Santiago & Valparaiso

The reason we are lumping these two very different places together is because after non-stop hopping from one place to another we started to feel a little burnt out. In Santiago, we rented a modern apartment for a week and took to the time to just do nothing, catch up on sleep and relax.

Because of this, we didn't actually take many photos in Santiago! The only real touristy things we did was to visit the main square in town and some of the central parks which offered views of the city, albeit a little clouded by smog.

It was such a luxury to have a nice big bed, cable TV and fast internet for a change! The location was fantastic, only a short walk to everything we needed and the main part of town with cafes and restaurants.

Valparaiso is around 2 hours from Santiago and is the country's main port city. Although at first we felt like we were in the favelas, the charm of the city grew on us over time and we started to enjoy the fact that it is a little rough around the edges.

Being the cultural capital of Chile, the city is full of artsy cafes and street art. Almost every wall is covered in paintings and there are many quirky public spaces with interesting tiling and architecture.

We filled our days with visits to the outdoor art galleries, a trip to the nearby town of Vina Del Mar and plenty of time getting up to date with photo editing!!

So many funny lost in translation moments...

Mendoza

Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina but the city itself and surroundings also have a lot to offer with great food, shopping and adventure sports.

Predictably, on our first full day in Mendoza we took a tour of some local wineries which also included a stop in at an olive farm and chocolate shop... mmmmmm! The quality of red wine in Argentina is incredible (and SO cheap) and because we were the only English speakers, we managed to score private tours of each farm in English while everyone else was lumped in a big group.

We left feeling pretty tipsy with a few bottles of red for the road.

All day we were in stitches about the name of our tour company - Wanka Holidays. It was great being on board the Wanka bus all day : )

The following day we opted for something a little more adventure-ish and went rafting in a river around 1 hour or so from the city. The rapids were pretty tame but it was still a lovely day to be outside enjoying some fresh mountain air.

Our photos from the rafting are absolutely hilarious! We didn't know that we were being photographed which made for some priceless expressions.

El Chalten

After yet another bus north we arrived in El Chalten in Argentina. The tiny town of El Chalten is within the Glaciers National Park and is surrounded by number of walking trails to visit nearby lakes and mountains.

We stayed in a little, cozy cabin and went on day treks most days when we weren't too cold or tired! The most beautiful trail took us to a lake full of small icebergs with a view of mountains and a glacier in the distance.  Not a bad backdrop to have a bite to eat!


Short post because all we did was walk, eat and sleep! Enjoy the pics...

El Calafate

After a couple of days in Puerto Natales to recover from the W Trek, we traveled further north by bus to El Calafate. This is the access point for one of the most amazing natural wonders we have ever seen. Perito Moreno Glacier is a 250 square kilometre ice formation that is continually growing. It measures 5 kms wide, with an average height of 74 metres above the surface of the water. It has a total ice depth of 170 metres. 

We took a boat tour that allowed us to get quite close to the face of the glacier. However, the boats can't get too close because huge chunks of ice often fall and crash into the water, sending waves and razor sharp ice flying in all directions. We saw this happen on several occasions and it was absolutely amazing.

After the boat tour we took the walks that allow you to see the glacier from a number of different vantage points. It really has to be seen to be believed - photos just don't do it justice!

Torres Del Paine

For the next couple of days we made our way up north into Chile, passing through the small port town of Punta Arenas into the even smaller Puerto Natales. It was here that we started to prepare for a 4 day hike through the Torres Del Paine National Park.

We decided on the “W Trek”, the most popular route within the park that covers around 75km over the course of 4-5 long days and prayed that our youth would carry us along despite the lack of training and heavy packs!

Day 1

After a 2.5 hour bus trip into the park, we eased ourselves into it with a half day hike to see the famous rock towers, the "Torres". Unfortunately we had to turn back half way through due to poor visibility (we could barely even see the towers amongst the cloud) and constant, strong rain. It just wasn't worth killing ourselves over so we decided to conserve energy for the second day.

On the way back down, the weather began to clear a little and we got our first glimpse of how incredible the scenery was with rich autumn colours, striking rock formations, mountains and crystal clear lakes.

Day 2 – The “Easy" One

The 2^nd day was supposed to be the ‘easy’ day, so after a sleep in and breakfast we slowly began the hike to the next refugio under perfect conditions - sunshine, no wind and mild temperatures. A supposed 4.5 hour hike turned into a long 6 hours for us due to picture stops, MANY tricky creek crossings, heavy packs and a finger repair (Elise somehow managed to get a shard of rock stuck in her finger).

Although the last hour or so was in the pouring rain we considered ourselves pretty damn lucky to get an almost perfect day in a park that sees some of the most extreme weather in the world.

Day 3 – The “Tough" One

The following day was a doozy but unbelievable at the same time. We got up at sunrise to make a start on the longest and most difficult day of the trek - 10 hours in total! After around 3 hours of flattish trekking we started to climb through the French Valley in what was yet another strangely perfect day. We got a little lost on the way up, but eventually spotted the right track and ended up at a look-out with spectacular views of the nearby glacier, forest and distant lakes.

Not long into starting the final section of the trail, Ben slipped on a rock and sprained his ankle : ( He carried on with huge pack and all for the final 12kms and we made it to the next refugio before sunset. It was lucky that Ben could use his walking sticks as crutches! I don't think we have ever felt so completely drained of energy in our entire lives. We literally couldn't have taken another step and every muscle ached liked crazy!

With what was considered to be the most beautiful sections of the trek completed, we headed back to town the following day to get Ben's ankle X-Rayed and rested up. Even though we didn't quite finish, we both felt a sense of accomplishment that we got as far as we did given that we had no training.

  








The thing that amazed us most about TDP was the variety of diverse landscapes and how you can pass through forest, glaciers and flat plains all in the one day. The scenery was constantly changing, but stunning all of the time!

Ushuaia

After more than a month in big cities, we were craving a change in pace and flew to the end of the world (literally)!

Ushuaia is a small port city surrounded by snow-capped mountains and national parks and is the closest sizable town to Antarctica. Although the chilly temperatures and icy winds took a while to adjust to, we loved soaking up the clean mountain air, beautiful scenery and lack of crowds.

 

 We stayed with the most lovely Argentinian family in Ushuaia who offered to take us along for a traditional Sunday bbq in the national park Tierra Del Fuego and drove us around some of the beautiful viewpoints within the park.

Elise enjoying screwing up Ben's panorama

Although we don't usually take organised tours, we decided to splash out on a tour of a nearby island which is a protected natural reserve for penguins. The full day tour involved a small bus to a private farm, passing by some incredible landscapes including famous "flag trees" where the strong winds have warped the shape and direction of the trunk and branches.

The most amazing thing about the tour was that we were able to walk with the penguins and get within a metre or so of them as they went about swimming, waddling and shedding their feathers. On the island there are two types of penguin and one random King Penguin who they think may have gotten lost at some point and wound up in the wrong colony. He was definitely the most impressive of the bunch but the others were cute also.