Argentinian Patagonia

ARGENTINA 22/11/2018.

2210 hours.  Flight from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Buenos Aires.  BA’s longest flight with the exception of Santiago.  Alleviated by flat bed in business class.  Alas carbon footprint.  I read ‘Vanishing’ by Gerard Woodward.  Quite good but with flaws.  Watched ‘Mama Mia – here we go again’; pathetic story line but good songs…

At Buenos Aires baggage carousel the next morning there are two men in their late 40s or 50s collecting bags.  Grizzled manes of greasy grey hair swept back over their ears, rather good looking in a sleazy sort of way.  They are collecting what looks like golf clubs, but they look too athletic to be the usual golfing tourists.  The bags are extremely long.  Then I spot ‘Louis Vuitton Polo.’  Aha, two of the original cast from Jilly Cooper’s ‘Riders’ no doubt.  I gather that it’s the world championships.  The walls of our hotel are festooned with polo pictures…

23/11/2018

Less than 24 hours in Argentina, and already too much to record.  First trip to the loo reveals the sanitary ware is by American Standard.  Slight surprise.  Efficiently met and welcomed by Martin (Mar-teen) and Alberto (driver).  Off into BA.  First impression is of the wide boulevards and beautiful purple jacaranda flowers.  Eventually the traffic snarls up but we arrive at Casasur Bellini hotel in the Palermo district.  After a rest we take Martin’s city tour.  First stop one of the public parks with the rose garden, then one of the main squares, the original colonial style government building and the main cathedral.  In a substantial apse there is a permanently guarded monument to San Martin, liberator of much of South America from Spanish colonial rule.  He was a Mason and a non-believer so his chapel is secular.  On to La Recoleta and the cemetery with its multiple vaults, crypts, tombs and memorials.  Inevitable the most popular is that of Eva Peron (Duarte family), still festooned with flowers and messages.

Duarte Family Vault

Another popular funereal monument in La Recoleta

Then Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace.  A trip into an old area with coffee stop in a lovely old bar, with photos of Carlos Gardel (father of tango) on the walls.  Mar-teen is impressed when I tell him I play ‘Por Una Cabeza’ by Carlos Gardel on my guitar.  Impressive graffiti murals especially on the housing estates near the Boca and the Boca Juniors football ground.  Final walkabout is in Boca itself.  Great anticipation for today’s league final – Boca Juniors vs Rio de la Plata (match cancelled after assault on Boca players and tear gas attack; then cancelled again; finally played in a neutral country – Spain!).  A Maradona lookalike walks by dressed in Argentine national football kit – he does well out of photographs with tourists.  It’s an openly touristy ‘happening’ place.  Tango demonstrations in every other bar…

The colourful waterfront area of La Boca also contains many murals, some influenced by the area’s most famous painter Benito Quinquela Martin (1890-1977).  Tile paintings also abound.  Most of the art on display is vibrant and crude.  Boca’s colours are blue and gold – chosen because they were the colours of the first ship to arrive in port (from Sweden).

Housing estate near La Boca

We are just in time for the Argentine experience evening.  Wine flavour testing, and then cocktails with plenty of liquor and wine – Malbec (red), Torontes (white), and rosé, copiously mixed with Pisco, Vodka, and Gin.  Slightly pickled already we stagger upstairs for the main meal.  A very nice carpaccio of salmon, then an empanada which we make ourselves under instruction, then tenderloin steak – medium rare or ‘jugoso’ – a very solid hunk of rare beef.  We decide to miss the desert course, but this is a very good evening.

Cab home.  Hit the bed.  Set the alarm for 0445.

Saturday 24/11/18.

Car arrives promptly.  Off to Jorge Newberry airport which is reasonably near to our hotel.

At check in we discover that the bags, carefully checked to weigh just less than 20Kg are too heavy for Aerolineas Argentinas which only allows 15Kg on internal flights.  Off to pay $16 but the cashier system is incredibly slow.  Tempted to use the ‘F’ word which I suppose in Argentina is ‘Falklands’.  Manage to queue jump and only just in time to get through security.  System for boarding is also rather inefficient (seems to be a trait of life in Argentina).  Finally, onto a reasonably shipshape looking B737 and off to El Calafate.  The hassle has made me forget what a beautiful day it is here in BA.

El Calafate is three hours flying from BA.  Yes, it is a huge country.  We relax at the airport until the Las Legas bus is ready to go at 12 o’clock.  About 90Km up the road on the infamous Route 40 lies La Leona hotel, a small shack famous for being the place where in 1905 three ‘gringos’ came to stay, followed shortly afterwards by the police (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).  Climbing expeditions such as Lionel Terray’s 1952 French team stayed here too.  One of the reasons we are here is the inspirational writing about the peaks of Patagonia by Terray and others (see ‘Les Conquérants D’Inutiles’, available in English as ‘The Conquistadors of the Useless.’)

Wide open landscapes of poor soil and shingle.  Heathlands of tufts of grey shrubs and green and brown grasses.  The most frequent flowering shrub is the yellow adesmia.  The occasional guanaco.  A strong wind blows perpetually.  In the distance snow clad mountains feed lakes and rivers.  This is our introduction to the Patagonian steppe.

Eventually we make El Calafate.  A friend has described El Calafate as a one horse town where nothing is stirring and one expects Clint Eastwood to stride in in his poncho at any moment.  It's probably changed a bit since those days, but it's still like the final frontier.  In part it is - Chile is just up the road.

Arrive at Osteria Senderos, our hotel, just before 3pm and set off to the Park Lodge (only about 10 minutes’ walk) to get briefed on the hiking trails.  Very helpful staff.  “Quality sighting” of a Southern lapwing.  Walk around the town does seem like a settlement on the edge.  Simple buildings, bars, restaurants, travel firms.  Difficult to find a restaurant (many booked) but settle into Patagonicus which is excellent (pizza and steak).  Preceded by an Otramundo IPA at the bus station – an excellent 6.5% beer.

Sunday 25/11/2018

Beautiful day.  Do the Laguna Torre trail.  This is a trail which goes west from the town and is 9Km each way.  It’s about 1Km from our hotel to the start so the final distance is 13 miles with about 1600ft of climbing and quite rugged, though the central section is on a level mud path across the old moraine.  The main purpose is get views of Cerro Torre (see Mark Horrell’s article - https://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2012/a-short-history-of-cerro-torre/).  A tough but beautiful walk.  Sightings of a condor – best seen early in the day before the thermals build up, while they are relatively low down rather than the usual dots in the sky; a hare, possibly a shrike, and a mountain caracara – a fairly ubiquitous hawk which has little fear of humans and will often appear while you picnic.  Evening meal at Maffia.  Excellent homemade pasta but service a little slow.  A bit stiff this evening…

Distant view of the Fitzroy Massif and Cerro Torre

Cerro Torre from Laguna Torre

Another view of Cerro Torre

Monday 26^th November

Another good day.  More cloud but the mountains are clear.  Decide to do as much of the Fitzroy trek as we can.  It’s 1.2 miles up through the village to the start of the ‘Senderos a Fitzroy.’  Steady ascent but good comfortable woodland path.  Mirador over the Rio de las Vueltas.  At 4 to 5Km up the path there is a good distant view from the Mirador de Fitzroy.  Then down across gravelly moraines, generally easily to the Poincenot campsite, which is 8Km from the start of the Sendero.  Ahead are rivers, then trees, then a steep ascent.  After lunch Lindsay decides to turn back.  This is perfectly safe.  All the paths are very well marked and there are signs at every 1Km on the way.  For me a further 15 minutes of reasonable walking brings one to the Rio Blanco hut.  A stern warning sign tells you that the next bit is very difficult (it is) and there is a 400m height gain over the next 1Km – 40% average gradient.  In places where you have to scramble there is a queue.  ‘It’s a bit like the Hillary Step’ I mutter aloud.  ‘Hey, man,’ says an American in a Colorado shirt: ‘Respect.  High Five!’  He thinks I’ve been there…  Even at the top of the ridge there is another 200m of gravel and stones to climb over the moraine.  Great views of the frozen Lago de los Tres at the top, and of course the Fitzroy cordon.  Slog back in the hot sun, total 15.4 miles with 3280ft of climbing.  Good sightings of sierra finches and other birds, but Lindsay on her way back saw the magnificent Magellanic woodpecker, which I am jealous of.  Evening meal at the hotel.  Not too dissimilar from others: salad, steak, ice cream, and an excellent Gran Riserva Malbec 2014 from Mendoza.  Incidentally, the Poincenot campsite and the Poincenot peak is named after a member of the 1952 expedition who drowned while crossing the Rio Fitzroy.  Worth thinking about as you cross the well-constructed bridges on the trails.  In 1952 the area was an uncharted wilderness.

The Fitzroy Peaks

Tuesday 27^th November

After these two tough trekking days we decided on a day trip to Lago del Desierto, with ‘Zona Austral’ (local tour firm).  Pick up at hotel, then some other pickups, then 37Km of dirt road out of town to the Lago.  On the way stopping for views (brown heron, swifts seen at the cataratas).  A red fox crossed the road in front of us, apparently a rarer sighting than the grey fox.  Everything seemed to be named ‘Huemules’ (deer).  At the lake we do a hike up to the Glaciar Huemules through a lenga (Southern Andean beech tree) forest.  Classic blue lake at the top.  Very peaceful.  Then a 1-hour boat trip which is very pleasant.  Sightings of tree creeper, caracara, dog orchids, and a striking Patagonian frog.

Patagonian Flora and Fauna

Anemones

Dog Orchid

Patagonian Frog

Condor

Striped Woodpecker

Guanaco with newborn calf

Southern Lapwing

On the way back we get off at the El Chalten brewery.  It’s lovely sitting in the beer garden in November with good beer and lilac and broom in flower.  We meet an English couple who winter in Argentina – in Salta, in the northwest.  From their description it sounds lovely.

Dinner again at Patagonicus.  It’s good.

Wednesday 28^th.

Having seen somebody’s spectacular photo taken the previous day we get up at 0500 to get the pink dawn light on Fitzroy.  Beautiful.  Back to bed for two hours!

Waiting for the dawn in El Chalten...

Fitzroy at dawn

Leisurely start with breakfast and packing.  Good hotel but the rooms are too hot.  Head towards the visitor centre for the park and do two small trails, the Mirador de los Condores (appropriately named) and the Mirador de Aguilas.  Within moments of starting a condor flies close by and quarters the hillsides.  Then we watch while it catches a thermal, ascending in circles higher and higher until at last it is only visible in the binoculars, and that only when the sun catches the glint of white on the wingtips, many thousands of feet above us.  Various birds including a striped woodpecker.  At about 1230 we start up the Loma del Pliegue Tumbado trail, knowing that we don’t have time to finish it.  Lovely walk with a very ‘hochalpenweg’ feel to it.  Up through an arroyo, then scrub, then an alpine meadow through open woodland.  Back down by 3.30pm to make sure we catch the bus back to El Calafate.  Total 9.5miles and 2000+ ft of ascent.

We like El Chalten though.  It is very unpretentious.  It’s very much a trekking town, and probably best suited to younger visitors, but the trekkers are all sizes and shapes (there are some short and very easy trails but not many).  There are thin ones, fat ones, lesbian ones, gay ones, American college girls, superfit guys with tiny backpacks and headbands who run rather than walk, pretty Latinos, overclad Japanese and Chinese, some with surgical masks still in place despite the fresh Patagonian air.  There are some old folks, some children, and the occasional baby in a backpack.  Food is excellent though in many of the restaurants you need to book.  The bars are good too.

Easy journey back to El Calafate, as promised by our guide.  It takes two and a half hours.  We check into the Hotel Esplendor, bathe and head into town.  Our porter says there are Ice Bars in the town and Lindsay wants to visit one.  She’s frustrated at not being able to get to the Glaciarium which is some way outside the town.  The recommended Yeti Bar looks like a con.  Nobody is drinking at the bar.  It costs £6 each to get into the ice bar section, and we don’t know what to expect for this.  The atmosphere is rather cool (I mean that in a metaphorical way).  We pay, go into an ante room, put on cheap plastic fur capes, gloves and rubber crampons.  In we go through the airlock.  Our host who turns out to be Fernando, thaws (sic) slightly and indicates that we are in here 25 minutes and we can have as much as we like to drink.  Since the temperature is about minus 20 the only drinks are of course spirits.  This is some improvement.  We take the usual tacky photos of the ice igloo grotto, bar of ice, ice floor, sledge, yeti.

After this we reel out and eat at Mako, which turns out to be an excellent choice.  Lindsay has spit lamb.  I have steak.  The ever reliable Malbec.  Over the road is where we go for desert, having spotted the ice cream house.  A quarter kilogram tub of ice cream costs 150 pesos (about £2.50).

Thursday 29^th November, 2018

Pickup at the hotel 0915 by the tour company (pre-arranged) Hellas del Sur.  This is a Merc bus driven by Charlie and hosted by our guide for the day – another Martin.  He’s a great guide, and does his spiel in Spanish and English.  We head West along Lake Argentino.  The Perito Moreno glacier which we have come to see is about 80Km away.  It’s unique for several reasons.  It’s not the largest in the Southern Patagonia icefield, or the highest.  It is the most accessible.  It also discharges into two lakes, the Rico and the Argentino, separated by a headland, around which we are driving – the Magellan peninsula.  Periodically it hits the headland and forms an ice dam.  The level of Lake Rico then rises.  Lake Argentino is connected to the sea.  Eventually there is a ‘Ruptura’, first an ice tunnel as the water discharges, then collapse of the ice bridge, over a couple of days.  It generally occurs every two to four years.  Have a look on YouTube!  Certainly the glacier is spectacular, creaking and groaning, gunshot sounds, and the occasional column collapse with a mini tsunami.  The trails around the headland give good exercise with fantastic views of the glacier right in front of us.  The boat ride is excellent too; a powerful giant catamaran.  During our stay we see about three major ice falls.  The hillside is dotted with attractive Notro bushes.  It’s a mostly sunny day.  Martin explains that curiously enough the glacier looks at its best when it’s cloudy or raining because the colours become more intense.

Back to the hotel.  Visit the spa.  Into town again.  Excellent pizza house and beer, and another excellent Malbec.  My steak is only 300gm this time instead of the standard size which appears to be 400gm (14 ounces).  Pizza and empanada is only 1200 pesos including the tip.  More ice cream: chocolate dark, crema rusa, dulce de leche con brownie!

Friday 30^th November.

Time to leave Argentina.  Pickup by Alfredo promptly at 0700.  It’s just us, in his Renault Duster SUV.  First we head East along the lake, then turning out of the valley of Rio Santa Cruz to the Southeast, and after about 1hr 40min arriving at the rather bleak and tiny village, belyingly named La Esperanza.  Here is an intersection with the road to Rio Gallegos being to the Southeast, and we turn onto the Rio Turbio road now heading Southwest towards the border with Chile.  Terrain is Patagonian steppe, an amazing landscape.  All gravelly grey stone and sand, but fenced off into huge estancias.  Occasional guanacos grazing and fields of sheep which appear to be miles from anywhere.  I note signs like an interlinked Figure 2 (presumably the Double Two ranch) bring back memories of cowboy comic books, of bad hombres, stetsons, chaps, and cattle rustlers.  Bright sunshine.  Strong cold Patagonian winds.  We arrive at the Paso Rio Don Guillermo (border post).  Alfredo makes light work of the Argentinian exit and the Chilean entry where all our bags are X-ray scanned.  Big sky ahead and a ‘Welcome to Chile’ sign.  We are met there by James from Torres del Paine and he drives us the next hour and half to Las Torres hotel.  Welcomed, and gold wrist banded to show we are all inclusive.  A walk with a guide called Andres this afternoon to Cerro Paine, a viewpoint for the famous towers.  Only 2.5 miles up, but 1615ft of climb.  Cocktails are excellent, with entertaining barmen who should be in Cirque du Soleil.  Dinner.  Bed.

Chile.  Saturday 1^st December.  At Hotel Torres del Paine.

MAYBE MORE ANOTHER TIME.  THAT IS THE END OF ARGENTINA FOR US.  BUT OUR VISIT TO TORRES DEL PAINE, PUNTA ARENAS, SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, SANTIAGO AND VALPARAISO WERE ALSO GREAT EXPERIENCES…