I love Patagonia and even though I have been there a number of times, it was with great excitement that I returned recently. The trip took a couple of weeks and while I initially traveled with an old friend, I completed the second leg of my last tour to Patagonia with my wife and daughter. The idea behind the trip was to map out one of the Fly-Drive Adventures we offer in the region; Fly-Drives are adventure packages that involve flying to a destination, picking up a car and driving around an entire region before flying back home. Experience has taught me that this is the best way to explore a vast territory like Patagonia and to add to the fun we decided to go one up on the fly drive and add water into the land/air equation by doing part of this trip on a cruise ship in order to explore the watery side of Patagonia as well.
In the past, Ushuaia town has been home to a penal colony, a missionary stronghold, and a naval base for the Argentine Navy. Following the economic crash in 2002 in Argentina, Ushuaia’s popularity as a tourist attraction sky rocketed – people could now afford to travel here. Travelers from all over the world come to Ushuaia for its scenery, its amazing hiking trails, and of course because it is perhaps the most economic and convenient place in the world to start an adventure to Antarctica. Ushuaia is also of course home to the fabled Lighthouse at the end of the world – made famous by Jules Verne’s novel of the same name.
After a bay tour and a couple of nights in a reasonable hotel – Lambert and I had taken in about as much of Ushuaia as we possibly could. As our plan revolved around the drive up north through Patagonia we looked around for a good car to rent and eventually managed to find a Volkswagen Polo for a good rate. Not what we had in mind exactly when we set off, but it turned out to do an excellent job. We left Ushuaia – driving through some jaw-dropping Patagonia landscapes – and headed towards Rio Grande. Lakes and mountains line the roadside and upon reaching Rio Grande, expansive plains reach out towards the horizon. Rio Grande is located on the northern tip of the island of Tierra del Fuego and while it is described as the Garden City of Argentina, its industrial nature did not attract us, mildly put. After spending an evening exploring the city we climbed back in the VW the next day and continued onwards into Chile.
The day after Lambert and I arrived in Calafate, I went to the town’s small airport to pick up Karin and our daughter Edie who had just flown in from Buenos Aires. Lambert then returned to Buenos Aires on a plane later that day in order to return to work – and Karin, Edie and I set out together for what was to become the second leg of this Patagonian Adventure.
The Three Musketeers, we set off for the Los Glaciers National Park – and more specifically to the beautiful Perito Moreno glacier. The cliff face of this glacier forms a giant wall of imposing ice that – from horizon to horizon – looms precariously over the shadowy river below, and has the effect of being at once both frighteningly beautiful and hazardously surreal. Surrounded by snowy peaks and rolling forests of lengas and ñires, this glacier could quite easily be from another planet. We’d chosen the right time of the year to visit and – with the warmer temperatures – we could literally hear the ominous cracking of the glacier reverberating across the valley. Quite often huge blocks of ice detach themselves from the cliff face and collapse into the river below, creating a thunderous noise and monstrous splash. The spectacle of seeing these “ice bergs” break loose is an experience that no words can ever quite describe. Somehow, due to the distance, and the radiant light that deflects off the ice the actual size of the glacier and of the blocks that fall off seem far smaller than they really are; the huge cracking noise, followed by the enormous thud as the ice hits the water and the immense waves caused by it, take you by surprise and in some strange way make the hairs in your neck rise and send a tingling feeling down your spine. After that, what’s left is awe and silence.
The following day we began driving some 4 hours from El Calafate, north towards El Chalten – a small sleepy town that lies at the foot of the impressive Cerro Fitz Roy.
The following morning we rose early in order to set out for Chile – this would be the second time I’d be entering Chile on this journey – and the second time I’d be crossing directly through the Andes. Passing through the desolate Paso Cancha Carrera crossing in the morning we were graced with some amazing views of Cerro Castillo before continuing onwards to Torres del Paine National Park.
The Torres del Paine National Park is simply breathtaking. Glaciers, lakes, woodlands, and the iconic jutting peaks combine to create what is without a doubt some of the most stunning natural scenery I have ever seen. The large towering granite massifs are much like Cerro Fitz Roy – Jagged peaks jutting up towards the heavens. The highest massif, Cerro Paine Grande, is even more imposing and impossible than Cerro Fitz Roy. The mirror-like lake below the peaks so perfectly reflects their towering grandeur that if you close your eyes ever so slightly and open your imagination a little, the peaks and their reflection take the form of giant islands floating in a flawless sky.
We initially set out towards southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego through the Straits of Magellan. The Mare Australis is a comfortable ship, and while Karin and Zoe were initially worried that Edie and Asante might suffer from sea sickness – their worries were completely unfounded. On our first evening, a pale moon lit the sky above the fabled straits as we smoothly sailed onwards.
We woke early the next morning to the sight of an indescribable sunrise over a calm and tranquil fjord. We proceeded onwards to the Marinelli Glacier in Ainsworth Bay where we were invited aboard one of the smaller zodiacs in order to get a closer look at the weird and wondrous ice formations.
The voyage continued amid a never ending display of sights and scenes of Patagonian delight. We traveled up the Pia fjord and then up the northwest arm of the Beagle Channel and through the enchanting Glacier Alley.
We won't see this at all in the city where we stay......only at some village. Sometimes all this antiques are good to bring back those fond childhood memory......
Having lived in Peru for nearly 7 years, this hits Karin , myself and the CAT Team in a very direct way as lots of people are suffering right now. We have a lot of friends and colleagues in the area, so our thoughts are with them and their families at this time as we hear more terrible stories on the news.
Besides the human side of the catastrophe, we've also received news that there are many tourist sites have been damaged in the Paracas/Pisco Area, including the famous Catedral de Paracas , and the Mummies Museum...we still don't know the latest situation of "El Candelabro" or the Ballesta Islands.
At CAT we all have been extremely lucky as so far our team members, families and friends in Peru were saved from this dreadful experience. One of our team members has her family living in Ica but apart from their house being destroyed, miraculously they too were spared. Still many, many people are in direct need of help and as rescue operations are starting , we would like to call for your help as well to help the people in the Ica and Pisco region. Please click on the following link to see what you can do to help relieve the worst anguish for those most in need: http://www.cat-travel.com/Peru-Earthquake-Help.asp
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Bart
