Our travels Video and Pics Cycling Walking About us News Patagonia 2001 - part 2 After breakfast we go to the supermarkt to buy some lunch for our walk through Llao Llao. Before we leave we have some time to take pictures of the lake. The mountains around it look great in the morninglight. Back to the hotel, we pass the central square. A very touristy picture here, a St Bernhard dog with wooden barrel around his neck is posing for money. And if you pay enough yu may also hold the puppy... Just too much. A few kilometers outside of Bariloche you will find the citypark 'Llao Llao'. A beautiful park, but they could have kept the path clean for us. Bamboo is blokking most of the track. There are also a lot of trees lying on the path. That means we have to climb and dug. But the surrounding are worth it, the yellow blossoming shrubs make nice pictures. But when the shrub are growing on the path we have lost all sense of direction and it takes us a while to get back on the right track. At the end of the track we climb a steep hill. A very difficult climb, but with a rewarding view. The walk lasted much longer than expected. And back in Bariloche we have to hurry to go the supermarkt to buy some food for tomorrow. It will be a 15 hour bustrip to Puerto Madryn, without drinks and food it will be hell. We have dinner in a cosy little restaurant. Food is great, although the waiters didn't understand our order. When we finished at 10:30 the pianist enters. When we come down for breakfast at 7 in the morning the bus from Puerto Madryn has already arrived. The drivers are having breakfast and at 7:30 we leave. At first the landscape is great. But we have to cover a long distance so no photostops. First stop is at a gasstation for coffee and cake. Our lunchstop is in Esquela, the mountains are gone th eland is flat here. Esquela is not really a nice place and we are glad when we drive on. The next track is flat, flat, flat and windy. But then we enter the canyon lands. It doesn't take long to get on other flat plains. The wind is getting stronger and stronger, but that is normal here. It is 8:15 in the evening when we arrive in Puerto Madryn. It is clowdy, but still it is warm. We have dinner along the boulevard. Back in the hotel we empty a large bottle of beer. And because it is nice outside Another liter is going down. In the morning it is half covered, left it is sunny, to the right is clowdy. It looks like it is going to be a warm day. So the shorts are getting out of the bags. That was a good choice, because weather only got better. This afternoon there is an excursion planned to Peninsula Valdez. Although we have to pay for this trip seperately, it is not included, everybody in the group joins. But there is one seat open in the bus and we pick up a dutch man at another hotel. Probably he is a little disappointed to join a dutch tourgroup. But he doesn't show it. First stop is Puerto Pyramide, here we go on a boat to see the whales. The peakseason is over, but a few of the whales stayed here for a while. We see a mother with young upclose. A bit further a male whale is coming to the surface. A great experience. The bus is taking us to another place where elephant seals are on the beach. The huge males are not here in this season, so it is not very spectaculair, but still it is nice to see. Our last stop is at a colony of sealions, deep down below us on the beach. Back in Puerto Madryn we are experiencing how difficult it is to find a restaurant at Christmas eve. The entire family is going out for dinner here, mostle they serve buffets. After a long search we find an italian restaurant where they want to serve a pizza. A waitress with a Christmas hat has to bring us in the mood. We want to be back at the hotel before midnight Because we want to see the fireworks from the roof of the hotel. A very strange feeling to see fireworks while wearing a t-shirt! At home it is winter. The owners son is coming up with champagne and glasses, the party is complete : 'Feliz Navidad' - Merry Christmas. Christmasday, time to decorate our fancy tree. We like the sight of our green and purple tree in the middle of the breakfast table. Maarten and Conchita light some candles, and the woollen hat and scarf of Norma complete the picture. In the tree we put a card for Erna, without knowing we picked a nice spanish text. Time to start with the Christmas bread, soon the bus is coming to pick us up. The tree is put in front of the bus. Driver Miguel, wouldn't have it another way. We know Miguel from our long trip from Bariloche to Puerto Madryn. He loves this vey nice tree, and he won't belove we didn't take it with us from home, but bought it here. We just started to drivbe to Punta Tombo when we ask the guide if our dutch friend isn't coming. That means we have to turn around, she totally forgot about him. It was good fortune he told us yesterday that he was coming with us to Punta Tombo too. Miguel puts our favorite cd on (it is the only one he got) and after the 13 hour trip two days ago we can sing along with all the songs even difficult lyrics like: ping, ping, ping, pong. This trip only last an hour, but it is enough.... At Punta Tombo lives a colony Magelhaen-pinguins. In peak season there are one million animals here. When we visit the young are really big, but the down feathers and the fact that they are constantly begging for food with their parents give them away as youngsters. You can come really close to the animals and observe them. It is very nice to see, some are fighting, some are cuddling. The young are getting their food out of their parents bill. But most of the pinguins are on the move. Wobbling towards the ocean or getting back from the water. After over two hours we have pictures of them all and we can go back to Puerto Madryn. Miguel asks if he can have the tree, but we want it on the dinnertable tonight, though luck for him. That night we have dinner with the entire group in a restaurant at the beach. It is 6 in the morning!! when Miguel picks us up. Somewhat sleepy we place the tree on his dashboard. Today Miguel can keep the tree, but we don't tell him untill we arrive at the airport of Trelew. Today we fly to the brandnew airport of Calafate. The first plane landed there one week earlier. It means an enormous gain of time, otherwise we would have a four hour drive after the flight. The first stretch all we see is flat plains below us. But when we are getting near the mountains are showing themselves. We fly over Lago Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina. The pilot takes an extra turn over the lake. Ydo thinks it is because he has never been here and can't find the airport. In the lake we see something blue floating. It is large and Wout thinks it is part of a plane that didn't make it to the runway. What a great experience flying with those optimists. But nevertheless we land safely on the airport of Calafate. We are early and the bus that is going to pick us up has not arrived yet. It is not a very long wait and before 10 in the morning we are at our hotel. Erna proposes to visit the Perito Moreno glacier today. The weather is good and we have plenty of time. Good idea, we put the bags in our rooms and are on our way. The Perito Moreno is a glacier of 60 m. high. We are watching it for two hours from a platform We see different blocks of ice falling down into the water. There is a constant noise of cracking ice. A few times we are just a few seconds too late. By the time we look in the right dierection the ice already fell down. Then we decide to watch a particulair piece, we are sure it is going to fall soon. And yes, we are right.............. Click, Click, Click, Click, we caught it on our pictures. On to the next highlight. In the meantime the condors are flying over our heads. We can't see it all, although we are desperately trying to see all the beauty here. We have to go back to the bus, it is going to take us to the boat for a glaciertrip on the water. Slowly we float in the direction of the icemass. Sometimes iceblocks are passing us. From the lake it is an immense large wall of ice, very impressive. After (luckely a bit further on) a block of ice fell the boat turns. But we feel the wave the ice made very well. Back to Calafate, in the hotel Erna is telling us what excursions we can do tomorrow. We choose for the excursion to the Upsala glacier. Others prefer to go for a walk in the Glacier National Park. At 6:30 we are picked up, breakfast is on the boat. At least that is what they tell us, there is no mention of it in the brochure..... Only one other tourist is taking our bus. And when we arrive at the boat there is no one there too. So we choose the nicest seats there are in the front of the boat. A round bench with tables in the middle. We make sure we have enough space. But due to the strong wind no other passenger dares to sit with us. We enjoy the trip. The icebergs we pass are blue and are getting larger and larger. And then after a great trip we see the Upsala, the largest glacier in the world. Very different from the Perito Moreno. There is for example much more 'dirt' on top of it. This black rubble on top comes fro a vulcano nearby. We sail some time in front of the glacier so everybody can take pictures. And then we go full steam back onto the lake. The next stop is Estancia Cristina, it used to be a sheepfarm but when the owner died it was inherited by the national park. The group is split in two, we join the english speaking group. We start with the trucks They bring us through an area formed by the glaciers. A guide is telling all sort of intersting information about this area. There is a lot of geology in the talk, but now we know exactly how this landscape was made. After an hour we have to get out of the trucks. The guide is showing us some fossils. The wind is howling and it is very cold uphere. But we move on, after the next corner we see it: the Upsala. Beautiful, the blue icemass in a moonlike landscape. Ydo told us over and over again: it is a highlight of the trip. And he was right, we wouldn't have missed this for any reason. When we return with the trucks there is warm coffee and nuts. Back to the Estancia. A lamb is roating over the fire there. Service is great here and they make sure we eat all we can. And so we do. It is all very good, lots of meat and salades. And then there is the dessert buffet. Fruitslade, different cakes, stuffed apples, stuffed pears, it is impossible to choose. So we have to try most of the things. Filled up to our ears we have a tour of the farm. A guide tells about the farm, the house and the family that lived here. In the mean time the spanish group comes back from the glacier and we are going to the boat again. They serve coffee and tea on board, and the rest of the cakes. They leave the tray in our corner of the boat and we mange to empty it. Tired but satisfied we enter the bus to Calafate. Tonight we skip dinner, that would be just too much. Today we have the day off. This way we have some time to see something of Calafate The town itself is not that big and the largest part are hotels or souvenirshops. But just outside town there is a lovely lake with excellent birdlife. You can walk around it. But that proves to be a bad idea. Where a sewer pipe is getting into the lake it smells terrible. But the birds don't seem to mind. Many different species are living here. And we see some with young too. At the backside of the lake we meet our old dutch friend from the excursions to Peninsula Valdez and Punta Tombo. After the walk we go on a hunt for souvenirs. The rest of the day we use to rest, we need it. The public transport bus to Puerto Natales (Chile) is picking us up at the hotel. At the busstation we only find other tourists. And after that we stop at a backpackers hotel, the bus is full. We drive through a dry and open landscape. In the distance we can see the mountains we are heading for. The border is at a very desolate place. Not long after we passed it we arrive in Puerto Natales. Th ewind is strong, but the sun is shining. We decide to take a walk to the old slaughterhouse. It is not the interesting trip we thought it would be. Tonight we have a pizza with a large part of our tourgroup. It is not the restaurant we like. It is too hot inside and we have to wait for ages. And then there is a singer who is coming to our table. He sings so loud our ears hurt. It is time to go. A bus takes us to Torres del Paine. In the park we take the catamaran to refugio Pehoe. From this refugio you can hike to the greyglacier. But it is too far for today. Tomorrow we have a hike of 10 hours ahead of us, so we return early to the refugio. Some of our group are getting to the viewpoint from which they can see the glacier. But Erna, Ydo and Joop decide to walk on to the refugio at the foot of the glacier. They made the mistake of thinking it was very close and they return late for dinner. After dinner we have a beer in the refugio (have a look at the label) Then we go to our room, a spacious room for the gang of five. It is a noisy night. The rooms in the refugio are close together and not entirely soundproof. There is snooring all around us. Nevertheless we are up early to have breakfast. We collect our lunchpack and start the long walk to the next refugio. Wout hurt his knee yesterday and is taking the boat across the lake. He waves at us as we start to climb. It started to rain, light rain, but we have to put on coats. This means it is a sweaty journey. Not only because of the effort, maybe also of fear when i have to cross the hanging bridge at camp italiano. The last few days it rained a lot, that is why it is very wet in different places. It makes it difficult to follow the right route. At the other side of the mountain the sun is shining. Coats in the bag and the sweat is drying soon. It starts to get pleasant. There is a lot of climbing and clambering over rocks. But we manage to get to the halfway refugio at noon. Time for lunch. The lunchpack contains a piece of chocolat, some nuts and a dry cheese sandwich. We buy some soda in the refugio, the price is a shock. Much more expensive than in refugio Pehoe, where prices were high too. But what to do, we are thirsty....   After a short rest and talking to the dutch Ashraf-group, coming from the refugio we are heading for, we move on. The path is getting better, less rocks and not that wet. But that soon changes. All the rainwater here is collected in the river. The river that normally runs dry in this season. There is no bridge, and people are trying to find the best point to cross the river. Joop thinks this is nonsense and he crosses straight. Wet shoes, wet pants, but he is at other side. and the rest of us take over 30 minutes to get there too. And even then we are not all dry. Now and then we hear streaming water,yes, here we go again. Most streams we manage to cross while helping eachother. After a scary brige, where some planks are missing, we arrive at a sunny refugio Las Torres late that afternoon. It is new years eve and we are not sure what to expect here. If we had known we would have gone somewhere else. They served a buffet in the refugio. A group of italians ate it all. They made it impossible to get some good food for the rest. We are happy we have some liquor with us, we drank far too much. When the refugio people come with champagne at 00:00 it is not welcome anymore. Yesterdays hike was too much for the most of us. Although there is a hike to a view point of the three rocks that gave the park the name (Las Torres), almost everybody is taking a rest. We can see the three rocks from here too. When it starts getting clowdy we are glad to be in the neighbourhood of the refugio. We wait untill it stops raining at the patio. A bus takes us back to Puerto Natales. A large part of the group is going back to the italian restaurant. We decide to loose our last pesos in a small restaurant across the street. At nine, the bus of 9:30 arrived. We drive on dusty roads to the border. And again we may all cross it, no problems. On to Rio Gallegos. The entire road is dusty and the view is boaring. Well in time we arrive at the airport. It is a long wait for our flight to Ushuaia. I sit at the window and the scenery is getting better and better. When the mountains start to show, the clowds are coming in again. We can just catch a glimpse of the Beaglechannel below us. In the bay you can see the colorful town of Ushuaia, the most southern town of Argentina. Five taxis bring us to the hotel. Hostel Mustapic is owned by a Croatian family, which lives on the top floor. And they are right, it is the best view from there. A view of the town and the harbour. It starts to rain and we decide to find a restaurant. We find one where they serve good food too. The beercans here have colorfull designs, the theme is summer 2001. It is the 2nd of january 2001! In this area there is always a strong polar wind. That means the cruise on the Beagle channel is somewhat exciting experience. Not today! There is no wind at all, the water has no wrinkles, it is flat and looks like a real channel and not the ocean it is. We leave Ushuaia and sail onto the quiet ocean, passing an island with seals, an island with breeding cormorants and a lighthouse. The highlight of the cruise though is an island with penguins. With our Punta Tombo experience the highlight is a little disappointing. The cruise returns. On our way back we have some great views. And the weather is unlike it should be sunny and warm! In hindsight i am glad the wind was absent, no motion sickness. After a nice cruise we get a certificat to prove we have sailed at the Beagle channel, at 54 degrees south. Back in Ushuaia, we have plenty of time to look around. A quick visity to the supermarket. Close to the supermarket is the graveyard. A colorful one, many graves are in pastel colors. The coffins in the tombs look expensive, some tombs have vitrage in front of the windows. One wonders were all the money for this wealthy graves comes from. Next to all this expensive graves there are a lot of simple crosses with NN on it. Most are drowned and washed ashore here. Who cares for these graves? With this thought we go back to the hotel. Have a drink at the topfloor and enjoy the view. Dinner at Marco Polo yesterday was good. So tonight we go there again, a table for five. One day to go in this most southern town. This morning we make a short excursion to Tierra del Fuego NP. The area is called 'fireland' because of all the fire that burned here to keep the inhabitants warm. In the park is the end of Ruta 3, the highway from Buenos Aires to the south, over 3000 km. A few short trail can be made in the park. We have time to follow two of the trails. One through the woods and one to a small lake. Back in Ushuaia we feel it is time for coffee and cake. That means enough food for the rest of the day. Argentinians like a good piece of cake. We liked it too, but it could have been a smaller piece. While walking through town we pass the old prison. A nice museum to visit. Ushuaia is an old prison colony, the prisonners were put here, far away from civilisation. Next to rooms where you can see the old prison life there is a maritime museum here too. The maritime part starts with old maps. In that time the maps were made by the dutch, a mighty maritime nation. It is special to see maps in the dutch language so far from home. There even is map of the city Hoorn in Holland, the city where Cape Horn is named after. They have lots of old shipmodels. And there are stories about expeditions to the southpole. Back to the hotel we pass the modern ships in the harbour, what a difference. At 5:30 we are picked up and brought to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires. The plane is completely full and didn't count on us sitting on row 33. There are all kind of things on the seats when we arrive. In a MD81 row 33 has no window, and the flight is getting very boaring. Ydo, who was lucky to have a seat way upfront told us it was very pretty to see Buenos Aires at night form the air. We have to take his word for it! The hotel looks like an old palace. The corridors are huge. But behind the sometimes 3 meter high doors are very small rooms. Our room is at the end of the hallway. The doors are getting smaller, we are pleasantly surprised by the large room behind it. We even have our own balcony. It is too hot outside to use the balcony though. A heatwave in Buenos Aires. Expected temperature today 40 degrees Celsius. Today a bus takes us on a citytour. The bus has airco and that is wonderful. Although we can't hear the complete story the guide tells, because the speaker isn't working, we see some nice things. First stop is Plaza de Mayo, the square where mothers and grandmothers protest every thursday against the disapperance of their children. Today it is not a thursday. So we move on to La Boca. Happy colors on the houses. A quarter to take some pictures. There are many tourists around. Tourist everywhere means pickpockets around. Police is touring around in lovely lightblue cars to prevent problems. The bus passes the harbour and the tour ends in Recoletta. A quick look at the map learns it is too far to walk to the hotel in this heat. So we stay in the bus and are dropped of at the hotel. A good choice. Very close to the hotel we can enjoy covered terrasses. Sitting in the shadow we drink something and have a delicious icecream. When the heat of the day is gone, we go to the Plaza de Mayo. The cathedral is open and we are going in to have a look. There is a service going on, so we go outside again. Time to have dinner. Back to the square, the nativity set is lit with brightly colored spotlights. The large plastic statues are populair, entre families come to the square. Back to the hotel we pass the food distribution to the poor. The entire square is filled with homeless people, all eating. We go for a icecream at the terras close to our hotel. Today it will be cooler. At least that is the prediction. So we decide to go to the graveyard of Recoletta. The grave of Evita can be found there. The graveyard is large and her grave is not very striking. Luckely a group of japanese tourists come by and we follow them. Found it. It is very busy at the graveyard, not only tourits. Saturday must be cleaning day. People are dusting and cleaning the tombs. At least the more expensive ones. Next to the graveyard there is a large church, it used to be a monastery. Today they are transforming it into a museum. We have a quick look inside. But they are still working on it. And it doen't take long to see it all. Time to have a drink. It starts to rain, the heatwave is over. Back in the hotel we meet Lia and Monique. They are in a shock. Somebody tried to rob them. But they got away without any loss. Not much later Erna comes in, she lost all her money. What a city.... That night we have a goodbye dinner with the entire group. After that a goodbye drink in the bar and our last night in Argentina is over. Sundaymorning there is a fleemarket in San Telmo. A lot of old stuff is sold here. Nothing interesting. But the copple dancing the tango in the street makes a good picture. They invite people to join, but we don't know how to dance. A coffee on a terrace and back to the hotel. A quick shower, pack the bags and there is just enough time for a hamburger at McDonalds. On to the airport. Checking in and passing customs takes a long time and we have no time let for duty free shopping. Buenos Aires is gliding away below us, the end of a great trip. Our travels Video and Pics Cycling Walking About us News