Vuelta de Argentina

 A good, but hard day on the bike covering about 85 km around Bariloche and Parque Municipal Llao-Llao, mainly on the road. Mountain bikes are always good fun, but I am a roadie at heart and there were some amazing descents on route. The hire bike weighed half a ton, so hard work getting it up there, but you dropped like a stone on the other side. The ride out to the park did however make me realise why you see so few road cyclist in Argentina. I can only imagine the driving test in Argentina primarily involves handing over a wodge of cash in a brown paper bag, if the standard of driving is anything to go bye.

Tomorrow we are off to Pucon in Chile for some more adventure sports and a big New Year’s Eve party, should be fun.

Anthony

Christmas Photos

Santa overland style!

Cave of hand. 10,000 years old graffiti

Looting, sunshine and too much red wine

24/12/12 Seasons Greetings from Argentina

We are now quite a long way South from Ushuaia, having spent the last 3 days or so driving. Nothing much to report apart from some very impressive cave art seen yesterday. It is called Cueva de las manos, or the cave of hands as there are hundreds of hand prints dating back 10,000. I will update some photos when I have a quicker internet connection.

We are spending Christmas at Los Alerces National Park in Northern Patagonia (it is named after the local huge trees). Christmas should therefore be quite relaxing and fingers crossed for sunshine rather than snow as we are camping in quite a remote area. Turkey is not on the menu, but I believe we will have a mouth watering selection of barbequed meals to enjoy and of course lots of lovely Argentinean red wine. As it is Christmas I have even bought some chocolate lacquer to enjoy.

I hope that everyone has a great Christmas back home.

Merry Christmas, Anthony

26/12/12 Christmas in the Sunshine

Well that was certainly an interesting way to spent Christmas day. No turkey, but we had a wonderful spread of beef & lamb to enjoy and even cranberry sauce all the way from Blighty. Thanks M&D for the card and Christmas socks, very nice and I now have a smart pair of socks to wear out on the town.

We also had secret Santa on the truck, which is always good fun. I got a huge Argentinean mug, which came in handy when the wine started to flow. Bit of a sore head come Boxing Day, but you have to let your hair down every once in a while. Luckily I have had all of Boxing Day to recover. Very relaxing day with lovely weather and nothing to do apart from enjoy the holiday spirit.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas back home, roll on New Year!

Anthony

28/12/12 Bariloche

We are currently in Bariloche for a few days. The town in located in the middle of the Argentinean Lake District and is considered the adventure sport capital of Argentina. It is also the chocolate capital of the country, but I am not really sure why because all of the coco beans are imported? It is currently full with thousands upon thousands of Argentinean students letting their hair down, so can be a bit lively.

We also had a bit of looting the other day (not the students for once), but this is fairly common in this part of the world. When you see the mess the government and local states make of everything, good luck to the looters! It is also the only way to buy food without having to queue for a ridiculous length of time, so maybe the looters just got board of waiting?

A few of our group went white water rafting today, but the river they are going down is a bit tame for my liking (grade 3/4). We have the opportunity to go down a few grade 4/5 rivers, which is a bit more interesting (grade 5 is the max difficulty). Rather than any real extreme sports, I am planning a bit of cycling tomorrow with a 60 km route around the local mountains. I have had a good three weeks off the bike, so it will be interesting to see how the legs fair. If I do struggle up the hills it is because the hire mountain bike is so heavy and not lack of fitness!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the Christmas period and that it has finally stopped raining back home. As we are currently camping, luckily we have had unbroken sunshine for the past few days. It is however still very cold at night and first thing in the morning, which can be a bit of a shock to the system (shorts & t-shirt in the day to woolly hat & thermals in the tent).

Fingers crossed my phone should work in Chile, which is our destination in a few days time, so I should be able to catch up with everyone and say hello.

Anthony

Some of my favourite photos from Argentina

Snow at Christmas

It may be summer in the Southern Hemisphere, but I have managed to find snow for Christmas! I only had to trek up to Glacier Martial just outside Ushuaia. A nice (if very steep) 7 km trek from town, although unfortunately the weather was not playing ball and you could see absolutely nothing at the Glacier or the viewpoints.

Today is our last day in Ushuaia and to be honest it will be nice to head North to try to find the sun again. I enjoy camping, but there is only so much camping in the cold and wet you can take. We are camping non stop for the next 3 weeks or so, but it is much more enjoyable when the sun is shining and you do not have to sleep in your thermals, a woolly hat and two sleeping bags to keep warm! Hopefully I will be able to keep the blog updated regularly during the coming weeks, but internet coverage will be patchy.

Thankfully things have calmed down a bit in Argentina so we should not have any problems heading North, or getting back into Chile. Argentina is a lovely country and has some truly amazing areas of wilderness, but it is stupidly expensive, nothing works and they have no comprehension of customer service or sensible opening hours (a 3 hour siesta is still the norm in this part of the world). It does not take a genius to work out why the economy is going backwards.

Anthony

Greetings from the end of the world

Hello from Ushuaia, Argentina Southern most city in the world. Apologies for the update delay, but we have been camping for the past week or so and internet coverage down in Southern Patagonia is rather poor.

We arrived in Ushuaia yesterday after a two day drive from Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. One bit of excitement upon arrival is that the locals were protesting against the local state as apparently many public workers have not been paid salaries as the local authority has run out of money. Yet another sign that Argentina is on the slippery slope towards financial collapse. You have to feel sorry for the local population, but as with many Southern Europeans (Greece, Italy, Spain etc) you cannot accuse them of being hard working and all public services are a complete shambles.

We were in Chile for a little under a week, mainly in Torres del Paine National Park, where we stayed 5 days. Most of the guys were off trekking the ‘W’ which is a famous 4 day trek in the park, where you stay in a different hostels or campsite each night. A few of us however decided to base ourselves with the truck at the very nice base campsite and undertake a few day or two day walks instead.

Rather than walk the full ‘W’ route, myself and another overlander, Mikkel walked half of the route over 2 days, rough camping in the park overnight. Quite a hard two days, with about 6 hours walking the first day and 7 hours the second day, but some of the view were truly amazing. The park sits on the edge of the Patagonian ice sheet and therefore there are numerous glaciers and lakes amongst the mountains. Trekking within the park is famous throughout South America, so we encountered lots of different nationalities, including Americans, French, Japanese and lots of Israeli students. It was an enjoyable two days, but my legs and feet were rather sore at the end of it and I am glad I did not go for the full 4 days. After 2 days I was all glacier and snow topped mountained out!  

The other thing with this part of the world is that the weather is unbelievably unpredictable. They say that Scotland has 4 seasons in one day, well Patagonia has 4 seasons in one hour! Whilst walking on the second day (along Lake Grey to see Glacier Grey, 30km with lots of up!) we experienced rain, freezing cold wind and hot sunshine. I went from woolly hat and gloves to shorts and T-shirt in less than an hour. The main factor is the wind. As with many mountainous areas, heavy wind and rain can come from nowhere, but I have certainly never experienced such fast changing weather.

The other nice aspect of the park is the incredible bird life. With so many visitors, the birds are really tame and I have been able to get some amazing photos. Apparently there are still pumas in the park, but you are about as likely to see one as to see Norwich win the Premier League (to be fair we are on am amazing run, so you never know!).

A bit more trekking, glaciers & snowy mountains are on the cards for tomorrow, but a bit more tame than Torres del Paine. I hope everyone is enjoying the run up to Christmas and has now finished their Christmas shopping. I am actually undertaking some Christmas shopping today as we are doing secret Santa on the truck.

Anthony



 

We have a truck!

We have a truck at last. It arrived yesterday afternoon and therefore we are heading off in the truck for the first time this afternoon. Yesterday I went glacier walking at the Viedma Glacier south of where we have been staying. Good fun walking with crampons for the first time and some of the icebergs we saw in Lake Viedma (you have to take a boat to the glacier) were amazing. I will upload some of the photos when I have a faster internet connection.

Today we are heading South towards the Torres del Paine national park in Chile. First bush camp tonight and first boarder crossing tomorrow. We have a fair bit of time in the national park (4 days), so I am hoping to get some more trekking in, together with possible some kyaking and mountain biking. Still very windy where we are, but much warmer than back home. It will however get colder as we head South. Brief update as the internet connection down here is rubbish!

Anthony

Parque Nacional Los Glaciares

For the last couple of days we have been staying in El Chalten on the edge of the Los Glaciares National Park. Stunning scenery, but unfortunately the weather has been a bit hit and miss, with very strong winds and some rain. The small town is the trekking capital of Argentina and there are some really nice challenging walks from town heading out to the various glaciers in the park. It has been good to get some proper trekking in, even if my boots are starting to fall part. The good news is that I heeded the warning signs and purchased some leather walking shoes in Buenos Aires. Hopefully I will not go through two pairs of shoes whilst in South America. Luckily I am planning to live in my sandals as soon as we return to sunnier climbs. Comedy tan lines here we come!

Today I walked out to Lake Torre and back. There are supposedly stunning views of Mount Torre at the lake, but all I could see was mist and horizontal rain. Reminds me of walking in the lake district.

The big news today is that our truck is finally on the road and should be able to reach us on Monday. This is great news as we can finally start to camp and no longer have to use public transports, which is a bit more sparse now we are in a remote area.

Anthony

Food, birds & financial collapse

Argentinean food is about as sophisticated as American cars. It is all about the meat and the more the better. Novell cuisine it is not. As much as I occasionally enjoy steak and chips, I am now starting to develop a craving for green vegetables. They don’t really do vegetables in Argentina, apart from potatoes. The concept of healthy eating is also lost on them. Everything comes swimming in grease. Even the pasta dishes come with a mountain of cheese to help ensure you exceed your recommended daily intake of saturated fats!

I have also been surprised how expensive Argentina is. A meal out costs £10-15 and food in the surpermarkets is more expensive than back home (a part from wine which is stupidly cheap). They are having major issues with inflation, which is currently running at about 25%. Considering the economic outlook for the country, they are heading for another financial meltdown similar to what happened in 1999-2002. Unsurprisingly the populous are not very happy with the current state of affairs and therefore there have been a number of protest and strikes over the past few months. If you think economically we have it bad in the UK, you should see what it is like in Argentina!

Today has been a fairly lazy day looking around the town of El Calafate. The most interesting attraction is a nature reserve on the edge of town, which houses an amazing array of wetland wild birds. Flamingos, kestrels, ibises and a wide variety of ducks and geese. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours bird watching and taking photos.

Tomorrow we are off to El Chalten (about 200km North), which is located in the north section of the Los Glaciares National Park. Still no truck, so we will again be using a local coach. From El Chalten I hope to arrange some proper trekking, including glacier trekking and ice climbing. Expensive at over £100 for the day (I told you Argentina was expensive), but hopefully worth it.

Anthony

Wow!

Mother nature at her best. The Perito Moreno glacier is simply amazing! The glacier descends to the surface of Lake Argentino over a 5 km frontage at a height of 60 meters. You really have to see it to get an idea of the scale of the thing. Not only is the scenery amazing, but you can sit and watch huge chunks of ice weighing hundreds of tons fall into the water below. It is a long way to come, but definitely worth coming to Patagonia to see. Bert enjoyed it to.

Anthony

In the mountins at last

Well that was a long trip! We left the hostel in Puerto Madyr at 12:30 yesterday and two coaches later arrived at the hostel in El Calafate 17:00 this afternoon. Not quite up to my brother Mark’s record of 41 hours in Australia, but not something I want to repeat in a while. The good news is that hopefully the truck will be with us for the weekend. It has now been offloaded in Montevideo, Uruguay, so now just has to clear customs and then drive the 3,000 or so km down to where we are! The delay has supposedly been caused by Hurrican Sandy, but it is mostly down to good old fashioned South American incompetence.

El Calafate has quite an Alpine feel to it. It sits on the South shore of Lago Argentino and has snowy peaks in the background. Tomorrow I am going to visit the famous Parque National Los Glaciares, 50 km away. The main attraction within the park is the Glaciar Perito Moreno, one of the few glaciers in the world that is actually getting bigger. The glacier can be seen up close from a series of walkways, so hopefully I should be able to get some stunning photos. At present it is not too cold, but is very windy and therefore I will be digging out all of my winter gear from the bottom of the rucksack. Thermals here we come!

Anthony

Fact of the day - whales

A male right whale is half the size of a male blue whale, but has testes five times bigger. Each one weighs as much as a large horse!

Sunday Bike Ride

One week down, 27 to go! I had a free day today, so hired a mountain bike in town to explore the countryside around Puerto Madryn. Being honest, there is not a huge amount to see apart from sandy beaches, but it was good to get out on a bike and there were some good local trails to have some fun on. I also managed to find the memorial commemorating the landing by the Welsh settlers in 1865, where the town is actually named after the Welsh home of the colonist, Jones Parry. I cannot say that the town feels very Welsh now days, but there are lots of sheep.

Unfortunately the truck is still stuck up north, so tomorrow we are going to have to take another overnight long distance coach to El Chalten, right down in the Southern tip of Argentina. The town is close to the Los Glaciares National Park and surrounded by the stunning peaks and glaciers of the FitzRoy mountain range. I am planning to try ice trekking or ice climbing, which should be great fun if a little cold (time to break out the down jacket). Considering the weather during the first week (30+ with sunshine each day), it will actually be quite nice to experience some cooler weather.

I hope you are all enjoying the snow and ice back in the UK and it is good to see that the mighty Canaries continue to win. 9 matches unbeaten now, which must be close to a record in the top flight.

Anthony

Very cute!

A good, if long day exploring the Valdes Peninsula. We managed to see elephant seals, penguins, whales & other assorted local wildlife. Not a particularly interesting landscape, where the interesting wildlife is all marine. Rather than waffle on, a selection of cute critters!

Anthony

El nombre es Bond, James Bond

Well the 18 hour coach journey was better than expected, with great seats that almost reclined fully, a fine selection and drinks and snacks and Hollywood blockbusters dubbed into Spanish. James Bond speaking Spanish is somehow not quite right!

We are now staying in a small seaside town called Puerto Madryn, close to the Valdes Peninsula. The area is famous for wildlife watching and tomorrow we hope to see whales, elephant seals and sea lions on the peninsula. Fingers crossed. Our base is a nice hostel in the centre of town. As with most hostels it has a kitchen that guests can use, so tonight I am planning to cook for myself which will make a nice change. Fresh pasta with a nice Argentinean Malbec, should be good.

Still no news on the truck, but hopefully it should catch us up in the next couple of days. We are in Puerto Madryn until Monday, so it should be a fairly relaxing weekend by the sea ahead.

Where’s our truck?

Not the best start to the trip as our truck is currently stuck in Montevideo, but we will press on regardless. Apparently there are still some shipping issues in Latin America following Hurricane Sandy, which has caused the delay. Tomorrow I therefore have the joys of an overnight coach to Puerto Madryn, about 700 miles or so down the coast. On the plus side I have been led to believe that long distances Argentinean coaches are a lot better than National Express, so I am hoping for Champaign and oysters all the way!

It was good to finally meet everyone last night and as expected we have a good mix of nationalities. Mainly Brits, but we also have Ozzies, Irish, South African, French and Danes aboard. They seem a friendly bunch and I look forward to getting to know everyone better (and remembering all 24 names) over the coming days.   

The last couple of days have been spent exploring the numerous parks and wetlands of Buenos Aires. A very green city with some lovely gardens and nature reserves. The Botanical Gardens are especially nice and home to a large number of very friendly (and rude) cats.

I hope it has finally stopped raining back in the UK. I will not say what the weather has been like out here, as it will just make you all jealous!

Anthony

One Big Flower!

Don't cry for me Argentina

I am not sure about the Paris of South America, but Buenos Aires is certainly a very nice city and well worth a visit. Today I have seen a giant 23m flower made out of metal and weighting 18 tons, visited the grave of Evita and been to the Falklands War memorial which is next to Torre Monumental, a large clock tower gifted to Argentina by Britain in 1910?

Luckily it was a public holiday today so the roads were a lot quieter than usual. A combination of some strange road layouts and erratic driving does not make it that easy on a bike, but at least the city is pancake flat. A much better way to see a city than on your usual open air tour bus.

Tomorrow I get to meet the travelling companions I will be spending the next 6 months or so with. Meeting at 17:00 and than some bonding over dinner. The rest of the week will be spent heading South along the Atlantic coast. I asked my guide Maria today what the roads in Argentina are generally like and apparently they are good in the North. I think it could be a bumpy few weeks!

Anthony

Buenos Aires

Sorry to everyone back home in wet and windy Britain, but the weather in Buenos Aires is gorgeous! Sunshine and in the low twenties, just right. One thing that travel does do is make you realise that the weather in the UK is usually pants for about 8 months of the year (or 11 this year). I know it may be a bit dull to have sunshine most days, but better than rain most days!

For those of you thinking of coming out to Brazil for the World Cup or Rio Olympics, TAM is a good airline to fly with, but good luck navigating Sau Paulo Airport. I was not quite name checked on the tannoy system, but a two hour transfer turned into a mad 15 minute dash to find gate 04b after the joys of security and the obligatory delayed flight from Heathrow. Can someone also please explain the film ‘Prometheus’ to me. I know it is probably not best watched on a tiny screen and with tinny sound, but It made no sense! Ridley Scott, please stick to making top quality road bikes as used by the Lotto Belisol team.

For someone use to travelling in developing countries, Buenos Aires has a much more developed, European feel about it, which is probably why they call it the South American Paris (it says so on my KLM sponsored map, so it must be true). The driving is certainly very Parisian and there are also lots of clapped out Renaults! I have also spotted a few fantastically named VW CrossFox. A fox crossed with a cheap Brazillian made supermini?

Tomorrow I am planning to go on a guided tour of the city by bike, which should be interesting.

Anthony

4 days to go!

4 days to go until I fly to Argentina. Considering the current weather in the UK, roll on sunshine! The packing has been started and I cannot wait to get on the plane.

Countdown

Less than two weeks to go and still lots to do before I fly out.