PUNTA ARENAS & USHUAIA

PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE & USHUAIA, ARGENTINA - JAN 3 - 11

My bus left Puerto Natales at 8:30AM and it arrived to Punta Arenas around 2PM. Puntas Arenas is about as far south as I can go in South America without taking a ferry to Tierra del Fuego and is located on the Straits of Magellan. It is also the largest city in the southern part of Patagonia with a population of over 150,000 people. I find a private room with a bath in the Hotel Monterrey for just over $20US.

The first thing I do once I'm settled in my room is to check on my camera. I'm hoping that being in a bag of rice for almost 24 hours will have drawn some of the moisture out of the LCD display so that it will display an image again, but as I feared, no such luck. So, I need to buy another camera. I would like to get another Panasonic that uses the same battery so that I will

have a spare. I spend an hour walking around the downtown core, there is a few electronics stores that have cameras but the only brands they have is Sony and Samsung and available models are very basic with only a 5 times zoom or less. I come across the tourist information centre and grab a map of the city. I had heard about a tax free zone somewhere in the city so I ask one of the people at the information centre and I'm shone where the Zona Franca is located on the map about 4kms out of the city centre and I'm told Zona Franca has a great selection of electronics.

The Zona Franca was established as a tax free zone with no duties or other taxes on anything sold in this area of town. It was established a few years after the Panama Canal was opened in an effort to help the local economy after much of the shipping trade that used to stop here now used the canal as the preferred route between Europe and Asia. So, I jump in a cab and head to the Zona Franca. The cab driver takes me to a specific building that sells nothing but electronics. There is dozens of stores and many of them carry cameras. There is every brand name and model imaginable except Panasonic. I really want a camera today though as I won't be anywhere with this kind of selection for several weeks so I guess I won't be buying a Panasonic this time.

What I do want is a minimum 10 times optical zoom and a rechargeable lithium battery at a minimum, everything else is gravy. There is only a few models that have a 10 times zoom and the best deal I can find is a Sony for about $240US but then I come across a Canon camera with a 20 times zoom. I know this camera because it is the same model that Shane and Seleka have and I've taken many pictures of them with it. I've seen their pictures as well and I was always impressed with the quality and it is on sale for just under $300. This is a very good deal because Shane had told me what he bought his in London and paid more than $400US. It's more than I want to spend, but I've got months left on my trip so I buy it. I also buy a 16gig flash drive for $20US.

I then walk back to town and check out the pricing for a day tour to the Isla Magdalena where the Monumemto Natural Los Pinguinos is located which is a colony of over 60,000 Magellanic Penguins. There is a tour that leaves in the morning at 8AM and gets back at 1PM. It goes to Magdalena and to another island where there is a colony of Sea Lions and I book myself a spot on the tour for about $70US. Then I head to the bus station and buy a ticket for the bus to Ushuaia leaving the morning of January 5th. I'm surprised to learn that this is another 12 hour bus ride and it costs about $100US. By the time I get back to the hotel, it's after 8PM and I head to a restaurant next door and grab a pizza.

Then I spend some time sorting out memory cards and pictures. My tablet has no available memory left so I need to free up some space. Most of the space is taken up by pictures but there is no reason why they need to stay on the tablet after they have been uploaded to my Picasa storage site. So, I download about 12Gig of picture files to my new flash drive. I also make sure all the pictures on the 8Gig SD card that was in my Panasonic camera have been loaded to my tablet and then uploaded to Picasa. That way, I free up this card to use in my new camera. This takes all evening but I should get a chance to try out my camera with some Penguin photos tomorrow.

In the morning I'm at the tour company's office by 7:45AM and a shuttle van picks us up at 8AM. We drive about an hour east where a small dock is located and our tour boat is waiting. It's a fairly small boat that seats about 50 passengers and almost every seat is full. The water is calm this morning as no breeze is blowing and it takes about an hour to get to the Isla Magdalena. The island is really a big rock with a lighthouse. There is a roped off walkway that goes from the boat dock to the lighthouse about 1km away. Everywhere I look there are Penguins.

The Megellanic Penguins are a little bigger than the

Gallapagos Penguins I saw earlier in this trip but they are still only 40 - 45cms tall. These Penguins would have begun arriving in November and mating season would have been in late November and early December. Eggs have already been laid and hatched and they are young penguins everywhere. The young are a few weeks old but they are already about the same size as the adults, many still have grey fluffy feathers to help keep them warm. The first thing that strikes me once I'm on the island is just how many Penguins are here, secondly I notice the non-stop noise of all the Penguins squawking and calling and lastly is the smell of 60,000 Penguins. Within 10

minutes, I've got pictures of Penguins young and old in every possible position. I walk to the lighthouse and back which takes about an hour and I wonder just how many Penguins pictures is enough, well in my case the answer is 50. But to be fair a few of the pictures is of some nesting Sea Gulls on the island. You know Penguins seem so much more interesting on nature programs and on Disney cartoons but they are actually pretty boring after 10 minutes.

After an hour on the island, we are all back in the boat and are heading to Isla Marta to see the Sea Lions. This time, we stay on the boat and sneak our

way past the large kelp beds that surround the island but we only get within 300 metres of shore. There are hundreds of Sea Lions huddled together with large Bulls guarding their particular harem. It's too bad we can't get closer as it is the tail end of mating season and things between the big bulls on the beach should be pretty lively. After about 10 minutes, we are heading back to the mainland and we are back in Punta Arenas by 1PM. I spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the city trying out my new camera along the way.

I also take this last opportunity to stock up on US

currency and buy some Argentina Pesos at better than a 6.5 exchange rate before getting to Argentina where the government and bank exchange rate is about 4.75 to 1 US$. Including some transactions I made in Puerto Natales, I know have $800US worth of Argentinian Pesos at about 6.5 exchange and $1000US in cash. To put this another way, $1,800US is worth $8,550 Pesos at the 4.75 government exchange rate but $1,800US is worth $11,700 Pesos at a 6.5 exchange rate. It's more cash than I would like to carry, but I'm willing to take the risk to reap the benefit of the 45 - 50% better exchange rate. In Argentina, there are many places that will give 6.5 exchange or more with US dollars so I want to avoid using my bank card and credit cards because they will only give about a 4.75 exchange rate when I use them. And of course, I still don't actually have my replacement bank card yet but I will have it shipped to Buenos Aires in about a month. After dinner, I watch a couple videos and go to bed early as I have an early morning bus to Ushuaia.

Ferry Crossing the |Straits of Megellan

I'm looking forward to reaching the most southern part of my journey plus I will be meeting up with Shane and Seleka again as they have just arrived in Ushuaia. I'm up at 7AM and I'm out the door by 7:15AM and walk to the bus station about 20 minutes away. The bus was supposed to leave at 8AM but we do not get going until 8:30AM. I've got some empanadas and other snacks for breakfast and lunch.

It takes the bus a couple of hours to drive to the ferry northeast of Puntas Arenas. When we arrive, we just miss one ferry and have to wait about 40 minutes until the next one arrives. I get out of the

bus and walk along the shore, we are at one of the narrowest sections of the Staits of Megellan and the tide is flowing by at 7 or 8 knots. As a stand at the waters edge, a bunch of Penguins surface only 2 or 3 metres in front of me but the tide soon sweeps them away. It's soon time to get on the ferry and everyone walks on to lighten the load on the bus as it gets on to the ferry. The crossing is only about 10kms but takes almost an hour with the strong current sweeping us sideways.

We drive about 90 minutes through nothing but fields with many sheep but few houses to San Sebastion

where we clear Chilean exiting immigration. We then cross the boarder and drive another 5kms before coming to another San Sebastion, this time in Argentina where we formally clear customs. Both towns are very small with a population of no more than a couple hundred people. The only difference in the view once we enter Argentina is that the fields are full of cows instead of sheep.

About 2 hours later we get to the coastal city of Rio Grande which is the biggest city in Tierra del Fuego with more than 53,000 people. It's another 4 or 5 hours from there to Ushuaia, about half way along this section of the drive, we leave the flat pampas and enter the southern portion of the Andes. I sleep for part of this drive and watch a couple of videos on my tablet.

Ushuaia Harbour

We finally arrive in Ushuaia around 9PM. I end up doing a walking tour of the down town core of Ushuaia while looking for a place to stay. I stop at 10 hostels and hotels, the only thing I find is 1 private room in a hotel for $450 Pesos which is between $70 - $95US depending on what exchange rate I use. There are quite a lot of other people looking for a room or a bed in a dorm as well so I'm relieved when I finally find a hostel with a bed in a dorm for $95 Pesos.

It's after 10:30PM by the time I'm checked in and settled in my room and I'm starving. I
have not eaten since early afternoon and I decide

to go to a Parrilla type restaurant. Parrillas are famous in Argentina, they are a BBQ type restaurant with a buffet. You can quickly tell which restaurants are Parrillas because they will have there real wood fire BBQ located along the exterior of the restaurant with a big window so everyone can see the beef and lamb that is cooking. The Parrilla I go to is packed and I get the last table, it is $130 Pesos flat rate for my meal. First I go to the BBQ where I can get as much meat as I want with the choices being beef, lamb, chicken and a variety of sausages, then there is also the buffet with salads, vegetables, pasta and epenadas. I quickly load up on beef and lamb and

then get some pasta, veggies and salad. It's an awesome meal, the only thing I have to be careful of is to eat everything I take, they charge a $50 Peso fee for any uneaten things left on your plate.

The next morning I'm supposed to meet up with Shane and Seleka and go to the Tierra del Fuego National Park for a hike, but it rains alll morning so we decide not to go and set a time to meet at an Irish Pub for drinks and dinner. It's funny that there is always an Irish Pub in any city of decent size even in South America. I spend the rest of the day hoping the rain will stop, reading, watching a video and

Antarctica Cruise Ships

working on a new blog post. I also send a message to Sagi and Bar about meeting us in the pub as they are in Ushuaia too and they quickly send me a message confirming that they will meet us. I then go find another hostel for tomorrow as the one I'm in is full tomorrow with reservations.

I meet Shane, Seleka, Sagi and Bar at the pub at 7:30PM. It's nice to catch up and this will be the last time I see Sagi and Bar because they fly home in a couple of days. The conversation quickly leads to a first hand account of the Bolivian jungle trek that Shane and Seleka did and then the resulting problems that Shane had with Botfly

larvae in his hand and head. They tell me that the trek itself was extremely difficult and took much longer than the thought but they are glad they did it but I'm happy I decided to skip it and save visiting the jungle for the upcoming Brazil part of my trip. Sagi's been battling the flew so he and Bar say their good-byes and the rest of us head back to the same Parrilla restaurant for another great meal.

Shane and Seleka tell me that they plan to leave Ushuaia in 3 days for Punta Arenas. Although I was planning on going to Rio Gallegos, I ask them if they would mind a passenger as that is the day I was

planning on leaving and I can split fuel costs with them and Punta Arenas is not that far from Rio Gallegos. That way, I save about $60US compared to the bus, I don't have to get up at a crazy hour like I would with the 6AM bus departure time, the time to get there is a couple hours less than the bus and I get to spend 1 more day with Shane and Seleka before we go our seperate ways for good. They happily agree and we set a departure time of 7AM in 3 days time. Tomorrow, Shane and Seleka are heading to the National Park for a couple days of camping.

The next morning, I move my stuff to the new hostel. I was then planning on heading to Tierra del Fuego National Park for a hike but it has been raining off and on and I just can't get motivated to do another hike. Other travellers have told me that the park is nice but nowhere near as good as Torres del Paine or El Chalten and I think I'm just a little trekked out. So, I spend a couple hours exploring Ushuaia and the waterfront before heading back to the hostel. Hostel dorms are always not great for getting a good night sleep. There is always people who get back to the dorm really late or are leaving very early. So after 3 nights in dorms, I'm feeling kind of tired and sluggish the next morning.

I played the highest golf course in the world at La Paz, so now I decide to play the most southern golf course in the world called the Ushuaia Golf Club. The weather is quite good with some cloud and some sun and I catch a taxi to the course about 20 minutes out of town. The course is just 9 holes and there is me and 2 other guys on the entire course. It costs about $50US for green fees, club rentals and 6 golf balls. The course is in a narrow valley and the wind is blowing a steady 20kms and gusting up over 30. The grass on the fairways is somewhat sparse and the fairways aren't exactly nice and well manicured. The clubs are actually a matching set of

Top Flite woods and irons which surprises me almost as much as how well I'm hitting the ball. After 6 holes, I'm only 5 over par and if it wasn't for the wind I would probably be doing a couple strokes better. The greens are the smallest that I have ever seen but they are in surprisingly good condition. The layout of the course is kind of strange and I have problems figuring out where the holes go sometimes. The last 3 holes have a river that crosses the fairway a few time or runs parallel. The wheels on my game finally come off as I hit 3 balls in the river and I end up shooting 47 as I am not playing a second 9.

I decide to try and hitch a ride back to town from the golf course and the first car that drives by picks me up and takes me within a kilometer of town. When I get back to the hostel, there is a message from Seleka asking if I would like to meet up at the pub for drinks tonight and I reply "see you there." I meet Shane and Seleka at 7:30PM and there is a French couple with a young son with them that they met camping. We have a few drinks and share some stories and then head to the same Parrilla restaurant. I told you it was good and it was good again. Before heading back to the hostel, I confirm the 7AM pickup time and then head to my dorm.

Shane, Seleka & Bessy the Truck

I pack up everything so I'm all ready to go so I won't be too noisy in the morning and disturb my dorm mates more than I have to and go to bed just before midnight. I should not have worried, at about 12:15AM, 2 Argentinian guys come into the room and spend the next 45 minutes organizing their stuff before finally going to bed. Then they are up at 4AM and spend the next hour packing stuff into plastic bags then into their day packs. It takes forever and they are very noisy, I try and suggest that they finish their packing in the lobby but they don't understand and I don't have the vocabulary to say this in Spanish. After they finally leave I'm wide awake and don't sleep another wink until my alarm goes off at 6:45AM. I'm dressed and waiting for Shane and Seleka by 7AM but I'm not feeling that great. I'm not sure if I'm just tired or catching something. They pick me up a few minutes later. Their truck is a 12 year old Chevy king cab with a full size back seat but it is about the size of a SUV. It has a canopy on the back and is perfect for camping. We want to stop a few places on the way and one thing that Shane and Seleka would like to try and see is a Beaver.

Beavers were brought down here from Canada about 100 years ago. The thought was to try and see if enough of a population could thrive to allow for a fur trapping industry. The Beavers thrived here but the world's fur industry declined and so the fur industry never really got started here. Now, the ecosystem on Tierra del Fuego is suffering because of the impact of Beavers and their dams. The government is now trying to eradicate this introduced species. We end up driving down a gravel road off the highway near some small lakes and in no time we discover a Beaver dam with a small pond and a Beaver lodge but we don't see any Beavers.

We are soon back on the highway and by 9AM we are in Tolhuin and stop at an amazing little bakery for some empanadas and some incredible pastries. It's another 3 hours to the San Sebastion and I struggle to stay awake during the drive. We plan to buy fuel just before crossing the boarder as fuel costs in Argentina are about 30% less than in Chile. But, the gas station is out of gas which apparently is quite common so we cross the boarder. We had planned to make a detour to a bay just south of Porvenir to see some King Penguins but there is no other gas station anywhere between here and Porvenir and we don't have enough fuel to make the drive so we have to skip the Penguins and head north.

An hour later when we get to a gas station, we realize we don't have many Chilean Pesos and we don't want to use Argentina Pesos because they give such a terrible exchange rate in Chile. But there are no ATMs until we get to Punta Arenas. So, Shane decides to use his emergency 10 gallons of gas that he keeps in back and we use the last of our Chilean Pesos to put another $25US of gas in the tank. We then continue north until we get to the ferry terminal and we are soon on a ferry crossing the Straits of Magellan. By the time we are back on the road heading for Punta Arenas I'm pretty sure I'm catching a cold as I feel terrible so I sleep the last 2 hours of the drive.

We arrive to Punta Arenas just before 8PM and get rooms at the Hotel Monterrey and get some Chilean money at an ATM. I decide to book for 2 nights as I plan to sleep in and rest tomorrow and I kind of expect I will be suffering from a bad cold by then. Shane, Seleka and I then head to the pizza restaurant next door for dinner. This will be the last time I see them on this trip as they are heading to Puerto Natales early in the morning. I've really enjoyed getting to know both of them and have had a great time with them ever since we first met in Guatape Colombia back in August. They will be travelling up through Chile and the Carrera Austral for a couple of months before flying home to Australia in March while I will be travelling north through Argentina and then to Brazil. Hopefully they will come to Vancouver someday to visit or I will visit Perth.

The next morning, I'm surprised to wake up with only a very minor cold. I slept over 10 hours and I feel pretty good. I guess yesterday I was just feeling the effects from lack of sleep. I don't do anything all day other than buy a 11AM bus ticket for tomorrow to Rio Gallegos. When I go to buy the bus ticket, I'm surprised to be told that I need a Visa for Argentina. I'm confused about this because I've been in and out of Argentina 3 times and no Visa was required. I log into the Canadian government website on travel and find out that a new visa requirement went into effect on January 7th and all Canadians now require a visa to enter into Argentina, it's January 9th today. The visa costs $75US and is only available on line and not at the boarder. I consider not buying the visa and just playing dumb at the boarder but the bus ticket is $40US and I would hate to get sent back so I buy the visa.

The next morning I'm up around 8AM and feel pretty good as the cold is no worse and maybe even better. After breakfast, I buy lunch for the bus and exchange the last of my Chilean money for Argentinian Pesos. I then head to the bus station to catch my bus. I will miss Chile. It's a beautiful country that is run more like a North America country. My only frustration was the lack of transportation to get to some of the tourists sections in the Lake District and the Isla Chiloe. I would love to come back again and buy a vehicle and camp throughout Chile, explore the Carrera Austral and some of Argentina like Shane and Seleka. I think I would need about 3 months to do it right but it would be fantastic. I would bring lots of camping and fishing gear down with me. Hopefully some day I will have a chance to do this and find some one to do it with.

From here on out my travels will mainly be heading north. To start I will be travelling through Argentina but I fly to Rio de Janerio in Brazil on February 5th from Buenos Aires. After Carnival is over. I'll loop south along the coast and go to Uruguay, then to Iguazu Falls, and then to the jungle east of Bolivia before heading up the coast of Brazil north of Rio. I then plan to spend a few weeks in the Amazon jungle before heading to Guyana and then Venezuela. I likely will be ending my trip in Aruba where I will then fly home, I'm guessing near the end of May or maybe the start of June.
More on my travels through Argentina next time.

PUERTO NATALES & TORRES DEL PAINE, CHILE - DEC 24 - JAN 3

It's kind of weird to be riding a bus through Argentina and then Chile on Christmas Eve. I don't think I have ever been away from home during Christmas, often right after Christmas but not Christmas itself. Christmas in my family has always been a big family time often with my cousins, the MacDonald family. I must admit, I'm feeling kind of home sick for the first time on this trip. I had hoped that I would be with some other travellers for Christmas but that has not worked out, hopefully there will be some nice travellers at the hostel in Puerto Natales. The bus ride from El Calafate takes longer than I expected and it's after 3:00PM when we arrive in Puerto Natales.

Plaza Armis Puerto Natalaes

Puerto Natales is a nice looking town on a protected inlet on the Pacific coast and has a population of around 21,000. It is surrounded by tall snow capped mountains and the temperature reaches the high teens during the day and gets down to single digits over night so it feels a little like Christmas here. A lady meets our bus when we arrive and has a hostel called Maria Jose that has rooms with private bath for $20US a night so I go check it out and it's not bad so I get a room.

South America is like Europe in that the big Christmas dinner and other festivities is on the night of Christmas Eve. It's already nearing

4:00PM and soon everything will be closing including all the restaurants until the 26th and so I need to buy some food for tonight and tomorrow. I would also like to check into reserving some Refugios (accommodations) in Torres del Paine National Park so I can start my trek as soon as possible. I was hoping to meet up with Rachel and Itamar, but I have not heard from them for a few days so I think they may already be doing the trek.

The lady at the hostel gives me direction to the main supermarket and I head there to first buy

Hotel Los Torres in Torres del Paine

food. It is crazy busy as you would expect just before Christmas and it's not that big of a grocery store. They seem to be out of almost everything like meat, chicken, vegetables and fruit. Well I guess I'm not going to cook up a nice steak like I was planning. It takes me a while to figure out what is available that I want to eat. Somewhat reluctantly, I settle on buying buns, sliced ham, cheese, canned tuna, mayo, snacks and some drinks to last me until the 26th and I'm lucky to get the buns and sliced ham as I get pretty much the last of it in the store. Not exactly a Christmas feast.

I the try and see if I can book the Refugios.

The Circuit Trail

Torres del Paine National Park has 2 different treks that are very popular. The first is called "The W" which is a trek across the front of some mountains with 2 valleys and the mountains are shaped like a "W" if looking down from above and it takes 4 to 5 days. The 2nd trek is called "The Circuit" and includes "The W" but you would also trek around the entire "W" mountain range and it takes about 7 to 10 days. I'm only interested in "The W" trek because there are 5 Refugios strategically located throughout this part of the park. A Refugio is basically a hostel where you can get dorm type accommodations and buy breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. That way, a tent,

View from the Circuit Trail

matt, camp stove and large trekking backpack is not required which is good because I don't have any of these things. But, the offices for the companies that have the Refugios are already closed and won't reopen until December 26th so I can't book anything until then.

I head back to my hostel and hang out in the common area to try and meet whom ever else is staying here. I quickly find out that I'm in an Israeli hostel which I did not realize when I booked my room. There is a huge contingent of Israeli travellers in Patagonia, there are probably more Israeli travellers here in

View of Los Torres Peaks from Torres Central

Patagonia than from any other country. I've met many Israeli travelling already but there are usually more travellers from countries like Germany, France, England and Australia. I'm not sure why there are so many down here, it makes me wonder if there are any 20 something people in Israel. Some of the nicest people I have met on this trip are Israeli, but when travellers from 1 country get into a large group (6 or more people), they are often not that much fun to be around. And the young Israelis who have just finished their military service really seem to like to travel in large groups. They network with other Israelis that are travelling and they often seem to stay in the

Start of The W Trek Trail

same hostels in a particular town. At the hostel I'm in, almost everyone staying there is an under 25 Israeli and there is probably at least 20 of them and they have no interest in meeting an older traveller from Canada. I soon find it more enjoyable to be alone in my room where I read and watch some movies on my tablet.

The next morning I sleep in to almost 10AM which is the latest I've slept this whole trip. It's a nice sunny day so I decide to go far a walk around town. The town is almost deserted but the weather is beautiful and I take some nice pictures of the town and the waterfront. When I

get back to my hostel, I'm dismayed to find that someone stole by buns from the kitchen. Now what am I going to do for lunch and dinner? I noticed a small convenience store that was open on my walk so I decide to go check and see what they have. They don't have much but I'm very happy to find that they are selling bags of 8 buns so I buy a bag. When I get back, I decide to keep my food in my room instead of risking it in the common kitchen.

The highlight of my day is calling my sister. I'm 5 hours ahead of Vancouver time and I give them

a call around 10AM their time. They have just finished opening their presents and I talk with Kelly and both my nieces, Emma and Marley. They are having a quiet Christmas too as my mom is no longer able to do an outing to my sister's because of her Alzheimer's and my brother-in-law's parentsare getting older and just wanted to stay at their home for Christmas so I think they are missing me today as much as I'm missing them.

The next morning I head to the Refugios company offices to book my accommodations in Torres del Paine. To do "The W" trek, I need to

book nights with both companies and they are busy and I'm running back and forth between the 2 office which are 7 blocks apart. After going back and forth several times, I finally determine that there is no combination of available dates that will work until the 28th and even then I will spend an extra night that isn't really required but I don't really have any other choice. So I book 5 nights in total including dinner and breakfast at each Refugio, I've decided to bring my own lunch to save a bit of money. The Refugios don't provide bedding, so the sleeping bag I bought will finally come in handy.

Afterwards, I head to a better supermarket that I came across while walking yesterday. It has a nice selection of meats, vegetables and fruit and I buy the fixings for a nice steak dinner. I also get my maximum allowable money out of the ATMs in town and buy some US cash so that I can take advantage of the grey market exchange rate when I get back

Almost at the Top of the Climb to the Mirador Los Torres

to Argentina. That evening, I cook the half kilogram steak that I bought, its was only $6US and is awesome.

I have one more day before I'm heading to Torres del Paine. I work on some blogs and uploading photos. Then I go get some more money out of the ATM, then buy $400US worth of Argentinian Pesos at a really good exchange rate and then buy some supplies for the trek. I buy lunch for 5 days, snacks, water and a bottle of rum for New Year's. I pour the 750mls of rum into a 650ml plastic water bottle to reduce the weight and save the remaining rum to have with dinner. I pack all the stuff I'm bringing and I'm able to fit it into my

pack and my fanny pack. I then get an email from Rachel and Itamar. They have just finished doing "The W" trek and we pick a time to meet for drinks to catch up on what we have been doing since I last saw them in La Paz.

Rachel and Itamar tell me about the highlights of Torres del Paine and a bit about their travels in Argentina. It's nice seeing them again and they also tell me more about the jungle trek they did in Bolivia with Shane and Seleka. Like Shane, Rachel was unlucky and got bit by mosquitos infected with Botfly larvae. When she read about

Shane's problems with these larvae on Facebook, she realized what was causing her right hand so much pain. She had been bitten twice on the back of her hand and a Botfly larvae was transferred to her hand at both bites. It took a couple of weeks before she noticed anything was wrong and once she realized what it was after reading about Shane, she did a little self surgery and cut a small opening above each swollen bite mark. She then put some heavy cream over the bite to stop the larvae from getting any oxygen. When it finally popped its head up for some air, she pulled it out with some tweezers. I'm sure

glad I missed this jungle trek. After a couple of drinks, it time to head back to the hostel for dinner and bed as my bus leaves at 7AM tomorrow. I won't be seeing Rachel and Itamar again on this trip as they are heading north and then flying home in early February. Hopefully I will see them again someday, maybe in Israel or perhaps they might visit Vancouver.

It's a pretty nice morning as we drive to Torres del Paine. It takes about 1.5 hours to get to the park entrance where I have to pay a $32US entry fee. I then catch a small shuttle bus another 8kms

Forested Valley Past Campamento Los Torres 

to Los Torres which is the starting point for "The W" trek when doing it east to west. The extra night that I booked is at Refugio Los Torres Central so I check in and drop of my day pack and sleeping bag. I've decided to hike east along the trail that is part of "The Circuit" trek and won't actually start "The W" trek until tomorrow. I hike for about 2 hours until I clear a small ridge and get a bit of a view of the terrain to the east of where I will be trekking and then I head back to the refugio. There is a view of the tops of the peaks of Los Torres from the refugio and it's quite stunning. I sure hope the weather is good tomorrow when I hike to the Mirador (viewpoint) Los Torres.

I was expecting the refugio to be very simple and sparse but I'm surprised to find how nice the refugio is. It is made out of wood with wood finishing throughout the interior. It looks like a large ski chalet. There is a huge common area with a large dining room and bar. The accommodations are 8 person dorms and there are nice bathrooms and showers with hot water. I get back to the refugio at about 3:00PM and have 4 hours until dinner. I'm wishing that I brought a book but I do have a deck of cards and I meet some people and we play a variety of games over the next few hours.

Dinner is soup followed by the main course and then desert. The soup is served in the smallest cup I have ever seen but it's good, the main course is a tiny portion of meet and rice and desert is a tiny cup of some kind of custard. Overall it was tastey but not large enough portions. After dinner, I spend the next couple hours chatting with a family of 4 from Ottawa. They own and run a rafting company near Ottawa and were just in Futaleufu where a World Freestyle Kayaking competition was held just before I was there. The oldest daughter was one of the participants and came 3rd in the women's overall.

Lago Nordenskjold On Descent from Refugio Chilento

The next morning I'm up early and I'm greeted by sunshine with mostly blue skies. I have breakfast at 7AM and it's good but again very small. By 8AM, I'm on the trail heading for the Mirador Los Torres and the Refugio Chilento. The mirador and the refugio are up one of the valleys inside "The W." The first part of this hike is in pampas type terrain with no trees and the wind is blowing about 60km/hour. After hiking uphill 6km for 2 hours and a couple hundred metres in altitude, I reach the Chilento Refugio. The refugio is located at the start of a forested valley between the mountains and it's sheltered from the wind. I drop off my day pack and sleeping bag at the refugio before

continuing up the path through the forest 5 kms which takes almost 1.5 hours. I've now reached the Campamento (campsite) Torres and this is where the final trail to the mirador starts.

This trail is only 1km long but takes almost an hour to climb as it goes almost straight up about 450 metres in altitude and the top is about 800m above where I started this morning. It's a pretty steep climb so it's great to be rewarded by the incredible view of the peaks of Los Torres and a beautiful lake below. I sit down and enjoy the view while eating my lunch and I snap off a

bunch of photos. The weather is almost perfect with only a couple small puffy clouds. After about 40 minutes, I decide to hike back down and continue up the valley.

Going down is so much faster and I'm soon hiking through the forest up the valley. The trail is much harder to follow and there are many trees down that I have to climb over or go around. After about an hour, I reach the end of the trail at Campamento Japone which is a campsite only for climbers as there are several nearby popular climbs. I kept expecting the trail

to open up to a beautiful mountain view or to come across a nice lake or waterfall but there is only the forest and a fast flowing river. On my way back down the valley, a small Fox kit comes bounding down the path. It doesn't see me and is nice enough to stop long enough for me to get my camera out and get a decent photo before he goes bounding off. A few minutes later, I see an adult Fox, maybe he or she is looking for the kit.

I arrive back to the refugio a little before 5PM and have a nice shower before dinner. I'm a little sore as I hiked about 25kms today and I'm

hungry. Unfortunately dinner is no bigger today than it was yesterday. So I decide to spoil myself and buy a couple of beers to go with dinner. I'm up early again for the 7AM breakfast and I'm disappointed to find that it is raining. After a small breakfast, I hang around hoping the rain will stop. Today is quite a short hike so I'm in no hurry to get going. While waiting, I meet David who is a doctor from Australia. He's hiking on his own so we decide to hike together. At about 10AM, the staff basically ask us to leave the refugio so they can clean it. They have a very small staff in the refugios and it will close for a few hours after breakfast so they can all concentrate and cleaning.

Mountains in Valle del Frances

It's not raining hard as we leave and I have put some plastic bags over my day pack, fannie pack and sleeping bag. The hike to the Refugio Los Cuernos is only about 14 kms with the first 3 kms being downhill. The next 11 kms is along the Lago Nordenskjold, the views are beautiful even with the rain. It only takes about 4 hours to get to the refugio and as we approach it the rains stops. It never really rained that hard so we don't get very wet.

Once at the refugio, we sit down and eat our lunch. When we head outside 20 minutes later, the sun is out and the clouds are parting and it looks like it's going to be a nice afternoon. David

and I buy a couple beers each and head down to the beach below the refugio and hang out for a couple of hours in the sun. We then head back to the refugio and sit out on the patio with a bunch of other people drinking more beers. It's a nice relaxing day after the big hike yesterday and tomorrow will be a big day too.

Dinner tonight is once again a tiny cup of soup and some meat and potato pie followed by a small cup of chocolate mousse. My portion of meat and potato pie is boarding on the ridiculous it is probably about 8cm x 8cm and maybe 2cm thick. I almost say something when I see the

kitchen staff eating an hour later and their portion is almost triple compared to what was served to me.

The next morning I'm up early again and have breakfast at 7AM with David. We both packed the night before to get an early start as we have to hike 26kms today and it is New Year's Eve so we want to finish at a decent time. Leaving early was a good idea as the trail is almost deserted for the first 5.5 kms to the Campamento Italiano which takes us just over an hour. David is very fit and fast, I don't normally have problems keeping up on a hike but I have to push hard to stay with David.

The next part of the hike is steadily uphill into the Valle del Frances for another 5.5kms. About halfway along this hike we come to a nice mirador of a mountain glacier. We site and watch it while we eat a sandwich and see a couple of small avalanches, they seem to happen every 10 to 15 minutes or so. We then continue up the trail to Campamento Britanico where the last half a kilometer of trail leads to the last mirador and it is so worth the hike. It's quite a steep trail, but there is a 270 degree panoramic view of some incredible mountain peaks. We stay for about 20 minutes taking many pictures before starting back down the valley.

The trail is packed with people coming up as we go down but we make good time and it is only about 2PM when we get back to Campamento Italiano but somehow we miss seeing the turnoff for a bridge and walk 30 minutes too far down the trail before realizing our mistake. By the time we find the bridge it is now 3PM and we are now on the last part of the trail which is 7.5kms of flat terrain along Lago Skottsberg.

David sets a fast pace and we do this last section in 1.75 hours. Just after crossing the bridge, we come across the devastation left by a fire that swept through a large portion of the park last year and all the trees along the lake are blackened and dead. As there are no electrical storms ever down here, the fire was caused by a careless visitor to the park.

We get to the Refugio Paine Grande located on Lago Pehoe just before 5PM and we feel pretty good considering we just trekked 26kms so we celebrate with a couple of beers. Before dinner I

have a nice shower and change into some clean clothes that I have saved for New Year's. David has also brought a bottle of Pisco which is a Peruvian drink so we share most of my rum before it is time for dinner at 7:30PM. It's a special New Year's dinner and it is a buffet, you can take as much as one plate will hold and you get a small bottle of wine and desert as well. It's a nice dinner after a long day. We sit with a bunch of people that have been in the last 2 refugios with us and everyone seems to be having a good time.

After dinner, we head upstairs to a bar and drink most of David's pisco with lemon juice. By midnight the party is going strong and both David and I are feeling no pain. I make the mistake of bringing my camera out and I have it on the table next to me when an English girl we met spills a drink on it. I didn't think she got much on it and wiped it off right away so I wasn't too concerned. It's sometime after 2AM before I finally stumble to bed after really having a good time.

The next morning I'm up at 8AM and head for breakfast. I'm hurting pretty bad after the beer, rum, wine and pisco but manage to have a full breakfast. This refugio is run by a different company than the first 3 and it seems the food portions are larger. David finally makes his appearance around 8:30AM and he looks like how I feel. By 9:30AM we are on the trail heading for the Grey Glacier, thankfully it is only a 11km hike. David is finishing his trek today and needs to be at the glacier by 1PM to catch a boat to where he gets his bus. At a walking pace, he is not going to make it, so he

decides to run. I can't believe that he is able to by the way he looks but there is not way I'm running so we say good-bye and he is on his way.

I end up walking this 11kms at a snail pace and it takes me over 3 hours to get the Refugio Grey and I drink 3 litres of water along the way, I'm so grateful for all the glacier streams where I got water refills. Just after David leaves, I go to use my camera to take some photos of Lago Grey and much to my dismay, I find that the LCD screen is dead and I can see that some moisture has got inside of it. However, the camera seems to work so I continue to take pictures even though I can't really see exactly what's in the frame. I'm praying that the LCD screen will come back to life but know it is very unlikely.

When I get to the Refugio Grey, I take about a 3 hour nap and awake feeling half human again. I have dinner with a couple from England, another from France and some Americans that have all been at the last 3 refugios with me. I'm the only one avoiding the beer and wine this night but dinner is good and is a decent sized portion.

The next morning I have breakfast at 7:30AM and leave the refugio a little after 8AM. I walk 10 minuets down to the mirador for the Grey Glacier and snap off some photos hoping that my camera is still working. By the time I get back to the Refugio Grey, it is 8:30AM. I need to hike back to the Refugio Paine Grande where I will catch a 1:00PM ferry. This time, I feel like myself again on the 11km hike and I get to the refugio in 2.25 hours. After a couple hours wait,

I catch the ferry for $22US back along the Lago Pehoe to the Guarderia Pudeto where I will catch my bus. The bus is there waiting and we get back to Puerto Natales around 4:30PM.

Other than my camera, "The W" trek has been awesome and the New Year's party wasn't too shabby either. This has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip so far. When I get back to my hostel, I go buy a small bag of rice and place my camera in the rice bag. Hopefully the rice will draw the moisture out of my camera and the LCD screen will come back to life. I then buy a bus ticket for tomorrow morning to Punta Arenas right at the hostel and get the hostel to do a load of laundry for me. My relatively new hiking boots need some repairs, so I'm able to track down a shoe repair place and they promise they

can fix my boots by 8:30PM. I then head to a nice restaurant and have a fantastic lamb dinner and then go pick up my repaired boots. The 99kms I've trekked in the last 6 days has tired me out and I'm in bed before 10PM.

The next morning I'm up at 7:30AM. I have breakfast and get all my stuff packed and I'm on the bus heading for Puntas Arenas by 9AM. My plan is to stay a couple days in Punta Arenas before heading to Ushuaia at the tip of Tierra del Fuego. I will then start my journey north up through Argentina where I will catch a plane from Buenos Aires to Rio on February 5th so I can be there for Carnival which starts on the 8th. I've been looking forward to Carnival since before I left Vancouver so I can't wait. After Carnival, I'll loop down south along the Brazilian

coast before crossing the boarder into Uruguay. I will then loop back up and do my first jungle trek near the Bolivian boarder in Brazil. I will then travel the Brazilian coast north of Rio until reaching the Amazon River delta where I'll do another jungle trek. I then plan to head up to Guyana before heading to Venezuela and then I'll catch a boat to one of the nearby Caribbean islands where I'll fly home.

More on Punta Arenas and Ushuaia next time.