Home ·· News Room ·· Prints ·· Licensing ·· Gallery ·· About Us ·· Contact Us ·· Articles ·· Services South America stock photography trip report, December 30, 2007 to January 15, 2008 Updated August 27, 2008 Page 2 of 5 Previous page Next page
	continued... The funny thing about Patagonia is the sky stays bright here until 11pm. That means we walked in dusky light over to La Tablita restaurant, made a reservation for 11:15pm and then went over to the hostel to pound off the other liter of beer Joann bought. As we both hadn't eaten anything substantial since lunch, the beer buzz came easily. I'm still fighting this stress-induced head congestion, so I got some mileage out of the beer much easier than normal. A large, meaty meal I chatted a little with our Swiss, New York and San Francisco roommates. It was very college-like to be crammed into three bunk beds with 5 other adults. If we all were able to get conversations rolling, it would have been more fun, but we were so absorbed with prepping for the night and the next day that not a lot of long conversation went on. The 11:30pm dinner at La Tablita was a gourmet experience. We had the huge sampler plate of sirloin, tenderloin, lamb chops and some other unnamed hunks of meat. All the pieces were served on a platter with glowing red coals beneath, keeping the meat hot for our entire 1.5 hour meal. While Joann cruised through a glass of chardonnay, I knocked down two glasses of Argentine Malbec. We finished at 12:30am. Wednesday, January 2, 2008 Had a much better night of sleep than last, though I had to get up at the crack of dawn. I quickly shoveled down a bowl of cereal before running out of the hostel. Joann isn't much of a breakfast person, so she was able to spend that time doing other things. We had to hoof it pretty quick to the El Calafate bus terminal. We got there, tossed our backpacks in the cargo bay and in mere moments were off to Puerto Natales, Chile. The border crossing into Chile is rather annoying because you have to completely off-load your baggage, go through immigration and customs. There, you have to dispose of your agricultural and non-pre packaged animal products. Apparently this process has kept hoof and mouth disease at bay. We accidentally left sandwiches and oranges on the bus and when we returned, and even they were taken care of. The Chileans don't leave much unturned. Travel stress equals a cold Much of Patagonia looks like eastern Washington State, like a scrub desert created by a mountain rain shadow. In this particular case, the Andes create this desert. There wasn't any traditional desert sand found here, but you don't see a single tree for as far as you can see. And, along the roads through Patagonia, you can see a long, long way. There were a few sheep, but this place is really the empty frontier. The towns around Patagonia have primarily developed for tourism, so most places are new in the South American perspective. But certainly not new in the traditional Western sense. We rolled into Puerto Natales, Chile, in the afternoon and went over to the Erratic Rock Hostel to find a place to sleep. Their main facility was full, but they have a secondary building named "The Crash Pad" where we holed up. It was nice because we had our own room, single beds and the entire upstairs floor was deserted this night. This hostelling travel student-like lifestyle is quite different than my usual travel mode of inexpensive motels and hotels. This approach has the advantage of being cheaper and you get the chance to meet others doing exactly what you are, though with other goals in mind. You aren't forced to be sociable, but the opportunity exists. The downside is not having your own private bath a place to shut out the world for a little bit. I feel slightly out of sorts about it, but it may be the head cold, sinus mess I've been entertaining since 3 days prior to leaving the States. I didn't take it easy enough during Christmas and prior to traveling and now I'm paying the price. When I toured East Europe, resting several days prior to departing kept me cold-free. My little uncontrolled experiment verified my thinking - stress eats you alive. I really hate that. I'm going to have to completely chill a week before any major trip, especially to tough places, because this getting a cold this way has gotten on my nerves. Either that or I have to purchase an upgraded immune system. That crazy look We purchased our bus tickets to Torres del Paine National Park for the next morning. We were ready for transport. After the extraordinarily useful information session done by Jeremiah at Erratic Rock Hostel, we had all of our backpacking questions answered. The overriding conclusion I came to was that 5 days was absolutely luxurious travel for this trek. It was only a few hours between refugios, a dorm hotel, and camps, so the rest of the time would be spent eating, resting and locally exploring. I got the crazy, wild-eyed smile again… "Hey Joann, how many hours do you think you can hike in a day?" She replied, "At least 8 hours." "Good", I chuckled. After looking at the maps, distances and average times, I bet we could crack the classic W trek out in 3 days. This aggressive approach had several advantages. We had to carry less food and fuel, we were less likely to be out in really bad weather and it would free up the 2 days necessary to travel to Ushuaia, the end of the world. After Joann related her experience on the Inca Trail in Peru and around Cero Fitz Roy, I felt very confident we could knock this backpack out in 2 nights. And still catch the sunrise on the three famous towers. Ready to roll We then had our work cut out for us. First was to secure our bus tickets to Ushuaia, as the office at Pachero Travel closed early in the day, so we didn't want to miss out and be stuck in Puerto Natales with nothing to do for a couple days. Then, we took off shopping for food at the local grocery store. We stocked up on crackers, salami and spreadable cheese for lunch. Oatmeal and powered milk would be our breakfast and the freeze dried dinners I hauled half way around the world were to be supper. We spent the next couple hours changing our gear configuration, spreading things out, so we could leave as much as possible at Erratic Rock. No reason to backpack with books and other meaningless things in the outdoors. This reconfiguration took much longer than I'd hoped, so Joann went downstairs and cooked up a hearty meal of rice and tuna to save time and money while I got everything together. I made sure to triple-check everything. I didn't want to get to our first camp and realize I'd left the stove 50 miles away. Freeze dried food isn't pleasant to eat cold. This arrangement worked well because we were able to get to bed by 10pm. Breakfast was served at Erratic Rock at 630am and our bus was at 7am. It was tight, so we had to get to sleep early. We cleaned up, dropped our storage bags and bedded down for the night in the chilly. Thursday, January 3, 2008 We cracked dawn, got up and over to Erratic Rock Hostel for breakfast, made by the co-owner Bill. He's quite a character because he's an all-American type - all business. Not as stiff and programmatic as the Germans, but definitely all about getting it done. I wondered aloud how the business approach worked in the world of flighty backpacker student travelers. He was honest and said sometimes the combination didn't work, but as he had the advantage of being the owner, so he made and enforced the rules. Board the ferry last The bus for the park showed up and we were off. There are several bus companies with hotel and hostel relationships. It's best to just take the bus that's associated with your hostel, otherwise you might not end up in the right place. The ride out to the park is 2+ hours, so we had snacks and water at the ready. The ride is broken up by the standard tourist food and junk collection shops. Just enough time to hit the toilet, grab a snack and hop back on the bus. We saw the guanaco, a Chilean llama and the rhea ostrich as we drove toward the park. I had visions of a photo with a guanaco with the Torres del Paine in the background. But, without a telephoto lens and the bus to stop in the right place, that shot wasn't to happen, at least in the place where we stopped. We did stop once or twice to see the animals, but no place to get what I wanted. It was fun just to see the animals wandering around. Though it was tempting to carry the telephoto for such shots, carrying a heavy lens on a long backpack with limited use was not interesting. We were dropped at Lago Nordeskold to catch the ferry, a catamaran across the glacial lake, to begin the famous 'W' trek. The 'W' is an abbreviated version of the full Patagonia circuit. The catamaran ride even included hot chocolate as an added bonus. It's best if you can board the boat as late as possible. This way, your backpack doesn't end up on the bottom of a very large pile and you have the luxury of enjoying the drinks without waiting in line. And, you get off the boat first. We spent an hour messing around at the refugio, prior to hiking up to the viewing point of Glacier Gray. Joann had wanted to do some glacier trekking, but the climbers at Erratic Rock Hostel said that there was only one reputable business that had been around for 10 years and had had shut down last year. Joann had her heart set on chopping at some blue ice, but it wasn't to be this trip. There was a report that a new guide company was in town, but going without a climber recommended by the locals is a risky proposition at best, as you trust your life to their skills. That makes me take a mental note that the first order of business is to get to know the locals, should I guide in the future. It makes business easier. The hike is 1.5 hours up to the Glacier Gray viewpoint. The trail is up the whole way, but the terrain is undulating and lush. There are a few marshes to pass and plenty of birds and flowers to look at. Later on in the hike, icebergs appear on the lake, floating in the Caribbean green waters like misshapen pearls, congregating against the windward shores. The midpoint lookout over Glacier Gray is a perfectly situated promontory which allows a high, expansive view of the glacier. The weather has held up quite well, but the wind here is explosive. There's enough gust force to make it impractical to stand and look at the glacier for more than a moment or two. It's easier to hide behind well-placed rocks to observe the icy giant. You hunker down and take photographs, bracing yourself against the fast and biting wind. Even in full daylight, it's difficult to take sharp shots due to being knocked around. Then, we retreat a bit to an old, gnarled tree to have lunch. This little location has been well built and visited. You can see the 3 foot wind swells buffet the tiny ferry taking people across the lake to observe the glacier face. Even from this high distance, you can see that the ride is rough. Cold kateabatic winds roar down the glacier and rip across the lake. This is just a taste of what Antarctica must be like. From the photos and descriptions of the glacier, it has neither retreated nor advanced in any appreciable way, according to the visitors center. Again, like Glacier Perrito Moreno, this flies in the face of claims that all glaciers across the globe are retreating. We enjoyed our spreadable cheese, crackers and salami lunch. I'd been hungry for the last half hour, so I make sure wolf down the available food. A couple walked past us, getting knocked around and stumbling pretty well, so I had a good idea what we looked like doing the same. The walk back to the refugio was eventful and fast. We were protected from winds in the forest most of way, exposed to blustery gusts only once or twice. After experiencing the full force of the winds, you appreciate the shelter the forest provides for the hike. We were in the roaring forties and headed from the screaming 50's. Now I understand what people have always talked about after doing the first leg of the 'W'. Camp Italiano We spent plenty of time at the refugio adding to our food stock supplies before heading off on the second leg of the 'W' trek. The 2.5 hour walk from the Lake Refugio to Camp Italiano was a pleasant stroll. Though the average trail was a slow incline upward, the overall content of the trail was easy. Based on matching the average travel times described on the park map, this was to be an easy day. By now I'd started doing some decent shooting and was good and warmed up for the rest of the trip. I know that the 16GB of memory cards was more than adequate, but only carrying one spare battery was another matter. Though I kept chimping to a minimum, my Nikon D200 seems to chew through batteries quickly. So, a spare battery is an absolute necessity on a 3-day trip. There was a little bit of spitting rain, but nothing to justify the triple bagged backpack I was carrying, nor the reports of horrible weather in the past few days. Thank goodness. From what everyone has told us, it can get really, really bad here. Even the t-shirts at the lake refugio joke about the bad wind and weather here. Camp Italiano is at the center of the 'W' trek, perfectly placed in a large stand of canopy broad leaf trees, the tops being 30' or higher. The lower sections of the trees have no foliage at all, due to the dense growth at the canopy top. This is all academic compared to the most important aspect of this location - protection from the wind. These trees are strikingly flexible, with a broad root base. Any other tree would not survive this location. Camp was made with Joann's tent that I hauled across the world and we fired up the first two freeze dried dinners. Both the pasta primavera and hearty beef stew were remarkably good, as good as any basic restaurant might serve. These packages of dust and chunks have come a long way. At least, they were as good as anything you might find in the middle of wind-swept Patagonia. View of Valley Francais Joann and I didn't get to sleep until 11pm. That's not a problem here, since it is light well past 10pm. The light here is very similar to Alaska in the summer, with 18 hours of usable light, making it possible to squeeze more out of a trip. It's strange to get used to, but it's sure handy. Previous page Next page
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