Left Ushuaia in an early morning or was that a middle of the night daze. The bus picks you up at anytime between 5.15 and 6am so nasty early start. 3 hours later we reached Rio Grande (very little to do or see there) spent another 1.5 hours waiting for the bus to Puerto Natales, then this was followed by a few hours on a rough gravel road thru the dry steppe of northern Isla Grande, the border crossing from Argentina to Chile in the middle of nowhere plus the obligatory 45 min lunch stop in the middle of nowhere also. After this another couple of hours to the ferry where we headed back across the Magellan straits. Saw a few Commersons dolphins (small, black and white) swimming and jumping out of the water near the ferry which was definitely the highlight of the day. From there the bus headed to Punta Arenas (another couple of hours across the interminable steppe) where we had to change bus again and wait for another 2 hours .... SIGH ... we had been told it was a 30 minute wait with no bus change. Eventually got to Puerto Natales at 10pm and thankfully had booked a Hospedaje ahead. Tiny room but very comfy bed, great showers, ample breakfast and very friendly owner so happy days.
Puerto Natales is basically the hub for going to Torres del Paine and is full of over priced camping shops, rental agencies for camping gear, tour agencies etc but you can get good food here. We did think about doing a 3 day kayaking trip to glaciers but at US$200 a day each had to pike on that idea. We could buy a kayak for that much money (altho not sure it would fit in our backpacks)!! Instead we booked the navimag ferry trip from here to Puerto Montt for the middle of march. More on that nearer the time.
Had a quick check of the weather (basically pointless as its impossible to predict the weather here) and decided to do a quick shop and head off on the 8 day Torres del Paine circuit the next day. Getting pretty good at packing/shopping for walks now plus its not like there´s much dietary choice on what ya can buy here - its rice, pasta or instant mash (haven´t resorted to this yet tho - I´m not sure I would be allowed back to Ireland if I eat instant spuds!) but more on that in the walk description in the next post ;)
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Ushuaia - treks
Ushuaia is a very good base for hiking. There´s plenty here for all levels from nice gentle 3 hour coastal walks to not so gentle scree, bush bashing and route finding kind of stuff. We did a bit of both (intentionally and unintentionally).
The first hike we did was Sierra Valdivieso Circuit as described in the Lonely Planet Trekking Bible. Its described as 4 day hike but one of those days is only 1 hour so we decided to lose that day by adding it into the last day. Also we did the hike clockwise altho the book (and most people) do it anticlockwise. This was to avoid having to cross the biggest river Rio Olivia after rain (which we expected). Got a taxi out to the start of the walk, hiked thru the peat farm (just like a bog at home except they have funny drying/stacking shelves and cut the peat in bigger sections) and then followed a cattle track thru forest for the first 90 mins. Crossed the Rio Olivia after that in bare feet as it was sandy and wanted to keep the boots dry if possible. Went well except the water temperature was literally feet numbing - coldest water of the trip so far. After that it was 3-4 hours up the valley Valle Carbajal as far as the valley that comes down from Paso Valdivieso. Most of this was across moors and bogs of spongy sphagnum moss which is fun and bouncy for awhile then just pretty tiring as the pack weighs down on the body from all that bouncy walking. Also had to circumnavigate big areas of felled trees which is caused by the north american beaver - 64 pairs were left go from a farm in the 60s, have now multiplied and gone forth (a bit like the bible told Adam and Eve - didn´t know beavers were catholic tho) and damaged large areas of valley with their dams and tree felling. These little fellas can seriously chew down some big trees and their dams are really impressive ( I think Cork Corporation should have borrowed some for the building of the tunnel under the Lee cos some of the dams were definitly bigger, longer and stronger). At about 6pm decided to set up camp before the uphill climb to the first pass the next day. The sky was closing in, the wind picked up and we thought that was going to be a very wet night. Instead it blew itself out and we had a pleasant altho disturbing night sleep as we camped on that sphagnum moss and no matter which way we slept always felt like we were sleeping with our heads on the down side of the hill!
Next day we packed up lazily and headed up the hill towards Paso Valdivieso. Got lovely views over Valle Carbajal as we climbed and the vegetation got more alpine and sparse. Passed the Laguna Paso Valdivieso and over the pass where we spent a little time sitting on a big hill admiring the stunning view over many lakes, mountains and forest. There was a couple of glaciers too but not very big ones. Its also pretty cold in this area - mostly cos the wind is just freezing all the time. Lunched at Laguna Capullo before heading up towards Paso Mariposa. Described as a steep pass above a rock and scree filled basin we headed in the direction the map seemed to indicate. It should be noted also that the topo map for this region is farcical - its a satellite image (1:52000) but doesn´t have contours for many areas - hahahaha a topo map with no contours - seriously I do not jest. The LP 1:170000 map with contours was more useful. Anyways after about an hour of up and up and trying to figure out which part of the ridge/mountain ahead was a pass we just went for the most obvious and hey presto we were wrong. It was a cliff with a snow topped edge on the other side. Very impressive views (which we watched for about 30 seconds before the wind got too cold to bear) over a huge area of Tierra Del Fuego. Found a slightly more sheltered area back down the scree slope for a quick map/compass reconsult then headed back over towards the area we had seen another potential pass. We should have lined the pass up with the valley that was perpendicular to it - might have been easier to find! Also had to shout at the 2 Israelis who either were following us or had the same instructions as us to head back. Dunno what they did tho cos think they were also having a little spat. Found a pass which had incredible views altho a pretty steep downward slope. The rocks on the top were amazing as shaped into wafer thin slices from I presume continous snow/frost/wind action all year around. Slithered (and cursed) our way down the steepest part then it was easy going to Laguna Azul after that (which was stunningly beautiful). As we looked back up the valley we figured out we had basically just climbed over the ridge of the mountain and missed the pass completly as there was a much easier pass further south. Ah well thats hindsight for ya. From there we had a rough bash down (and occasionally back up) a steep ridge as far as the Rio Torito where we camped in a lovely sheltered area near the Salta del Azul (waterfall). Loads of beaver handiwork in that area again but really fantastic day of walking over 2 high passes and well above the treeline most of the day. The weather was superb too (well for that region) so once again counting ourselves very lucky.
The 3rd day walked up the Rio Torito to its source to Paso Beban East and West (which were so freezing cold). This was a long hard slog probably 4-5kms uphill to the passes. Its a relatively easy walk tho altho have to avoid more beaver dams plus some very boggy areas. The area approaching the passes is all scree and exposed and the view from the first pass isn´t great. The view at the far side tho over to the Paso Beban West and down the Valle Beban and onto the Three Picos is very good thou. Once again it was freezing at the top with a really sharp wind blowing so we didn´t delay. The descent out of the second pass is down steep chute of shale/slate but tremendous views of mountains, side valleys with glaciers and nothing else. As we descended into the valley and looked back to where we came from the pass itself just looks ridicouosly steep (but its not since I managed to get down without screaming in fearof heights even once). It was much easier to navigate thru these passes as there was only one option! From there we headed back into the main valley where the Rio Beban flows, followed the river flats for awhile (dodging more beaver dams) and found the little refugio Bonete(hut). The walk out from there was easy enough althou the last hour was a slog along a 4wd track. Managed to get a lift back to the edge of town after 2 minutes of hitchhiking and then a bus from there.
All in all a superb walk over high alpine passes, beautiful forest and moor walking and even tho it lacked the tremendous drama of the previous walks the actual route finding, wilderness, lack of people and walking itself was much more enjoyable. Would highly recommend this walk but saying that we were very lucky with the weather and got no rain at all. Would imagine it would be miserable and very hard work in less favourable conditions.
The next trip we did was a day out to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. This is a really pretty area with walks for all levels. We went on a sunday so it was full of daytrippers but still managed to not met that many people on the walks. There´s a camp ground out there too which is nice but pretty packed. Also feeding the wild animals here seems to be the norm - not sure the national parks in Aus or NZ would be so impressed. The first walk we did was to climb Cerro Guanaco (1092m). It started at Lago Roca (sea level) which is shared between Chile and Argentina and meandered along the shoreline for awhile before ascending steeply up a ridge for about 2kms. Just before the edge of the tree line there´s a really nice lookout. We kept going from there out of the trees and from there its about 2kms across a boggy bit and then onto slate scree with a very good track all the way to the top. The views are immense. All the way to Isla del Navarino, the Beagle Channel, back towards Chile and into Ushuaia as well. Itsvery exposed tho and we even got a shower of snow which was so light the wind was blowing the flakes up the mountain. Were tempted to stop for lunch at the top but it was too cold. Going down retraced our steps back into the wind so we were pretty frozen for awhile. Really nice walk which took about 3 hours.
From the bottom we headed back along the Sendero Costera which is along the coast thru lots of forest with lovely views. Meanders up and down a few little hills and is about 8km in length. Met a few very tired people on that part all of who asked us how far more was left to go ;) Lots of birds like steamer ducks, comorants etc as well.
The only down side of the trip to the national park is the cost. Its 35 pesos (about 8eur - you would get a good meal out for this) per person on the bus plus 30 pesos (7eur) into the park for foreigners. Its only 7 pesos for argentians - imagine if we did that in Europe or Australia! Lets charge the Argentians 20 euros for a pint of Guinness the next time they come to bet us in rugby - see if they like that!!. Its not like there´s any facilities aside from a few tracks and a good clean toilet block. A night camping probably makes the expense better value. The bus is a complete rip off as well as the park is only 12kms outside of town. Our bus company never turned up for the return trip so we ended up sitting in the cold for about 70 minutes until another bus company took pity on us and brought us back. We should have hitched!! We did attempt to get a taxi out there in the morning but they wanted to charge us 250 pesos - hahahaha!! He kept saying "Its only 80 US" - obviously lots of rich tourists come here, pay for everything in dollars and think this is a bargain.
There´s plenty other day walks and over night walks as well from here. Plus you can make the trip to Puerto Williams which is very near (but stupidly expensive US$110 each way per person). We should have done a bit more but combination of sleeping in, hassles with flight changes back to europe (I hate Iberia now) and laziness held us up a bit. Would defo recommend this area tho and probably enough to keep ya going for 10-14days and thats just on hiking.
The first hike we did was Sierra Valdivieso Circuit as described in the Lonely Planet Trekking Bible. Its described as 4 day hike but one of those days is only 1 hour so we decided to lose that day by adding it into the last day. Also we did the hike clockwise altho the book (and most people) do it anticlockwise. This was to avoid having to cross the biggest river Rio Olivia after rain (which we expected). Got a taxi out to the start of the walk, hiked thru the peat farm (just like a bog at home except they have funny drying/stacking shelves and cut the peat in bigger sections) and then followed a cattle track thru forest for the first 90 mins. Crossed the Rio Olivia after that in bare feet as it was sandy and wanted to keep the boots dry if possible. Went well except the water temperature was literally feet numbing - coldest water of the trip so far. After that it was 3-4 hours up the valley Valle Carbajal as far as the valley that comes down from Paso Valdivieso. Most of this was across moors and bogs of spongy sphagnum moss which is fun and bouncy for awhile then just pretty tiring as the pack weighs down on the body from all that bouncy walking. Also had to circumnavigate big areas of felled trees which is caused by the north american beaver - 64 pairs were left go from a farm in the 60s, have now multiplied and gone forth (a bit like the bible told Adam and Eve - didn´t know beavers were catholic tho) and damaged large areas of valley with their dams and tree felling. These little fellas can seriously chew down some big trees and their dams are really impressive ( I think Cork Corporation should have borrowed some for the building of the tunnel under the Lee cos some of the dams were definitly bigger, longer and stronger). At about 6pm decided to set up camp before the uphill climb to the first pass the next day. The sky was closing in, the wind picked up and we thought that was going to be a very wet night. Instead it blew itself out and we had a pleasant altho disturbing night sleep as we camped on that sphagnum moss and no matter which way we slept always felt like we were sleeping with our heads on the down side of the hill!
Next day we packed up lazily and headed up the hill towards Paso Valdivieso. Got lovely views over Valle Carbajal as we climbed and the vegetation got more alpine and sparse. Passed the Laguna Paso Valdivieso and over the pass where we spent a little time sitting on a big hill admiring the stunning view over many lakes, mountains and forest. There was a couple of glaciers too but not very big ones. Its also pretty cold in this area - mostly cos the wind is just freezing all the time. Lunched at Laguna Capullo before heading up towards Paso Mariposa. Described as a steep pass above a rock and scree filled basin we headed in the direction the map seemed to indicate. It should be noted also that the topo map for this region is farcical - its a satellite image (1:52000) but doesn´t have contours for many areas - hahahaha a topo map with no contours - seriously I do not jest. The LP 1:170000 map with contours was more useful. Anyways after about an hour of up and up and trying to figure out which part of the ridge/mountain ahead was a pass we just went for the most obvious and hey presto we were wrong. It was a cliff with a snow topped edge on the other side. Very impressive views (which we watched for about 30 seconds before the wind got too cold to bear) over a huge area of Tierra Del Fuego. Found a slightly more sheltered area back down the scree slope for a quick map/compass reconsult then headed back over towards the area we had seen another potential pass. We should have lined the pass up with the valley that was perpendicular to it - might have been easier to find! Also had to shout at the 2 Israelis who either were following us or had the same instructions as us to head back. Dunno what they did tho cos think they were also having a little spat. Found a pass which had incredible views altho a pretty steep downward slope. The rocks on the top were amazing as shaped into wafer thin slices from I presume continous snow/frost/wind action all year around. Slithered (and cursed) our way down the steepest part then it was easy going to Laguna Azul after that (which was stunningly beautiful). As we looked back up the valley we figured out we had basically just climbed over the ridge of the mountain and missed the pass completly as there was a much easier pass further south. Ah well thats hindsight for ya. From there we had a rough bash down (and occasionally back up) a steep ridge as far as the Rio Torito where we camped in a lovely sheltered area near the Salta del Azul (waterfall). Loads of beaver handiwork in that area again but really fantastic day of walking over 2 high passes and well above the treeline most of the day. The weather was superb too (well for that region) so once again counting ourselves very lucky.
The 3rd day walked up the Rio Torito to its source to Paso Beban East and West (which were so freezing cold). This was a long hard slog probably 4-5kms uphill to the passes. Its a relatively easy walk tho altho have to avoid more beaver dams plus some very boggy areas. The area approaching the passes is all scree and exposed and the view from the first pass isn´t great. The view at the far side tho over to the Paso Beban West and down the Valle Beban and onto the Three Picos is very good thou. Once again it was freezing at the top with a really sharp wind blowing so we didn´t delay. The descent out of the second pass is down steep chute of shale/slate but tremendous views of mountains, side valleys with glaciers and nothing else. As we descended into the valley and looked back to where we came from the pass itself just looks ridicouosly steep (but its not since I managed to get down without screaming in fearof heights even once). It was much easier to navigate thru these passes as there was only one option! From there we headed back into the main valley where the Rio Beban flows, followed the river flats for awhile (dodging more beaver dams) and found the little refugio Bonete(hut). The walk out from there was easy enough althou the last hour was a slog along a 4wd track. Managed to get a lift back to the edge of town after 2 minutes of hitchhiking and then a bus from there.
All in all a superb walk over high alpine passes, beautiful forest and moor walking and even tho it lacked the tremendous drama of the previous walks the actual route finding, wilderness, lack of people and walking itself was much more enjoyable. Would highly recommend this walk but saying that we were very lucky with the weather and got no rain at all. Would imagine it would be miserable and very hard work in less favourable conditions.
The next trip we did was a day out to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. This is a really pretty area with walks for all levels. We went on a sunday so it was full of daytrippers but still managed to not met that many people on the walks. There´s a camp ground out there too which is nice but pretty packed. Also feeding the wild animals here seems to be the norm - not sure the national parks in Aus or NZ would be so impressed. The first walk we did was to climb Cerro Guanaco (1092m). It started at Lago Roca (sea level) which is shared between Chile and Argentina and meandered along the shoreline for awhile before ascending steeply up a ridge for about 2kms. Just before the edge of the tree line there´s a really nice lookout. We kept going from there out of the trees and from there its about 2kms across a boggy bit and then onto slate scree with a very good track all the way to the top. The views are immense. All the way to Isla del Navarino, the Beagle Channel, back towards Chile and into Ushuaia as well. Itsvery exposed tho and we even got a shower of snow which was so light the wind was blowing the flakes up the mountain. Were tempted to stop for lunch at the top but it was too cold. Going down retraced our steps back into the wind so we were pretty frozen for awhile. Really nice walk which took about 3 hours.
From the bottom we headed back along the Sendero Costera which is along the coast thru lots of forest with lovely views. Meanders up and down a few little hills and is about 8km in length. Met a few very tired people on that part all of who asked us how far more was left to go ;) Lots of birds like steamer ducks, comorants etc as well.
The only down side of the trip to the national park is the cost. Its 35 pesos (about 8eur - you would get a good meal out for this) per person on the bus plus 30 pesos (7eur) into the park for foreigners. Its only 7 pesos for argentians - imagine if we did that in Europe or Australia! Lets charge the Argentians 20 euros for a pint of Guinness the next time they come to bet us in rugby - see if they like that!!. Its not like there´s any facilities aside from a few tracks and a good clean toilet block. A night camping probably makes the expense better value. The bus is a complete rip off as well as the park is only 12kms outside of town. Our bus company never turned up for the return trip so we ended up sitting in the cold for about 70 minutes until another bus company took pity on us and brought us back. We should have hitched!! We did attempt to get a taxi out there in the morning but they wanted to charge us 250 pesos - hahahaha!! He kept saying "Its only 80 US" - obviously lots of rich tourists come here, pay for everything in dollars and think this is a bargain.
There´s plenty other day walks and over night walks as well from here. Plus you can make the trip to Puerto Williams which is very near (but stupidly expensive US$110 each way per person). We should have done a bit more but combination of sleeping in, hassles with flight changes back to europe (I hate Iberia now) and laziness held us up a bit. Would defo recommend this area tho and probably enough to keep ya going for 10-14days and thats just on hiking.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Ushuaia - the end of the world (almost)
So we have reached Ushuaia - the end of the world - as its sold here by all the tour companies, except its not the last town in the world as there´s a little one across the water on Isla Del Navarino (in Chile) which is further south ;) Still tho makes for good selling of tours so everything here has that label - plus we are in Argentina so as far as Argentians are concerned Chile doesn´t exist anyways!!
Its a pretty decent town with lots of shops, cafes, bars, etc with one entire street dedicated to tourists but everything else is pretty much ordinary so we can actually go to a decent supermarket! Its really cold here - highs in the summer reach 15C during the day and at night somewhere much lower. There´s constant heating and in fairness all buildings (except in some of the outer poorer suburbs) seem well insulated and heated. Its a nice setting as well with views over the Beagle Channel onto Isla del Navarino and on the northern side mountains with little patches of snow on top.
Getting here from Rio Gallegos was a painful 12 hour bus ride with one section of ripio (gravel)that seemed to be pure mud and go on for hours. Also involved 4 border crossings ie Argentina-Chile and then back to Argentina which is always time consuming. The scenery for most of the trip was flat (except for the odd sheep, guanaco or rhea breaking the skyline), grey, dreary and very uninspiring. The ferry crossing the Magellan strait onto this Isla Grande (where Ushauia is) broke the monotony and we saw heaps of penguins and a brief glimpse of a small black and white dolphin which I cant remember the name of. The last couple of hours was more interesting as well altho very foggy but at least there was trees and hills.
Stayed in a really super B&B the first night but then had to leave as they were fully booked but found a good hostal (called ABRA) which is cosy, reasonable (the price of accomodation here is a bit mad as its high season) and a good kitchen so we can actually cook our own food - wahooo such a novelty!! Been here now for over a week except for one 2 night walk we did (which I will blog in a different post). Have spent a lot of time hiking (Sierra Valdivieso for 3 days, Tierra del Fuego for 1 day), and lots of painful time trying to figure out where to go next. Originally had planned to go to Puerto Williams on Isla del Navarino to do the Dientes circuit there (4-5 nights) and then continue on the ferry to Punta Arenas (36 hours and sounds pretty cool). Unfortunately we couldn´t get ferry tickets and also after completing the Sierra Valdivieso circuit here (which was really good) decided to save ourselves nearly US$500 and not go as the scenery doesn´t look hugely different from here. Also suffering a bit of travel-trekking lethargy now - think its cos we had such a buzz going for the last 6 weeks we just had to crash sometime and its happened.
Went to the maritime muesum as well which is well worth a visit. On friday night turned into a session, we bumped into an Aussie guy called Darren (well he recognised Dunk from uni and is good mates with Brett) who is crewing on a yacht (more like a cruise ship I think) for some really rich people who just fly in to places like this, do a cool cruise then jet out again (on their private jet of course) to leave the crew move the boat to the next fab location. Unfortunately port security was too tight for us to go onboard so instead we stayed in the pub for a very long night (and a consequently very quiet saturday) discussing the merits of crew life versus backpacker life (not sure what the conclusion was). We also tried to do a glacier/ice course here but that also fell thru about 3 times as they are short of guides. Today (monday) we have finally managed to make a plan and we are heading to Puerto Natales on wedneday morning at 5am on a 15 hour bus journey - bring it on NOT!
Did the quick 4 hour tour on the Beagle Channel. Turns out the 4 hour trip is even quicker then that and is only 2.5 hours and there was no hiking on some island as advertised (false advertising seems to go a long way here) and yes it was a tourist trap but hey when in Ushuaia gotta go see the Beagle channel! So for 135 pesos (about 40 euros) each we got a good view of the beagle channel on a calm day. The wind still nearly cut us in 2 thou but we got to see loads of albatross (not sure what kind but pretty big ones), comorants, some penguins, seal lions and lots of other nesting birds at very close quarters on some of the little islands in the channels. Not sure what the birds thought - made me think back to what its like in work in the ´Big Pong´ last year - always some one rushing up for a close view of your personal quarters, squaking away at ya like I knew what was going on (only messing bigpongers - I loved the daily harassment hahahaha)! Got super views of the mountains too as the clouds cleared slightly - altho not off the Chilean ones in the west. Dont think its ever cleared in the west in the last week.
So one more day left at the end of the world and then we´re heading to Puerto Natales, Chile on a 15 hour bus trip to start planning our trip to Torres del Paine. Looking fwd to moving on again now and maybe some slighter warmer weather (it snowed on a mountain on us yesterday!) .
Its a pretty decent town with lots of shops, cafes, bars, etc with one entire street dedicated to tourists but everything else is pretty much ordinary so we can actually go to a decent supermarket! Its really cold here - highs in the summer reach 15C during the day and at night somewhere much lower. There´s constant heating and in fairness all buildings (except in some of the outer poorer suburbs) seem well insulated and heated. Its a nice setting as well with views over the Beagle Channel onto Isla del Navarino and on the northern side mountains with little patches of snow on top.
Getting here from Rio Gallegos was a painful 12 hour bus ride with one section of ripio (gravel)that seemed to be pure mud and go on for hours. Also involved 4 border crossings ie Argentina-Chile and then back to Argentina which is always time consuming. The scenery for most of the trip was flat (except for the odd sheep, guanaco or rhea breaking the skyline), grey, dreary and very uninspiring. The ferry crossing the Magellan strait onto this Isla Grande (where Ushauia is) broke the monotony and we saw heaps of penguins and a brief glimpse of a small black and white dolphin which I cant remember the name of. The last couple of hours was more interesting as well altho very foggy but at least there was trees and hills.
Stayed in a really super B&B the first night but then had to leave as they were fully booked but found a good hostal (called ABRA) which is cosy, reasonable (the price of accomodation here is a bit mad as its high season) and a good kitchen so we can actually cook our own food - wahooo such a novelty!! Been here now for over a week except for one 2 night walk we did (which I will blog in a different post). Have spent a lot of time hiking (Sierra Valdivieso for 3 days, Tierra del Fuego for 1 day), and lots of painful time trying to figure out where to go next. Originally had planned to go to Puerto Williams on Isla del Navarino to do the Dientes circuit there (4-5 nights) and then continue on the ferry to Punta Arenas (36 hours and sounds pretty cool). Unfortunately we couldn´t get ferry tickets and also after completing the Sierra Valdivieso circuit here (which was really good) decided to save ourselves nearly US$500 and not go as the scenery doesn´t look hugely different from here. Also suffering a bit of travel-trekking lethargy now - think its cos we had such a buzz going for the last 6 weeks we just had to crash sometime and its happened.
Went to the maritime muesum as well which is well worth a visit. On friday night turned into a session, we bumped into an Aussie guy called Darren (well he recognised Dunk from uni and is good mates with Brett) who is crewing on a yacht (more like a cruise ship I think) for some really rich people who just fly in to places like this, do a cool cruise then jet out again (on their private jet of course) to leave the crew move the boat to the next fab location. Unfortunately port security was too tight for us to go onboard so instead we stayed in the pub for a very long night (and a consequently very quiet saturday) discussing the merits of crew life versus backpacker life (not sure what the conclusion was). We also tried to do a glacier/ice course here but that also fell thru about 3 times as they are short of guides. Today (monday) we have finally managed to make a plan and we are heading to Puerto Natales on wedneday morning at 5am on a 15 hour bus journey - bring it on NOT!
Did the quick 4 hour tour on the Beagle Channel. Turns out the 4 hour trip is even quicker then that and is only 2.5 hours and there was no hiking on some island as advertised (false advertising seems to go a long way here) and yes it was a tourist trap but hey when in Ushuaia gotta go see the Beagle channel! So for 135 pesos (about 40 euros) each we got a good view of the beagle channel on a calm day. The wind still nearly cut us in 2 thou but we got to see loads of albatross (not sure what kind but pretty big ones), comorants, some penguins, seal lions and lots of other nesting birds at very close quarters on some of the little islands in the channels. Not sure what the birds thought - made me think back to what its like in work in the ´Big Pong´ last year - always some one rushing up for a close view of your personal quarters, squaking away at ya like I knew what was going on (only messing bigpongers - I loved the daily harassment hahahaha)! Got super views of the mountains too as the clouds cleared slightly - altho not off the Chilean ones in the west. Dont think its ever cleared in the west in the last week.
So one more day left at the end of the world and then we´re heading to Puerto Natales, Chile on a 15 hour bus trip to start planning our trip to Torres del Paine. Looking fwd to moving on again now and maybe some slighter warmer weather (it snowed on a mountain on us yesterday!) .
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