The next thing I know I was dazed and confused.  There was a massive crash, glass everywhere and loads of people asking me if I was OK.  Yes – I had walked into a closed glass door, and broken straight through it!  There was a good crowd of ten or so people sitting in the hostel who witnessed my grand entrance, making this the most embarrassing thing I have done in South America so far.  The only thing that made me feel slightly less of an idiot was hearing that another guest had done exactly the same thing the day before.  Admittedly he had only bumped into the glass rather that crashing through it, but I reckon he must have weakened it!   

After a quick brush down I decided I was fine, but Claudio, the hostel owner, insisted on taking me to hospital.  He was a great guy to have around, as he drove me there in his car, then shouted enough Spanish at the receptionist to get me seen by a doctor immediately, leaving behind a queue of rather frustrated looking Argentinians.  Twenty minutes, a thorough iodine wash, and two stitches later and I was done, and all completely free of charge.  I can definitely recommend getting injured in Argentina!   

Fortunately it was my hand that took the bulk of the damage so I could still get out and about and explore around El Bolson.  Which is good as there wouldn´t have been any pictures to put in this blog otherwise!   

Sore Hand!

Mirador del Azul

Cabeza del Indio. Can you see the Indians head ?

View from Cerro Pilquitron

On top of Cerro Pilquitron, still with bandage!

Cerro Fitz Roy

It´s not that we didn´t appreciate the jagged snow capped peaks of the Fitz Roy range, as you can see from the photo above they are spectacular, but for some reason, while trekking up to view the impressive rock towers, all we could think about was how much longer it was until we could eat our sandwiches! (Salami and Cheese for anyone who is interested)  Then even after lunch we found that we couldn´t seem to talk about anything other than food! 

Unfortunately writers block has set in a bit and there is only so much that you can write about trekking, so just enjoy some photos instead. 

Cerro Fitz Roy

Cerro Fitz Roy

Rach with her shoes off again!

Laguna Capri

Fitz Roy range

Four hours walking and Cerro Torro is hidden by cloud!

The next day, Cerro Torro in its full glory

Sunrise on Cerro Fitz Roy

Burnt tree caused by a cigarette

Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine national park

80km, 5 days, 4 nights, 2 ruc-sacs, 1 stove, 1 tent. Wind, snow, hail, rain and sun: “W” trek – done! 

The “W” trek through Torres del Paine national park in Chile was something we had decided to do well before leaving England. It was such a big part of our planning that it even features as the heading picture of our blog! However, we were both secretly dreading it as well. We have done lots of treks before but we have always had a guide, porters and a cook with us. This was the first time where we would be completely unaided, we would be carrying all our equipment including our tent, stove and food and be doing all our own cooking. 

When we arrived to the freezing cold of Ushuaia having both been suffering with a virus for almost a week, our resolve started to weaken.  “We don´t have to do it”, “If it is going to be really cold we are just not going to enjoy it”, “Maybe we could just go to the park for one night” were some of the conversations we started to have!  But when we arrived in Puerto Natales, the starting town for the trek, and were surrounded by other travellers preparing for the trek, we stopped our whinging and decided to go for it, and we are so glad we did as it is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of the trip. 

We spent two whole days in Puerto Natales, psyching ourselves up and preparing.  I had to cast my mind back 13 years to my Duke of Edinburgh expedition days to remember what we would need.  Rach had no such experience and was horrified by the amount of chocolate and biscuits I insisted we would need for the five days.  Three supermarket trips and several tours of the town later and we had a tent, a stove, all our food and were ready to go. 

Cuernos del Paine, our first view of the park

We started the trek full of energy in glorious sunshine, walking along the edge of Lago Grey. We got very excited when we spotted a small iceberg floating in the lake, only to feel a bit silly, when an hour later we saw the massive expanse of Glacier Grey flowing down into the lake.  We camped for the first night on the edge of the lake and cooked our first dinner on the beach, where we enjoyed our pasta while looking out over the glacier and its icebergs. 

Refreshed and raring to go

Glacier Grey

The second day was much longer and by the time we reached our campsite, in the late afternoon, it had started to rain and it looked like it was going to get worse.  We cooked our dinner straight away and were in bed at 6:45! 

Rach cooking the dinner

Rob collecting water

The next day we awoke to even worse weather – more rain and strong winds, but we donned our full waterproofs and braved the hike up Valle Frances.  At first it was more of a scramble over rocks than a trail, and almost immediately we realised we were lost.  We had a pretty scary ten minutes, when we scrambled around looking for the red trail markers, exposed to the worsening weather, while arguing with each other as to who´s fault it was! 

We managed to reach the mirador at the top of the Valle without any further issues and the weather even cleared briefly so we could appreciate the spectacular scenery and take some photos, but we only got two minutes before it started to snow!  For the rest of the day it alternated between snow, hail and rain and sometimes the wind was so strong it almost blew us over. When we reached our campsite we were cold and tired. Luckily the campsite was next to a refugio, where we were allowed to take a hot shower and enjoy a cup of tea inside next to the fire. 

Glacier Frances

Valle Frances

Valle Frances

Mirador, Valle Frances

Lago Nordenskjold

The trekking the next morning brought some amazing views. We could see the dominating granite towers of Cuernos del Paine on one side and a rainbow dipping into Lago Nordenskjoid on the other. There were good views in the afternoon as well, but we had to earn them as there was some relentless uphill walking. We reached our final campsite and it was also our favourite. It was set in amongst the trees next to a small stream, and for the first time we arrived early enough to have a cup of tea before dinner!

Cuernos del Paine

Rainbow over Lago Nordenskjoid

Lago Nordenskjoid

Lago Nordenskjoid

Happy trekkers!

Valle Ascencio

Rach, exhaused!

Rach relaxes on our last night

On the last day of the “W” trek we got to see the highlight of the national park – The Torres del Paine themselves.  Three towers of granite that illuminate with the sunrise.  We started the tough uphill scramble in the dark at 5:45 so we could make the viewpoint before sunrise and see the Torres glow orange in the sun.

Torre del Paine, before sunrise

Sunrise illuminates the Torres

Us, at the Torres del Paine at sunrise

Sunrise at the Torres Del Paine

We both were so glad we didn’t back out of the trek. We really enjoyed the camping and surprised ourselves with what we could cook up on a single butane stove. As we left our camp on the final day we felt a little disappointed and almost wished we were camping for longer. However, when we sat in a warm restaurant back in Puerto Natales, eating a pizza and drinking a beer, with a warm bed to go back to, we thought perhaps we had made the right decision! 

W trek - done!

We had both become restless of lounging around on endless beaches and were ready for the spectacular glacial mountain scenery of Patagonia and thought we were ready for the cold weather that brought with it.  However, we were a little unprepared for just how cold Ushuaia was.  When we got caught in a snow storm on our first day we thought perhaps we had arrived back in England by mistake! 

Glacial Landscape, Ushuaia

We dusted off our trekking shoes and headed into Tierra del Fuego National Park for our first glimpse of the amazing Patagonian scenery, and we weren’t disappointed.  However the highlight of our stay in Ushuaia came the next day.  Ushuaia bills itself as the most southern city in the world – but even that wasn’t enough for us.  We jumped on a boat and headed even further south out onto the Beagle Channel.  We were really lucky to have a clear and sunny day and loved the views - the snow-capped mountains seemed to completely surround us, but then I guess we were almost in Antarctica!  Our boat took us around lots of small islands spotting various penguin like birds, sea lions and Ushuaia’s famous lighthouse. 

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Beagle Channel, Ushuaia

Ushuaia

Bridges Island, Ushuaia

Sea Lions

Beagle Channel, Ushuaia

Rachel at the lighthouse

The lighthouse, Ushuaia

Cordillera Blanca

The perfect white glaciers, turquoise lakes and snow topped peaks of the cordillera blanca is the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen.  This mountain range, near Huaraz in northern Peru, is the highest mountain range in the world after the himalayas.  It has 22 peaks over 6000m, including Artesonraju, which you might recognise as it is rumoured to be the inspiration for the paramount picture mountain.

Artesonraju

We trekked from Laguna Llanganuco to Santa Cruz – 55Km over four days, including a whopping 22Km on the third day. We started past a few remote settlements where the children would rush out to greet us in the hope of getting some of our chocolate. Continued through imposing green valleys, round emerald lakes, and past freezing waterfalls, until we eventually climbed up and over the rocky Punta Union pass (4760m) where we got the best Andean views in all of Peru.

Our group, Punta Union pass

Rach had bought a new sleeping bag for our trip and was especially pleased at how small it was and how little room it took up in her ruc-sac. However, this was the first time she actually had to use it, and when we woke up on the first night to a heavy frost and a temperature of -5 she wasnt quite so pleased with her new toy. Determined to get a better nights sleep on the second night she decided to put on all the clothes that she had with her, then decided that still wasn´t enough, so started on mine!

Each day we got up at sunrise, around 5:30, but this was fine by us as we had been awake shivering for ages anyway!  We finished walking in the late afternoon, in time for a relaxing cup of coca tea in the sun – who needs the beach when you can relax in the sun at the foot of a glacier ?

We both really enjoyed being in the mountains.  They were really peaceful – we only saw a handful of other trekkers the whole time, and completely unspoilt.  This trek was definitely the highlight of my trip so far.

All smiles before the trek started!

Laguna Llanganuco

Cordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca

Sun and relaxation afer the Punta Union pass