Tourist information just closed so we couldn't find out ins and outs of the city. The city reminded me of Bariloche. It was also situated on a hill with water access and the prices were geared for rich tourists.
The sign says Fin del Mundo (End of the World) but Chile owns few islands floating a bit south of here.
My plan was to visit Isla Navarino (Puerto Williams) and hike Circuito Dientes de Navarino. My jaw dropped when I saw a 500 ARS price tag for an hour or so on the boat to cross the Beagle channel...EACH WAY!!! Bastards!!! Too expensive for this trip. Next time I guess.
I had to get out of this tourist trap and into the mountains. I went out in search of the info how to get around, bought food for 4 days and ate some empanadas.
Circuito Sierra Valdivieso was on my agenda. You can do it in 3 days if you start in the morning. I finally got to the trailhead around 1:30pm. Good time to start and shorten my other 3 days. Time to forget about a heavy pack on my back, relax and breath some fresh mountain air AAAAAAAAH!!!
An hour into my stroll I met Nimo from Israel. He just started his South American adventure and was traveling alone. He seemed like a cool guy and after being in his country's Air Force Special unit he shouldn't slow me down too much hehe. From here on we hiked together and I only had to wait a bit for him on the steeper up hills.
Surrounded by mountains I felt at home...
This whole area was attacked and devastated by North American beaver. Whole valleys were flooded and filled with beaver dams. The tree cemeteries were stretching from side to side. Grey corpses were looming out of the water and its brethren tree stumps scaled the shores.
That made our travel a lot harder as we had to avoid swamps and muddy traps waiting for us at every step. My second pair of shoes was at its last breath and waterproofness washed away with a first submersion back in the beginning of January. The lesson is that only full leather boots will hold up. All these material Gore-Tex ones ain't worth shit unless you hike the rain in the city.
The weather here changes from minute to minute. You can observe four seasons in one day. Any weather forecast is useless as anything can happen. The good thing is when bad weather strikes it doesn't last. It drizzled here or there but I didn't even bother to take out my rain gear.
Camp fire was a nice touch on the end of the day but constant rain drops spoiled it and the temperature dropped along with the arrival of darkness.
Nimo had a surprise waiting for him. Yesterday he purchased a tent but for some reason the main part of the tent was missing! Not a thing you want to find out in a mix rain weather. The poles were useless as the main part kept them in place. It could always be worse. At least he had a rainfly so he could tie it between some trees and have a roof and shelter from rain.
Monday, 28 II 2011
Yesterday was Sunday and the park's office was closed. It would be nice to have a topographic map as the trails have limited or no markings. Lonely Planet's Trekking in the Patagonian Andes book maps are tiny and don't even have elevation lines. You can't see the terrain. Nimo had the same book but an older with the elevation lines. I was wondering why they removed them and then I understood. Even with the lines the map is too small to navigate safely so by removing the lines it kind of forces you to get a good map. Today we had ran into that problem.
After crossing Paso Beban we dropped into the beaver territory. They owned it and made it their back yard. Since the trail wasn't marked we lost it amongst hundredths of beaver passages. We were guessing were is the next pass and where we had to climb up. We went too far down the valley and climbed a wrong draw. We kind of realized that when it got super steep and kinda dangerous. We had to go up anyway to get our bearing. We overshot our climb and had to do some serious traversing. Negotiating swampy, almost vertical slopes and fighting through almost impenetrable bushes. We were tired and hungry.
Finally we got back on the true trail and made camp around 8pm. It started raining lightly again as we were eating dinner. Perfect timing.
Another two passes, more valleys and new vistas = beautiful!!!
Until now it looked like the Castores (beavers) destroyed everything and left somewhere else to cause more havoc. Finally we saw that sucker swimming around in one of the lagoons. He was curious and got pretty close but didn't want to shake hands. I think he knew once he'll do that he'll be transformed into beaver burger.
We dropped into our last valley which was almost entirely flooded. We were following a main stream hopping from a logs to grassy lumps trying not to get too wet.
As we were eating dinner all of a sudden out of nowhere there he was standing 3m (10ft) away from me. He wasn't wearing his black cape though. Hola Zorro (Spanish: zorro = English: fox). Not really scared he sniffed around hoping to get something.
The ground of this valley is made up of turba - spongy red moor. It tires more then walking on a sandy beach. Your feet dive about 12 inches deep into these wet mounds with every step and there isn't anything to get a rebound from for the next one. On top of that we had to be crossing rivers and try our hardest to avoid the flooded parts. It's a bit tricky to jump over streams with a heavy pack. As you jump it pulls you down. I hopped over one stream just to find out that it wasn't smooth, hard sand on the other side. It was MUD!!! My shoes disappeared. With every step I would sink deeper. I had to take about six steps and on the last one I was almost up to my knees. Great! Not much we could do. We had to suck it up and drive on.
It took us hours but we finally got out of this shit valley. It was nice but we were drained.
There is one camping in town but ways away from the center high on the edge of town. Perfect to relax in peace without the city noises.
Initially I was planning to just take a shower, resupply the food supply and head out for another 4 day trek in the morning. Well, that didn't happen. I was beat and didn't feel like doing anything. I slept in, did few chores and relaxed the rest of the time. I'll just head out tomorrow.
Friday, 04 III 2011
The clouds were trying to scare me into hiding back in my tent and waiting for the rain. They looked mean and about to strike. Already knowing how fast the weather changes here I didn't think twice about hitting the trail.
I took the collectivo B (2.20 ARS) to get to the other side of town where a complimentary micro put me closer to the trailhead.
Pleasant walk by the river shoot up the mountain almost vertically. I decided to make my camp at the lower Laguna Encantada first and after check out Laguna de los Témpanos which is filled by Glaciar Vinciguerra 260m (850ft) higher. The plan sounded good but once I saw Laguna Encantada everything changed. There was NOTHING special about this mountain pond. I sweated up the hill over here for nothing! A little angry I headed down. I was able to find a faint entrance for a shortcut to the other laguna. Good. At least all my climbing didn't go to waste.
The glacier was worth the trip. It's not a huge one but at least I was able to run around it a bit and look into some crevasses.
The camping sites were exposed there and I had plenty of daylight to get down this vertical climb and sleep of my tired knees. Tomorrow I will have more climbing so it was a more logical choice.
Saturday, 05 III 2011
WOW Que lindo!!! This place kicks ass!!! Perfect spot to set up camp and relax by the shore.
It was way too early for me to sit my butt down so I took off on a stroll to a slightly higher Valle Superior. Very picturesque and rather small valley surrounded by a variety of mountains some covered with patches of snow. I decided to circle it around since the valley floor was totally flooded. Then I almost scrambled up to Cerro Amanda but dark clouds smelled of rain and I stop a bit shy of the peak. By the time I got back to my camp to swing in my hammock 3 hours had passed.
This was a good day... so I thought... until it started blowing hard at night. I set up by the shore and not in the lenga forest as I should to have better views. Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia is known for super strong winds but I failed to account for it. My little tent would bend like crazy. Not wanting to test its limits I got out in the middle of the night and rotated it towards the wind. Unfortunately the wind direction wasn't constant but the tent survived the night.
Another beautiful day. Que suerte! Planning on camping right before I leave the mountains I was packing slow, super slow hehe. I left at noon and climbed Paso de la Oveja rather quickly and started traversing on the side of the Cañadón de la Oveja. Towards the end I had to snake up, down and around hundredth of fallen trees for quite a while. Again, I guess I walked too fast and left the park before I knew it. I just can't slow myself down.
I decided to reorganizer today and start my trip up to Buenos tomorrow instead of the following day. Once I set up my tent in Camping Pista del Andino I changed my mind again. Why hurry when I'm super tired. I've been pushing myself through the mountains for quite some time now. I need rest. I'm not going anywhere tomorrow.
Monday, 07 III 2011
What I did today? Completely nothing :))) I only went down to the corner store for some empanadas and ice creams. That was a good day hehe.
Tuesday, 08 III 2011
I kinda wanted to stay. Some weird lazy monster tried to overpower me as he did to Kevin hehe.
I decided to hitchhike to Buenos Aires instead of a $200 plane or even more expansive bus. How far? I had no idea at the time and it didn't matter. I wanted to travel that way to meet more people and see this enormous pampa. Part of this trip, part of the adventure.
I thought I could get there in 3 days. I was pulling this number out of a thin air hehe. The actual distance from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires is almost 3,100km (1,925mi) por la Ruta Nacional 3!!!
I was hoping to hop on some truck and cover a lot of ground every day. As I found out this Monday and Tuesday was some kind of holiday in Argentina and everybody was just chillin'. So today I was dependent on tourists and locals. Tourists failed me but three cars got me about 400km (250mi) closer to my destination. It wasn't too far even though for some reason all of them were blowing down the road about 160kph (100mph).
Welcome again Chile.
I was left at the T intersection heading to Punta Delgada, Punta Arenas and Rio Gallegos in the middle of nowhere... literally. There was nothing there, not even a bush. Rocks with sand and dry "grass".
Hmmmmmmm... Not a place I wanted to find myself in but oh well. I was prepared for that with food and some water. It was a bit hard to find a place by the side of the road for my tent not to make a strainer out of its floor.
I woke up and my tent was fighting the wind bending and leaning against its force. It held up again but I don't know how many more times it'll take such beating. A little modification is needed in its design to make it a perfect tent which it is otherwise.
Goodbye Chile for the last time on this trip.
Hellllllllllo Argentina... yet again hehe.
Two cars and two trucks moved me forward some 700km (435mi) to Fitz Roy. This was better than yesterday but at this rate it'll take me a week instead of three days.
Saludos a hermanos Morales! Gracias!
Fitz Roy was not much more then few houses by the Ruta Nacional 3 with a gas station where truckers pulled in for the night. It was already dark and the wind was hauling. I could not see a single piece of grass anywhere and my situation looked pretty grim. Finally I saw a sign 'camping'. The place looked abandoned and like a site of a serial killer from much loved Hollywood movies. Few small trees growing out of a dirty sand provided little protection. Three big truck air filters which were just laying around along with some other trash made up of a decent barricade. I knew I would wake up covered in sand anyway but there were no other options.
The last ride offered to take me some 500km (310mi) up north the next day. He was leaving at 6:30am and it was well past midnight already once I set up my house.
I got up at 5am and went up to the parking lot a bit after 6am to make sure not to make him wait for me. Well, that worry was soon worthless as he was long gone... Damn!!!
I wandered around for a bit still in the dark before my luck turned up. I asked one trucker who was getting ready to leave and he agreed to take me YEAH!!! As it turned out Guillermo was going far up north. Not as far as Buenos Aires but to Tres Arroyos about 500km (310mi) south of my final destination.
Al pelo. We scaled the Argentine pampa for the whole day. From 6:30am all the way to 2:30am almost without any stops. 20h = 1,500km (930mi).
Another truck stop, empanada, medialuna, ice cream and no sleep.
At 7am I walked to the other side of town and had some oatmeal. As soon as I finished a trucker Santiago stopped and took me to Buenos. Que Suerte!
Big city... hmmmmmmm... I did enjoy it before. Round 2.
To my surprise one collectivo (bus) took me to Hurlingham (province) where Florencia and Silvina live. I was beat and needed some overdue rest. The whole family made me feel at home from hello. SUPER people!!!
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ArgentinaRN3#
Saturday, 12 III 2011
Sleeping in, no need to rush at daybreak to stick my thumb out. Aaaaaaah, feels good. I really don't like the whole process of waiting or approaching people asking them if they can take me somewhere, a complete stranger. On the other hand it is a very cool experience to meet a variety of people.
It was raining hence a perfect day to do nothing at all... well, until the night came. Argentinian way of partying takes you all the way to daybreak hours. It ruins your next day as you sleep in and recover but then you do it again jeje. We went to Diego's house and then to El Matador where there was an opportunity for my new friends to practice "Na zdrowie!" and "Do dna!" LOL. Fun times :)))
Sunday, 13 III 2011
The night ended around 7am and the day begun at noon. Little sleep and a desire to just lounge in a hammock.
What's for breakfast? Oh wait, it's lunch time. ASADO!!! WOOOOOOOO!!! Whole gang of meat was grilling nicely above some red hot charcoals. Que rico!!! Now it's time to have a siesta in a hammock hehe.
The Yamevo family took me to San Isidro for a stroll in a park and enjoy a nice day drinking mate.
Monday, 14 III 2011
A trip to the city takes at least an hour first taking a train and then subway or a collectivo.
I ran around various neighborhoods doing some chores, trying to find my old spanish teachers, making a stop at Las Quartetas and enjoying a beer with Klaudia in San Telmo.
Again, rush in Centro was unappealing but I enjoyed strolling the small streets in other parts. Good day but a bit tiring as I moved mainly on foot.
Day mainly to organize and upload photos. Too lazy to make another post on the blog, soon, maybe hehe.
Wednesday, 16 III 2011
Trip to centro to extend my polish passport for one year ($55). Otherwise I would be paying $140 to enter Brazil with a US passport.
I visited Jardin Japonés while I was out there (8 ARS). Small but nice and pleasant to relax a bit even though you can still hear the turmoil of the street close by.
I also bought a boat ticket to Colonia, Uruguay for Monday (150 ARS).
Getting to and fighting your way through this city takes time and energy so that's it for today. Lets not forget about some yummy dulce de leche ice creams (drool...)
Day trip to Tigre. It's a town or maybe just a suburb of Buenos Aires situated north on the river delta.
Super nice place to chill by the river and enjoy the tons of shade giving trees. I went to the Museo Naval (3 ARS). I really enjoyed it. It is filled with expositions, model ships, torpedos, guns and all. I realized that coming to this town for only one day won't be enough.
The area around museum consists of single family houses with huge yards. It is a home to many kayak clubs as well.
In other part of town I saw had huge apartment buildings but I didn't have time or desire to wander in that direction.
It is situated on a delta so the only transportation for a lot of people is via a boat. Plenty lanchas speed up and down the muddy river creating the wake that other jump in a playful manner.
I took one of them to Tres Bocas (26 ARS ida y vuelta). It was a pleasant 30 minute cruise. Every house have its tiny pier and a boat lift. Some islands have schools and all. It really had a calm feel to it.
I circled one of them following a small arroyo. Perfect place to get away from the city noises and enjoy some peace. Part of the trail took me through a dense jungle looking vegetation. I felt good being surrounded by green plants and nature in general...
My day ended in style drinking some mate by the river waiting for a ride back hehe.
Friday, 18 III 2011
I got my temporary Polish passport so I'm ready to hit the road again. I feel like I stayed here for way too long already. Time to enjoy the rest of my trip and get closer to my final destination = PARAGLIDING!!! I really can't wait!!! Some things I need to do right NOW! or it won't give me peace. I'm all over the place at points but that's what I desire so that's cool :)
I spent a chill evening with Klaudia and her roommates from all around the world.
Saturday, 19 III 2011
Sleeping till noon... ahhhhhhhh... Waste of time? Depends how you look at it. Good way to generate some energy for partying till morning hours on Ceci's, Emiliano's, Martin's and two other people's b-day party tonight :))) FELIZ CUMPLE!!!
Flo wanted to make jello shots but we didn't have any shot cups. Non of us made them before either. Experimenting was under way with gelatina sabor cereza in a plastic tub. It turned out good and we ate it all as a desert after dinner lol.
Cold, frosty Sobieski in my hand and we're ready to head out. It's midnight and that's how they do it here hehe.
Too many "NA ZDROWIE!!!", too many birthday people. Saying no was not an option. It was fun with that gang of people.
Around 4am I disappeared!??? Two cars and some people went around the neighborhood looking for me but came back with nothing.
What happened? A question for which I don't have an answer... It will remain a mystery.
I woke up at a gas station around 8:30am 15 blocks away. What the?!!! What happened and why am I here???!!! Hmmmmmmm... Damn you vódka, beer, mystery drinks in no particular order! That's what happens when I don't drink almost at all and then go to a fun fiesta.
All I remembered was that I was freezing walking at night with just a t-shirt. I also tried to buy some juice at that gas station but when I wanted to pay I did not even have a single peso. I'm guessing I sat down at one of the tables inside to warm up and the drunken Z monster got me. Nice people at the gas station didn't throw me out.
I got home around 9am and slept till 2pm. The rest of the day went by relaxing, drinking mate in a hammock and watching base jump/wingsuit videos. I really can't wait to start doing it!!!
In the evening we went for an asado at one of Flo's and Sil's friend's house. Palce lizać.
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ArgentinaBuenosAires#
The hospitality that I got from Florencia, Silvina, Martin, Carlos and Silvia was enormous. MIL GRACIAS!!! Super duper family that helped me a lot and really made me feel at home.
Chao Argentina... Hasta proximo, whenever that will be...
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