Tom's Adventures in South-America: maart 2014

Calma. Respirar profundo. Viajar. Conocer. Aprender.

Caminar sin tiempo. Mirar mirando. Sentir el viento, abrir los ojos.

Cantar una cancion bien fuerte, gritando si es necesario.

Hablar con todos y con nadie, hacer silencio y escuchar...

Patagonia

My Patagonian adventure starts in Ushuaia, often called 'el fin del mundo' because the most southern city on the South-American continent and the last stop before Antarctica (not for me, but for many rich retired people)! To reach this place I had to cross the Strait of Magellan and drive for hours and hours through the deserted landscapes of Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia is very touristy, but its spectacular location -squeezed between the last mountains from the Andes range and the Beage Channel- makes up for it. On a Catamaran on the Beagle Channel I experience for the first time the famous Patagonian weather: sunny in the morning with a lot of wind, rain and snow in the afternoon and even more wind... all 4 seasons in one day! A perfect day to visit some penguins on a far away island :-)

After crossing the Strait of Magellan again I head to the Torres del Paine national park in Chile. I pack my backpack with my tent, sleeping bag, cooker, clothes for all types of weather, food for 8-9 days and start what will turn out to be the most beautiful multi-day hike I have ever done! 8 days of incredible nature, quietness, big glaciers, blue lakes, mostly sunny days, condors circling around the granite peaks, new friendships with fellow hikers and a perfect sunrise on 'las Torres' as icing on the cake!

In Torres del Paine I have formed a great hiking team with Camilo (Chile), Anders (Denmark) and Kim & Katie (USA), and we decide to move on together to the Argentinean side of Patagonia. We make a brief stop in El Calafate to visit the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world which is still growing. The glacier is advancing in Lago Argentina with an average speed of 2 meters per day, which makes for a nice spectacle of big ice chunks calving off and splashing into the lake.

One of the most stunning places still had to come, though. El Chalten -the hiking and climbing capital of Argentinean Patagonia- stole my heart from the moment I arrived... the Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy mountain ranges were blinking in the sun... climbing history has been written here and even today these mountains are an extreme challenge for many alpinists from all over the world (mainly because of the great technical difficulty in combination with the quickly changing Patagonian weather). For me it is time to hike, camp, gaze at the amazing scenery and make plans to come back one day to do more hiking and some climbing!

Ushuaia, el fin del mundo... the last stop before Antarctica (not for me, but for many rich retired people).

Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins on Isla Martillo, an island in the Beagle Channel.

Start of the Torres del Paine trekking, with views on the 'Torres'!

First view on the mighty glacier Grey!

Glacier Grey, split by a rocky outcrop, and calving off in Lago Grey.

Lunch with a view...

Our Torres del Paine team having some timing issues for the picture...

'Las Torres' mysteriously covered in the clouds.

New advertisement campaign for Cerveza Austral! This beer in this place tasted so good!

Perfect sunrise on 'las Torres'... our reward after 8 days trekking!!

Gauchos having fun in Torres del Paine national park.

Glacier Perito Moreno near El Calafate.

Big chunks of ice calving off from Perito Moreno's 60m high ice wall... Incredible spectacle!!

Arriving in El Chalten with clear views on the Cerro Torre (left) and Fitz Roy (right) mountain ranges!

Cerro Torre and Laguna Torre.

The charming little town El Chalten, the hiking and climbing capital of Argentinean Patagonia.

Hiking around Fitz Roy with the forest in beautiful autumn colours.

Relaxing at Laguna Piedra Blanca with view on one of the Fitz Roy glaciers.

Sunset over the Fitz Roy mountain range and Laguna Capri... Sweet dreams!

The shortest way from A to B is a straight line... (that is what I learned in school)

The nicest way from A to B is a zigzag combined with a loop... (that is what I learned on this travel)

If you would plot my itinerary on the map of South-America, you would see that I have done a nice loop from Northern Argentina through Paraguay and Bolivia to end up again in Chile. Doing my own 'little loop' allowed me to visit a few spectacular places in Bolivia and Chile for which I didn't have/take the time when I was there last December.

All the extra hours on the bus and the extra border-crossings are soon forgotten when I look back at an incredible last two weeks. I crossed the Salar de Uyuni -world's biggest salt flat with out-of-this-world views-, I drove through national park Reserva Eduardo Avaroa at the border between Bolivia and Chile -a great place on the altiplano featuring big lakes, flamingos, vicuñas and llamas, geysers, natural hot springs and all this with a backdrop of massive volcanoes-, I entered Chile via the Atacama desert -the perfect place to watch the stars- and ended up relaxing and wine tasting in colourful Valparaiso -once the most important harbour city in South America (before the Panama Chanel) and now famous for its graffiti street art!

The pictures say more than any words could...

And now it is time for another dream to come true: I am finally heading to Patagonia!!

Stay tuned!

Salar de Uyuni