El Calafate, El Chalten and Puerto Madryn

What's up everyone!

Just for your information: I will create one extra post for general advices for countries and cities which I will keep updating so if anyone is interested in going to some places you might get an idea what to do and what not to do. 

Back to the entry:

After I finished the W Trail at Torres Del Paine, I went to El Calafate to visit one of nature's most impressive landscapes: Glacier Moreno

70m high and 5km wide

The most impressive part is that this Glacier is moving very quickly, about 1-2m a day. This is the reason why there is frequently ice cracking and falling into the water. This sound is tremendous. A must see if you go to Patagonia. 

El Chalten is a small village within Parque National Los Glaciers from whereof you can start several different hikes. 

Chorillo Del Salto

El Chalten

Glacier Fitz Roy 

Lago Los Tres Lagos and Glacier Fitz Roy

Afterwards I had an unexpected difficult travel to Puerto Madryn. The man at the counter told me it would be smart to go to Perito Moreno instead of Rio Gallegos and catch another bus over there so I trusted him. Perito Moreno is a very small village in the middle of nowhere so when I got off the bus and tried to buy a ticket to Puerto Madryn they told me there are no buses going directly to Puerto Madryn. So I tried to hitchhike:

I gave up after 4 hours and instead took a bus to Comodoro Rivadavia. I arrived there in the middle of the night but luckily at 1 am there was a bus to Puerto Madryn. In Short instead of relaxing after 7 hours of hiking (Trail los tres Lagos including Glacier Fitz Roy) I spend my next 2 days on the bus. But I made it safe to Puerto Madryn, which is a magnificent but small city, which does its utmost to get as much money of the tourists as possible. The trips are that expensive that it is cheaper to rent a car even though you are alone but unluckily there are no cars available until mid of November... so I did 2 of those very expensive tours (there definitely is a price agreement between all agencies, whale watching companies... as they are all the same). That fact made it hard to enjoy this terrific Fauna you can observe in Puerto Madryn. 

1st trip: Peninsula Valdes

Sea Lions and Elefant seals

Whales 

Random landscape 

2nd trip: Punta Tombo and Patagonien Dolphins (was not able to take a picture with my phone)

Megellan Penguin 



Selfie time

So I guess I won't get any closer to penguins anymore. 

Has been great seeing you buddies. 

Hannes

Torres Del Paine (Puerto Natales) &a Punta Arenas

Hi everyone,

The last week has been quiet a challenge because I did the first multiple day hike in my life. But let's start with Saturday which I have been spending at Tierra Del Fuego. I got to learn a bit of the Selk'nam culture but most importantly I have seen king penguins 🐧 ❤️

Porvenir Museum

King penguins and their babies 👶 🐧

I personally enjoyed mostly seeing the penguins and could have skipped the Porvenir Museum as well as the Selk'nam parc but nevertheless the trip has been great. 

I have been surprised by Punta Arenas, the starting point of the excursion, though as it is a beautiful city which is already worth a trip. 

Was lucky and got to see a military parade

All those buildings are to be found at the central plaza. Whoever might want to come here should be warned that it is quiet windy. Sometimes they have a leash at the plaza for the people to hold on to as they could be flying away. 😳

So after Punta Arenas I went to Puerto Natales to plan my hike at Torres Del Paine. As the Q-Track is still closed I had to do the W-Track. To safe money I decided to rent a tent and all the equipment and camp (Torres Del Paine still is expensive. Paid in total around 140.000 Chilean pesos). This has been a bit cold as we got down to -2 C and exhausting as I had to carry the tent, the sleeping bag, the mattress, the cooking equipment, the food and everything else. But doing it feels like a challenge where your treats in between are the magnificent landscapes. So it has been worth it. 

Lago Grey

Grey Glacier (which is actually blue)

Francés Valley

Francés Valley 2

Francés Glacier 

Hiking Crew for that day 

Nordernskjöld Lake

Beach of Nordernskjöld Lake

Glacier Torres 

Still Nordernskjöld Lake

Me and my Backpack

Las Torres lookout at Glacier Torres (been lucky to get all three of the towers on there - apparently you call that the money shot)

So next stop El Calafate. 

Best wishes to everyone 

Hannes

Roadtrip to Pucon, Puerto Varas and Chiloe

Hi everyone 

My last week I spend more time on the road than anywhere else. We drove from Bariloche to Pucon and could enjoy a terrific landscape and interesting roads where a SUV might have been the better choice but we made it💪🏻

Landscape on our way to Pucon

Enjoying the landscape a little differently 

View from our Hostel in Pucon

The road crew

Pucon is a small town offering lots of incredible things to do. You can hike up a volcano... but sadly the weather forecast has been bad which is the reasonnI stayed only for one day. That day we went hiking (the snow did not allow us to do the full trail) and to hot springs

Waterfall Hido de Acuila

Another waterfall

Lago Chico

Laguna Verde 

Lagune Toro

Hot Springs 

Afterwards we stayed the night in Puerto Varas and finally I got dropped off at Chiloe where I stayed with a Chilean and got to see Castro, some churches, the national parc and most important: PENGUINS 🐧 in real life!!!!!!!!!!!! But being honest you can skip Chiloe if it is not for the penguins as Chile and Southamerica offer much more besutiful places than Chiloe.

On my way to the national parc

Beach at the national parc: enjoying the ocean 🌊 

PENGUIN❤️

Someone is happy now even we just got to see 5 Magllanic Penguins (they are coming to Chiloe a bit later)

From Castro (Chiloe) I took abus to Punta Arenas (35 hours) where I just arrived and tomorrow I will hopefully see King penguins at the Tierra Del Fuego (You could see also Magllanic Penguins at Isla Magdalena but each tour costs about 100 USD which is the reason I decided to do only one of those tours) 

Adios amigos

Hannes

Bariloche

Buenas,

So my next stop has been Bariloche, a place I went because a mate from Argentina recommended it. 

Bariloche is a small city and kind of the beginning of Argentinien Patagonia.The architecture reminds me of Austria/ Southern Germany. It is a great place to spend vacations as it is quiet and offers lots of things to do outside e.g. many hiking trails, Skiing....

Partying here is a little bit difficult but there are some nice bars (Manush, Santino). Furthermore chocolate lovers will love Bariloche. 

I was lucky that I met some Germans in Mendoza because even though my hostel has been more like a family pension, I got in touch with people from their hostel thanks to them. 

Sadly the weather has been bad but I made the best out of it.

Lago Gutiérrez

My group for a couple of days (that day we rented 2 cars and did the 7 lakes tour)

Even got some snow

View from Cerro Campanario

Cerro Llao Llao

Finally some sunshine (view from the lake front of Bariloche)

Mirador Del Tacul

Bariloche even offers a beach for people crazy enough to take a bath in these cold lakes

All in all it has been a great stay at Bariloche. Tomorrow I will go on a road trip with one guy from Slovakia and one from the Netherlands. We will first go north again to Pucon(Chile) and then travel south to Puerto Montt/Chiloe. 

Hannes