Having thoroughly enjoyed our time in Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales in general, we actually headed back over the border into Argentina and El Calafate for the experience of the Perito Merino glacier. I think that the uniqueness of this glacier is that it is the only one that is continuing to grow which is really quite astounding in the days of global warming and the loss of other glaciers around the world.

El Calafate itself was a pretty enough town, teaming with tourists all heading to Perito Moreno and taking advantage of the apparently fabulous climbing opportunities. Our only goal was to visit the glacier and do a mini ice trek before moving on. This we achieved the next day. There is no doubt that the glacier is impressive. It´s size, the calving, the noises it makes are all incredible; the fact that it is there at all makes the visit worthwhile. I think though, that Tim and I were spoiled by having seen Glacier Grey first. Perhaps it´s just that there is something infinitely more rewarding about the physical effort it took us to get to Glacier Grey or maybe it was that there were less people at Glacier Grey, whatever the reason Glacier Grey remains our favourite of the two.

The mini ice trek was quite cool though. You got to walk along the glacier and hear up close the noises it made as it calved and you could get a real sense of the immense size of the glacier. You could peer into the crevices and see the depth of ice and see the pure ice water in the pools that gathered under the ice. You could also taste the pure and untouched water from small waterfalls so it was definitely an experience we were glad to have had the opportunity to have. I guess it just didn´t take our breath away the way that Glacier Grey did - or perhaps we are just getting to spoiled by all the natural beauty we are surrounded by??

Having achieved our one ´thing to do´in El Calafate we got the early morning bus out and headed to El Chalten for some more awe inspiring scenery and a wee bit more walking and climbing.

El Chalten is essentially famous for the Fitx Roy mountain range which offers inumerable opportunities for walking, trekking and hard core climbing. Tim and I stuck to the walking and just a bit of climbing because there was simply no other way to reach the top and having already walked for 3 hours we weren´t going to be beaten by a sheer cliff face that stretched further than the eye could see! Our first day in El Chalten was a bit lazy really, gathering information, taking a short walk to a nearby waterfall and generally just resting and trying to stay out of the wind that blew constantly. Despite the winds we bravely decided to camp and so spent a relatively uncomfortable night wondering if the tent was going to blow away leaving us completely exposed to the driving rain. Luckily we survived the night and so set off the next morning to see what all the fuss was about with this Fitz Roy mountain. The first three hours of the trek was pretty tough and I was so glad that we had decided to leave our packs and campsite in El Chalten rather than carry it all with us and camp closer to the mountain.

By the time we reached the last part of the trek I was just about ready to give up. It was cold, windy, rainy and I was exhausted and nearly moved to tears when I saw just how difficult the next section was. Still, keeping in mind that it would surely be worth it, off we went. For about 1 hour we zigzagged up the mountain, completely exposed to the elements, at times having to stop and lean into the wind just to stop getting blown off the mountain. The path was wet, slippery and stony and full of people coming down as we were going up. But we made it. We made it to the top and we greeted by an absolutely pristine glacial lake, seemingly unpolluted and untouched by human habitation. Over the next small rise was an even more remote lake, so peaceful, so serene. It was worth it. By this point the wind had increased so much that the only escape was to hide behind the huge rocks until it died down long enough for us to make it to the next rock to hide behind. We finally made it down the mountain and I could only feel sorry for the people who were still on their way up the mountain as the wind continued to increase, the rain came down and visibility was reduced. Although my feelings of sympathy were somewhat tempered by the fact that you have to be slightly mad to start such a climb at 5:00 in the evening!

Anyway, we returned to camp and took refuge in our tent for the remainder of the evening as the wind and rain continued. Our last day in El Chalten the weather was just so bad that we barely left the tent and spent most of the day making onward plans. Late that night we boarded a bus for Bariloche, via the ´Tourist Route´, Ruta 40, hoping to be able to cross back into Chile from Bariloche.

And here begins the most exhausting of our journey´s so far .... But more about that next time.

Until then, I hope all is well with you all

Take care

Tim and Tracey