El Chalten and Mt. Fitzroy Los Glaciares National Park
While we were saying goodbye to our cycling companions we were also meeting new friends, Gabi (Couchsurfing) and her boyfriend Martin had very kindly invited us to stay with them for a couple of nights. Through some friends cycling in northern Argentina, Gabi had known of our travels some months before and was looking forward to meeting us. Besides being blown away by some stupendous meals, we were also quite taken back by how clever and creative this couple are at recycling common household goods.
When we first approached our host´s house and saw a very health supply of wine bottles outside, many different conclusions entered our heads. Much to our amazement, it was later revealed that they have constructed a couple of machines to turn ordinary wine bottles into decorated glass tumblers. This process involves rolling the wine bottles under a glass cutter, heating the fracture line with a copper wire, cooling, sanding and etching art work on the bottom and sides. From start to finish each transformation takes about 140 minutes and they are looking for ways to refine the process and put a value on their products.
Martin and Gabi (who also is a Park Ranger) both care very deeply about preserving this natural treasure and shared some of their concerns and observations about the area with us. El Chalten, which population swells to 1500 from 300 in the summer has grown immensely in the past 10 years thanks to tourism and a newly paved road joining them to the infamous and well travelled Ruta 40. There appears to be a difference in attitudes between those residence who have lived in the area for a number of years and throughout the year to those who solely want to capitalize on the parks growing popularity. The latter having little social conscience and long term interests to the impacts of their actions. It was however, very cool to see shoppers leaving grocery stores with either cardboard or wooden boxes, backpacks, canvas bags or arms full of their recently purchased goods. This small initiative is having a considerable impact on minimizes costs, promotes recycling and reduces the amount of waste in both the park and adjacent town.
Our timing to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares could not have been more perfect. The day we planned to do a tramp (Laguna de los Tres) also coincided with Gabi's weekly rostered hike and so we had our own personal guide for the better part of the day as well as a lot of sunshine and fantastic views of Mount Fitz Roy. It also came as no surprise to see a few familiar faces at the along the way (Michael, Cindy, Dave and Jean Marc). It was a great walk and nice to be off the bike doing something different but still enjoying the outdoors. At the top where we had close up views of the peaks, lagunas and condors soaring above us.
Many thanks to Martin and Gabi for your generous hospitality, terrific sense of humour, wholesome meals and an interesting perspective on the area. We feel very fortunate to have had this unique opportunity and the timing could not have been any better.
El Calafate and Glacier Perito Moreno
Immediately after leaving El Chalten the landscape appeared to change with a snap of a finger and we found ourselves enveloped in some very intense tail winds and Patagonian steppe. Maybe we had just got accustomed to and accepted the 8 or 12 km/hr pace of life, because travelling for over 85 km at an average speed of 40Km/hr was exhilarating and just down right awesome! Having reached our daily distance (about 100km), we soon found ourselves thinking about potential places to camp and escape the gusting winds. Options in these parts are extremely scarce and rest stops, lunch and bathroom breaks have to be strategically calculated around the occasional bridge and small culverts that span drainage ditches. Not a romantic way of grabbing a bite to eat! An oasis appeared on this desolate road, Parador Divina Luz where three young guys wearing traditional farming dress run a cafe, hostel and campground. It didn't take much convincing to take refuge from the wind overnight here amongst the shelter of trees with views of the river and farm animals strolling around our tent.
We have always had a particular interest in looking at road maps, trying to calculate and organize ourselves around food resupplying stops, volunteering opportunities, rest and sight seeing days and sometimes just for motivational purposes ("Wow, check out how far we have travelled!"). We presently have a particular interest in the direction our route will take us, as the wind plays a vital role on how our day will unfold. Typically, any stretch of road heading east is good, west is bad, north and south can go either way, but be prepared to thrown around as the wind has it's way with you.
- It might be worth mentioning that when it comes to studying road atlases, Roland seems to have adopted a goldfish memory and constantly needs to rummage through the handle bar bag to retrieve the one of three maps we are carrying.
- For the last 2 weeks of cycling we have accumulated several maps giving further detailed information about the area, but the distances between points are different on each of these maps! For example one might say between Port Yunguy and Villa O'higgins is 92km, another 100 another 112 and then a road sign could say something in between. As a rule of thumb Roland always go for the smallest, making our travels potentially kinder then they actually are whereas Belinda favours the worst case scenario in the hope she will be nicely surprised by less kilometres.
We will not spend anytime discussing the last 30 km heading into El Calafe, as the colourful language we used would most definitely offend our readers. Thrashing head winds are STINK! After finding the cheapest and most quiet camping on offer at Hospedaje Jorgito. Although we had the whole backyard to ourselves we did have the company of a sweet but rascally dog. In the morning we awoke to find one of Roland's Keen sandals chomped in two. Fortunately the owners were really good about it and got it repaired.
The detour proved to be worth it as Glacier Perito Moreno was majestic and quite the sight to behold. It's the third largest ice mass in the world behind Antarctica and Greenland. It is also considered 'stable' and is in fact still growing. Several times would hear thunderous echoing noise as parts of the ice would break away and crash into the lake.
We would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a special time with family and friends. We originally wanted to be home by this time as we are excited to see you all. But we have been having a great time the last few weeks and to think we would have missed out on these recent experiences would have been a great loss. Missing and thinking of you all during this holiday season. With much love!!!