2020 March 6th - March 18h: Puerto Natales Chile - Bariloche, Argentina - Santiago, Chile 👍

Thursday, March 18th 2020. Santiago, Chile

god! this sandwich tasted so special

March 6th - March 18th 2020

Argentina (again) - Chile, (again)

Yes, dear gentle reader. If I am "lucky", my flights will happen tomorrow.

Yes, my Captain, Mr Justin has asked me to get my arse back to Canada, and I have done the best I could.

Returning Toronto, tomorrow, Thursday March 19th, late.
Don't wait up for me as I may be rejected at some border en route

Peurto Natales, Chile - Santiago, Chile

Luxury buses get you around cheaply and in
great comfort. Just as well, no other option
Easy to book on line too

A pretty unassuming Chile/ Argentina border

Calefate: Finally, a really touristed place for regular tourists
I'm culture shocked. Good supermarkets too

Ingredients for real
food

Fresh veg

A great red and I'm
totally into this
lifestyle

Perito Moreno glacier. It's unbelievably massive
The face is 70 metres high,
and at it's centre (8Kms up), moves
2 metres a day

Theres a long walk taking you from one
end to another
Takes about 4 hours

The walkway is extensive
and
very well maintained
View South

It's about 20Kms long too

It was surprisingly cold
Very little sun, but this was it
View North

View from the bus to El Chalten.
Lots of Patagonia

Somewhere between Calafate and El Chalten
This guy was at least 100 Km's from anywhere

Postcard Patagonia.
Only the truly dedicated make it here

The wind is constant and way up in the high knots

This is really a frontier town with lattes
You can get everything you want here, somewhere
This was breakfast, leftovers of poached trout and
Pommes au Sauvage. Ugh!

Luckily, I met a couple who gave
me their map
At 9:00PM, there's a whole troop of trekkers
who all head to here

Here's the deal
Check out the gradients
and elevations

By 10:30, I'm up about 200 metres.
No issues yet
Pretty

It really is an excellent hike
Very pretty and well
maintained

3 Kms. The first tranche is
done
The next 5Kms are lovely

There's no park fees or much in the way of
heavy organisation
Two campsites, this one with phenomenal 
views

much in

A short break from
the moving routine

The view from campsite #1

This is not difficult
It's all very genteel here
Note distant hanging glacier

Picture postcard stuff

Km 6. another 3 of blissful trek

Sometimes, you really should just
stop and look. Beautiful place
Incredible sights and fresh drinking water

Crossing the glacial stream
It's all uphill from here folks

Still with me?
The last Km is 400 metres

This sounds familiar
I wonder how many don't make it
for one reason or another

Well, you can't say that
you were not warned.
Yes, it's really ugly

that y

A Jim made steak sandwich
will dispel all doubts about
the validity of this hike

I've been told "just another 10
minutes" for about half an hour

I have never tasted a steak sandwich (made by your correspondent) as fantastic as this one was
I had been wobbling for nearly an hour so probably needed something urgently

I know, get over it, well ok,
but only after you have done it too 

Massive glaciers all around us

Oh yes, this is the "Fitzroy"
peak
Named after the captain
of the Beagle

There was actually quite a crowd up here
Probably 500 - 800 a day

Hey, the opposite views aren't
too shabby

day

Well, I could be back in Toronto
fighting for bog rolls. Nah!

re ho

Not sure how much of this
track
is caused by erosion,
and how
much by my ilk

This is about 18Kms into a 22Km trek.
I want to take my boots off, and have
wanted to for about 3 hours

My bus leaves at 21:30. There are a few "easy" treks around
My feet don't like any of this, but at least I'm wearing pumps

Next day, a short decompress walk in the hills
Here you can see what you are missing.
Absolutely brilliant!

The bus leaves about 21:30
They are usually
right on time

24 hours on a bus in
Argentina?
I'm certainly going to be
prepared
4 steak, 1 egg mayo
sandwiches

Quite a horror show trip. Air con AND excessive heating together all night

Blaring TV drivel shows, again, all night

As noted by your correspondent previously

Just take drugs.

Guaranteed at least 4 hours of kip

Bariloche, Argentina

First things first
I love laundry service
This was $4.00

Just for the record
Lifestyles of the old, hairy and now, lazy

Central square, Bariloche.
Supposedly the "Switzerland of South America"
These marketing guys have a pretty good sense of humour. Totally lovely people though
Rus, my non travel buddy, is up early following
me on my Google locate, and he will load up 
Google street view to follow me around..

Your correspondent, at rest, enjoying some
down time with yet another litre of marvellous 
Argentinian milk

I have nothing better to pass my time
than veg out with the carne

Plus a bottle of Malbec 
occasionally

Just another brew pub in Bariloche
But a fabulous local IPA ($2.00)

laun

The chef takes your order
chops up the meat from a
chunk
Salts it, and tosses it
on the grill

I couldn't resist a final real Carne platter
It was massive, even with only salad. WOW! 

I've lugged my Christmas Orange around for a month
never used it on the trail, but great as desert. This is the last piece

Valdivia, Chile

I get the feeling that Chile take this Corona thing
far more seriously than Argentina. Everything is closing 
This is the moment I decide to get my arse back to Toronto.
Justin told me to do it bloody fast
So, I returned to my hotel and booked a flight (business were still available). Luckily I chose not to travewl on a US carrier, all of which shut down the next day

A friend from sailing sent me the inside scoop about
Canada shutting borders. I have to go.
I owe her big time!
First a bus to Santiago

Santiago, Chile

 A central park in Santiago, just a few hundred metres
from another park full of homeless.
This one is also full of ladies looking for a well paid time with you

Lots and lots of this, again

Just in case you thought Canada was one of
the few places without bog rolls

 More social terrorism
everywhere

 I walked for hours. I just could not find any soul of the city.
It's quite a pit actually. Glad to leave

Looks like the social terrorism is still hot here,

now

Definitely tear gas in the air at night

Taxi to the airport next AM.
This is the check in. Luckily I'm in business
Lots of phone calls, and finally a boarding pass
aka, my lifeline as it turns out
Santiago was locked down for 15 months
2 days later

Santiago airport. Like a horror movie

I have lots of Chilean cash, so I choose the best available restaurant (few open), and have my last dining experience in Chile

I'm in the air! Heading for Panama
Someone sneeze in my section, the steward looks
horified

Panama City airport
One more flight to Canada the next day, then bankruptcy

Puerto Natales, Chile March 6th - March 8th, Calefete, Argentina

Peurto Natales, Chile - Santiago, Chile

I did get a luxury lie in yesterday, if you can call it that with my body whining and complaining about the previous days excesses on Thursday, but today I'm up early, again, for another 7:30AM bus

I feel that I've actually achieved a hell of a lot. It's not an easy trek up to the top for Torres, but I did it. It's probably even more demanding than the first big trek up the Costera Trail, but I was even more out of condition then.

It's still dark and we travel the same route as the Torres bus until the turn off where we head across to Argentina. The Argentinians are totally out to technological lunch here. No computers, they just check everyone off against the bus manifest (you need a passport to book your international ticket for ID) so that is their record of entry. Zero customs, just a stamp and we are off. The rest is just more Patagonia. Huge amounts of it, apparently endless. And wind, everywhere

However, the town has an excess of stuff I haven't seen for a long time. Lots of greenery. Looks like its very agricultural and fruitified here. I'm only uses to bushes and pine trees. Lots of rain too.

I've found another great hostel here - I always get a room for two, as they usually come with at least a double bed, and unless you want to have a bunk bed in a 6 mixed dorm, say 2 is the same price as a single bed room anyway

A few block away from the main drag, which is eerily reminiscent of a real tourist town. Lots of actual tourist, some backpacks, but looks like this is a direct destination from Buenos Aires and the upmarket demographic fits right in. Certainly a lot of old farts on coach trips here.

There is, as I find out, only one tourist attraction her, the Glaciar Perito Moreno.

I'm a basket case, and by 9:30, I've done my beef stew (made so much I shared it with other hostel types) and I'm out cold. It's great being so totally exhausted. Beds have become my friend again

It's pissing down when I get up, so glad I didn't pre book any trips, thats for the tourists. It starts to clear so I head to the bus station and get one of the mini busses out for a 4 hour self guided jaunt.

Having zero Spanish, I have no idea what the driver is saying, but eventually work out that there is a 2 - 4 hour hike from the drop off to the pick up.

It takes in the entire length of the glacier. It must be over a kilometre wide, nearly 2

God, it's huge. 70 metres high, about 18 - 23Kms long, and apparently advancing and melting at the same rate.

It's another one of those "Just one more pix of this huge spectacle" kind of encounter.

There's an incredibly well thought out walkway taking in everything except the southern edge. It's incredibly impressive, maybe as big as the Athabasca glacier in Alberta, but I don't remember being so awe struck there.

Anyway,  I also got a ticket to El Chalten at the station, which is apparently the next stop. I have zero idea whats there, it's just north.......

So far this methodology has worked very well

It's a later bus, so I hang out at the hostel and catch up with a few Economists.

I'm still amazed at the number of people, even in well stocked hostel kitchen, still live on bread, jam and pasta.

A lot of folks, even older wives are amazed that anyone actually cooks (like I do) in kitchens. It's really not a big deal folks, and really super cheap compared to eating out, but probably a bit more expensive than bread and jam.

Works for me

Once more, on the bus, Patagonia goes on and on and on. Slowly changing from just rocks and boulders to more broken landscapes with the occasional clumps of low plants, but mainly just very poor quality soil. In the shadow of the Andes, it looks like there's hardly any water here anyway. Occasional scraggy sheep and some hardy local indigenous mini llama things, and that's it.

We stop for an obligatory photo op about 8Kms before El Chalten

El Chalten, Argentina March 8th - March 10th
The town is pretty frontier. It's sole reason for being appears to be hikers like me, well, not really like me, but trekkers anyway

It's supposed to be the end of the season, but I had trouble finding a hostel, which once I arrived, I realise was a good place because there wasn't even any organised taxi's here. I only had to walk about 5 minutes.

The hostel is really pretty basic, but here, that's perfect.

The owner only speaks Spanish, so the first thing he does is give me the WiFi password. Phone service does not exist here.

With WiFi, we communicate through Google Translate. How did I manage when I was hitchhiking 45 years ago?

Beds (I got a 3 bed room so I have lots of space), shower, hot water, heater, kitchen that works. I'm all set

I begin to panic as my phone has stopped showing me any GPS, so I actually get lost in this tiny place. I had dropped my phone at the glacier and it took a nasty bang, so I assume that this is techno armageddon finally.

Absolutely nothing, not one satellite registering. SHIT!

There's a couple of supermarkets, well, 7 - 11's really, but between them, I find everything I need, and discover a very special Spanish word: "Panchetta" YES! Bacon. Bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast and pre bus boarding. I even find some frozen trout and whip up a suspect poached trout with Pommes Au Sauvage for dinner, and also (Uhg!) leftovers for breakfast.

Two hikers who are just leaving the hostel I'm staying at, give me their map of the region. I see that there's the one major hike, another less but similar and a few tourist type ones. I decide that I'll leave the following day to Bariloche, about 1400Km's north, a full 23.5 hour bus ride. I head off to the station and make my reservation. "Cama" Executivo, meaning I hope,a flat bed. We'll see

A Kiwi lady I met at the Glacier, had told me about the place. She said that it's great here because you can just hike anywhere without park entry, for as long as you like. She had been on a four day trek but on the second day she ripped some ligaments and her insurance company (whats that?) told her to come back to New Zealand. Wow. And she was only about 25.

Anyway, I digress. It's true. You just walk from your hostel (most trekkers seem to be Hostel types, the up market hotels have luxury busses outside of them) to the start at the top of the town, and go. Follow the track and it's easy to find the starting point

Past the entrance is probably the best trek I will experience from here on in life, well, at least so far in South America anyway. the Fitzroy peak

It is an incredibly beautiful day. The sun is out, there's a lovely bite in the air, in other words, its not only a perfect hike, it's also a perfect hiking day

Yes, gentle reader, your correspondent is happy to take up these challenges to help you vicariously live it up from you couches, somewhere much colder and drearier than where I am.

There's a great 3Km warm up of about 400 metres vertical, then 6Km of absolutely magnificent easy walking through beautiful scenery before you start the real trekkers trek of 450 metres vertical over 1Km.
The streams are straight from the glaciers and totally pure. We are encouraged by the park authorities, to take our water directly from these streams. It really is quite delicious.

I look at the Google map and realise that there's a dot on it. Yes, it's picking up satellite GPS again. It works all day until I get about half a kilometer from the gate when it stops again. I can't believe it, the surrounding mountains are actually blocking all satellite signals. Wow.

Well, it's really a hard slog, added to which, my wobbles really starts to play up after a few hundred metres and I'm bouncing against boulders and scree and trying to avoid big vertical drops.

How do I live through this.

Wow, after an age, I'm at the top. The steak sandwiches are the best I've ever had, and after a few nuts and raisins, the wobbles abate and I can, if not safely, then less unsafely, negotiate my way down.

There's probably about 500 - 800 hikers on the trail today

I'm amazed that I've never seen a stretcher or anyone even injured on these hikes, especially when there are old wobbly farts like me going up and down

But no, not a one except the Kiwi lady

It's a totally brilliant hike, probably, except for a few days on the Himalaya hike with Kayla, the best I've ever done. Of course, getting back, I'm in no rush, but my feet are. Sound familiar.

Poor babies, but they really have served me well getting up these massive climbs

On the way down, 3 trekkers pass me. They all have helmets and ropes. Looks like they were even more ambitious than I will ever be. They are still leaping, off into the distance, I'm not quite limping but looking forward to taking my boots off at a bare minimum. Shower would be lovely too.

About 24Kms and I'm well aware of it once I'm back at the hostel

I'm dead, but will accept a second opinion

Next day, as my bus does not leave until 9:30PM, I do some tourist hikes for a few hours. Well, they are for the bussing tourists, none of these folks would get far up the Fitzroy track, and some of them can't even do these.

I head back after 2 - 3 hours, settle into a coffee bar and watch the rain start to piss down.

I stay here 5 to 6 hours, and watch as the bedraggled survivors of today's hike ooze through town.

I expect you already know how smug I felt

I stock up with chips for the trip, and spend the evening making steak and egg sandwiches and a celebrative Bacon & Egg dinner snack

The bus is late, its coming from Calefete and heading to Bariloche, a total journey of at least 1700 Km. There's one driver, and one conductor. Apparently, they take it in shifts to drive.  Hmmmm.

I take my drugs and try and relax.

The coach is pretty luxurious, its not exactly flat bed, but probably about 140 degrees. The problem is that there's no where to put your feet if you are taller than 5' 6". A few of us are so we use the aisle, so throughout the night, everyone that went to the bog, invariably tripped over us, or like the conductor handing out the "food" packets (I turned mine down, some REAL backpackers horded theirs for later) stepped on mine.

Another pain was the heater function, a radiator all along both sides of the bus right by your feet, really hot, plus a constantly blasting air conditioning blasting your head..

Well, if you can get your brain around that, then the TV overheads come down, and we're blasted with truly dreadful shoot 'em up movies all night, and, if you missed them at nigh, repeat all day, and then repeat AGAIN

I have personally crafted 5 steak and 1 egg sandwiches, 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 bananas plus an old favourite, a bag of chips

I get through 4 of them, and of course, all the chips.

Considering there is supposed to be a covid panic around, I did not hear a sneeze or a cough the entire trip

It's a long time to check out the Patagonian landscape, a lot of it at night.

Bariloche, Argentina March 11th - March 16th
Come arrival, about 10:30, I am absolutely brain dead. Luckily, I find a very friendly and organised taxi driver who calls the hostel owner once I arrive as the place appears to be totally locked and I'm beginning to panic

Does this sound familiar? And this is a vacation remember.....

Yeah, yeah, yeah

It's totally veg out time. I love the break, but not sure if I'm just in let down mode. My scout, Kayla tells me there's no more hikes (well, mountain type anyway) until well north of here. I extend my original stay by another 2 days

I did intend to do the vineyard schtick, but not sure I can appreciate a good nose and finish on my own. However, I follow the plan and head back to Chile.

My lovely cottage owner tells me the night before I leave, that Argentina has closed their border due to Covid concerns. I guess I should have put all of this together before now, but suddenly the world has a lot more fences.

The only difference at the Chilean border, is that I need to fill in and extra form. Then we're all through into Chile

Valdivia - Santiago Chile, March 16th - March 19th
I arrive in Valdiva, hoping to check into a hostel.

There's no ine here, it's actually shut down, so I think in terms of heading to some vaguely hippy commune I've heard vague tales about. I have just missed the last bus there (PHEW!!!)

I find a lovely local hotel and head down to a super rated restaurant, just down this delightful country road.

No peace though, I get a wake up email about Justin telling everyone to get their arses back. I agonise, why would I want to get back to Canada?

I arrive at the restaurant, and can you believe it, they actually open it up for me, totally alone. Now I'm beginning to well and truly get the creepies

Well, after some not so sober thought processes, (fabulous food and pretty good beer (t)here in Valdivia, but I'm the only customer - this will end badly, I can feel it. I decide I need to move according to these new criteria. When should I start to panic?

I have been told that I must go to Easter Island, and I've been monitoring prices for a few days. There's a business seat for $C450 return. As I'm not really under any panic yet, I decide that I will either book this trip, then a flight to Toronto, or if it's not available at that price, just get a flight to Toronto ASAP.
Well, luckily as it turns out, a cheapy Easter Island trip was no longer available, so I decide to cut and run (looking back, I think that was a really good idea, thanks to anyone that pushed that one over the edge). I decide to head back "home" via Panama City on Copa

I book the bus to Santiago on an app, and head off  to Kayak for a flight (business of course).

I'm booked, but will it all hang together?

I have misgivings that this is the wrong decision, but it wasn't

Again, it's a long 12 hour bus ride to Santiago, the bus station, and as it turns out, Santiago, is not the place I'd like to stay more than a few hours in.
After checking in, it's very late, and I get the impression I should not be heading out tonight.
In the morning, I take a walk around and it feels like I'm in some kind of soviet mindset. It's not an attractive city. The homelessness is also quite severe with a few places in parks that are actually small residences complete with kids toy cars and do it yourself showers. A fight broke out as I was passing one camp.

Oh dear, lets hope my flight is valid.

Come the exact time to web check in, I'm there, I get my boarding passes and wait for the other shoe to drop in the form of cancelling emails. A few hot flushes, but after I translated them, they are only offering me the chance to cancel if I cant get into other countries. As I transit through Panama, I check on the web to make sure that I'm allowed to do that, and find a document that says I can from the US Embassy in Panama.

Hopefully, this is enough to get "home"

Well, I've had a fabulous month down here in the south, with, let me repeat, probably some of the best treks I will ever do (at any age)

I've forgotten all about the trials and constraints of living in Toronto and lived a lot more excessively that I ever expected to for another while.

It's strange, I know that this is a natural end, and now realise just how easy and convenient all this travel ability was. Maybe not again for quite a while, or ever (Ed 2025)

I'll hang up my hiking boots to dry for a while and let my feet get soft and white again.

2 weeks of house arrest in a Canadian winter, but I hear I can take bike rides as long as I don't breath on anyone

I'll be happy to be back in many ways.

You, Dear Gentle Reader may wish to avoid me for a while.......

Ah!

Your correspondent is still alive with no stents needed to allow him to continue his, and of course, gentle reader, your quests too

I'm off for a beer or two while I still can here in Santiago

Have fun all

Epilogue:

And so you can relax again as I am now typing from my garret with only 3 hours left of my 14 day social hiatus. I've made it so far, but I'm well aware that travel may never be as easy as it has been in the past.

The world moves on

Free at last, FREE AT LAST! thank god almighty! I'm FREE at last

Postscript:

I brought about 20Kgs in my suitcase, and about 10Kgs in my backpack. Not a big deal on a business flight, but a pain on internal (15Kg's limit)

I brought about 3 - 4 sets of summer stuff including 2 pairs of sandals, about 7 very light T shirts, about 5 medium T shirts and 2 thick body warmers. I didn't really get to try out much of my summer outfits which I was hoping to use way North of the hiking areas. 3 pairs of shorts, one allowing for me to loose weight (that certainly happened), and one allowing me to gain weight (that's happening now)

About 8 pairs of drawers and 7 pairs of socks

One Canada Winter ex ski jacket (got really soaked as it's not waterproof), a rain jacket and rain pants (never used), an old pair of squash shoes for medium terrain (hardly any) and a pair of really good hiking boots which turned out to be a little bit too small and were still not 100% broken in on my first treks. Winter hats (2) winter gloves (2), summer hats (3), winter scarf (1), one small towel (used once), one sheet sleeping bag (never used)

Usual supply of drugs, soap, shampoo, tooth stuff and nail file, clippers etc

Two big books that I never even opened (ie don't bother bringing), 5 Economists, only 3 completed on the trip

In my trusty backpack:
Lots of electronic charging stuff, laptop (don't bring one unless you can afford to loose it), headlights, back up batteries, various adaptor plugs for South America, a pair of good binoculars (never used), a pair of good noise cancelling headphones (only used to get to Montevideo leg, otherwise, a total waste of space and time), a pile of trail mix (not used on trails), one Terry's Christmas Orange (also, not used on trails, one hiking water container, and one actual water bottle purchased in Ushuaia and left on my returning flight to Toronto, 2 pairs of sunglasses (essential), various sleeping eye masks (usually part of a business trip, but useful for overnight coach trips), backpack waterproof cover (essential!), AirTransat cloth shopping bag (or similar, also essential)

One roll of bog paper that got jettisoned in Ushuaia

A passport, lots of various amounts of foreign cash (like LOTS!), mostly never used, various credit cards (most recommended are STACK for ATM forex and Home Trust Visa for most accommodation, supermarkets, forex tickets etc), and of course, my every present life lines, a Google Home and my Pixel phone. Don't travel anywhere without everything in this paragraph. For foreign cash, anywhere that wants black market cash (like Argentina), the only money they want is $US, other places, Canadian cash is usually fine

So, I overpacked this lot:
Roll of bog paper
2 large books
One winter jacket
Pair of rain pants
about 4 extra summer T shirts
about 2 extra medium T shirts
1 extra heavy duty warm T shirt
Binoculars
Head Phones
1 winter touke
1 pair heavy duty winter gloves
1 sheet sleeping bag
1 winter scarf (except if needed to use as mask on return to Canada
pair of sandals

Probably about 5Kg's

Happy travels all!

From your correspondent