El chalten

El chalten was next on our itinerary. Famous for mount fotzroy, lots of hiking and it's glaciers.

We were camping just outside of town so after the usual painful job of cook group shopping we headed to camp to set up for the night. We all got a little excited about the fact that we were finally stopping somewhere for a few nights and that there was a micro brewery within spitting distance of camp so first night was a little messy.  Some people were up early for horseriding the next day but I opted for a lazy lie in and some hiking.

We set off shortly before midday for a 2 hour hike to the mount fitzroy viewpoint and back.  When we got to the viewing platform we got a little carried away and talked ourselves in to carrying on for the 7 hour round trip to lake Torres. It was very pretty, and easy walking although very hot.  It was a lovely chilled out day just the three of us.  After a short while patrick got bored of the slow pace and marched on leaving jo and I to follow behind.

Shortly before arriving at the lake jo managed to trip on the smallest piece of wood in the world (it can only really be described as a nubin) and took a massive tumble leaving her with bruised wrists and a huge swollen knee with a fair amount of skin missing.  Fortunately jo found this funny as I did falling over pretty hilarious and was not very helpful in the recovery process.  She demanded I drag her up quickly because she "looks absolutely ridiculous". She was also unhappy about having scabby knees for buenos aires.  To be fair she did look ridiculous, she'd just caked herself in the whitest layer of sunblock which all the dust and sand stuck to down one side. A lovely White sandy bloody mess.

Anyway, a couple of Germans washing her legs later and we decided to keep going. It was def worth it as when we arrived at the lake, it was stunning with perfect views of the moutains.

About 10 minutes into the trek back, I threw my toys out of the pram because I was stupidly hot on the backs of my legs and demanded a sun cream stop.  When we stopped I discovered the worst heat rash all down the backs of my legs. It was so sore, like pouring boiling water on yourself.  Not nice basically.  So there we were. 2.5 hours from camp with jo hobbling along slowly and me trying to hurry back because there was no shade to hide from the sun in.  The walk back could not end quickly enough!!!

We were in a right state wen we returned to camp so we chilled for a little while before the other truck arrived and the fun and games began for another night.  Several games of twister later and we had ourselves some new friends from buenos aires. Hopefully they will stick to the promise of sending us a list of things to see and do there as I really have no clue!!

The next day was ice trek day.  I wasn't sure whether to be excited or nervous.  Being a little bit rubbish on ice it's fair to say I was definitely a little freaked out.  We boarded a boat for the 2 hour ride to the glacier.  We were all shattered so wasted the boat journey fast asleep but thank god we did because when we arrived at the glacier it was amazing.  This one was bigger than the one in el calafate but less of the ice is visible and you don't see as many bits cracking and falling off.

We started the walk climbing up and over some rocks to the start of the glacier. At this point we were given our crampons to wear .  This is the first time I've worn them and it definitely took a while to get used to them and trust that you weren't going to slip and smash your face on the ice.

The trek was amazing, there were little holes everywhere in the ice that were really deep with re brightest blue colour.  We walked over crevasse and in caves. It was amazing. So beautiful. Only pictures can describe it really.  The views across the glacier from up there were something else.

When we were almost done with the trek the guides started chipping away at the ice. We were all panicking a little thinking they were digging stairs on the steep part for us to trek up. Fortunately what they were actually doing was chipping us some ice for us to have baileys on ice. Yummy!!

We slowly made our way back to the boat and then camp for our final night before starting the five day drive to buenos aires.

The drive to buenos aires was log and arduous. At times it was fun and times the most boring thing I've ever done. The landscape was so plain, just miles and miles of nothing.

We made a couple of stops along the way, one at camarones to visit an absolutely huge penguin colony and one at gaiman a welsh village, for tea and welsh cake. Final stop was a bush camp in the middle if nowhere for a night of scary camping before today, our final day and Australia day.

Our Aussie ladies are bloody brilliant and have been a lot of fun so far. I think ive even developed a small taste for vegemite, but don't tell anyone :-) 

Next stop buenos aires. I'm very excited indeed. I'm planning on a tour, some shipping, tango shows and lessons and possibly a day trip to Uruguay.  More on that later xx