I was finally on myself … flying over to Mendoza, Argentina’s wine capital and also a good hub for any kind of outdoor activity.
I spent my first full day in Mendoza with a hike up to Cerro Arenales. It was enjoyable hike, however not in the most favorable weather conditions. We started off in light rain, which turned to hail and finally snow during the ascend; of course there was also no view … as we were basically within the cloud.
This gallery contains 20 photos.
Second day after the tour; Steve and myself went over for Uruguay for the day. We left Buenos Aires in the morning on the Buquebus ferry. After about three hours on the ferry we arrived in Colonia del Sacramento, a … Continue reading
The tour to Patagonia was over; we made our way back to Buenos Aires – and to make it short, I was overwhelmed by the big city – traffic, noise, fumes etc. – so I decided to take a train up to Tigre – the gateway to the Rio de la Plata delta. In Tigre I had a look around town to then take a two hours boat tour to get a view of the delta with its little islands … so in total an enjoyable and relaxing day.
Another short flight got us down to Ushuaia – the southernmost city of the world (it is only small settlements and research stations further south). We only had around 1.5 days down here, so activities were somewhat limited, also as the weather was not the best … below some impressions.
The second day in El Chalten was a free day; James and myself ended up doing the ice climbing and ice hiking option. In the morning we boarded yet another boat to get closer to another glacier – the Viedma glacier.
We left the boat at the middle moraine to get the climbing gear and short introduction – to finally walk over to the cliff and do our first climbs.
After a few climbs, the arms got tired and we headed back to the equipment tent for lunch. After lunch we put the crampons on again to get back to the glacier – this time for ice hiking.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
We got to El Chalten – self proclaimed Outdoor Capital of Argentina – in the late evening, basically getting there straight from our visit to Perito Moreno Glacier. We stopped at a view point shortly before town to get a … Continue reading
This gallery contains 16 photos.
Another bus ride did bring us across the border from Chile to Argentina, heading for El Calafate, another one of these towns basically only there to serve as gateway into a National Park – this time Los Glaciares – Glacier … Continue reading
Our last and final (half) day in the park; today’s hike was not more than a three hour walk (mostly flat) up to a viewpoint to see Grey Glacier and back to the mountain lodge. The views of Grey Glacier were very impressive at this time … but ridiculous compared to what was to come the next few days back in Argentina.
From the mountain lodge we took the 12:30 ferry to get back to Puerto Natales in the early evening.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
Day 3 in Torres del Paine National Park … After a cold night (-2 degrees) … – hiking from Refugio Los Torres to the Paine Grande Mountain Lodge with a (most important) side trip up to the Valle Frances (French … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
We spent the night on a private campsite outside the National Park. After a generous breakfast we got transferred back to the Torres Hotel – yesterday’s starting point was also the one of today. Destination of the day though was … Continue reading