Once again, a bit slack. However I think its fair enough to blame the mountains of Patagonia for this! Having a lovely time down south, gambling with the weather to see fantastic mountain peaks and glaciars...
After Santaigo, leaving my trusty travel companion Rhiannon, Megan and I headed on down to Punta Arenas in Chile, a quiet town with coloured roofs. We enjoyed a meal of salmon and fine wine in true backpacker style, the prices here allowing for the odd splurge. We soon headed off to Puerto Natales to prepare for our first hike actually carrying our own packs, and no 3 course meals prepared for us. Scary. We stayed in a hostel owned by this man who called himself 'The maestro'. Very helpful regarding the walk, but late night drinks in the kitchen with a fellow aussie guest proved that he wanted a bit of a kiss from Megan in return whilst looking at the stars...request denied and all went back to normal. However he did give us a very good bottle of wine, I think as a little apology!
We headed off on the walk, Megan and I and another chick from Sheffield. We all felt quite tough, although this was proved otherwise when I fell on my face and was not able to hold myself up becuase of the weight of my pack, quite embarassing! The Torres del Paine park was quite spectacular, with huge pillars of granite soaring above up into the sky. Unfortunately the weather wasnt on our side for most of the walk, all of us having to wear waterproof pants and jackets, which was lucky when I slipped on some rocks and sat in a big pool of water, no wet bum! My co-ordination has now become somewhat of a talking point! Anyway, we ate and camped like queens, prepared for all situations, even helping out a lone american traveller whod forgotten to bring a fork or spoon, a sleeping mat, no snacks, and we later found out, no means with which to get money out in South America... wierdo! We finished the walk and headed back to town to get washed and laundered. Then off to El Clafate from where we visited the Moreno Glaciar. Soooo amazing, massive wall of ice which broke off with big creaks and crashes into the water. Anyway, lots of photos to show as I got a bit carried away, as I have pretty much this whole trip. We travelled up to El Chalten for a few days where we got to do ice hiking on another glaciar with crampons and all, as well as ice climbing. Was ace fun, the guide telling me I was quite a professional. Should have knows he was argentinian and had said this to all the pretty girls!! Nevermind, I thought I was pretty adventurous and cool. We enjoyed amazing views of Mt FitzRoy after two days of it being in cloud, one of the most spectacular mountains I think Ive ever seen. Great to see the sunrise on it this morning as we drove out of town back to El Calafate.
We head to Ushuia on Wednesday 'the end of the world' as they call it. The south has been so spectacular, but looking forward to heading up to the warmer weather for Chrissy and New Year.
Hope all are well, cant wait to talk to the fam on Christmas day
Take care
Love Hannah