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

We're not celebrities but please get us out of here...

We arrived in Coyhaique in the early evening and my lasting memory of the place will be the time that we spent trying to leave.....

We had heard that the Chillean side of the Lake District was less travelled than the Argentinian side and a few people that we'd met on our travels had told us how beautiful it was. One of the advantages of travelling and having the luxury of time is the ability to change your plans on a whim and that's what we decided to do.

To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman; "Big mistake. Big. Huge".

We took the bus from the airport (in the pouring rain, it's worth noting that Argentina has 300+ days of sunshine and Chile has 200+ days of rain!) and arrived at our hostel which was set a long way back from the main road in woodland, Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor describe Hostel Salamandras as 'rustic' [Note to self for future reference: whilst the word 'rustic' conjures up an English country garden kind of picture in my mind of a slightly aged picket fence and original sash windows rather than double glazed and all sorts of home cooked delights on the kitchen table, when the word is used to describe accommodation it should be treated with a cautious mind and not a romantic one].

'Rustic' in this instance meant; remote, cold and damp, with no heating (and remember set a long way back from the road in woodland). As the taxi's engine faded away, in the distance I could hear the faint strumming of a banjo (Twang-a-twang-twang twang-twang twang-twang twang......) at the same time Abby was thinking she could see something nasty in the woodshed.

It didn't take long to decide that we weren't staying, but it turned out that leaving was harder than we expected.....

We managed to find a great twin room in the town and on the owners recommendation we went for a pizza and a beer at a strange Leprechaun themed restaurant where we laughed about our day (and the fact that we were eating in a Leprechaun themed restaurant) when what we should have been doing was hatching an escape plan.

We went to the bus station to take a bus towards El Chalten at 9:30am and were told that buses to El Chalten only leave on even dated days, great we thought as it was the 8th... Not so great it was 9:30 and the bus left at 7am. So the rest of the day was spent trying to find an alternative route which we did, we booked a mini bus to Ibanez (pronounced Ibanyez) which is done by walking up to a minibus parked at the side of the street, giving the man inside it 800 pesos and your address and accepting his assurances that he would indeed pick us up at 06:45 and get us to the ferry port at Ibanez in time for the 10am ferry. 

Then we had to book the ferry to Chile Chico which is the border crossing back in to Argentina, a bus to take us from Chile Chico to Los Antiguos and contingency accomodation in Los Antiguos just in case we aren't able to get a bus - which based on our experience was highly likely.

After an anxious 5 minutes in the morning when we'd almost convinced ourselves that we'd been ripped off and then agreed that as 800 pesos is £10 it was unlikely, hardly the biggest money making scam in the world the bus arrived and got us to the ferry in plenty of time.

The road to Ibanez was beautiful 'moody' scenery, dark green rolling hills and a heavily cloud laiden sky with a glimmer of sun pushing through the edge of the blanket of cloud a long way in the distance. The hills are glacial deposits and the uneven yet obvious pathway that the glacier left behind as it travelled through make me think what a truly incredible world it is that we live in and how long ago this pathway was carved in to Chiles landscape.

When we got off the ferry at Chile Chico we were able to take a Collectivo to the least stringent border crossing that I've ever experienced and a few minutes later we were in Los Antiguos a purely functional stop before we take the 8am bus for the 12 hour trip to El Chalten.

See you there.

Raine x

A beautiful border crossing

The trip to from Bariloche in Argentina to Puerto Varas in Chile was 12 hours long and involved four buses and three boats and was without a doubt one of our most scenic border crossings to date. 

We were picked up at 7.5km on Bustillo at 8am on Saturday 5th and taken by bus to the dock where we took a catamaran across the first lake. The water was a dark sapphire blue and we were accompanied by a flock of seagulls. It felt a bit like a scene from The Birds, at any one time there were as many as 12 flying along with us and for a small fee the on board photographer was more than happy to take a photo of a seagull taking food from your hand - I declined.....

Then it was on to a bus and then a second boat to take us across the second lake which was a short hop of 20 minutes and where we officially entered Chile.

The third and final boat of the day took us on the most impressive lake crossing that I have ever done, Lago Todos Los Santos is a deep emerald green colour and as we rounded the first bend in the lake we were confronted by Volcano Osorno a perfect conical shaped volcano with green slopes and snow covered summits, it's a perfect icon of the Chilean Lake District - the natural world at its very best. As you can imagine such a sight drove every passenger to grab their camera and rush to the front of the boat and after a few attempts to capture the view without someone else's hand, head or elbow in the frame I resolved to buy a postcard!

The scenery was breathtaking......

Porto Panuelo to Porto Blest - crossing Lago Nahuel Hapi 

Port Alegre to Porto Frias - crossing Lago Frias

Puella to Petrohue - Volcano Osorno

We stayed in a B&B called The Guest House, a big old clap-board house with a huge bedroom and a great communal area which we took advantage of on Sunday as it was pouring with rain - only our third day of rain in 100 days, not bad. It gave us the opportunity to plan the next part of our trip down to Torres del Paine, on Monday we fly to Coyahaique in Chile, apparently an ideal place from which to do a couple of glacier and National Park tours before heading further south.

Us talking through the next bit of our trip 

See you in Coyhaique.

Raine x

The new New Years Day is the 2nd of January

New Year was definitely a game of two halves for us.

Half Time score: Wine (1) - Abby & Raine (0)

For New Years Eve we'd booked a lovely restaurant called Butterfly which was only a short walk from our hostel. We arrived just before 9pm and had champagne and canapés by the side of Lake Nahuel Huapi. It's still light and very warm in Bariloche after 9pm which gave the evening a 'height of British summer' feel not a Happy New Year feel - this time last year it was freezing cold and dark outside and I was drinking cocktails with Caroline, Marc and John.

Dinner was excellent, a seven course meal paired with some very good Argentinian wines, though to be honest I can only confidently say that the first three courses were paired with very good wine, the glasses of wine were very big and regularly topped up hence my slightly foggier recollection of courses four to seven.... Booking a table at such a small restaurant I was sure that we would be back at the hostel by 12:30 but no, a small and intimate restaurant it transpires, means that you start talking to and very possibly (though I can't swear to it) singing with the other guests, and getting home at 3:30am.

No sooner had I fallen asleep than Abby was asking me if I was awake, turns out that it was 8:45 the same 8:45 that we were being picked up by a tour company to take us on a tour of the seven lakes!

All seven lakes are beautiful but I have to say that after the third I was beginning to feel a bit 'Wat-ed out' which is the term I used in Thailand after visiting about 173 temples (Wats), without wanting to suggest that if you've seen one you've seen them all but they are pretty similar.

One of the seven.... 

The scenery here really is stunning and not just the hills, there are lupins lining the sides of every road, white through every shade of purple from a pale lilac similar to wisteria to a deep indigo colour, a striking difference to the kerbsides of Ecuador which you'll remember were lined with Eucalyptus trees - this floral border frames the backdrop of the hills beautifully.

Full Time score: Wine (1) - Abby & Raine (lots)
For me, New Year really began on the 2nd when our hangovers had gone, we'd commited to drinking less, agreed not to mention New Years Eve again and we caught the number 20 bus along Bustillo which is the road that hugs lago (lake) Nahuel Huapi and in one direction takes you to Bariloche city centre and in the other takes you to some of the most beautiful countryside that I have ever seen and to Cerro Campinario.



The city has a really good way of marking the streets and maps which make it fantastically tourist friendly; the street signs are all marked by the km that they are on on the road, for example the first hostel we stayed at, Alaska was at 7.4km the second hostel Green House was at 4.7km, with the City at 0km, this was an easy place to navigate by bus. At 17.5km we got off the bus and took the chairlift up Cerro (hill) Campinario, named by National Geographic as one of the top 10 best views in the world, the scenery is breathtaking.

Snow capped despite 27C at the viewpoint...

It's just soooooo beautiful

After taking in the views at Cerro Campinario and on the advice of our hostel owner we visited Colonia Suiza (at 21.2km); to date the first real disappointment of the trip and keeping it in perspective it was only five hours out of a six month trip and so it's easily forgotten. Its history is that it was the first Swiss settlement in Patagonia but the present day experience is that it's a pretty poor tourist offering of a small market selling tourist tat, admittedly it's set in some beautiful scenery, but in the same way that all of the steak in Argentina is 'the best I've ever tasted' the scenery here is the best I've ever seen I just would have preferred to have been walking in it than shopping in it!

On Thursday 3rd any disappointment that I felt from our trip to the Swiss Village disappeared as soon as I got off the number 50 bus at Llao Llao (unlike the rest of SA where a double L is pronounced 'Ly' in Argentina it's pronounced as a J or Zh), and went for a three hour walk which was rewarded in the evening by a few halves of artisanal beer which is very popular in Bariloche due to it's Swiss/German heritage.

It's enough to make me want to take up golf....

Breathtaking

Having had such a great walk on Thursday we wanted more of the same on Friday and asked the manager of our hostel if he could recommend a walk and he came up trumps. We walked to Refugio Frey; all in all about 25km, much of it uphill through beautiful woodland and although it was tiring it was a wonderful and rewarding walk - though I have to say I felt a little bit ripped off at the cost of the two cans of coke and one luncheon meat and cheese sandwich that we had at the top which cost $70 Argentinian pesos (£10!). A dinner of steak (yes, the best I've ever tasted!) and salad at El Boliche de Alberto was a good end to a hard day and indeed our stay in Bariloche, tomorrow we will travel south and for a second time cross from Argentina in to Chile.

Refugio Frey is in sight after 2.5 hours

The reward when you arrive at Refugio Frey

See you there.

Raine x

Feliz cumpleanos (Happy Birthday)

Have a great day Dad.

Me and my Dad (a few years ago....)

With all my love on your birthday.

Lorraine x

We've made it to Alaska

After 20 hours of travelling we arrived at Hostel Alaska in Bariloche on Sunday afternoon where we're staying for three nights.

Alaska...

It was a great bus journey as we'd invested in 'Full Cama' seats on the Andesmar bus which means that at the press of one button and flip of a footstool your seat is transformed into a bed, and I don't mean a reclining chair I mean a full on bed....

We watched an episode of Downton and shared the last bit of a bottle of red wine we'd been carrying around with us and then dinner arrived, a complete carb-fest on a tray; mini quiche, mini pizza, bread roll, cheese & ham sandwich and a muffin served with a glass of Norton Malbec. The mini quiche was nice and I ate the cheese off the top of the pizza and it goes without saying that the muffin and wine went down well. Then the attendant cleared the trays and returned two minutes later..... with dinner.... Roast chicken and vegetables Abs and I instantly regretted the speed at which we'd tucked into the Christmas chocolates.

After our second dinner we watched Love Actually, it was the first time that I've watched it without crying when Emma Thompson goes into her bedroom and listens to Joni Mitchell 'Both Sides Now'.....

Even though we had the very best seats one thing that none of us gets to choose is the passenger who sits next to us (apart from Abby obviously, I chose to sit next to her) but on the other side of the walkway we had a very old and clearly very tired old man who no sooner than he'd finished his boiled sweet was asleep and snoring... loudly.... There were two empty seats at the very front of the bus so we relocated took the two simple steps required to convert our seats in to beds and went to the land of nod ourselves.

Bariloche is known as 'The gateway to Patagonia and The Lake District' and it's a beautiful place. When we arrived we walked to the supermarket and it started raining the first time we've had rain since our hike to Machu Picchu..... The scenery here is beautiful, hills and lakes and with the rain it would have been hard not to draw comparisons to Scotland.

Blue skies, hills, water... perfect....

This morning we planned the activities that we're going to do over the next five days before catching the Number 50 bus to go to Lago Gutierrez to see the waterfall and walk up to the Mirador (viewpoint).

Waterfall at Lago Gutierrez 

The view from the mirador

It seems that each place we go to is more beautiful than the last.... feeling very lucky right now.

Raine x

The start of the Christmas blues.....

On Boxing Day all of the other guests left the estancia and so after an early breakfast and much hugging and squeezing of little people Abs and I went out for a ride with Polo up in to the hills - it was so different having just three of us on the ride I'd got quite used to the hustle and bustle of having the children there.

El Puesto completely exceeded my expectations, it's a perfect oasis away from the rest of the world - with no reminders the real world. The estancia operates on solar power, there's no freezer, no wifi and only an occasional mobile phone signal - a real treat.

If you look closely you can see my 'stolen' earrings

We had a lovely final evening, just the two of us and Raul for dinner it wasn't a late one as we'd arranged to go for another ride in the morning before heading back to Mendoza.

Happy days at El Puesto

As with each of the preceding mornings we were greeted by brilliant sunshine and we had another wonderful ride when we got back at midday it was time to pack up and get back to our travels.... I was sad to be leaving and it's one of the first places that I've ever stayed that I would like to think I might return to one day.

Raul drove us back to Mendoza which is a two hour drive, when we were about 10 minutes away he asked us if we would like to join him for lunch at his house in Chacras da Coria, we didn't have any plans and so we were delighted to accept his invitation. Anna his housekeeper made us fresh beef burgers with salad while Raul kept the lunch time drinking tradition going by pouring the wine, finishing off one bottle of chilled red and then ordering me to finish my wine "Lorena, drink your wine" before opening the second bottle.

When Raul eventually dropped us off at Hostel Lao I was sad to say goodbye to him, he'd been such a charming and generous host.

I am however looking forward to eating and drinking a little less and so along with the rest of you I will be detoxing throughout January. 

It's 4:30pm on Saturday as I type and at 8:30pm we will be catching the bus to Bariloche in the Lake District - 800 miles and a 16 hour bus trip away.... Our iPads are fully charged so I fully expect to be watching Downton Abbey or Love Actually by 9pm.

Raine x