Note: This page covers both Argentina and Chile. I have been in and out of both four times and it seemed better to keep the blog in chronological order. Enjoy!
Also keep your eyes peeled as I may upgrade this site to include video (of which there are many funny ones!) .
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sheer beauty
Have a look at this picture. Looks pretty trivial doesn´t it. But beneath this sugar coated cover, please don´t be fooled. This is a serious issue. For 7 weeks now I have eaten nothing but Chicken (or some other chewy meat resembling said meat), rice and beans. Now that I´m in Buenos Aires not only do they have real bread (the bread in the north is a disgrace) but they have real cheese and real real parma ham. I almost cried when I had my first bite. I´ve pretty much eaten the same sandwich three meals a day for 3 days now.
Buenos Aires is one hell of a cool city. It´s more like being in Paris or Barcelona. It´s grand, has stunning architecture (both new and old) and the people have that buzz about them that´s simply contagious. As luck has it I met an Australian on the bus on the way to the city from the airport who knows some local Argentinians so had a full walking and car tour of the city. Forget the White House of the US. The Argentinians have a Pink House for the President. They have it all. Actually, they don´t have one thing; a requirement or desire for sleep. You go out for your evening meal at 10pm, finish eating around midnight, go to a bar for a few warmup drinks and then hit a club at 3am AT THE EARLIEST. Oh and they´re in the office by 9am. Funny how the westerners in my hostel seem to sleep all day and go out by night. I´m convinced some of them haven´t seen daylight for weeks.
No visit to Buenos Aires is complete without a trip to the Bombadero to see the Boca Juniors play football. I´ve never in my life witnessed such a spectacle. These people are PASSIONATE about football. Picture this, they arrive two hours before the game to ensure all the banners are up appropriately and they attire is adequate. They then start singing. When I say sing, I don´t mean the chanting repetitive crap you get in most football clubs, I mean the kind of standard that would probably see them through to the second stages of the X Factor.
Furthermore, Boca lost last night, 2-1 but did that demoralise the troops?? Of course it bloody didn´t.
They stayed behind for another hour and a half and sang until they couldn´t sing anymore. The wives of Buenos Aires will not be able to communicate with their husbands today, or indeed probably tomorrow.
Add to that the most impressive single flag I have ever seen (this thing must have been 4 stories high) and it was an experience of a lifetime.
A big flag!
To top it off, Maradona himself was present at the game. Naturally he was sitting in the posh (!) stand but good to see his passion still remains.
Another place you can´t miss here is a visit to the main cemetery. Not very often you can say that about a place but it really was incredible (and creepy at the same time).
The carvings on some of the graves were amazing, like this small angel.
Eva Peron (Evita) is buried here as are many famous Argentinians.
The tombs are ridiculously opulent, enormous structures.
The entrance to the cemetery
Some of the older ones are missing their fronts or they have eroded, leaving open tombs behind with coffins on display. Spooky stuff!
Spooky!
I also head to watch a tango show with some new buddies which turned out to amaze us all. The skill with which these individuals shimmy across the performance area is sublime. The photos below (will put them on ASAP) give you an idea how quick they are moving. We saw the show at Cafe Tortoni which has been staging shows for over 150 years. It´s an ornate and glitzy building and worth a visit on its own if you ventured over here.
Amazing stuff!
Tango at Cafe Tortoni
So it´s a monday night and one thinks a city should be reasonably quiet and chilled after a heavy weekend.Oh no, not here. Monday night means La Tiempo de Bomba, an Argentinian percussion night. It basically involves some 7,000 people turning up to a car park and singing and dancing to some of the world´s best percussion artists. Heavy drum beats and quirky sounds, it really is incredible to watch. It´s also nicely washed down with pint and a half sized bottles of Stella. Deadly.
An action shot amongst carnage. High energy stuff.
Off to Patagonia next to explore more of the natural wonders of South America.
Patagonia – Chile and Argentina
Wow. Where on earth do I begin? Let´s try the start and see how we go.
The first thing that hits you in Patagonia is the wind. And not just any old wind but consistent gale force lateral wind. You know it´s Patagonian wind because:
a) You go for a bush pee and get 15 metres of carry.
b) Your tent (and two occupants) get moved from one side of the campsite to the other whilst you´re still in the tent.
c) You walk vigirously for a decent amount of time and yet gain no yardage.
This is proper wind.
The second thing you notice are the sunrise / sunsets and because of the season, you see lots of both.
Sunrise on a long day drive
The final thing you are struck by are the size of the bananas. Check this monster out.
Ludicrously big
I joined a Dragoman trip (an overlanding company) for this leg. I met my 16 intrepid fellow travelers in Buenos Aires and we headed south towards the Valdez Peninsula, famous for its Orca Whales, Magellan Penguins and Patagonian Wolves.
Dramatic coastline of the Valdez Peninsula
The main highlight was visiting the beach where the ´resident´Orca Whales hunt seals on the beach (a feature on a lot of David Attenborough documentaries..). We spotted a few offshore but unfortunately tide conditions meant they couldn´t come in to hunt.
Sea lions chilling on the Valdez Peninsula
Apparently you only have a 3% chance of seeing them in any case so you´d have to be pretty lucky! I also met this cheeky chappy.
Valdez Caterpillar
We also came across a small family of Patagonian foxes. Cute little things.
Patagonian Fox
Foxes need downtime aswell
Amber, the Dragoman truck we spent 30 days on
We met some friendly and inquisitive Magellan penguins who enjoyed a good photo.
They love a good photo those penguins..
Following the penguin theme, we head south to a place called Camarones where we bush camped near a beautiful coastal inlet.
Camping by the coast of Camarones
Camarones is famous for it´s nesting colony of Magellan penguins. Up to 50,000 live here and they´re pretty friendly. You can get nice and close to them although they can fart quite violently.
Magellan penguins basking in the afternoon sun
Bud the duck was a popular fixture..
They loved him
We then head further south to El Chalten where we spent a couple of days in the Los Glaciares national park.
A giant condor soaring, looking for lunch
A collection of huge glaciers, this really was a cracking place to spend a few days.
Los Glaciares National Park
We spent one day trekking up to a glacier but the highlight had to be the ice climbing. The basic premise is you catch a boat to a glacier, get on it, walk across it for some time and come to a crevasse (normally not a good place to be) and you climb up the sides of it using ice axes and crampons. We´d attempted to do it the day before but the lake conditions were terrible and we couldn´t step onto the glacier. Have a peak at the pics below!
Dramatic backdrops for the ice climb!
Bloody knackered by this point!
A view from the top of the crevasse. Smiling but knackered!
Bud (my long term travelling partner) even had a go.
Bud the duck is an avid climber apparently..
We spent another couple of hours trekking around the glacier.
Walking along the glacier
What I love about the Argentinians is they don´t mess about with all the health and safety crap. They put crampons on you, give you a couple of ice axes and a lot of rope and let you get on with it. They even give you a nice few glasses of Baileys at the top to warm the cockles. Splendid!
Splendid
A few long (seriously long) drive days later and we head south again to the Torres Del Paine national park in Chile. Talking of drive days, let it be noted I will never ever complain about a long drive in the UK ever again. Once you´re consistently knocking off 14 hour drive days you really do begin to appreciate how big this place is and how small the UK is!
Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
Torres Del Paine has to be a highlight so far. Unbelievable landscape and stunning views everywhere you look.
Views from the trail
This unique glaciated mountain range is separate to the Andean range and was formed by tectonic uplifts. That basically results in steep mountain ranges, filled with glaciers and punctuated by great hiking trails.
Trail to a glacier
7 of us decided to do the long distance, 70km ´W´walk (as it is known) which involved four days of hiking and staying in remote mountain refuges overnight. The pictures below give some flavour.
Moody mountain range
It was bloody hard work but we were awarded with some stunning views.
Spooky forest along the trail
Waterfalls galore
We had a few problems with some small boulders..
Bit of duck tape and we fixed this little error
The ´W Walk´ team
After the walk it was down to the southernmost city in South America, Ushuaia in Argentina. This is the gateway to the Antartic and home to the Terra Del Fuego national park.
The End of the World: Ushuaia, Argentina
To this day and for some bizarre reason I still think that if I keep heading south, at some point I´ll fall off the world. Copernicus might not agree but if you saw this, the most southern city in the world, you´d understand why! Flanked by mountains of the Martial range in the north and the Beagle channel in the south, it really does look and feel like a remote bastion of the globe. With only some 64,000 inhabitants, it predominantly serves as a base for Antarctic exploration, fishing and tourism. We spent a few nights here and I decided to head into the national park of Terra del Fuego, famous for it´s glaciated valleys and cloudy blue lakes. It didn´t disappoint. Glorious trekking, stunning vistas and inquisitive wildlife.
We even spotted a few locals out for some lunch..
El Calafate, Argentina
The Poreto Moreno Glacier.
This picture does gives it no justice. It was huge!
Just look at it. 5km in length, 60 metres high (comparable to a 20 storey building), with chunks of ice that crash down from it´s face on a regular basis, this really is one of the most incredible spectacles I´ve ever been lucky enough to witness.
A double decker boat puts some scale to the piece that just fell off!
Have a look at this video – the boat looks tiny!
The deep blue colours of the ice, the panoramic views you get from the boardwalks and an hour long boat ride right up to the face of the glacier made this truly spectacular.
The other side of the glacier (and me..)
Cueva de las Manos: The Cave of Hands
We made a slight left field detour to visit the UNESCO heritage site of the cave of hands, some 100mi south of Poreto Moreno. Set deep in a riverine valley, the cave complex was more overhang than cave but stunning nonetheless.
Cueva de las Manos: Incredible scenery!
Some of the prints date back 10,000 years. The hand prints are the main feature and are believed to be evidence of coming of age ceremonies for the younger tribal members. Some date back to c. 500bc!
Eery scene. The dry air has kept them beautifully intact.
Bariloche, Argentinian Lake District
Now there are several pleasures I have learnt to enjoy in life. One of those is nice chocolate (never had much trouble with this one, mind) and the most recent has to be horse riding. The riding here in Argentina is nothing short of stunning. Learning from real Argentinian gauchos is frightening. You ride with one hand on the reigns with the other ready in case you need it.. Evolution has been kind to Argentinian horses. They´re huge, forceful and run like their huge lives depend on it. Mix that with stunning Argentenian scenery (you are in the Argentinian lake district after all..) and it simply leaves you gob smacked. The only slight glitch in the matrix was that for some unknown reason, every horse I´ve riden in South America has irritable bowel syndrome. They fart and not like any fart I´ve ever heard or smelt in my life. One such episode lasted over a minute and almost knocked out two of the horses (and riders) following me.
An Argentinian Gaucho leading the way..
Climbing Vilarica Volcano – Pukon, Chile
Only one way to describe my time in Pukon. Bloody awesome! We climbed Vilarica Volcano which is active and some 2,800m high.
On the way up!
The climb itself was spectacular (see photos) but what made this one stand out was two things: The first is the magma show we were lucky to get at the top and the second was the method you use to get down the volcano.
Have a look at this magma display we were treated to!
One hell of a show: active magma spurting tens of metres in the air!
4 and a half hours up and only 1 and a bit down. How does that work you may wonder. Well have a look at the method of descent…
First you get one of those plastic sit-on toboggan jobbies and some hardcore waterproof (although not really..) trousers and then they send you to what can only be described as an ice luge track to speed down the volcano!
Get ready for some serious fun..!
One way to come down the volcano!
A nice long run!
A new addition to the blog: VIDEO!!!!!!! Enjoy this bad boy..
And then after all that, a spot of night paintballing..
I look very serious but believe me this was a lot of fun!
I discovered night paintballing in a warm country is pretty stupid. You mask fogs up, it’s pretty damn dark and you haven’t the faintest idea who is on your team. We decided to have a code word in our team to ensure no friendly fire incidents. Problem is, in the heat of battle you tend to forget things like code words so end up taking another 15 hits getting home.. Add to that the ludicrous concept of motion activated floodlights (the second they come on you’re immediately fired at by both teams!) and you’ve got a lot of, painful fun!
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is, in essence, a desert oasis. Funny place you’d think therefore, to have one of the largest wine producing regions in South America.
Tough life: Wine tasting in Mendoza
But with the Andes nearby to supply water and a warm, dry year round climate it actually is pretty ideal. And so our group spent a few days wine tasting, horse riding in the Andes, quad biking and generally chillaxing.
The horse back riding, Argentinian Gaucho style was stunning, with Andean backdrops and the mountainous terrain.
Horse back riding through the high Andes near Mendoza
We passed a giant Condor training school where youngsters are taught to fly, Condor style.
The quad biking had to be the best I’ve ever done in the world. Just have a look at the pictures. Old river beds, rocky canyons and high mountain passes; all on a two hour session!
Driving through a rocky canyon
Ridiculous goggles but beautiful driving!
How's that for a place to quad bike!
Check out this dog that looks like a kangaroo. Found him at the end of a trail..
Santiago, Chile
I am a big fan of Santiago. You hear mixed reports but I had a great few days here. It’s one of the safest South American cities, clean with great restaurants, bars and a teleferico to a cracking high viewpoint. Earthquake damage was apparent (see below) and I heard an aftershock (car alarms went off all over the city).
Sad to see but a reality in South America.
I spent the days wondering around the city, taking in the presidential palace (see below), a Teracotta Warrior exhibition (of all places), the stunning viewpoint at the top of the surrounding hill, the Cathedral, some bohemian districts and some amazing eateries.
Presidential guards and moi!
The central fish market was incredible. Lots of critters i’ve never seen (or tasted) before and all in a gorgeous, Borough market type look a like structure.
I will call him fishy and he will be mine!
Makes me hungry just looking at it! A colourful Paella
The view from the top of the hill surrounding Santiago was lovely at sunset.
View from the top - Santiago at sunset
Estancia Los Potreros, Central Argentina
If the great powers that shape our world could have created a better place to spend 3 days learning to horse ride than this 6500 hectare Argentinian cattle ranch, I´d like to see it. Run by four generations of Argentine gauchos, Los Potreros is known internationally as one of the best riding grounds in the world.
Their horses ride like cars. Incredible control, agility (they´re all polo horses) and incredibly hard working.
Stunning scenery Argentinian style
I spent my last few days with my group of fellow intrepid travellers at the ranch and leaving was not easy.
The scenery was spectacular and our camping area had to be one of the best yet. Preparing a meal for 18 people was a pleasure with this view of an Argentine wild country sunset.
Country cooking!
Days were spent learning to ride with the gauchos, nice long lunches with waterfall swims and then wine tasting, traditional musicians and gaucho BBQs in the evenings.
Waterfall swim with my travel companion, Bud
Bliss.
Salta, Northern Argentina
After those relaxing few days I left the Dragoman group and headed up to a place called Salta in northern Argentina. A lovely colonial town, it served as a great stop off point before I head to the northern Chilean desert of Atacama. I spent the day wondering the town and getting an aerial view from the top of the teleferico.
View of Salta from the Teleferico
San Pedro de Atacama – Atacama Desert, Northern Chile
A 5,000 metre border crossing and a 12 hour bus journey later and I arrived in San Pedro de Atacama which is in the heart of the Atacama desert of northern Chile. San Pedro gives one the feeling of stepping back in time, desert style. Adobe buildings fill the main street with trees planted around the village making it feel like a true desert oasis. I spent five great days here investigating the third largest salt flat in the world, flamingo reserves, high altitude lakes, night time star observation, the largest geyser field in Chile and the high altitude lakes of the Atacama. For a tiny village in the middle of nowhere (google map it!) this place really is incredible. Here is a short highlight list of what I did!
The Lunar Valley of the Atacama Desert
NASA tested their Mars exploratory vehicles here. Enough said. A stunning lunar type landscape, the Lunar valley has to be seen to be believed.
Sunrise over the Lunar Valley of the Atacama Desert
Most tours of the valley go at sunset so I thought it would be sensible to hop on a bike at 5am and try and hit sunrise. Not easy when you have to cross 15km of dirt tracks in the desert with two headlamps! But I made it and the scenes were stunning!
Sun rising over the Lunar Valley
I climbed a dune to get a better perspective and this is what I got!
You can see why NASA came here!
The Atacama Salt Flat
This is the third largest salt flat in the world.
Salt: A key ingredient for a Salt Flat would you believe..
The Atacama Salt flat with volcanoes in background
OK it's not a newspaper, but a park entrance leaflet will do!
Sunset over the Andes from the Salt Flat
Star Gazing with a mad Frenchman!
Another great feature of the Atacama is the 320 odd clear night skies anually. Hence the reason for this region being home to the Alma project, the European Southern observatory and other such venues. I heard from other travellers of a French man and his wife who lived out in the desert and offered star gazing trips. What a night it was. Apart from offering a couple of hour long lectures on how to star gaze, the setup included a dozen or so telescopes which we were allowed to look through. Take a look at this photo I took on my own camera using one of his telescopes..
The moon from the desert!
You can even see where Apollo 11 landed (the edge of the sea of tranquility at the base of the ‘rabbit ears’ above (better to google it!).
But the highlight of the evening for me in some strange way was seeing Saturn, including it’s ring and satellite stars. I managed to get this (grainy) photo of it. This is no joke – that is actually Saturn!
Saturn and it's ring: Wow..
The Tatio Geysers of the Antofagasta Region
90km north of San Pedro and some 4,300m above sea level you find one amazing geothermic basin. Unfortunately the only time to see them is at sunrise which meant a 4am start.. Any later and the steam that evaporates from the Geysers is not visible as the earth warms up in the sun.
The Tatio Geothermic Basin. Look at all that steam!
One of the larger geysers erupts every 8 or so minutes and put on one hell of a display!
Look at the size of this one!
As the sun came up what a view!
Look at the scale!
On the way back from the geysers we stopped in a giant cactus reserve. Some of these can reach 7 metres in height and as they only grow around 1cm a year, they’ve pretty old!
The giant cactuses and pampa grass of the Atacama
Lots of giant cactuses..
Have a look at this monster!
A 7 metre high giant cactus!
We also passed through a traditional village with a beautiful church.
A traditional church and bell tower in the Atacama
But they must have been taking the piss when they dressed this Llama in the morning..
Poor little beggar!
The High Altitude Lakes of the Atacama
Another feature of salt flats are the various saline lakes that form. These contain brine which in turn means Flamingoes have something to eat and thus settle here.
Flamingoes chilling on the Atacama salt flat
You find three species here; the Chilean, Andes and James Flamingo.
Flamingoes need time to chill too.
Some of my other favourite pics:
Flamingoes flying.
And more here!
Lakes form where volcanic activity has cut off rivers, forming some spectacular saline and freshwater lakes.
High altitude freshwater lake in the Atacama
Where the mineral content is high combined with high winds you get wonderful coloured lakes such as this one..
Beautiful scenes in the Atacama. This one was above 4,400 metres.
A green lake in the lower Andes of the Atacama region
I’m now off on a 3 day 4×4 crossing into Bolivia via the Uyuni salt flats (the largest in the world) before heading to Bolivia’s capital, La Paz. I’ll update the Bolivia page soon!
Hey Mike,
Well done!! sharing a Boca match with “Las Barras Bravas” en La Bombonera….that is an experience!!
Have you had the oportunity of spending a a day in “El Tigre”,
go there if you can..
I will keep monitoring your progress!!
Thanks mate – will keep it updated!
The Patagonia trip looks like great fun Mike. Nice work on updating the blog… yardage is a word not used frequently enough I think! Have a good one.
Hiya mate..just checked it all out now!!awesome photos on here..and great info too….will come in handy as i cross over in to Argie tomorrow!!!!..Couldnt find you on Facebook mate..add me if you can..Scott Waite….also check out my website..http://www.scottwaitestravels.co.uk….Cheers
Mike
You must be having the most amazing time!
I love the photos and want to pick your brain on where to go when Rachel and I go in December.
Paul
Your Atacama Desert photos are amazing! xxx
Love the Atacama desert photos, especially the moon and Saturn – wow!