blazing a glacial trail
When last we left our protagonist, she had just climbed a volcano and was off to southern Chile. Southern Chile soon became a cross back over to Argentina to see the beautiful lake town, Bariloche. Our adventure to Valdivia in Chile was slightly disappointing, not much to do, very cold, and very expensive, so we decided to head to Bariloche. Bariloche is a town straight out of a fairy tale, idyllic views of snow-capped mountains around a large, crystal clear lake, with chocolate shops and a quaint mountain town feel. We went on a boat tour of a couple of the islands on the lake, a wonderland that inspired Walt Disney’s idea for the film Bambi. Wandering along the islands, it’s easy to see how his imagination ran with it; these islands are incredible, the trees are unique, the scenery breathtaking. And, Bambi, (I’ve deduced) is short for bambino (originally an Italian word, but hey, close enough to Spanish for cross over) that means child, or baby. Bet you never knew that much about the background of the movie Bambi!
After a few relaxing days in Bariloche, it was the sad yet inevitable time to say goodbye to my Irish boy as he went off on his next adventure, and I continued my journey south in Argentina. It’s the life of a traveler to constantly say goodbye, something that paradoxically gets easier and harder as you go along. I took a bus over to Puerto Madryn, a place where you can see Southern whales, elephant seals, sea lions, and penguins. It is the end of the season for the whales as they migrate to Antartica in December, but we still got to see a few mother/baby pairs around the coast. We also got to see elephant seals and penguins up close. It’s baby season for both of them so we got to see the baby seals hanging out on the beach, and a few peaks at penguin fluff balls underneath their parents. Penguins up close are so much fun to watch!
From Puerto Madryn, I took a bus to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in the world (which is actually a white lie, there’s another port town a little bit further south, but for tourist purposes, it works). The bus ride was a 32 hour journey, the longest I’ve taken. 18 hours the first stretch to a town called Rio Gallegos, and then another 13 to Ushuaia, most of which is getting on and off the bus at border crossings between Chile and Argentina. Tierra del Fuego is actually an island waaay down at the tip of south america. The eastern half is Chile, the western half is Argentina, which makes for a nightmare of a bus trip. We did get to cross the Magellan straight on a ferry and see black and white dolphins, so that was a nice highlight, and the last hour or so gives way to some of the most incredible mountain scenery I’ve ever seen in my life (and I’m from Colorado...) So, after leaving at 1:30pm on Wednesday, I arrived in Ushuaia at 9:45pm Thursday. Not 10 minutes after checking into my hostel, I met a couple of travelers who told me they were going to go on a hike to a lake the next day, do-it-yourself style and invited me along. Six of us set out and hiked for 5 hours through gorgeous peat bogs, forest, and meadows to a nice lake with stunning mountain backdrops. The way the scenery changed made for a great hike, and in landscape that felt enchanted. These moments are what makes the traveling life, serendipitously meeting up with fellow travelers and setting off on your own adventure that is not a guided tour.
The next day I went on a boat tour of the Beagle Channel, an oceanic channel between Argentina and Chile. The tour took us to an island with nesting birds, Comorants, sea lions, a lighthouse, and another island we could walk around on for a bit to see an area where the indigenous people lived thousands and thousands of years ago. Only 25 people of this group remain today, their fate similar to the fates of so many other indigenous groups in the Americas from European colonization. It’s incredible to think about their migratory journey over hundreds/thousands of years to the ‘end of the world’ to settle and live in such a gorgeous, but extreme environment. Ushuaia is only 1000 km from the peninsula of Antartica, and 4000 km from the South Pole. It’s crazy to conceptualize just how far south I am and how Antartica is just a few hours away.
After leaving Ushuaia, the 'end of the world', I went to El Calafate where you can see the Glacier Moreno. Seeing the glacier was one of the most incredible things I did on this trip. If you ever have a chance to see a glacier in your lifetime, DO IT. Absolutely incredible. I went on a tour through the hostel I was staying at, and they first take you to where you can get on boat to get close up to the glacier (but far enough away to not get hit by falling chunks of ice.) This glacier moves forward at a rate of 2 meters per year. Which means the ice at the edge of the glacier that you see is about 300 years old, the time it took from the snow to fall, compact itself and move from the valley where it fell to the edge of the glacier. There are huge chunks of ice constantly breaking and falling off into the water below with a thunderous roar as ice blocks that weigh tons hit the water.
After the boat tour they drive up to a part where they have walkways built on the hillside by the glacier so you can wander around and see it from all different angles. They gave us 3 hours to wander around which was just enough time to stare at this natural marvel with your jaw on the floor and snap a few pictures. It is a humbling experience to stand in front of a glacier that huge. You feel small and on top of the world at the same time. It’s impossible to fully explain how, but this glacier changed my life.
From El Calafate I went to El Chalten, a three hour bus ride to the north. It is dubbed the 'trekking capital of Patagonia' as it is a national park with several hiking paths about with one of the most gorgeous mountain ranges I've ever seen (again, I'm from Colorado so that's saying something.) I went on a five hour hike the first day, the weather was horrible the next, and went on a short hike the following day so I could make it on my bus to head back to El Calafate to catch my flight back to Buenos Aires to spend one last weekend in the Big Apple.
december 2009
