Eve dinner ... with Casillero del Diablo´s
Cab Sauv and yummy home-made stir fry with barley!



Heading to Northern Patagonia

It´s Monday. We are back in Puerto Natales - a 3-hour bus ride north of Punta Arenas. We have just checked in to the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt. Tonight we embark and tomorrow when the tide and winds are right we take off into the choppy Patagonian waters. We will be on the ferry - it´s a large one - for 4 nights and 3 days. On the 24th in the morning we will arrive in Puerto Montt and spend a day or so to see a doc for Jan´s wrist and get ready, if all is well enough, to head to Cochamo to do some more hiking.

Us, Cassilero del Diablo and the beach camp at Grey Glacier

A guide we met in Torres del Paine told us about this gem of a valley. The only way in is a 5-hour hike, after a 2-hour bus ride from Puerto Montt and a 6 km cab ride to the trailhead. I think you can see why this has such appeal to us :)

We could have flown up, but where´s the adventure in that? I look forward to heading up through the fjords of Patagonia, amongst glaciers and ice flows. With a bit of luck we might see some cool aquatic life, like dolphins or whales. Also, we hear they sell some pretty good pills against seasickness on board, as there are some choppy spots along the way. We´ll be sure to let you know how that all goes at the end of the week.

We are also working on finding a spot to stay in Valparaiso or Viña del Mar for a few days over New Year´s for some beach time and more exploring of the Chilean coast.

Should be good!

More on Torres del Paine

Tent wrestling at Grande Paine camp...it is windy here.

The camps we stayed at in order of nights are: Las Torres, Seron, Dickson, Los Perros, Paso, Grey, Grande Paine, Italiano (plus hike into the valley), Los Cuernos, Las Torres (2 nights, so we had a day for the hike up to Mirador Los Torres which took us about 6:30 hrs total). This should give you an idea of the hike we did when you consult the map in previous post.

Some chasms had ladders

Each camp has its own feel; they are all quite different from each other, really. Well, they do have the wind in common :) Some have refugios/huts along with the campground, while others were rather basic like a cooking shelter - or not. Some are free and some you pay to stay. Refugios vary greatly, from the hotel-style feel with bar and restaurant at Grande Paine to rather rustic and small at Dickson. For dinner we ate at some of the refugios and invariably I had pork roast for dinner. Jan´s vegetarian option ranged widely in quality. In any case dinner is a set menu 3-course meal.

A rare orange sunset at Los Cuernos

Some camps have small stores. These are very basic at best. Even though all of the facilities are operated by the same company throughout the park, they stock different things in each. The main themes were various kinds of chocolate, crackers, juice powder and salami. We found peanut butter at Grande Paine and bought the jar - a happy moment! It´s tricky to totally rely on the stores for nutrition, especially if pork roast is not your thing.

In our case we started the hike with about 5 days worth of food. Lots of weight to start but well worth it! We were also happy to find 5-minute risotto at the Unimarc in Punta Arenas; it made for great breakfast food.

Proof we got the tent up ... and awesome view of Grande Paine

At Mirador Las Torres :)))

Proud locals keep telling us how Patagonia is "el otro Chile"

If you are thinking of coming down here, we wholeheartedly recommend you consider getting ready for the full circuit (the O) followed by the W.
It takes some backcountry skills to do on your own, but there are guided, horse or porter versions you can get onto as well, to help you out if needed.

In related news ... it is broken

Best Pisco Sour ever
(and especilly well deserved)
We got the recipe!

This is Jan having dinner at La Marmita once again this Sunday! That cast you see on her left arm is the one the doc at the clinic put on today, ´cause, well, her wrist is broken.

This happened the very first day of hiking at Torres del Paine. The fall was minor, didn´t even hurt really she says. But the next day the hand was swollen and it and stayed that way the entire 11 days in the park. But in the backcountry there are no docs (actually there was Wibke, one of the awesome people we met trekking in  the backcountry and she correctly called it a few days ago) or x-rays ... Today, as soon as we got back to Punta Arenas, we went to the local clinic and Jan got x-rays and the somewhat humourless advice from the attending doc to see a specialist when we get to Puerto Montt on the 24th.

My appetizer: lasaña de ostiones

Jan´s Ensalada de Marmita starter.

Amazingly, the break isn´t so painful and Jan´s been hiking and being her usual active and happy self notwithstanding the injury. I just help with a couple of things that were more painful, but nothing big really. It looks like the break isn´t so bad, although the doc mentioned something about the possibility of surgery). We will get the consult in Puerto Montt and she´ll take it from there.

Meanwhile tonight´s amazing dinner pics!

Inga´s main: crazy tasty fish with quinoa.

Jan´s awesomely tasty veggie dish!

Torres del Paine circuit

We have been loving the luxury of time. It meant we spent 10 days trekking both the O and the W in Torres del Paine (enlarge the map and you can figure that out). (Some "run" through the whole trek in just 6 days.)
Most people visiting stay on the "front" of the park, hiking up mountain valleys for some impressive views. This makes the backside super appealing for those with more than just a few days and able to handle being "out there." We loved that part of the hike and by the time we got back to the busy parts we were in love with the place so the dayhikers didn´t disturb our fun.

The first day we could see the Torres well; few low clouds

We experienced every kind of weather, from snow to rain, from sun to wild winds. We also hiked from close to sea level up to a 1,200 m pass. There the winds were ferocious ... and fun! When we passed over the pass we got to see the impressive Grey Glacier which is part of the huge Southern Icefield that covers much of southern Chile.

We also had the pleasure of making some fine friends along the way. The nature of the full trek is such that people tend to more or less use the same camps along the way, making for repeated encounters and opportunities for interesting conversations. It also seemed that the little tribe we trekked along side with was filled with people who travel a lot - which inspires thougths of new travels for us :)

Here are a few pics to tell you bits of the story of this amazing trek. By the way, unlike the other two long treks we´ve done, this we did on our own. No guides needed here, as it is impossible to get lost. The trail is deeply groved, ih parts very eroded and thus you really have to work at getting off it. Also, we ate a few times at the refugios and some sell salami, crackers and chocolate allowing us to not have to carry 10 days worth of food, which would have been impossible.

Day 1 of hiking. Fun in the rain, snow.

Lakes, forests, snowy mountains and sun and clouds.

The woods section. There is such a varied landscape.

End of the huge Southern Icefield.

Jan blown over at the super windy John Gardner Pass.

Us. Having fun :)
Jan had a temporary allergy to one of the
beautiful wildflowers that were in bloom.

Evening light from the beach at Grey. Just gorgeous.

Still trekking

We´ve been trekking the backside of Torres del Paine and are about to embark on the W now. 7 days in, and about 4 to go. Yes, we are looking to spend an extra day or so here, because it is absolutely spectacularly mind-blowing to hike here.

As for the "holidays" it looks like Chile is the big winner. We´re trying to get on a 4-day boat trip from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt to arrive there on the 24th. Then do a bit of hiking in that part of the world before making our way to Vina del Mar / Valparaiso for New Years. There´s a beach there, albeit a pacific ocean one (not so warm, but gorgeous!)

Internet access is sparse for us - WiFi is everywhere but no computers ... borrowed this one in a refugio. So talk to you in a few days again.

Pinguinos! Yeah!

Hi! I am brand new! Just looking around!

Here are more awesome penguin pics and videos. Enjoy!

Also note, the Emperor Penguin you will see was the absolutely only Emperor Penguin there: Yes, lost, lonely and searching for his antarctic tribe!

We took a boat (similar to these
boats) run by a family (a group of brothers,
with cookies baked by their mom - yum).
We were accompanied by 22 other
penguin-loving souls.

 

The  folks in this region
proudly display the
Patagonian flag beside
the flag of Chile. People
definitely feel pride in their
heritage.

This lighthouse graces Isla
Magdalena. Here, the sky always
seems to be dramatic.

The Island is home to penguins and
their seagul friends. Respect from
humans  is required -- and expected. See the lovely Inga
as a faint green dot in the middle ground.

The only Emperor Penguin here.
Check out the video below.

And here they are! Watching them swim under water
was a true delight. Fast is an understatement!

Getting ready for trekking in Torres del Paine

For the 4th night in a row - hm,  that is every night in Punta Arenas! - we had a delectable dinner at La Marmita! That is an essential part of preparing for 9  or 10 days of independent (no guide, no cook, no donkeys) trekking in Torres del Paine National Park: We will be eatimng dehydrated foods and 5-minute rissottos for dinner ... hoping the grocery stores will have a half decent selection of actual food, even if it is 3x the price ... it will be like Canadian grocery prices or so.

All that to say, we[ll see if we can post some pics while in the Park, but most likely we will get to that afterwards in mid-December. We are also discussing where exactly to spend Christmas and New Years. We are open to suggestions! I mean, I champion Antartica, but it costs real money to fly there (not Bolivianos!) :)))) Jan is talking the beach in Uruguay ... You see the wide range of options under consideration ...

La Marmita dinner No 3

Jan has an appetizer: salad!!!

Oh. My. Goooooooood!

This place is divine.

Best food in 2 months. At the end of the world!

La Marmita. Funky place. Amazing food.

Pisco sour. Berry sour. All YUM!

Salmon and tasty veggies. Sigh.

Jan enjoyed her entree -  like so!

Taste buds rejoice!