Glaciers and gruelling treks in paradise

Hi all,

It´s been an eventful and somewhat trying week since I last wrote.

I´ve uploaded more photos so click here if you´re interested http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27057&l=d4c05&id=561432791

After Bariloche, Morgan and I headed to El Calafate to see the Perito Moreno – the largest advancing glacier in the world.

Getting there was an adventure in itself – Our drivers would randomly stop for an hour to drink mate to stay awake (we had the same 2 drivers for 2 days), we got hit by another bus and ran over a traffic island, our bus was 3 hours late from their mate sessions so we missed our connection and our bus had to leave us on the side of the road at a police check point to hail down our bus to El Calafate.

Finally we reached El Calafate after 2 days of bus travel, with 3 buses to reach our destination. After recovering, we hopped on a bus and drove 80 kms to see Perito Moreno - the only advancing glacier in the world.. .It was amazing seeing this glacier, especially when walls would cascade into the water, creating a thunder noise that reverberated around.

After El Calafate, we caught a bus over to Chile to Puerto Natales so we could trek in the Torres del Paine. Let me tell you that the name of the place sums it up...swollen granny knees and a twisted ankle have led me to realise that I am not as fit as I used to be.

Overall, it was a 4 day, 80km trek (mostly uphill, over boulders and with our backpacks).

Day 1 - We hiked 22km to see a glacier and lots of ice.
Day 2 - 7.5km over varied terrain with our backpacks and daypacks. Set up camp then hiking another 14km (round trip) to see another glacier (this one was cool!) and waterfalls. We could hear ice crashing down the mountains all night from our tent.
Day 3 - Owww!!!! 22km with our backpacks, me falling in freezing cold rapids, swollen knees, a twisted ankle.
Day 4 - Scrambling up boulders (literally) to the pinacle of our trek, The Torres.

After another 2 day bus trip, we´re now in Buenos Aires for a week where we will be enjoying a bit of R&R, seeing some tango and watching futbol.

On Monday we head to Salvador for Carnaval which looks set to be a blast!