The Lake District



Bariloche, located on the shores of lake Nahuel Haupi, has a slight alpine feel and the weather for my visit was decidedly chilly. Hired a bike and headed out on the circuito chico, a 60km loop that takes in the beauty of the surrounding area. However my trek the following day was curtailed by a heavy bout of rain and I decided to move on to warmer climes. Took the picturesque 7 lakes route to San Martin Los Andes, lots of beautiful lakes surrounded by snow capped mountains and then onto Pucon, Chile. The imposing structure of volcano Lanin, making a dramatic backdrop to the border crossing.

Pucon, is the country`s adventure capital. Did some excellent rafting along grade IV rapids, but the highlight of my stay was the ascent of the Villarica volcano. The volcano is still active and smoking away gently but hasn´t had a major eruption since 1984. To get to the 2500m summit its a 4 hour trek up the steep lava and ice covered slopes. Although you have to wear crampons and use an ice axe, the climb isnt that technical. The panorama from the top was quite amazing. Going back down was the best bit as you get to slide down the ice chutes at great speed using your ice axe as a brake ! A bit like the luge in the winter olympics and top fun.

Patagonia

I moved onto Torres del Paine national park and spent 4 days trekking there hiking the W (so called due to the shape of the trail). Rather than carrying all the camping gear, I travelled light and stayed at the refugios en route. This turned out to be a good idea as there was rain on some of the days and it didn´t make for great camping weather. The centre of the park comprises a dramatic series of mountains and the W takes you up some beautiful valleys, past glacial lakes, through forests of southern birch and up some strenuous trails towards the peaks themselves. The highlights were the hike to the towering granite pillars of Torres del Paine, the amazing panoramas of the French valley and the hike to glacier grey.

Feeling quite exhausted after all that walking I headed on to El Calafate to see the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the worlds most active. Its part of a much larger mass of ice that is third in size to that in Antartica and Greenland. Even on this cloudy day, the glacier still appears a brilliant blue colour, due to the compactness of the ice which only allows short wavelengths of light to be reflected. The glacier advances two metres daily and small pieces are constantly breaking off, making a thundering sound as the ice falls into the water. It makes for quite a spectacle.

The next stop on the gringo trail through Patagonia is the small town of El Chalten, beautifully located a short distance from the Fitz Roy range. Here the delights are similar to those of Torres del Paine and two tough days of hiking took me up close to the giant granite towers of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy (at 3450m, Patagonia´s highest peak). I was also very lucky with the weather here, after two weeks of mostly rain, both days trekking were blessed with crystal clear autumn days.

Have just arrived in Bariloche in Argentina´s lake district, after along bus journey north along ruta 40, which took two whole days. Although the road parallels the Andes, it doesn´t have much mountain scenery itself to speak of, just miles and miles of barren treeless Patagonian steppe, with the occaisional small town or estancia on the way. Its these long bus journeys, where you get to appreciate how vast Patagonia is and how isolated some of these small communities are.

Tierra del Fuego

The remote setting for Ushuaia, the town at the end of the earth, is best appreciated from the plane. Ushuaia, is separated from Chile´s Isla Navarino to the south by the Beagle Channel and surrounded by mountains and fjord-like scenery. The first European to discover the region was the Portugese explorer Magallanes in the 16th century who gave the islands their name after seeing the fires made by the native Indian´s which lit up the land. Early European attempts to settle the region failed and its only really in the last century that more permanent towns have sprung up.




I spent a few days hiking in the area, the highlight of which was the walk along the coastal trail in the nearby national park, through forests of lenga and ñire, offering great vistas across the water to the surrounding peaks. After a few days out in the fresh air, a long bus journey along the desolate treeless plains awaited me. However I was lucky to make it out of town in one piece when a car pulled out in front of our bus leaving our driver no time to manouevere and we crashed into it and spun off the road. Amazingly no-one was hurt and a replacement bus soon arrived. We continued north, spotting some guanacos (a south american camelid related to the llama) and rheas (a large flighless bird, bit like an ostrich), which livened up the journey into Chile and over to the mainland via ferry, to finally arrive in Punta Arenas.




The next day, I took a trip to visit the nearby Magellanic penguin colony at Seno Otway. The penguins are nearing the end of a 6 month breeding season at the colony before they migrate north to warmer waters. Although there are some 10,000 penguins here, they aren´t quite so densely populated as I had imagined and you only get to see a few hundred as you progress along the walkway past some nesting sites and up close and personal to these fascinating creatures.

Buenos Aires

My journey begins in Buenos Aires where the wide avenues, leafy parks and street cafes add a very European flavour to Argentina´s capital. The country is still in the process of recovering from the economic disaster of December 2001. Indeed this only adds to its attraction for visitors, its possible to eat out in some style for less than 5 pounds. The gigantic steaks are probably the world´s finest and the strong Italian influence results in some excellent pasta and pizza dishes. So far, my Spanish has just about got me by, although the conversation has tended to revert to English in some situations. I´m hoping that by the end of the 4 months, this won´t be the case.

Although Argentina´s name means land of silver in latin, the Spanish never found any here and Buenos Aires was really to thrive as a port city and used to transport the silver and gold found in Peru and modern day Bolivia back to Spain.

A pleasant stroll south from my hostel in the microcentro took me down Avenida Florida, the citys main shopping street to the Plaza del Mayo. This grand square is surrounded by impressive colonial buildings, including the pink facade of La Casa Rosada, the presidential offices. South of the centre via the antique shops of San Telmo, lies La Boca, home to the famous Juniors football club and the colourfully painted houses and businesses of El Caminito. Perhaps the capitals most famous attraction however, is the Recoleta Cemetry, where the remains of the wealthy porteños of recent centuries lie, most notably those of Argentina´s much revered first lady Evita. This concrete labyrinth of tomb filled passageways is as much a homage to art as it is to the city´s former inhabitants. Its an impressive and altogether unsual sight.

Although Evita and other living legends such as Diego Maradona are much reverred, the star of the show in this country is General Jose de San Martin, Liberator of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. His statue occupies pride of place in many towns and cities across the country and is a talisman to many - a sign of their independence.

A short ferry ride across the Rio de la Plata lies the Uruguayan town of Colonia del Sacramento. It was founded by the Portugese in 1680 and functioned as a smugglers port. Throughout the 18th century it was the subject of struggles between the Portugese and Spanish and changed hands on numerous occaisions. The bougainvillea lined cobbled streets retain the ancient colonial charm and it proved to be a pleasant place to kick back and relax for 24 hours before returning to Buenos Aires. Tomorrow I fly to Ushuaia and onto the remote wilderness of Tierra del Fuego and the wide open spaces of Patagonia.