Nearly the end of the trip

Sadly, the last few days of our trip have flown by and we are now getting ready to leave Buenos Aires for our flight back to London. BA has reminded me of Australia, specifically Sydney. Its hot and humid but very cosmopolitan with lots of nice cafes, galleries, boutiques etc.

We went to the polo on Sat, which was less about the horses and more about the people watching, once we worked out which field we were supposed to be at.

5 minutes before the game at the wrong field

The right field

Then on Sun we went to the San Telmo antiques market, just like Portobello if you're into comparisons. Other than that we've really just mooched around eating good icecream and drinking good coffee. If you're ever in BA my hot tips are stay in Palermo and visit the cemetery in Recoleta - its amazing...

Graves are little homes - impressive

10 things I hate about shared bathrooms

Other people use them

Never know when/if the showers are free

Can’t predict when the hot water will run out

Guilt I’ve been in the shower too long

The shower curtain touches you

You have to wear thongs

Other peoples hair in the drain

No room for toiletries, dry clothes, getting dried

Getting dressed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night

No privacy

Nearly the end of the world

So we caught the ferry across the Straights of Magellan;

and arrived in Tierra del Fuego to this.

We spent a day indoors in Ushuaia;

then, when the bad whether cleared, we headed to the end of the line.

Ushuaia could have been considered the end of the world but the cheeky Chileans built a town just to the south called Puerto Williams :(

Really enjoyed a day wandering around Tierra del Fuego NP but to be honest we are tired. I totally don't expect anyone to feel sorry for us but its a good time to end the trip because we have run out of travelling juice, and with scenery like this...

...that's saying something.

A little bit afraid

I can’t put my finger on why, but I was a bit nervous to go to Torres del Paine. Could be because the mountains are huge and sharp and I was worried about the walking as my feet were already sore and blistered from El Chalten. Could be because legend has it storms here are unpredictable and fierce and we were camping the first night. Could be because I had had to reduce my pack to absolutely necessary items only and I was paranoid that I’d forget something absolutely essential and have no toothbrush for 4 days.

Turns out my fears were unfounded. We did a couple of really nice walks in good weather and had a rest day when it rained, so we sat inside the lodge all day eating local pringles, drinking cheap cask wine, listening to 80’s mega mix and playing winner takes all UNO with new friends from Adelaide. I didn’t even forget anything – debatable as to whether more than one pair of socks is essential. To be fair I think we were, again, very lucky with the weather…it was blowing a gale on the day we arrived and when we left there were black clouds looming nearby. Enjoy the pics...

Walk on the first day - lodge in the background - our tent behind that

Coming back to the lodge from the other side of the bay on the last day

On the way to Valley Frances

Still on the way to Valley Frances, getting closer

View down Valley Frances to the lakes

Mountains at the end of the valley

Lookout over Lago Grey to Glacier Grey

Glacier Grey up close and its wee icebergs

Ominous clouds at Lago Pehoe

More ominous clouds behind the lodge

Patagonia is AMAZING

We have been walking in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares for the past few days and I am going to make a bold call and say its my favourite place on the trip so far. Amazing scenery in every direction - huge mountains, glaciers, blue and green lakes with their own icebergs, crystal clear streams, bright green forests - we really could be in Lord of the Rings (the good bits). Yesterday we spotted condors, the days before we hiked to glacial lakes and everyday we were lucky enough not to get rained on...the wind on the other hand can be insane and gave us a good battering. Big fan.

4 hours walk from El Chalten - Laguna de Los Tres and Mt Fitz Roy

Just around the corner - Laguna Sucia

Could walk here forever, if I had better boots

Laguna Torre and Glacier Grande and Co Torre and  bird

Beautiful even on the way to the mountains

Magic Forest

Little bit of snow walking

View from above Laguna Torre

The Navimag

Four days on a boat and nothing to do but chat with friends, eat, drink, play cards and enjoy the scenery, the bingo and the disco. Good for relaxing and planning our last few weeks, bad for my efforts to avoid dorms and shared bathrooms. Apologies, but there are no photos of the disco, the dorm or the shared bathroom - I feel like I've let the blog down...hope you enjoy anyhow.

Onboard wildlife spotting

Excursion to Puerto Eden...one and only chance to get off the boat

Puerto Eden

Up close to Glacier Pio XI, frio!

Rain, incoming

The best part of the rain

Where we sit, drink, eat, read in the sun

The cargo and the snow capped mountains

Can't get enough of the snow capped mountains

Lovely sunsets

Lucky last day was sunny and still

Ancud on a good day

Look at the difference...this is the day we left :(

Great day for a walk if we weren't leaving!

On the upside, a rainy day means a visit to the museum to see a Blue Whale skeleton

Chiloe or Tasmania

I don't like to and I try not to, but you can't help making comparisons when you are travelling, to places you've been before. When we were in the lakes district I was reminded of Taupo in NZ, the west coast of Scotland and the French Alps, at different times, and ended up having to remind myself where I was. Now in Chiloe I have the same problem, its Tasmania.

We arrived in Castro after a nice bus ride through beautiful scenery. The weather was stunning, the grass was brilliantly green, the water sparkled, there were bright yellow and red flowers in full bloom and if you'd asked me at that moment I would have been happy to move to Chiloe, live in an old wooden house and open a dairy farm on top of a hill...

Castro waterfront

Lots of boats

The countryside

Whilst the weather held we visited the National Park and the coast at Cucao.

The beach near Cucao

Lake Huillingo in the National Park

Cafe in the NP - nice

The lunch spot

Then I was forced to revoke my 'Karen The Farmer' plan in Ancud. Not because of Ancud itself, which is just as nice as Castro, but the weather turned to something I believe is more typical and we had two very bleak, housebound days. Perfect one day, rain, wind, grey, cold the next...Tasmania.

View from our room in Ancud...can't complain too much

Can't get enough of the volcanoes

What did we do when we went to Puerto Varas? Easy, we went to the Oktoberfest, we admired the lakes and we hiked around Volcan Osorno. Another place I could live, very scenic, a bit German...

The lake

The volcano

The beach