Buenos Aires & Patagonia

Santiago – Buenos Aires - Tigre - Ciudad de la Plata - El Calafate (Perito Moreno) - El Chaltén (Fitz Roy, Cerro Torres) - Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine - Puerto Natales - Punta Arenas - Santiago

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Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires & Patagonia While I was in Santiago in Chile my parents came to visit me and so we decided to do a small trip together. After they managed to visit all the spots in Santiago, Viña del Mar and Valparaiso we took the plane and went to Buenos Aires. This city is not just the capital of Argentina…it is the capital of good food, of beautiful people, of tango and of shopping. Everybody of us fell immediately in love with this city…and after we had our first parrillada (bbq) and were watching the people (girls) walking by while drinking a real espresso we wonted to leave this city.

We checked out more or less what every tourist has to see in the city…from the obelisk to the Casa Rosada, from the cathedral to the cemetery of Recoleta, from the Camino in La Boca to the markets in San Telmo. We also saw the gardens in Palermo and strolled along the Florida (to get tempted to buy some stuff) to get to the Parque San Martin.

"Que sabe sabe y que no sabe es jefe." (Carlos Moroder)

We also visited the ambassador of Val Gardena in Buenos Aires: Carlos Moroder and his señora. Can you imagine meeting somebody in Argentina which is talking in Ladin to you? And showing you proudly his Moroder Family book? Well yes, Carlos, son of an immigrant who left Ortisei long time ago, is the contact person for all the people from back home in Italy which are visiting Buenos Aires. He took us out to the Río Paraná and the city of Tigre. We also went to the city of La Plata to visit the magnificent cathedral. Inside you don’t only find wooden sculptures of Leo Moroder (Carlo´s father) but also a museum room dedicated to the artist and his origins. And to top the whole thing, we found out that there is a “Círculo Trentino de La Plata” where emigrants from South Tyrol and Trentino meet up to talk in German and Italian…

El Calfate and El Chaltén - Parque los Glaciares

After six fantastic days in Buenos Aires we left for El Calafate. The city itself is nothing special aside from the fact that there are construction sides at every corner to build new hostales to manage the flow of tourists coming in every day. But we got stunned when we first saw the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the main attractions of the Parque los Glaciares. And while we were looking at it, ice spontaneously crashed down into the lake. It’s just amazing.

Can you die without seeing this? (Carmen)

We also did a small trekking tour on the glacier wearing crampons and keeping an eye on the crevasses. After we also did a boat tour to see some other glaciers in the park. We got amazing views of the mountains covered with ice and the boat cruised by the many icebergs.

Then finally we started our trekking tour 3 hours north in the small village of El Chaltén. We hiked up to the Campamento Poincenot and slowly slowly the Monte Fitz Roy came up behind the clouds. We also went up to the Laguna de Los Tres to get some better views, but there we just saw clouds. The day after we walked along the Sendero Madre y Hija to get to the Campamanto de Agostini. From there the Cerro Torre normally can be seen…what we saw was a sand- and rainstorm with winds with 150 km/h. Also the next day we couldn’t see the mountain…unluckily we haven’t been there at one of the 60 days during the year when the mountain is not covered by clouds. We terminated our first trekking and camping experience and became a pretty good team. We also improved our cooking skills on the camping stove and where able to share our small tent without big trouble. Saying this we where ready to move on to the next goal: Torres del Paine.

Torres del Paine

We took the bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales, then a bus to the park entrance and then a shuttle to the Hosteria Las Torres. From there we went up to the Refugio Chileno and set up the tent. We immediately where welcomed by the typical strong winds. Next day we hiked up the Torres del Paine Base to see the Torres…and I have to tell that we got an amazing view (we just had to wait that the wind blew away the clouds).

We slept again at the Chileno and then walked to the Albergue los Cuernos. There we got shelter from the rainstorm coming in. At the same time I could count about 14 condors flying above us. After a small break we went on to the Campamento Italiano where we stayed for the next 2 nights. We walked up the Valle del Francés, but unfortunately rain and clouds made this trip a bit difficult. Two times the sky cleared up and so we could see the Cuernos and the other mountains. Along the way and also from the camp we got fantastic views of the huge Glaciar Francés which once in a while is calling his attention when giant ice blocks fall down. The following day we walked to the Refugio Paine Grande…which is more a hotel then a hut. From there we could see the light blue Lago Pehoe which color seems just fake.

The last day we went all the way (and back) to the Glaciar Grey which ice is sliding slowly into the Lago Grey (the color is really grey). The glacier is part of the Campo de Hielo Sur and there is no way to see where it begins. By getting to the Refugio Grey we completed the W and returned to the Refugio Paine Grande to catch the boat and then the bus back to Puerto Natales.

We went on to Punta Arenas, a small nice town right between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean (I never could move from one ocean to the other in less than one our). Aside from the fact that the weather is changing every 5 minutes and you might get blown away from the winds, the city has a pretty nice flair. In the afternoon we went to see the Pingüineras de Seno Otway to see the Pingüino de Magallanes. With this we finished our trip and went back to good old Santiago. It was good to know that there is my bed waiting for me…especially after 110 km walking with 14 kg in your backpack.

110 km (walking) for a concert.

To round up this unbelievable trip I went to the great concert of The Police!

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