The bus will collect you at 7:30am.... Or will it?

Friday

As is thankfully so often the case our bus journey was short and uneventful, just 5 hours and 1 border crossing out of Argentina and in to Chile. We arrived at our B&B  mid afternoon and were welcomed by an incredibly enthusiastic Chilean lady called Fabby and her very dour English husband Brendan.

Saturday

We both slept like logs, waking up just in time for our 9:30am breakfast on Saturday morning. In the afternoon we went to a free talk about the 'W' Trek run by the Erratic Rock hostel, it gave us good advice on what we should take (half of what we'd planned) and some basic info about the hike. We bumped in to a few people at the talk that we'd met at various points on our trip - one of them was the guy who had his bag stolen when we were on the bus from La Serena a couple of months ago, I'm amazed he recognised us! 

Unlike the majority we planned to complete the trek from east to west, no particular reason but Abs who had done all of the preparation for this part of the trip had taken some good advice from some people she'd met at our hostel in Mendoza.

After dinner at El Living, a veggie restaurant run by a guy from Croydon who was travelling around the world 15 years ago, arrived in Puerto Natales and liked it so stayed, it was back to the B&B for an early night.

Sunday

The bus was due to collect us between 7:30 and 8:30 and so we were up at 6:30 for breakfast and ready to go at 7:30, and we were still ready to go at 8:30 when Abby asked if we should be worried that the bus hadn't arrived, Fabby laughed and assured us that Chilean time is different to UK time and that the bus would arrive. 15 minutes later Abs checked again and Fabby said we had nothing to worry about but phoned the bus company who told her the bus was on it's way. At 9:30 a second call to the bus company revealed that the bus had forgotten us...... 

Fabby who had organised the bus for us was doing what she could to get the bus company to sort out a private vehicle to take us to Torres del Paine and that's just what they did unfortunately it was someone else's private vehicle.... They had rather cheekily tried to sneak us in to a people carrier that had been booked by 6 other people for a private tour! 

So at 10:30 we were back exactly where we'd started, not for long though as after another call from Fabby a cab arrived to take us to the start point of our trek, or so we thought..... as we tried to establish why it felt as though we were driving in the wrong direction and Abs was trying to clarify that the taxi driver was taking us to Torres del Paine which he assured us he was he pulled on to a driveway and tooted.... he'd driven to his house to pick up his wife who got in to the car clutching what were clearly some hastily made sandwiches .... well how often does a metered taxi get asked to take a fare more than two hours away to one of the most beautiful places in the world....

So there you have it, I've told you the punch line, in my opinion Torres del Paine is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Aside from forgetting to take my camera on the first walk there were no more mishaps, just five amazing days of walking in an incredible Biosphere Reserve, drinking water straight from the streams and having a wonderful time.

So as I said, brace yourselves....

Raine x

Five days of Awesome

Brace yourselves..... 

It's been 12 days since my last update and in that time we've crossed the Chile/Argentina border four times, walked 100km (62 miles) and arrived in a city that I could happily call home so as you can imagine I have lots to tell you.

I need to start back on the 18th January, my friend Janes birthday and the day that Abby and I took the bus, from El Calafate in Argentina which is where we visited the Perito Moreno Glaciar, to Puerto Natales in Chile which is where we were going to start the W Trek.

Torres del Paine (pronounced Pine-yah) most definitely inspired my awe, it beats an average cup of coffee, an ok meal and distinctly average service hands down!

Raine x

Feliz cumpleanos (Happy Birthday)

Johnny Boy

I hope you have an amazing day.

With all my love on your birthday.

Lorraine x

I drink to forget (the llama jumper......)

Famous Grouse with glacial ice and shocking jumper

......And the footwear, where the hell are my Louboutin's!

Raine x

I'm running out of superlatives

It's hard to know what can better some of the sights that I've seen so far while I've been travelling in South America but it seems that there is always something else just around the corner, maybe not to better it but something that drives a similar emotion. 

I remember seeing Machu Picchu and thinking that I would never see anything as special or as impressive, but then I saw the Salt Flats in Bolivia, Mounts Fitzroy and Torre and yesterday I saw the Perito Moreno Glacier......

A breathtaking sight to see

Just Incredible

I now know what colour ice blue is...

Kryptonite - Blue K

I really cannot imagine what else I will see before I come home but I fully expect to use the words extraordinary, spectacular, breathtaking and maybe even awesome*, a few more times.

On this trip if there's one thing that makes me sad it is that I will never be able to see these extraordinary naturally beautiful sights for the first time again. 

Raine x 
* I am less inclined to use awesome since our American cousins choose to use it to describe an 'ok' coffee,  a 'quite nice' meal or 'distinctly average' service. Please know that if I do use the word Awesome it will be to describe something that has inspired my awe!

Allow me to introduce you to Fitzroy

Mount Fitzroy is extraordinary.....

Mount Fitzroy

El Chalten is a small village of less than 1000 residents nestled in the shadow of Mounts Fitzroy and Torre, and it exists solely to enable hikers to come and complete the hikes to get a better view of these amazing mountains, and for the more experienced to climb Fitzroy and Torre which are considered to be two of the most technical climbs in the world.

Our first day was nerve racking as there was a lot of low cloud and we couldn't see the peaks from the village but we were assured that we were going to be very lucky the next day.... 

In the evening after doing our admin we went for a glass of wine and met Sarah from Montana who had just climbed Aconcagua and was in El Chalten for a a few down days before flying home. As she was planning to do the same hike as us the next day we invited her to walk with us, she was a remarkable lady, an astro physicist which made for a fascinating conversation over dinner and newly diagnosed with MS just three years ago at 26, her mantra "The only way for a diagnosis like MS to be ok is to live a better life with it than without it"; I'm glad that we met her.

It is an incredible place

Wow, we were so lucky the next day, we set off on the Tres Lagos Trek at 9:45 in brilliant sunshine and able to clearly see the sheer granite faces of Mount Fitzroy. 

El Chalten is an unusual village because you are able to set off on every trek from the village so within just a few minutes you are already on the ascent.

It's a long walk, it took us 10 hours to complete, about 5 - 6 hours to the peak with the last hour of that being a very steep climb to the most sensational view, then another 4 or so hours to get back to The Cervezeria for a celebratory Artesanal beer!

Awesome - and I don't say that often

I am in love....

If you are a keen walker and you haven't been to Patagonia you need to ask yourself why and then book your flights, it is without a doubt the most strikingly beautiful place that I have ever been to.

With love,

Raine x

The road to El Chalten

In stark contrast to Coyhaique in Chile the sky was blue and the sun was shining at 7:30am in Los Antiguos.

We took full advantage of the buffet breakfast at Hotel Mora, transforming it into a packed lunch and snacks for our journey. We left Los Antigous at 9am and 15 minutes later we were still driving alongside Lago Buenos Aires, the water was a mix of turquoise and deep blue and it was sparkling in the sunlight, quite different to yesterday when there was a strong wind blowing and there were frothy white horses everywhere.

The landscape has changed completely, much flatter and less dramatic. The trees and bushes look exactly the same as the ones my brother used to use to create the country side for his Hornby train set. 

We're getting quite used to these long bus journeys but the downside for me is that I can't read as it makes me feel travel sick and my earphones have packed up so I can't listen to music so it's time spent day dreaming and looking at the scenery, which on this journey was stunning. We were on Ruta 40, a single highway that will take us all the way to El Chalten, after about three hours we left the comfort of Tarmac and travelled on a gravel road, it was bumpy but the sun was shining, the sky was bright blue with lots of cirrus clouds which looked really striking over the landscape where the hills were a similar shape.

Two hours later and we were parked at the side of Ruta 40 - the bus had broken down..... There are a lot of things in life that are worth your stress and angst, this was not one of them so I went to sleep. There were three false starts but after a couple of hours we were on our way again.

Ruta 40 is 5000km long and we travelled just 650km but what an amazing road, between Los Antiguos and El Chalten I didn't see a single house, farm or electricity pylon.

The landscape is extraordinary with the colours in your line of vision ranging from white through to black with so many colours and shades in between. Occasionally going round one of the bends I thought that I was looking at a harbour or a bay but it was just the contrast of the colours and landscape playing tricks on my eyes.

View from the bus

View from the bus - incredible colours

View from the bus - The night sky on Ruta 40

view from the bus - The night sky on Ruta 40

We arrived in El Chalten a little before 11pm and it was only just dark (it gets dark just after 10:30pm here......) but it was incredibly windy, despite our very heavy backpacks Abs and I were blown all over the place before we reached our B&B.

Having seen the silhouette of the mountains in the night sky I have high hopes of El Chalten - subject to the weather improving.....

Our first glimpse

Looking forward to telling you about Fitzroy.

Raine x