Oh, Patagonia. I can’t even come up with the words to describe your beauty. From your jagged granite peaks, flowing glaciers that reflect every color of blue imaginable, clean flowing rivers and lakes packed with trout and salmon, to your wild wind swept grasslands, with an abundance of grazing Guanacos and Rheas, Patagonia you have lived up to and exceeded all of our expectations. It has been some of the most amazing part of our journey so far.

The majestic Monte Fitz Roy.

Wild grazing Rhea and Guanaco along side a Patagonian lake.

After our amazing introduction to Chilean Patagonia, we continued on to the town of El Chalten, in Argentina located within the northern part of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glacier National Park) and at the base of the impressive Monte Fitz Roy and it’s cousin Cerro Torre, who stand guard over the little town with towering granite peaks. Coming into town, the wind had been blowing us around the road, and when we finally found a place to camp, as we started setting up, two guys next to us were packing up and heading out after having their tent poles snapped in half by the wind. “Oh well,” they told us, “now we have an excuse to enjoy a few days in a hostel.”  There are many wonderful things about this part of the park, the most important being there is a great park information building in town with knowledgeable people to give advice on hiking, climbing and trails, the park is full of well signed well maintained trails that offer a variety of views for everybody from the out of shape to the intrepid hiker, and all of this without any kind of entry fee. We decided to go all out and hike the 18km roundtrip trail into the base of Fitz Roy. It was a beautiful hike, with the trail winding up through beautiful wooded valleys offering up breathtaking views of the granite towers above, ending with a brutal 45 minute climb straight up the boulder strewn mountain side to finally arrive to an amazing view of the glacier and lakes that sit at the base of the granite towers. We took a few minutes (or maybe hours) to catch our breath and have a snack, but eventually we realized, yes that climb was worth the view.

The amazing view of the base of Fitz Roy. Worth the grueling climb!

Heading back down, you can see what we had to climb to appreciate the view.

We had planned to enjoy a few more hikes in El Chalten, but unfortunately for us out of shape hikers, we were too sore to do any more hiking for a few days. So instead we enjoyed some delicious eating amongst the many great places in El Chalten, then headed south to El Calafate. There wasn’t really much to see in town, it had a street lined with cheezy tourist shops and overpriced restaurants roasting sheep over the fire. After the unique touristy yet cool vibe of El Chalten the cheezy shops of El Calafte didn’t compare. The next day we headed out to get up close to the giant wall of ice known as the Perito Moreno glacier. This spectacular glacier lies within the greater Southern Patagonia ice field and is pretty impressive. It covers 97 square miles, with a length of 19 miles and and its greatest depth of 2,297 feet of pure ice. It is also pretty special, as it it one of only a few glaciers in the world that is still advancing rather than retreating into nothing like so many others out there. Standing at the base of the glacier and looking up at the 200 plus feet wall of ice, you realize it is one of those special natural phenomenons that really helps put into perspective how infinitely small we humans are in the scheme of things. Another great thing about this glacier is it location near a peninsula that allows visitors to walk around right near the base as it spills out into the lake around it. We spent hours walking the rail lined walkways to get different views of the blue hued ice, always waiting for a big chunk to break off with a thundering boom and go splashing into the water below.

Leaving El Calafate, we headed back into Chile, via a remote little border, to Puerto Natales. Here we met up with our friend Nicolas, whom we had met way back in Ecuador while he was traveling with 4 other friends in an old Nissan Petrol they had bought in Colombia. After hanging out and enjoying some awesome burgers and craft brewed beers (made with hops from Northern California no less!) at the brewery where he works and stocking up on groceries we made our way north to Torres del Paine National Park to try our feet at some more hiking. Like Fitz Roy in Argentina, Torres del Paine is a series of spectacular mountains with huge granite towers that make most climbers drool, surrounded by rolling hills of wild grasslands and turquoise colored glacial lakes.

Looking out over one of the many lakes at the granite peaks of Torres del Paine.

We spent a few nights in a campground near the trailhead to the base of the Torres, and spent another day on an ambitious 18 km roundtrip hike up to the base of the Torres. The hike was very similar to the one in Fitz Roy, with the trail winding through beautiful woods and valleys, then another horrendous jaunt straight up the skree and boulder strewn mountain, to arrive with a breathtaking vista of a glacier lake sitting at the base of the granite towers of Torres del Paine. The weather wasn’t cooperating very nicely with us, and by time we dragged ourselves over the last of the boulders, the clouds were moving in blocking some of the view. We spent some of our hike back down walking into strong gusts of wind pelting rain and ice into our faces.

The glacier lake and granite towers at the end of the hike.

As with our other over ambitious hike at Fitz Roy, we had a few painful days of sore feet and blisters to nurse, so we moved camp to another spot with an amazing view and spent our time on the easily accessible hikes within the park.

Our camp with a view, looking out at the granite towers of Torres del Paine.

Heading south again, we made our way down to Punta Arenas, situated on the shores of the Straights of Magellan. We spent a day in the Zona Franca the duty free zone searching for a new Thermarest for Lacey, the previous one having developed a giant bubble that had slowly spread to encompass the entire bottom of the pad. Having no luck here, we decided to head south to Tierra del Fuego, but not before (luckily for us) we realized that our break pads were shot and in immediate need of replacement.  After another day of hunting down break pads and getting them put on, we headed out to the ferry landing for a ferry ride across the Straights of Magellan and onto the island of Tierra del Fuego.

We couldn't resist a photo op with the "Ruta del Fin del Mundo" (route to the end of the world) sign.

After hours of waiting in a line of cars at the ferry, more hours on a horrible dirt road, and a border crossing back into Argentina, we made it to Camping Hain to meet up with our friends Life Remotely, who were heading north from Ushuaia. We spent a great few nights at the campground, enjoying views of the lake, catching up with the Remotelys (if you meet them have them cook for you) and hearing jealousy inspiring stories of their cruise to Antarctica (you really should check out some of their jealousy inspiring photos here).

The result of craft time with Lost World and The Remotelys at Camping Hain.

We both were excited and a bit wonder struck thinking about all the amazing scenery we’d past through in the last few months of Patagonia and how close to Ushuaia we finally were. Crossing the Straights of Magellan I had started thinking back to history lessons so long ago in grade school, learning about the intrepid explorers sailing around the end of the world. As a child, these places had seemed so far away and unimaginable, and yet, here we were driving our way through only 100 kilometers from the end of the world.

May 1st, 2013 | Tags: blogsherpa, fitz roy, patagonia, torres del paine | Category: Argentina, Chile, South America | Comments (5)

Our first border crossing into Argentina was the quickest and easiest we’ve experienced on our entire trip. We crossed at a remote border called Paso Roballos. From the Chilean border post, where one guy -on a 30 day rotation and 2 weeks past due- was working and everything was done old school: paper and pens, we had to drive another 12kms through empty wind swept grass lands to the Argentina border post. Here we were greeted by a small oasis with a windblown outpost surrounded by dry pampa, a sign welcoming us to Argentina, and one guy who had been out here working for weeks as well. Argentina has recently imposed a new reciprocity fee for Americans and citizens of a few other countries for entering by land. In the past we had to pay this fee only when arriving by air, but the new rule applies to border crossings by land as well, and has to be purchased online before arriving at the border. We had read that they were indeed enforcing this as well as requiring proof of insurance for the vehicle which also has to be bought before arriving as they don’t sell it at the border. Since we were so far out in the middle of nowhere, we weren’t taking any chances, so we had proof of both in hand but decided not to offer it up unless asked as an experiment. The guy took our passports and asked if we had any other papers for the truck. We gave him the title and a few minutes later we were given a hand written import paper for the truck, some stamps in our passports and we were good to go. I guess the remote borders are the way to go. I do hope that at some point we are asked for our proof of payment of the reciprocity fee otherwise we will have wasted $160 bucks a piece

Upon entering Argentina (our 13th country in the last 3.5 years!), we had crossed to the other side of the Andes range and we were immediately introduced to the infamous Patagonian winds. The landscape changed dramatically as well, becoming dry grasslands stretching on for as far as the eye can see, interrupted now and then by rolling hills and large plateaus.  Definitely a far cry from the green mountainous scenery of the Carretera Austral.

If you look closely you'll see a little bunny rabbit bounding through the grass... Can you see it?

As we followed the dirt road out to the Ruta 40 and headed south, we saw herds of Guanaco and Ñandu or Rhea; a smaller version of the ostrich grazing lazily in the empty fields. We also got our first glimpse of the armadillo peludo (hairy armadillo) that we had seen in a pamphlet a few days before and for some reason became obsessed with finding. One of the guys at the Parque Patagonica the day before had told us they were fairly rare to see, but sure enough as we headed down the dirt road, one went scurrying across the road right in front of us. We immediately stopped and got out, but those little creatures move incredibly fast. We managed to get a few pics before he had dug himself half way into the ground then abandoned that plan and simply flung himself into the small stream to get away. Poor guy, we probably scared him half to death.

After our arrival he gave up on the digging and simply threw himself in the water, can you see his little splash?

But not before we managed to snap a photo of his hairy cuteness.

We drove for hours on some of the worst dirt roads we’ve experienced so far before finally hitting the famous Argentinean Ruta 40 and turning south. The road didn’t really bother us, as we were too caught up in our excitement to finally have made it to Argentina. We were on our way through Patagonia, one step closer to Ushuaia that mythical southernmost city we had set out to find in what seems ages ago. The journey was never really about getting from a to b, but about finding and enjoying everything in between. As the quote by Greg Anderson says: “Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” I feel we’ve done a pretty good job of . Still though it felt good to be getting close. We enjoyed the scenery as the miles rolled by of unendless grasslands. It was good we got at least one day of enjoyment until it all blurred into the same boring scenery as it would in a few days to come.

The view out the rear view with our friends American Recess

One of the many random lakes hidden amongst the rolling hills. No your eye isn't playing tricks on you. Those pink spots are flamingos, not terribly tropical after all!

We kept truckin’ until close to dark, then found a spot along a river to camp for the night. Logan, Reid, and Zephyr of AmericanRecess were still with us, and set up their truck next to us to try to help as a wind block for the tent. It was the first time setting up the tent in high winds and we were a bit worried about getting blown away. We’ve been hearing about the Patagonian winds forever, but it is one thing to hear of something and an entirely other thing to actually experience it. The next morning our tent hadn’t been blown away or snapped in half by the wind (thank you North Face and thank you Jorge). We took it as a good sign and rolled our way south…

Luis rocking his hawk and "cleaning" our drinking water along the road.

March 11th, 2013 | Category: Argentina, South America | Comments (7)

The town of Coyhaique is located about half way through the Carretera Austral and is also the biggest “city” with a burgeoning population of 50,000. After so long spent on empty roads and surrounding wilderness it was a bit jarring to pull into the main plaza and be surrounded by a bustling downtown. It was however a good place to restock up on groceries and spend a day on the internet checking in with the world again and trying to buy Argentinian insurance which we had forgotten to buy before setting out. After an entire day of going to every insurance agent in town and trying to contact insurance agents in Argentina, we gave up and made up a fake paper to get across the border. The problem for the Chilean agents was that they aren’t set up to insure foreign vehicles  so their computer forms won’t accept our license plate (too many numbers and letters) and we don’t have a RUT which is the Chilean equivalent to a social security number. After printing out our nicely faked insurance papers we hit the road south. The second half of the Carretera turned out to be even nicer than the first half if that is even possible. As you go over hills and drop into different valleys the microclimate changes rapidly from lush green temperate rain forrest to dry grasslands with reddish hued rock outcroppings reminiscent of Colorado and Utah, then back to forrest again. Something we noticed along the entire route was the large amount of dead standing trees, marching from the valley floors all the way up the sides of the mountains. They were everywhere and so many of them. We finally asked some locals what it was all about. Apparently back in the late 1800s and early 1900s the government had a system of land  handouts to settlers much like the one in the US. The only stipulation was that they had to prove they were using a certain amount of the land by clearing a specified number of hectares of trees. The colonists decided that burning was the most efficient means of accomplishing this. Due to this initiative almost the entire area was burned, with the fires going out of control and burning almost everything. Even after all this time, the dead trees are still standing.

Cerro Castillo

We soon got into a routine of starting out for the day in late morning driving for a few hours, then finding a nice spot off the road somewhere to cook lunch and relax for a while before setting out for a few more miles before finding a campsite for the night. The great thing about being this far south in the summer is the long days. The sun doesn’t set until around 10:00, which gives plenty of time for taking it slow and getting some hikes in.

The view from our lunch stop. Two rivers with different shades of blue are mixing together.

Luis trying his luck with the fish after lunch.

In the town of Rio Tranquilo along side the spectacularly colored Lago General Carrera, we took a side road along the Rio Exploradores on the advice of another overlander (FromAtoB.org). It was one of the nicest drives along the way. We found pullouts all along the road to great little free camping sites right on the river. Unfortunately we had left our tent set up at a campground in town so had to content ourselves with stopping for a few hours to enjoy lunch and some fishing (for Luis). Probably the only bad thing that I can think of for the entire stretch of the austral is the presence of tabanos, oversized horse flies that constantly buzz around you taking bites out of your flesh whenever given the chance. They proved to be spectacular little buggers in that even after slapping them off you and thinking them squished and taken care of, they pick themselves up and fly back for another taste. They really are hard to kill! In this particular stretch they were even worse in numbers, if that is even possible, and eventually we had to head out or be driven mad by their buzzing and biting.

Perfect spot to stop for lunch and stay for the night.

The next morning we got up bright and early and made our way down to the lake for a boat trip to the Capillas de Marmol (Marble Chapels). A small portion of the shoreline around the lake consists of marble that has been hollowed out by the water from the lake into caves and arches with beautiful striations of color, dipping into the impossibly turquoise of the lake. We were lucky enough to have gone early and had the whole place to ourselves.

A little further down the road, we went searching for a campsite recommended to us by our friends Life Remotely, on the Rio Nadiz. As we were following the narrow dirt road in, we came to a bridge crossing the fast flowing river and thought for a moment that our friends had been messing with us. It was a suspension bridge and looked too small to accommodate vehicles. There was a sign saying a maximum weight limit of 6,000 kilos. We did some quick calculations in our head, then I got out to spot the truck to see if we could even fit on the bridge. It turned out we did, just barely. As we started to cross, the bridge started moving up and down from the weight of the truck. I had visions of cables snapping off and us and the Landcruiser crashing into the raging river below and was soon running across the bridge. It turned out the sketchy bridge was worth it, as the campsite, located on a German/Chilean couples property was amazing. Set in a narrow valley along side the river, it was pure relaxation. We expected to just stay the night and leave the following day, but ended up staying another day to relax and enjoy the place.

The narrow bridge heading into the campground. We just squeezed on with a few inches to spare.

When we finally arrived in Villa O’Higgins, the end of the road, we were itching to get up close and personal with a glacier. We had been seeing them from a distance practically the entire drive on the Austral, but hadn’t gotten as close as we would’ve liked. Some friends we had met had taken a boat from Villa O’Higgins to the O’Higgins glacier, and had good things to say, so we hopped on the over priced boat and headed out. The ride started out on a beautiful sunny day crossing the calm lake and we sat up top and enjoyed the sun and views. By the time we started getting close to the glacier the sun was still shining, but an icy wind had picked up to such an extent that the boat was getting tossed around and it was hard to stand up on top. We did manage to get up close to the glacier and were rewarded with spectacular views and a whiskey with glacial ice to help warm us up. I think it is probably a miracle we came back with both cameras, as my hands were so frozen I almost dropped mine over board at least a dozen times .

A floating iceburg from the glacier. Luckily for us, nobody started singing the song from the Titanic

Whiskey "Milenario" (cheap whiskey with glacial ice)

Villa O’Higgins is the end of the road for the Carretera Austral and it is literally a dead end. There is no way to cross to Argentina and no way to keep going south. We had actually found out there is a road that goes from the village to Argentina, and there are even customs officials there, but the road on the Argentina side is interrupted by a river with no bridge. At this time of year due to snow melt the rivers are running at their highest point and after making some inquiries we were told the river was about a meter and a half (about 5 feet) deep and running fast. During the winter we were told you can cross by vehicle with no problem, but that was a little too much water for us, so we turned back and headed north back to Cochrane.

Just before we were about to hit the road that would take us to the Argentina border we ran into our friends Logan, Reid and their dog Zephyr of American Recess, who decided to join us. We stopped along the way at the new headquarters of the Parque Patagonia, another private park in progress started by a former CEO of Patagonia, the outdoor gear company. It was interesting talking to the supervisor of the park about their future plans. The campground for the park doesn’t allow vehicles at the campsites, but he let us camp alongside a lake up the road for free. We spent a great afternoon hanging out with Logan and Reed, and they even let us try out their stand up paddle board on the lake. We just might have found our next sport. The next morning we woke to the sounds of a lot of hooves hitting the ground. At first I was a little disoriented and thought we were in the middle of a stampede. Soon we heard some very weird sounds, part horse whinny part something else enitrely. I finally peeked my head out the tent and realized we were surrounded by a herd of Guanaco, a distant south american cousin of the camel, who were grazing all around us. It was a pretty cool start to our morning and a great good bye to the Carretera Austral.

Luis enjoying the paddel board on the lake.

The entire stretch of the Carretera Austral encompassed some of the most beautiful areas we have traveled through on our little adventure. A huge part of the charm of the area is the remoteness and lack of development, allowing you to appreciate nature at its finest. Unfortunately, the area has a very uncertain future as the marching steps of development are looming. The government has plans to pave the entire stretch of the carretera within the next five years; already there is about 200-300 kilometers completed. From what we have seen as far as the speed of work goes down here, it will be longer than 5 years, but eventually people will be able to drive from one end to the other on smooth asphalt roads. This is sure to open up the area to more development as more people have access. We sincerely hope that development is done in a thoughtful way so as to protect the beautiful natural areas. The other big threat to the area right now is that a few foreign companies who own all of the water rights in the region want to put in large dams on the main rivers, flooding a good part of the area, in order to create electricity that they will then sell back to the country for profit. There is huge resistance to the dams by a good portion of the residents of the area. Almost everybody we talked to was very much against the dams, as their homes and livelihoods are at stake. There are even numerous billboards speaking against them and almost everywhere you go cars and houses are sporting Patagonia Chilena Sin Repressas stickers. Last year the area was the site of big protests and blockades by people speaking out against the dams and trying to bring attention to the matter. At one of our favorite campgrounds on the carreterra and indeed almost the whole trip, the owners had some very good literature and posters showing the extent of what will happen if the dams are allowed to go through. These people’s land, which had been in the family for generations would sit 20 meters (almost 60 feet) under water at the bottom of a lake if the dams are allowed to go through. After our 3 weeks in this amazing area, we can only agree wholeheartedly with the people of this area. These dams would mean the loss of one of the most spectacular natural areas we’ve seen, all for the profit of a few foreign companies. If the pictures above weren’t enough to convince you of the beauty of the area here’s a few more. Patagonia Chilena Sin Represas!

March 3rd, 2013 | Tags: blogsherpa, capillas de marmol, carretera austral, Chile, glacier o'higgins, patagonia | Category: Chile, South America | Comments (3)

The Carretera Austral is a true overlanders dream; over 1200 kilometers (over 700 miles) of dirt road running through Chile’s southern region, where the land breaks off into hundreds of fjords and tiny islands, connecting Chile’s remotest region with the north. I read somewhere that the idea of the Carretera Austral is as big as the road itself, and I have to agree. The road begins in Puerto Montt and meanders through huge valleys bordered by snow topped mountains, past huge glacial fed turquoise blue rivers and lakes, skirts the northern and southern ice fields, and ends in the remote village of Villa O’Higgins. The road was started in the late 1970’s during the Pinochet regime (and was in fact named after him for a while) and didn’t open to traffic until the mid 80’s, with the last 100km opened in 2000. It isn’t until you actually drive the road and get an appreciation for the vast wilderness that one appreciates what a feat of engineering the road truly is.

Hitting the road with nothing but blue skies and beautiful views!

While the Austral is considered one continuous highway, several ferry rides are still required to drive it. We hadn’t done very much research on how to actually get there until we arrived in Puerto Montt and realized we where going to have to shell out some money for a ferry ride. So we started looking around. It turns out there are a few different ferries one can take to reach the town of Chaiten, from which the road continues almost 1,000 kilometers south to Puerto Yungay where another ferry (thankfully free of charge) is required to reach the last 100 kms to Villa O’Higgens. In the end we decided to take the cheapest ferry which actually turns out to be a series of 3 ferries and involves driving the entire road from Puerto Montt.

We set out from Puerto Montt skirting around the eastern side of the Reloncavi Sound, took a short ferry hop across an estuary, and arrived in Hornopiren. The scenery reminded us a lot of the the coast back home, with rocky shorelines and lots of sea birds. Passing through the small villages, brightly colored boats were pulled up above the high tide mark making a nice contrast with the grey colors of the ocean.

We found a great little campground just outside of Hornopiren to settle in for the night. The next morning we caught a series of 2 ferries, the first a 4 hour ride through narrow fjords, and the second a short 45 minute hop across a sound to Caleta Gonzalo. The weather had been cloudy and rainy for the last few days, but today the sky cleared and the sun came out, letting us enjoy the spectacular scenery from the ferry. One of the most amazing sites to us, amongst the beautiful white topped mountains, was the amount of water everywhere. I don’t think I’ve seen so many waterfalls in my life!

Cruising the ferry through the fjords, the water is so calm it feels more like a big lake than the ocean.

Salmon farms are found everywhere in the calm waters of the fjords. They actually raise the fry in the fresh water lakes further north then truck them down to the salt water as juveniles. Luis really wanted to take a swim with a spear gun in one of these

The road from one ferry to the next was a narrow single lane and we were lucky enough to get off last. After eating dust for 20 minutes we arrived at the other side only to have to wait another hour for the next ferry.

The last ferry of the day finally let us off in the “town” of Caletta Gonzalo inside the Parque Pumalin, a private conservation park set up by an American. It was getting late in the day so we set out to find a campsite. The park is a pretty interesting story in conservation management and is beautifully maintained with great campgrounds, hiking trails and well signed. Read more about the park here: link.

Driving into the campground at the park.

The following day we started heading south feeling like we were finally beginning the Carretera Austral. In the afternoon we spotted a really nice campground on the shores of a beautiful lake that our guidebook promised offered great fishing opportunities, which immediately drew Luis who has been anticipating his fishing adventures for quite a while now. The campground was probably one of the nicest we’ve seen since leaving the States, with a beautiful rock shelter that had a barbecue built in and stocked with wood, just waiting to grill. The niceness of the place was reflected in the exorbitant price, but the promise of hot showers, grilled meat for dinner and fishing enticed us to stay.

Our beautiful overpriced glamp-ground

Over the next few days we slowly made our way south, taking a quick detour to the town of Futalefu, enjoying the scenery along the way. The Carretera is one of the remotest places we’ve been, with long stretches of beautiful open country between small towns. We were continuously amazed at the spectacular scenery, with new jagged snow capped mountains, big bright blue rushing rivers, and almost nobody to be seen around every corner.

The dirt road is part of the charm of the Carretera Austral, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. But because of our lack of air conditioning, and the rising temperatures which accompanied the sunny days (which we are in no way complaining about ) we ended up driving with the windows down. By the end of the day everything in the truck, including us, was covered in dust. I knew it was bad when a few days in while making coffee in the morning, I picked up the pot for milk, realized it was covered in dust and decided we’d been eating dust all day for days now, what’s a little more?

Luis covered in dust. His hair and beard and even his eyelashes turned white by the end of the day. Now we know what he will look like when he turns grey

One of the highlights in the northern section of the highway was our stop at the Parque Nacional Quelat for a small hike to see the ventisquero colgante or hanging glacier. It was a good chance to stretch our legs out a bit, and the view at the end was reward enough.

February 27th, 2013 | Tags: blogsherpa, carretera austral, Chile | Category: Chile, South America | Comments (11)