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Patagonia Journal
Travel Writing, Blog, Travelogue
Bariloche through Patagonia and
back to Bariloche
(March 1 - 24, 2004)
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| March 1 |
Bariloche. We realize that we do not have enough
time to ride our bikes down the Carretara Austral and still have time to
trek in Torres del Paine. Our equipment probably would not make it
either, our tent is not working very well, the zippers work some of the
time. My bike is also worn out. My hands hurt from riding on
dirt roads with road bars, something I will have to change before our
next long ride. My hands are numb and I am afraid that I may be
doing long term damage. Time off the bike will do me some good. |
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| March 2 |
Bariloche. We have decided to rent a car here in
Bariloche and drive down the Torres del Paine. We are
renting a car with Justin from Australia and possibly Sara from
Kentucky. I feel sad leaving my bike behind. We have bought
new hiking shoes from Tim and a backpack, both relatively cheap in
Argentina. We pack up to go and make a few CDs for the car. |
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| March 3 |
Rent the car. Bariloche - Comodoro Riviera.
Sara decided not to come along so it is Tim, Justin, and I. We covered 900 kilometers today, a very long day in the car.
Moving this fast makes me kind of seasick. The wind is incredibly
strong so I am happy to be sitting in the back seat of a car. We
pulled into town late and went to 5 hotels before we found a room.
Even at midnight the wind is howling. |
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| March 4 |
Comodoro Riviera - Piedra Buena. Stopped off at a
grocery store and it took an hour just to get through the line. No
one seems to be very happy, either they are sad about summer break
ending or the constant blowing wind has made everyone irritable. Went
out to the national park and could not find the campground to camp in,
so we returned to Piedra Buena. Something we would definitely not
do on a bike. The camp site was on an island and some what
protected from the wind. Tim was very sick in the middle of the night. |
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| March 5 |
Piedra Buena - El Calafate. We stopped in town
for some groceries and headed out to the camp ground. Bahia
Escondido costs 7 pesos per person and is 7 kilometers from Perito
Moreno. It costs 20 pesos to get into Los Glacier's National Park. |
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| March 6 |
Perito Moreno Glacier. The view of the glacier is
awesome, we stayed the entire day watching pieces of ice falling from the
glacier into the lake. It was a nice sunny day. |
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| March 7 |
Perito Moreno - Torres del Paine. We arrived late
in the afternoon at Los Torres camp ground and set up camp. the cost was 3,500 pesos
(7 dollars) per person per night. At least they provide firewood and a
hot shower. The view of the towers is incredible. I am so
excited to be here. The camp ground is not over crowded so it
looks like we picked a good time of year to come. Otherwise you need to
make reservations for each place you plan to camp or stay in a
hostel. |
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| March 8 |
Torres del Paine. We did an 8 hour day hike today
up to the Torres del Paine. Tim and Justin carried the pack so I
was free from carrying anything. We had lunch at Los Chilenos half way to
Torres del Paine. The scenery is beautiful, the geology breath
taking. The climb up to the Torres was a bit demanding but very
worth the view. The weather was good, the trail well marked except
for a washed out bridge it was easy to follow. By the looks of the
trail I can tell that this place is over run with people. The
trail separates everywhere. Not very good land management and bad
for erosion. On our return we run into Amanda and Steve, a couple
of Aussies we met in Bariloche. The were just completing the
circuit around the towers. I am extremely impressed.
At the end of the day my feet were hurting, I have gotten tender feet
since I have been spending more time on a bike then on my feet. |
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| March 9 |
Torres del Paine Los Cuernos. It was a 4.5 hour
hike to Los Cuernos for us. I am carry out day pack with all the
light stuff because I do not have a hip belt to help balance the load.
I will never consider Tim's clothes light again. The trail is well
marked. Again we had to make a river crossing without a bridge.
You would think they would put one in. I am shocked to see cows
grazing in the area. |
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| March 10 |
Torres del Paine Camp Italiano. We opted for a
short hike today of 2 hours to Camp Italiano. The scenery is
awesome. We arrive early at camp and find a place to set up.
This is a free camp site. The park administers this area.
There are only two toilets for the many (at least 50) scattered tents.
As I walk away from the bathroom I notice that people are going to the
bathroom in areas in the woods. People can be so disgusting.
Think. Maybe they should build a few more toilets. |
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| March 11 |
Torres del Paine Camp Italiano. We hike 2.5 hours
up the Valle Del Frances. A beautiful valley with views of glaciers
and granite towers. A must see for every geologist I know.
If you can not make here, enjoy the photos. Another day of great
weather without any wind. I think this may be rare here in Torres
del Paine. |
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| March 12 |
Los Torres. Justin decides he does not want to
camp at Pehoe with his tent. I would not either. The camp is
infested with rats. We have heard stories of people beating them
off their tent, even when there isn't any food in the tent. Yuck.
Tim is sick, so we all decide to take the ferry back and go to Los
Torres. Our trek through Torres is over, I am sad and not quite
ready to leave. I will have to come back and finish the W and go
around the back side of this park. Some thoughts about Torres.
It is an awesome place, I would put it up there with the Grand Canyon.
It is quite a bit smaller than the canyon but the geology is just
incredible, I felt like a kid in a candy store the entire time we were
trekking. The weather was great so that helped too. Some
things I did not like about Torres del Paine; I thought it was too
expensive. It is set up to gouge the tourist. Camping for
two people was 7000 pesos (US 12), the ferry was 10,000 peso (US 17) per
person for a 30 minute ride, and the cost to enter the park is 8,000
pesos (US14) per person. So if you plan to come plan on breaking
the budget. Since is was so expensive we only saw foreigners.
I had to laugh at one guy we met who said in Spanish, we are in chile we
should speak spanish. I asked, where are the Chileans? They
are not here because it is too expensive. I think this is not
right either. I also think they need to do some land management.
What in the world are cows doing in the park, this can not be good for
the vegetation or the wild life habitat. Trail maintenance and
some bridges would be something they could do with all that entrance
money. |
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| March 13 |
Los Torres - El Calafate. We are up early and
make the long drive back to El Calafate. We stop for lunch once we are
in Argentina and we had a wonderful lunch of steak and french fries for
8 pesos (US 2.70). In Calafate we can not find a room, the town is
full. We thought this was the low season. We take a room
with three beds for 25 pesos (US 7.50) per person.
It turns out that a tunnel is forming through the glacier. This
has not happen in 16 years. We all decide to stay and watch the
glacier.
Perito Moreno Glacier flow out into both Lake Argentino and Lake
Escondido. A small peninsula juts out into the lake between the
lakes. Every so often the glacier will ride up on the peninsula
forming a dam between the two lakes. At this point Lake Escondido
is 10 meters (30 feet) higher than Lake Argentino. The water
pressure on the glacier gradually forms a tunnel. Water begins to
trickle out. Two tunnels were formed and then one large tunnel.
We arrived at the glacier after the tunnel has already formed. We
did get to witness the tunnel enlarge and huge pieces of ice fall into
the river. It is an impressive site. |
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| March 14 |
Perito Moreno. We move to the campground
out near the glacier. We spent the entire day at the glacier along
with some 3,000 other people and a TV crew. Hopefully people
around the world have had an opportunity to few this phenomena.
Perito Moreno - El Chalten. We spent the
morning at Perito Moreno, the tunnel is still there but very very small.
The tunnel finally fell after falling apart for three days. We
left the site before the last ice block fell. A spectacular site.
It took over five hours to drive to El Chalten. Along the way we
saw where the Lake was flooding the lower areas. I wonder how much
water emptied from one lake to another. |
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| March 15 |
El Chalten. We took a rest day in El Chalten and
finally got our laundry done. It rained most of the day and into
the evening. Lucky for us our tent did not leak. |
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| March 16 |
Poincenot. We trekked up to the camp Poincenot,
it took us about 2.5 hours. While we were trekking we were warm
but the minute we stopped trekking it was very cold. We arrived at
camp to find Amanda and Steve, the aussies, we met Bariloche already
there. The weather was fridge so we turned in early. |
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| March 17 |
Poincenot. I hiked to the glacier while Tim hiked up to
the tarn lake. Justin decided he wanted to go back to El Chalten.
We will meet him tomorrow. |
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| March 18 |
El Chalten. As we walked out today Justin met us
at the trail head. We stayed in a youth hostel for 20 pesos per
person. I am glad we got a room, it rained all night. |
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| March 19 |
El Chalten - Cuevas de las Manos A drive up the
famous route 40. Tim drove. Patagonia is a lot of wide open
spaces and lots of wind. |
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| March 20 |
Cuevas de las Manos - Godo Costa. We camped at the
municipal campground for 4 pesos per person, it was out of the wind and
had a nice hot shower. We went out to dinner and found a parrilla
tenedor libre. There was nothing on the menu but tenedor libre.
We paid 12 pesos and was served all the meat we could eat, salad, bread
and soda water. The food was excellent.
The last of route 40 is over. The road was not quite as bad as every
said it was. We drove it in a VW gol, although I would have
preferred a high clearance pickup truck. |
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| March 21 |
Godo Costa. - El Bolson. A short three hour
drive. It will be nice to get out of the car soon. |
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| March 22 |
El Bolson. Tim and I went for a nice hike at the
ski area today. The weather is pleasant, warmer than down south.
The valley is beautiful, filled with evergreens, deciduous trees, fruit
trees, wild rose bushes, and my favorite blackberry bushes. |
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| March 23 |
El Bolson - Bariloche. It rained last night so we
packed up a wet tent. We do not anticipate using the tent much
longer. I am somewhat sad to think that we will not be sleeping in
this tent any longer. It has been with us since we left the States
almost 2 years ago. The drive into Bariloche was quick and the scenery
awesome. We saw a number of cyclists on the road. I really
really miss my bike now. We dropped off the car, were charged for
a missing grill on the front of the car. Who knows where we lost
that, it could have been on route 40 where we plowed gravel with the
front of the car or when we hit a rabbit that ran in front of the car.
We have covered 4,700 kilometers in three weeks, it took us more than
three months to cover the same distance on bike. However, there is
not much in between Bariloche and El Chalten on the Argentinean side.
Wide open Pampa that has been sculptured by glaciers in the past and
wind in the present.
I am glad to be out of the car and back to walking and biking. |
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| March 24 |
This will be my last entry for a while. We are
staying in Bariloche for the next 6 weeks or so working on self
publishing a book about our travels. We plan to be in Indiana,
USA on June 16th and publish the book sometime in October, all this is a
tentative schedule. Things always take longer than we think.
We still do not know where we will go after our stay in the USA.
You will have to check back to find out or if you are on our email list
we will let you know. Emails are still welcome. We do plan
on doing a few hikes in the Bariloche area and I plan on writing them up as we go,
so if your interested in that check back in a few weeks. I am
looking forward to being in one place for what seems like a long time. |
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INDEX #2:
South America
6-3-03 to 6-17-04
Aug 5 -
Sept. 14, 2003
 Peru #1
The Ecuador border to Huallanca, Peru |
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Best Place to see Pictures
Peru #1 THUMBS
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Sept. 15 - Oct. 31, 2003
Peru #2
Huallanca, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia |
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Best Place to see Pictures
Peru
#2 THUMBS
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November 1 - December 8, 2003
 Bolivia
Copacabana to Villazon,
Bolivia |
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Best Place to see Pictures
Bolivia THUMBS
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(December 9, 2003 - January 22, 2004)
NW Argentina
La Quiaca, to La Cueva, (border with Chile)
Argentina |
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Best Place to see Pictures
Pictures of North West
Argentina
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January 23 - February 29, 2004
 Chile
Portillo, Chile to Bariloche, Argentina |
Tim's Emailed Newsletters
(Join List)
coming!
Best Place to see Pictures
Thumbnails of Chile
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March 3, to 23, 2004
Patagonia,
South America
Argentina and Chile |
Cindie's Daily Journals
Patagonia
Tim's Emailed Newsletters
(Join List)
coming!
Best Place to see Pictures
Patagonia THUMBS
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