Happy 2007

Happy New Year!


...in hopes for peace in 2007...
Andrew & Leigh

Torres del Paine, Chile

24-28 Dec 2006

On Dec 23, we stopped by the office of a company called Comapa; they own some of the sleeping areas in Torres del Paine (refugios, hostelles, and campgrounds). The guy with whom we worked showed his incompetence in oh-so-many ways not worth mentioning...BUT, with them, we planned a 5 day trip - an 8-hour boatride into the park (3 boats actually!), 2 nights at refugios, 2 nights camping, food along the way, and a boat and bus back to Puerto Natales on the last day. Okay, so we are on vacation and wanted some comforts like hot showers after 18 miles of hiking in the rain (see weather forecast!). Of note, all the water melted off the glaciers are opaque - so the color of the lakes and streams are often aquamarine or gray.

Day 1 (Dec 24) - At 8 AM, we got onto a 21 meter boat in Puerto Natales for a 4 hour trip north (Turismo 21 de Mayo). En route to Torres Del Paine National Park, we passed an Imperial Cormorant breeding colony (Barrosa point) and the Balmaceda Glacier, and stopped for a walk at Serrano Glacier in Bernardo O´Higgins National Park. Those of us continuing on to Paine put on blinding (and deafening) orange jackets with life vests, and boarded a Zodiak for the final 35km into Paine. From the river, we were able to get incredible glimpses of Paine between the sheets of rain and brief moments of sun. We arrived at the park entrance, got on 2 busses, and arrived at our first campground around 9PM. We planned to eat at all the refugios, so joined all the Europeans for Christmas (Eve) dinner at Refugio Torres, and we were served a massive amount of delicious food - enough to energize us for Day 2 and maybe Days 3 and 4?

Day 2 (Dec 25) - The sun sets well after 10PM and rises around 5AM, so we were not treated to too much sleep especially with the noise of Christmas revellers. But, we awoke at 6:30AM, packed up our tent, and readied ourselves for a 16 mile (and 1100 meter) hike into the Torres. Our exhausting hike was ultimately rewarding with out-of-this-world views of the towers, small glaciers, and glacial lake. We stayed at the refugio that night and enjoyed the indoors while it rained steadily all night.

Day 3 (Dec 26) - Awaking late, we headed out for a short walking day - only 8.5 miles over fairly level, but rocky, terrain - to our next refugio, Los Cuernos. We actually stayed in our own small cabaña with views of the Lago Nordenskjold to the South, and Paine Grande Peak to the Northwest - quite a treat! We took the afternoon to relax, read, and watch and listen to the rain pour down. . .

Day 4 (Dec 27) - We hiked 18 miles up the middle prong of the W Circuit where we had 270 degree views of mountain peaks. We head down and West to our final night of camping next to Refugio Pehoe.

Day 5 (Dec 28) - We hiked for another 18 miles up to the Glacier Grey - a spectacular glacier with icebergs floating in the Lago Grey - a suiting finale for 5 fantastic days. This was the only day of really questionable weather - rain while we hiked, but the downpours held off once arriving at the glacier itself. Then more rain as we took a boat and bus back to the town of Puerto Natales.

We were sad to hear news of the death of James Brown...

W

Plans for Dec 24-28

We head out on a 5 day hiking trip in Torres del Paine (in Chile) tomorrow morning...

We are doing a well-tread circuit called the "W". The topo maps are shown above - two from the web showing the same area; one shows the route highlited in magenta. So for the next 5 days we will be taking a few boats, some buses, hiking, and camping in the gorgeous mountains of coastal Chile.

Meanwhile, we hope that everyone enjoys their holiday.

Happy vacations and we will give you a play-by-play upon our return to civilization on the 28th. . .

potential plans...

Okay, so we survived the 24-hour busride with minimal scarring. We have arrived at Rio Gallegos (Argentina) and boy are we excited to get out of here tomorrow! No, it´s not that bad...it is a fairly large coastal town, but we have no idea what people are doing here. . . we believe it was founded by shephards, but now what are the 80K inhabitants are doing here? Go figure.

It is clear that summer has arrived to South America as the prices for hotels and overall travel have increased a bit. In addition it is difficult to get tickets for busses.

We went into a supermarket in San Martin de los Andes that will be closed from Dec 23 - Jan 23! Fascinating to think of a comparable supermarket in the US closing for a full month for vacation...

So here´s our plan:
- Puerto Natales (Chile) from where we can explore two incredible national parks - Monde Balmeceda-O´Higgins and Torres del Paine - both full of glaciers and great hiking.
- El Calafate (Argentina) as a springboard to visit Los Glaciares Nacional Park, where as you´ve already guessed, we will check out more glaciers.
- Chiloe (Chile)
- Santiago (Chile) by Jan 11th.

For now, that´s the plan . . . tomorrow things may change . . .

...the bottom of the earth? ...the end of the world??

Hola amigos,

Shockingly, we have decided to burn rubber and get on down to Rio Gallegos tonight! So, we will report next from the bottom of the Earth (okay, well close enough to it!). Wish us luck, it´s a long 24 hour haul from San Carlos de Bariloche...

XOXOX... and Happy Chanukah...

-Leigh and Andrew

packing listy...

Okay, so enough people have asked us about our packing list that we thought we'd post our personal stuff. Keep in mind that every item must be very practical, so they are not the prettiest things! We took pictures of our inventory. So here goes:

Andrew's clothing and stuff:
1 heavy hiking pack
1 daypack
1 sleeping bag
1 Thermarest airmattress
1 silk sleeping bag liner (for cold nights inside the sleeping bag, or hot nights alone, or nasty hostels)
2 pants with zip-off legs
1 pant that could pass as nice
1 long-underwear pants
1 rainpants
1 belt
5 underwear
5 pairs of socks (wool or synthetic)
3 long-sleeve shirts, buttondown (quick dry and travel weight)
1 long-underwear long-sleeve top
2 short-sleeve wicking t-shirts (quick dry and travel weight)
1 guayabera
1 fleece (long-sleeve polartech)
1 raincoat (breathable with hood; doubles as a windbreaker)
1 rain/sun hat
1 winter hat
winter gloves
1 travel towel
1 bandana
flip-flops
tevas
shoes - all purpose (hiking and city walking)
watch
extra pair of glasses
wallet
sunglasses

Leigh's clothing and stuff:
1 heavy hiking pack
1 daypack
1 sleeping bag
1 Thermarest airmattress
1 silk sleeping bag liner (for cold nights inside the sleeping bag, or hot nights alone, or nasty hostels)
2 pants with zip-off legs
1 pant that could pass as nice
1 long skirt (Patagonia, light weight)
1 long-underwear pants
1 rainpants
10 underwear (they weigh very little and worth it not to do the wash often)
4 pairs of socks (wool or synthetic)
3 long-sleeve shirts, buttondown (quick dry and travel weight)
1 long-underwear top (light weight)
1 long-sleeve t-shirt
3 short-sleeve shirts, buttondown (quick dry and travel weight)
1 t-shirt (for sleeping)
1 fleece
1 raincoat (that can be used as a windbreaker too)
4 bras (one that can double as a bathing suit top)
1 board shorts (that I use for a bathing suit bottom)
1 shorts (for sleeping)
1 baseball cap
1 winter hat
winter gloves
1 travel towel
tevas
shoes - all purpose (hiking and city walking)
watch
travel wallet
sunglasses

His Toiletries:
toiletry bag
shampoo
deoderant
toothbrush
earplugs

Her Toiletries:
toiletry bag
shampoo
deoderant
toothbrush
tampons
earplugs

Shared Toiletries:
toothpaste
floss
lip balm
Tylenol, Aspirin, Advil, Aleve
Cipro (antibiotics)
Immodium AD, PeptoBismal, Tums
razor
sunblock
talcum powder
mole skin and tape (for blisters)
scissors, forceps, nailclippers, tweezers
DEET-containing bugspray
toilet paper or tissue paper (many bathrooms do not provide TP in South America)

Electronics:
1 lightweight camera (unobtrusive)
camera power cords and USB devises
camera memory chips (we chose to purchase 1Gb per month of our trip)
USB sticks (we have 2 x 2Gb chips for photos, documents, and programs like Skype)
1 internet phone (USB port) - not necessary but nice - internet cafes have headsets but many are broken
travel alarm clock

Other things:
1 tent - light (just over 5 pounds), for 2 people
travel forks, knives, spoons
waterpurifier (used while hiking and in countries with unreliable water sources)
2 Nalgene bottles
2 fishing rods, 2 fishing reels
fishing lures, pliers, flies
travel guides (Footprints South America has been great, Patagonian treks has been helpful)
notebooks
pens and sharpies
medical information (shots like Yellow Fever sometimes need to be reported)
eyeglass prescription information
international drivers permits (from AAA, but we didn't need them in UR or AR to rent a car)
Servas information (we had thought of participating, but never got around to it)
paperclips, safety pins
clothesline
ziplock bags (we pack all of our clothing in them - separate bag for shirts, another for pants, etc. it is a bit rediculous, but makes our lives MUCH easier, and keeps our stuff dry)

updates...

Hi all, thanks for all your good comments and reading this silly thing. As we have written in the past, we are using the blog as a way of storing some photos, communicating with home, and also journaling. Patagonia has been so terrific that we hope to return sometime, so we have been particularly anal about writing what we have seen and done for a hopeful return to the area. In addition, many of our friends have expressed interest in traveling here. The guide books and maps are not fantastic for the area, so maybe these pages can help others in their travels?

So a quicky update...

17 Dec: from San Martin de los Andes, we drove to the Rio Malleo, one of the few rivers outside the parks where one can spin-cast - most of the rivers and streams within the National Parks are fly-fishing only. When we first entered the Lakes Region of Patagonia, we purchased one seasonal fishing license in Andrew´s name, figuring that Leigh would fish less frequently (and illegally - shhhh, don´t tell anyone!). In order to fly-fish, we would have needed to carry with us much heavier equipment (hip-waders, etc), in addition, Andrew has always been a spin-caster. Anyway, we drove to the part of the Rio Malleo which is outside the National Park. It turns out that this part of the river is in the Mapuche Reservation. The Mapuches are one of the few extant tribes here in Argentina - most were massacred by the European immigrants.
According to Wikipedia: "Mapuches successfully resisted many attempts by the Inca Empire to subjugate them, despite the lack of nationwide organization. The Mapuche fought against the Spaniards for over 300 years. Initial conquests of land by the Spanish in the late 16th century were thoroughly repulsed by the Mapuche, such that there were areas where Europeans did not return to until late in the 19th century." The 20 km area that we explored while Andrew fished (and I hiked or took photos) is incredible - much of the geology is just like Utah´s National Parks. Interestingly, the area is not advertised or anything - we were completely suprised by what we saw...

18 dec - From San Martin, we drove the length of Lago Lacar along another long gravel road. We parked near Cascadas Chachin (a waterfall) and walked a total of 17.5 miles to and from the Termals de Queñi. Leigh was cranky for no particular reason (achy body and lack of sleep - someone was practicing drum-rolls until 3AM and from 6AM on...).. BUT, the second we got into the thermals, ahhhh..... the world was a good place again! The water was wonderfully hot - just delightful! En route back, andrew brought in an enormous rainbow trout from the lake. We stayed in San Martin again.

19 dec - raining most of the day; we fished a little and traveled back to Bariloche via 7 Lakes Drive. We tried to catch up a bit on our email while the rain fell... We are looking forward to a good meal in Bariloche and then we head a little south for one last fishing experience before handing the car in tomorrow afternoon.

We are planning the rest of our journey...suggestions are welcome! Here´s what we have right now: we return our rental car on the 20th and head into Chile; we will spend another week in the Chilean Lakes Region of Patagonia; then we are heading off to Chiloe Chile. We are due in Santiago Chile on the 10th of January where Andrew´s mom, Kay, will join us for a bit. So we have about 2 weeks where we will spend time in the Chiloe area of Chile - we are considering a boat ride on the Navimag which travels to glaciers,but have heard mixed messages about this trip, we are open for any suggestions you may have - anyone? (Bueller?)

Be well, take care,
Leigh and Andrew

flora of patagonia

...as per Daniela´s request ... a selection of Patagonian flora

Disclaimer and apology: the point-and-shoot sometimes has trouble focusing in macro, so we humbly apologize if a few are a wee bit out of focus...

Finally, if anyone can label any of these plants, we would love to know some of their names... we know the arrayanes trees and fuzzy mulline...