Thursday 30 November 2006

EL CHALTEN (ARGENTINA)




Missing our early bus because of drunkenness the night before we arrived in the dark. It was freezing cold but we still chose the basic campsite. Why? Because it was free! Wearing three layers at night and drinking malt wine in the evening helped us to get at least a few hours sleep.

We had stunning weather for our walk to Mt Fitzroy, the most difficult mountain in the world to climb and of cause we did that...NOT. The trek to the base with its stunning views was enough for us.

The journey from El Chalten to Puerto Natales included 10 hours wait in El Calafate. How to occupy ourselves for that amount of time during the night without paying accommodation again? The answer was drinking and of cause we ended up spending far more than for a cosy bed.

Friday 24 November 2006

EL CALAFATE (ARGENTINA)







If you are looking to meet people in their 40th+, El Calafate is the place to go.

Its also the home to the Perito Moreno Glacier, impressive but overpriced and you feel like being in a tourist zoo.

Tuesday 21 November 2006

USHUAIA (ARGENTINA)




If you want to fill up your passport with a few stamps then go to Ushuaia. Part of the journey goes through Chilean territory meaning you get 2 entry and exit stamps on the way down and the same on the way back. There are two reasons people travel all the way down there, you like hiking or you just want to present all your expensive hiking clothes in the cafes and bares.

On of our days trips went up Cerro Quanaco in Parque National Terra del Fuego. Its only a 5 km hike but its steep uphill and its suppose to take 4 hours one way. from km 4 we started to struggle with the disappearing track. A further 500m walking on slippy rocks partly covered with snow we started questioning the safety of this track. Seeing rocks rolling down the mountain rapidly Phil nearly shat his pans. Even being so close to the summit we made the wise decision to turn around.

Thursday 16 November 2006

PUERTO MADRYN (ARGENTINA)




Around Puerto Madryn is the place to see the Magallanes Penguin colony in Punto Tomba and the Southern Right Whales on Península Valdés. We hired a car for 4 days giving us the freedom to explore both places in our own pace. We met an Israeli couple on our camp site and offed them to come with us. What we didn't expect was that both turned up the second day with all their luggage. As we already decided to stay overnight on the peninsula the corsa had to put up with our luggage in the boot and 2 Israelis with their backpacks on the back seat. Poor little car.

Tuesday 7 November 2006

PUNTA DEL DIABLO (URUGUAY)











A place we fell in love with straight away without knowing what was so special about that place. Its an idyllic little fishing town with superb sandy beaches. The seafood was delicious and our cabin we hired was so cute. We went to Parque National Santa Teresa, the only National Park in Uruguay. We found a new friend there (or he found us) who didn't leave our side on hour 3 hour return trip along the beach.

Saturday 4 November 2006

COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO (URUGUAY)



Entering a new time zone meant Petra is loosing 60 min of her birthday. Of course that didn't stop us celebrating. Cartoons of wine at the beach with baguette and salami which a dog ate most of it.

A bit of a hangover the next day we cycled to an old derelict bull ring. It was our loo for the day too, a perfect place with all the big doc leaves growing!

Thursday 2 November 2006

BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)

Many people love BsAs and stay there longer than expected but for Petra it was the time of constant headaches. We still checked out most places of interest like:

-Cementerio de la Recoleta with Evita's grave
-the weekend hippie fair
-San Telmo with its bars and restaurants (lucky we just lived around the corner)
-La Boca with its colourful tin cladded buildings and the football stadium
-near by Tigre and exploration of the Delta de Parana on a catamaran
and the IMAX cinema.

Petra's birthday wish? Please take me out of this smoggy city!