Sweet Patagonia and O´Argentina

Torres Del Paine is simply one fine national park. Despite the high number of visitors that come to admire the glacier-fed blue lakes and the 2000 meter granite croppings that gives the park its name (Towers of Paine), the 181 000-hectacre park is pristine with wonderful wildlife and fauna. One reason for this is that you have to remain on the designated trail (unlike the freedom in hiking in Canada). The other reason seems to be that everyone is pretty conscientious about bringing their garbage out and the facilities at the camp sites are top-notch with some of them having flushing toilets. Unfortunately, 40% of the park was burned as an Israeli attempted to start an illegal campfire in 2011 but it went out of control due to high winds and dry weather. You can still see the remains of the fire as trees grow very slowly here in this raw, wind-swept terrain.    

As it is Patagonia, it is very windy and the weather is eratic. I experienced all four seasons on my five-day trip, from raging wind and rain to sun and clouds then more rain and hail finally, snow on the last night and day. Traditionally, the ¨W¨Trek starts from east to west but my recommendation is that if you see the peaks on the bus ride in, get off but if you do not see the peaks, stay on and either walk in from the adminstration or catch the expensive catamaran to start the ¨W¨Trek from the the other end and hopefully, the weather improves by time you get to the Torres.

What makes the ¨W¨ Trek great is that can camp at the bottom of the ¨W¨and then go on day trips to see Glaciers and walk past floating blue ice-bergs one day then hike into a sort of ampitheatre of mountains and jagged cliffs (Valle Frances) the next day and hear and see the rumble of the occasional avalanche. You can then camp below the Torres Del Paine before hiking up to catch the sunrise and view of the granite towers above an blueazure lake. Although this did not happen to me as I got snow and clouds instead and only a brief window in the weather to get a glimpse of the Torres, I thoroughly enjoyed the trek. Walking the trail with glacier lake and distant snow capped mountains on one shoulder and imposing granite mountains on my other shoulder with all the bright red flowers and emerald forest around. And when the sun comes out, the colours really come out.

The ¨W¨ Trek is also very accessible and if you don´t want to camp, you can stay at the comfortable refugios. I had mistakenly thought it would be basic wooden huts but not so, they are more like ski lodges with hot showers, cafeterias and two with even bars.

After the Torres Del Paine, I entered Argentina to visit the towns of El Calafate and El Chalten to see some more of Patagonia. In El Calafate, you can take tours to see the majestic blue Perito Moreno.

 

Glacier at the Parque National Los Glaciers which is only third largest glacier in the park but still larger than the whole city of Buenos Aires. It is a very impressive sight from the boat and catwalks and there is a certain excitement when you hear them cracking and see huge chunks come crashing down on the water. Unlike most glaciers in the world, Perito Moreno Glacier is not receding but actually advances up to 2 meters a day and is considered a ¨stable¨galcier.

In El Chalten, I went for one more more hike in Patagonia hoping to get a glimpse of the famous Cerro Fitz Roy but the Patagonian weather strikes again and all I saw was fog and only caught a glimpse of the Fitz Roy as I was leaving on a 24-hour bus ride  to the Atlantic coastline. I am now in Puerto Madryn to view some Right Whales in the Peninsula Valdes today.