Patagonia

On Tuesday, January 8, we left Buenos Aires and flew down to El Calafate, Patagonia.

We're now travelling in a group of eight.  I'm still with Sinead and Mona and we headed South with five Israelis: Michael, Nadav, Amir, Shani, and Sahar.

A bit of background... I met the boys on my third day in South America in Santa Marta, Colombia.  Though we never officially travelled together, we've been on the same path and have been meeting up in every country.  I saw the boys next in Cuzco, Peru and again in La Paz, Bolivia.  In Bolivia, I met Shani and Sahar, two girls they had begun travelling with.  I convinced them all to spend their first Christmas with us in Salta, Argentina.  We went our separate ways for a few days before reuniting with about 15 more members of our extended travel family in Buenos Aires for New Years. 

After ten days in Buenos Aires comprised of waking up too late and wandering around the city, midnight dinners, far too many empanadas, and a healthy amount of cheap Malbec and no-name Vino Tinto, we packed up our backpacks and headed to Patagonia for a couple of weeks of fresh air, unbelievable scenery, trekking, and detox.

After a long day of accidentally heading to the wrong airport across town, a four hour delay, and 3 stolen caribeeners, we arrived in El Calafate around 9:00pm.

The first thing we noticed was how bright out it still was.  With opposite seasons than home, Patagonia is less than one month into summer.  The sun rises around 6am here and doesn't set until after 10:30pm. 

For me, it was love at first sight.  Patagonia is the part of the  trip I've been most excited for the entire time, and the second the plane landed I felt a rush of excitement. 

We spent our first two days in El Calafate, Argentina.  On our first day we slept in, had a late lunch, and booked our tour for the following day and our bus for the day after that. 

We had plans to go to Laguna Nimez later that afternoon, and heard a tip that if we waited until after 8pm entrance was free (instead of 35 Argentinian pesos - $7 USD.)  We arrived around 8:20, just in time to see the park rangers lock the gate.  By "free," I'm pretty sure our tip meant illegally sneaking in, so we did just that. 

The grounds were beautiful.  There was a windy path that cut between fields of green, red and orange grasses and purple and yellow flowers.  There was a lake that had dozens of flamingos, all of which took off into flight at once for no apparent reason.  It was a gorgeous sight and I've never before seen flamingos fly.  On our walk to the lagoon, we accidentally adopted a local dog who followed us the whole way there and back and even hopped the fence with us.  The lagoon itself was beautiful with stunning mountain scenery as a backdrop. 

The following day, we woke up early to head to Perito Moreno Glacier.  The ride to the glacier alone was some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen, but at first sight, the glacier literally takes your breath away. 

Perito Moreno is part of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field, the third largest ice field in the world.  The backdrop to the jagged, blue tinted ice is beautiful, snow capped Andean mountains.  The glacier is 5 km wide and 74 meters high.  Perito Moreno comes to an abrupt halt on three sides and dives straight into Lago Argentino at almost a 90 degree angle.

As you walk around viewing the glacier, you can hear loud cracks and echoes of ice breaking.  Many of these ice cracks are located internally within the glacier, but if you are lucky enough, you can see big chunks of ice fall from the frozen lake into Lago Argentino and create a massive splash and wave.  I hesistate to say "lucky," though, because even though this has been described as an "existential experience," it is also global warming at its best and this beautiful sight is also simultaneously the destruction one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. 

After three days and two nights in El Calafate, we packed up again and crossed the border into Chile headed to Puerto Natales.  Border crossing is something we will be doing a lot of over the next couple of the weeks as we zigzag back and forth across Patagonia through both Chile and Argentina.

We spent our entire day today  comparing prices, renting and buying equipment, making a menu for the next five days, and listening to as much information as possible about the Torres del Paine. 

I am now the proud owner of walking poles and a sleeping mat and have rented a sleeping bag that will keep me comfortable in temperatures above -5 degrees celcius and a VERY small two-man tent.

Tomorrow morning, at 7:30am, we leave on a bus to the Torres del Paine National Park to hike the "W," a five day, four night, fifty mile trek.

To me, this is the pinacle of my trip.  The Torres del Paine are single handedly the reason I came to South America.  I don't remember the first time I saw the Torres exactly, but I know that as soon as I did, I knew I had to get there. 

Four years later, I'm here.  After four years of dreaming and planning and saving, I made it happen.  Tomorrow morning, I leave for an adventure that I have imagined thousands of times. 

In five days I will see, with my own eyes, the Torres del Paine Towers - an image that I have saved as the background of my computer, my phone, and the background of this blog.  An image I have Googled to show to a countless number of people.  An image that has been ingrained in my mind since the first time I ever saw it...and an image that would eventually change the course of my life and bring me here... to South America, on the adventure of a lifetime. 

Tomorrow is a day I've imagined thousands of times, but never once could I have imagined it like this.  We will finish the trek on the last day of my third month in South America.  The experiences I've had over the past three months and the people I've met have changed me in ways I never knew possible. 

To say I'm excited is an understatement.  I feel like a small child on Christmas Eve. 

Photos:
#1 Glacier Perito Moreno, Argentina
#2 Sinead and I in Puerto Natales, Chile
#3 Me packed for the Torres del Paine
#4 At Perito Moreno
#5 Mountain scenery from Perito Moreno
#6 Perito Moreno
#7 Puerto Natales.