Well, it´s been a busy few days. After meeting up with Paddy and Rebecca on the fun bus, (he from Manchester, she from Perth), and Marie (also from Manchester), the four of us formed the Muppet Team and set off to explore the National Park at El Chalten. We camped out for two nights, the first at Poincenot, at Los Tres, from which you can walk up to the glacier and lake directly below Fitzroy Massif. There´s actually two lakes up there, the second being a beautiful bright blue laguna that looked really deep. We were so lucky with the weather - it was incredibly windy climbing up there, you sometimes had to virtually sit on the ground and hug a rock, but lovely sunshine. It was even windier when we got down, but it calmed down just before sunset, and the remaining clouds cleared to give us a perfect view of the almighty rock! It put on quite a show - beautiful clouds that swirled around the peaks like puffs of smoke, and the sky glowed orange and pink as the sun went down.
We got up the next morning, and walked to the third of the Tres Lagos, at Piedras Blancas. There was another glacier there, a blue one, and we had to scrabble over huge boulders to get a view of the lake. It was only an hour or so each way, but after that we had to take the tent down and walk on to the next campsite at Agostini, at Lago Torre. Didn´t sleep very well at this one, and Paddy and Rebecca´s gas had run out, so we ate biscuits and olives for dinner, and soaked some oats in water overnight to have for breakfast. Not great, but an important lesson to learn! Walked along the side of the lake to a huge glacier in the morning, before packing up camp and heading back to El Chalten. Slept really badly again even in my nice comfy hostel bed, as it was ridiculously windy (again), and the four of us were up again first thing to get a bus to El Calafate.
Arrived there yesterday lunchtime, and went to see the Perito Merino glacier in the afternoon. It was an expensive tourist trap, but very impressive all the same. Think I was slightly hysterical with tiredness though, as I spent a lot of time just giggling like a lunatic at nothing in particular. there were a lot of very rich-looking tourists there, all taking the exact same shot of each other with the glacier in the background. I eventually succumbed to the Disneyland atmosphere, and treated myself to a very expensive chocolate brownie and an Irish coffee, which calmed me down a bit! We all stayed in a lovely hospedaje near the bus station, and then myself and Marie got a bus to Puerto Natales this morning and are now at the Erratic Rock hostel, and Paddy and Rebecca are getting a bus down to Ushaia this afternoon. I may manage to meet up with them agan later, as they´re heading here before getting the Navimag (big boat) to Puerto Montt.
So, am back in Chile again, and giving myself what feels like a hard-earned rest after a busy few days. Will spend tomorrow doing a bit of washing, and getting equipment and food sorted out for doing some hiking in Torres del Paine national park on Thursday. Myself and Marie are thinking of doing the whole circuit, or the ´Q´, in addition to the well-trodden ´W´, so will be a long trip - I think it´s 8 or 9 nights camping out, along with carrying all our gear, so imagine it will be a tough few days. An American girl has also asked to join us, so will be interesting to see how the new team works out. Half of me wishes I was doing it on my own, partly for the feeling of being totally self-reliant, but I´m hoping we´ll have fun, not all fall out with each other, and have an enjoyable experience all round. Fingers crossed... (After going out for some food with the American girl that night, she failed to show up in the morning ready to go to the park, and we later heard from someone else staying at her hostel that she´d been spotted getting on a bus to Ushaia!)
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