Schlagwort-Archive: Argentina

Argentina, Chile, World Trip 2018-19

Argentina & Chile – Summary & Photos

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It may seem odd that I’m doing a combined country summary for two very large countries – but since we zig-zagged our way down South, we sometimes had to remind ourselves which one of the two countries we are in right now. Also, I found more similarities between e.g. San Pedro (CH) and Purmamarca (AR), Pucon (CH) and San Martin (AR), El Chalten (AR) and Puerto Natales (CH) than for example between San Pedro, Pucon and Puerto Natales.

People: We met very friendly and helpful locals on both side, as well as a share of annoying ones. Through hitchhiking the Carretera Austral, I got a bit more in touch with Chileans than Argentinians overall. As in travellers, we met a surprising high number of Austrians and Swiss, some travelling by central car or camper. Most people we met were on a 3-5 week holiday and didn’t enjoy having as much time as we do.

Food: We cooked mostly for ourselves, went out for fast food here and there and treated ourselves to some nicer food around Christmas. Cooking for ourselves was tricky sometimes, with many ingredients not being readily available and especially our trekking food was usually rather boring and required lots of compromises. What we liked most, were the Argentinian empanadas – however the best empanadas ever we found in tiny Caleta Gonzalo on the Carretera Austral, in Chile.

Weather: Anything and everything! Burning heat in the North, cold drizzles in the South, lots of strong winds all over Patagonia… but overall we were mostly lucky with the weather and the sun came out on the most important days!

Costs: We spent WAY less than what we had budgeted for Chile and Argentina. Travelling as a couple, and with camping gear, saved us lots of money in accommodation and hitchhiking the Carretera Austral cut down our overall transportation costs. On average, including all tours and one internal flight, we spent just a little over 28 Euro per person/day. About 58% of our budget was spent in Chile, 42% in Argentina which means that relative to the days we spent per country, our daily spending for Argentina was about 25 Euro and for Chile about 31 Euro.

Accommodation: In the North and South, we stayed at quite some AirBnBs (either a room in a shared house or an apartment to ourselves), which worked out cheaper than a room in a hostel or guesthouse. In Patagonia, we camped a lot which saved loads of money. Camping for both of us usually cost less than 2 beds in a dorm and wayyyy less than a double room.

Infrastructure: Travelling by bus was easy, even though some routes in the South booked up a couple of days in advance, so required some pre-planning. Along the Carretera Austral, we hitchhiked, which worked really well and saved us lots of money!

Illnesses: None of us got ill, but the long hikes took their toll on our bodies: my knees were in bad pain on and off during our whole time in Patagonia and Mathijs‘ ankles were not always happy either. All in all we managed really well though, given all the challenges we had!

Safety: If I would have written this chapter in Ushuaia, I would have said: all good, no issues. However, when we arrived in Buenos Aires, my big backpack got stolen off a bus which was super annoying and made me realize that there are still some safety issues – not so much in peaceful Patagonia, but definitely in the bigger cities.

Itinerary: We visited both countries very thoroughly and managed to see everything worth seeing (for us). We zig-zagged our way from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile all the way South to Ushuaia in Argentina, crossing borders between both countries multiple times. A big part of our trip was spent in Patagonia on numerous hikes. Later, we flew up Buenos Aires, and after a short detour to Uruguay and Paraguay, made our way to Iguazu Falls, from where we crossed into Brazil.

Highlight: Impossible to say since we spent so much time in these 2 countries and saw so many amazing places. Hiking in Patagonia in general was awesome, the Huemul Circuit very special, as was our boat tour to the O’Higgins glacier. At the same time, Bariloche’s surroundings and the street art of Valparaiso were really cool too. You see!? Impossible to tell.

Lowlight: Getting my backpack stolen in Buenos Aires. As in places: Punta Arenas (the penguins are cool, but the city itself sucks).

Click on the photos below to see our full photo albums of Argentina:

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And Chile:

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Argentina, Brazil, World Trip 2018-19

Iguazu Falls – Argentina & Brazil

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The Iguazu Falls are of course a highlight we didn’t want to miss out on, so we planned our route into Brazil to go via these waterfalls. On Argentinian side, Puerto Iguazu is the town you stay at. From here, we took and early morning bus 30 min to the national park where the falls are located. It was good we arrived early and accidentally chose our favourite trail – the lower circuit trail – as a first thing to do. Luckily we did, because most groups went elsewhere first and we had the trail pretty much to ourselves, with some really pretty first viewpoints!

The Iguazu Falls are, as the name already suggests, a series of many, many waterfalls that form one huge fall together. The trail led us to some points with a great view overall, but also closer to some of the falls.

Although I must have seen hundreds of pics of the Iguazu Falls before in my life, I was still captivated. The falls are even better and more impressive in real life than on any pictures!

Later, we continued on the upper circuit where there were of course more people now, but it was still ok and less busy than expected. On this trail, you got to see the falls more from the top, which was also nice, but not quite as spectacular as on the lower circuit.

Last but not least, we took the train to Devil’s Throat, where you get very close to the most impressive part of the falls. Here, you were getting sprayed by the water masses splashing down. It was impressive to see nature’s force from so close by.

Unfortunately, here we had to fight our way through masses of people and stand in line for photos. Oh well, at least the rest of the day had been less busy than expected and really, really cool.

We said goodbye to the falls, knowing we would see them again next day – from the Brazilian side. We packed up and took a bus directly to the falls, where we could lock up our big backpacks before taking the park’s shuttle bus the last bit. We got off a little before the last stop, to be able to follow a scenic walk along the river – getting closer and closer to the falls, with lots of amazing views. That day we had left much later, so unfortunately there were way more people, more fighting for good photo spots and even standing in line at some spots.

Oh well, it was all worth it! At the end of the walk, there’s a board walk across the water which brings you really close to the falls. Too many people and lots of spray again, but beautiful!

There’s also a watchtower which you can access by elevator and provides some more good views over the falls.

By the end, we had really seen the falls from any and every corner and viewpoint possible it seemed – so we were ok to leave, pick up our backpacks, take the bus to the city of Foz do Iguazu, then another bus to the big bus terminal… and then hop on the night bus to Florianopolis! The Brazil adventure had officially started.

Argentina, World Trip 2018-19

El Chalten: Gone with the wind

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Back in Argentina! El Chalten welcomed us back into tourist-land after spending a couple of weeks travelling the remote Carretera Austral in Chile. The views from town were amazing though and got us excited for our hiking days to come!

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Weather didn’t look too good for the next days but we still decided to chance it and go on a 2-day hike to Laguna Torre (with views of Cerro Torre) and further on to Laguna de los Tres (with the iconic Fitz Roy looming above it). The day was rather windy and cloudy, and from the first viewpoints we couldn’t see Cerro Torre at all – but we didn’t give up our hopes and continued to the lake. There, we were welcomed by hefty winds – one gust was so strong that it blew me over! We found a little rock shelter but realized soon that there was no point waiting around. Cerro Torre was completely covered in clouds, and the strong wind made waiting around tough.

So we sadly gave up on seeing Cerro Torre and headed further into the direction of Camping Poincenot. Along the way, we passed some pretty lakes and the weather got a little bit better, so at least we caught some beautiful views of Fitz Roy from the valley!

Once we reached the camping, we set up our tent and hiked up to Laguna de los Tres with only our camera and some water. Good decision for it was a tough 1 h hike up! The wind was also getting stronger and stronger and I was seriously struggling. At one point, a gust blew my hiking pole into my face and slammed it on my lip which swelled up. Another gust ripped my sunglasses of my face and sent them flying across the bushes…gone with the wind! Up at the lake, the situation only got worse. I barely made it behind a big rock as a shelter, but actually looking at the lagoon and Fitz Roy was a challenge – even more so was taking photos. Every time I would peak around the rock, the wind would blow full speed into my face, so that I almost couldn’t see anything. Oufff! What an experience.

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Down at the campsite we came back to a completely dusty tent and decided to eat bread and cookies for dinner, since cooking in these conditions would have been impossible (and half our plates would have consisted of dust). Mathijs then hiked up to the lagoon once again for sunrise – but there were many clouds, so not the best experience either!

After this, we were happy to return to town, where we spent the Christmas time rather relaxed and treated ourselves to two nights in a little cabaña instead of a tent. Our first normal bed in over 3 weeks!

On the 25th, the weather was too perfect to just sit around and relax though – so we quickly decided to hike up to Laguna Torre another time… this time seemed much more promising already from the first viewpoints on – we could actually see Cerro Torre peaking out of the clouds!

The closer we came, the more the clouds went away, and when we reached the lake Cerro Torre was showing himself to us in all its splendour. Wow! What a cool mountain.

This time, there was no wind at all and we were able to spend some time relaxing, enjoying and taking pictures from every angle. On our way back, we kept turning around for more and more good views of the mountain.

But we had to get back to town to get ourselves organised and rent some gear for our next big hike: the Huemul Circuit. This trek takes 4 days and requires you to rent a harness and carabiners to get yourself across two river crossings using tyrolesas. The hike is described as one of the most difficult ones in Patagonia and you really have to carefully watch the weather (wind) forecast before! There are two mountain passes that need to be crossed – Paso del Viento and Paso Huemul – which both can have hefty storms that can make crossings impossible.

Weather looked decent for the upcoming days though, so we decided to go for it! After registering ourselves at the rangers office (they check that you have rented harness and some other random equipment), we headed out into a super sunny morning with clear skies all over. So when we arrived at the crossing where the path to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado forks off, we decided to add a little side trip to our first day. We left the big backpacks behind some trees and headed up to the Mirador… and WOW, such a good decision!! Both Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy were out and the view from up there was simply stunning. In my opinion, if you get a very clear day, this is the best hike to do in El Chalten!

Once back down at our backpacks, we had a quick lunch and then headed onward to Lago Toro where our camping for the night would be. There were some pretty views along the way, especially towards the end when you descend into the valley that then leads up to the camping. But… the best views had been earlier that day, so I highly recommend adding this little detour to your Huemul Circuit.

Next morning, we got going very early, knowing it would be a tough day with the winds forecasted to pick up more and more in the course of the day. We were keen to make it across Paso del Viento before noon to avoid the heaviest gusts. After a short hike, we soon arrived at the first zipline. Zipping myself across wasn’t too hard, but attaching and sending the backpacks across to Mathijs was challenging.

Afterwards, we had to hike across some very rocky terrain for about 2h. It was very difficult to make out any trail – for the most part it was more like „find your own best trail“. We originally wanted to hike across the glacier which is next to the rocks but failed to find a good entry point so just kept flowing the Maps.me route roughly. It should be easier to walk on the glacier though and take much less time! At least we had some good views along the way though.

At the end of the glacier, we had breakfast at the Tunel campsite before the trail started to go up the pass more and more steeply. It was tough, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Only the wind got stronger and stronger the higher we got which I found a bit scary since it can easily throw you off balance. Mathijs didn’t have any issues at all and was walking as if there was nothing going on. Life’s not fair!

Up on the pass, we got almost blown away by the strong winds, up to 80-90km/h. The gusts in between were even stronger. It was a big struggle and I didn’t enjoy it at all. Then we got a view of the Southern Patagonian Icefield – the biggest one after Antarctica and Greenland. It was so impressive and made me feel so small!! But to be honest, it was hard for me to fully enjoy it in that moment since the wind was so fierce.

Going down the pass on the other side was even less fun. My knees were hurting a bit, it was slippery and the wind was trying to push me off the mountain so I had to be super careful. I’m so glad we found this one walking stick on our hike near Bariloche, else I don’t think I would have managed. We then followed the Icefield to our camping at Paso del Viento campsite where we already arrived in the early afternoon. I was tired and happy to chill in our tent for the rest of the day, even though I was very worried it might break in the strong winds (thankfully it didn’t).

Unfortunately we woke up to rain next morning. We had set our alarm super early at 4.30 to avoid the strongest wind at Paso Huemul, but there was no point in starting the hike. We would have been soaked within minutes and the rest of our day would have been even tougher. So we postponed our alarm a couple of times, until finally starting our hike around 9am only – when luckily it had almost stopped raining. Sun came out soon and we were so, so thankful for it!! The views over the icefield were awesome and this time I could even enjoy it with almost no wind during the first part of our hike.

When we got close to Paso Huemul, we took an early lunch, knowing we would need lots of energy for the pass, and readied ourselves to face the storm. In the end though…it was actually alright! This time, the wind was in our favour, kind of pushing us up the mountain which made the ascent much easier. Nice! The higher we got, the more the wind picked up though and going not just up but slightly right or left became difficult. On the pass itself, the wind was almost blowing us over again and we had to seek shelter behind a rock to enjoy the view of the Icefields one last time.

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We then quickly descended a bit to get out of the strongest wind and were surprised by another amazing view over Lago Viedma and its little bays with hundreds and hundreds of ice bergs floating around! I have no words to describe it properly, it was just SO beautiful. After enjoying lunch part 2 with that kind of view, we started the further decent which was not too much fun: the path leeds down the mountain really steeply, mostly on loose dirt and rocks. There’s lots of sliding involved, but luckily there’s many bushes to hold onto, aaand the constant amazing view of the bay and the icebergs to keep you going.

We reached the camping by mid-afternoon, and found the most beautiful campsite of our trip so far. Red mountains in the back, and icebergs floating in hundreds right in front of us, glittering in the sun. Awesome!

We had heard that sunrise should be very beautiful here too, so set our alarm early again. Again, we woke up to some drizzles, but luckily it stopped and we were able to experience a magical sunrise!! No one else in the camping bothered to wake up, so we had it all to ourselves. It was simply beautiful and one of my favourite moments of the 4 day hike.

The last day then was the most boring and in a way hardest. My whole body was in pain from the days before and especially my knees were hurting. We first did a little detour to the small peninsular nearby where we got some more beautiful views, this time not just of the icebergs but also the glacier behind.

What followed then was a bit of an odyssey through the hills. Since Maps.me had been so helpful so far, we followed it again, but at one point there was no trail anymore and we got ourselves properly stuck in the mud. Damn! We then had to navigate with GPS and just follow some cow trails here and there, mostly going without a trail. It was a bit frustrating and we were wondering how we had lost the main trail in the first place. But in the end…we made it down the hills to the 2nd zipline – this time much longer but also much more fun!

After that, it was only a short walk to Bahia Tunel, where some girls (bless them!!) waited for us to give us a ride back to town. We were so happy and thankful! There’s no bus, and walking back to town would have added another 7-8 km to our last day. A good way to end a tough, but super awesome 4 day hike!