Jan. 26 -29

We say good by to Ryan and Beth before heading over to our AB&B that we have rented for the next several days. We quickly realize that we are in the land of late dinners and late mornings. There is a restaurant near our lodging that has these hours.

At least when we close the windows, it is mostly quiet.

Today we are going to take a shuttle to the National Park Tierra Del Fuego. It is the park at the tip of Argentina. Jim, one of our crew members from Antarctica is going with us. There is a beautiful lake and a pair of black necked swans.

The hike winds around the lake and eventually makes it to the Chile Border.

This is the end of our hike today. And it also is the end of the road from Alaska to here

We head back to the entrance, get a shuttle and head back to the town of Ushuaia,

We are still getting used to being on land after 3 weeks at sea, so decide to spend the 27th exploring the town and checking out some of the small shops. Covid regulations are still quite strict and crossing into Chile by way of a land border crossing is prohibited. So the only way to get to another town in Argentina from Ushuaia is to fly. (as the road goes thru Chile) We make our reservations and hope that we understand the procedure. Between our Spanish and their English I think we agreed. There is a nearby hike that comes highly recommended so once again we make reservations and plan to shuttle to Esmeralda Lake. Our evening meal finds us going to Marco Polo a small restaurant which we have eaten at several times.

On the 28th we head down to the plaza and get our shuttle. We got one of the early ones which we discover was a good idea. This is quite the popular hike and on the return the trail had lots of people and the parking lot was full. It is evident that the people of Argentina love their wild spaces.

Jan 29th

Jim comes to our place to hang out till his flight departs to the USA. We spend the rest of the day packing up our packs and planning for the next part of our trip. We still aren’t 100 % sure that we can make it into Chile. as we will need to get two negative covid tests. We have enjoyed the opportunity to

visit this area. There are still cruise ships in the harbor that are being quarantined due to covid.

Jan 30

We leave our lodging early and start walking towards the airport. It is about a 2 mile walk so just in case we don’t see a taxi we can get there before our flight leaves. The streets are quiet as one would expect in Argentina, but finally we do see a taxi coming down the street and we flag it down. The plane is on time and soon we are in the air going to El Calafate.

We take a taxi to our AB&B and then walk into town. It is a tourist town and the streets are quite busy. We have read about a nearby bird refugee so head down to the water to check it out.

On the way we see our first black face Ibis.

It was a new bird for us and here it was just walking down the street. Later today we saw lots of them in parks and near the water

More new birds near the water included:

and the Chilean flamingo

After all that walking we decide to stop at a restaurant that was recommended on yelp.

It was a restaurant that had a pasta sampling menu. I think we might have over done it! It was delicious!

Before we left Ushuaia , we were able to exchange our money using the blue dollar rate. One can get almost twice as much as the bank rate for dollars. So everything in Argentina is at a great price. If for some reason we can’t make it to Chile, we will have no problem staying here.

Jan. 31

The wind has died down some today so we decide to head back down to Argentina Lake and another nature Reserve.

This is the lake we saw yesterday when we flew over it getting to El Calafate. It was a deep blue color.

We head into the reserve and hope to see some birds.

We will be walking around some of the lake.

Guess we will have to return here if we want to see all of the birds. It did not happen today.

Back to the Main Street where we got to try some Argentina ice cream as well as chocolate. Argentina is well known for chocolate and we agree. On the way back we make a reservation with a shuttle to go visit the largest glacier in Argentina.

Feb.1

Yesterday we talked to a taxi driver and made a reservation for him to take us to the Los Glaciares National Park. I am glad we know some Spanish and are able to communicate what we want. I guess it worked because when we showed up this morning there was a driver waiting for us. It was about an hour drive to the park and we got there just before it opened. Today it is quite windy and cold, so at least initially the crowds are sparse. The park is the largest park in Argentina’s protected area. Once the gates are open we head into the park.

Our driver stops at the first view point for us to get out and see the glacier from afar.

Don braces to take a photo. It is windy!

In the distance we see the famous glacier.

Having just come from Antarctica , it doesn’t look that large to us.

But it is beautiful!

We are impressed with the boardwalk that takes you to many view points. There are miles of it to walk on.

Our driver meets us back at the visitor center to take us back to El Calafate.

Once we leave the glacier, it is noticeable warmer and we stop to take a photo of the landscape.

Our driver recommended the restaurant Mi Ranchero. It quickly became one of our favorite eating places.

With the exchange rate, it was 50 % off. Even if it wasn’t the food in Argentina is quite reasonable.

Feb. 2 We didn’t have a lot of planned activities for the day. Our main goal was to stop at the health department and get an appointment for a PCR test for Covid. We need a negative result to get on the plane. We will be tested again in Chile. The challenge was to get the results back but also be sure that it wasn’t too early before your flight left. Once again we tried our best Spanish to communicate our needs. I have a feeling that the women helping us knew more English, but wanted us to use our Spanish. Fingers crossed that the results come in a timely manner and are negative. We did some more walking around the town and found this plant store. We really liked two of the sayings they had among their plants.

All the world smiles in the same language and…

The best moment to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

On the way back to our lodging, we passed this unit for delivering mail.

This evening we packed up our pack and prepared for the trip to El Chalten tomorrow.

Feb. 3

We decided to walk the several miles to the bus station. We had only purchased a one way ticket to El Chalten, but learned that we should purchase a return ticket as those buses fill quickly. With that task accomplished all we had to do was wait for the 11:00 bus. As the time neared the bus riders started appearing. We watched as their was a definite procedure. Some folks had assigned seats while others did not. We were ones that didn’t so when a passenger said they were sitting where we were, we found new seats. It was a double decker bus with reclining seats and foot rests. It was quite comfortable. We left right on time for the 2 and half hour bus ride.

We had rented an AB&B here as well and even though our check in time was after we arrived we thought that we could see if we could check in early. No problem, it was new and very clean.

After unpacking, we decided to check out the visitor center.

We passed this sign and agreed with the words.

This area is well known for its hiking trails. It is also known for rainy and windy weather.

At the visitor center, we were quite fortunate to have an English speaking ranger. He had lived for a period of time in the states and spoke great English. He said that he dreamed about taking his family to Alaska someday. He said according to the weather forecast we should plan on doing as much hiking as we can tomorrow. The day is supposed to be sunny and the views of the mountains should be outstanding. One of his recommendations was to start our hike early. He also suggested taking a shorter hike today behind the visitor center. That sounded good to us so up we went.

We passed this sign listing the mountains in the area. The most famous being Mt. Fitz Roy.

Here is hoping for a sunny day tomorrow .

As we climbed up the trail, we got a good view of the town below us.

And a view of the mountains that we hope to hike to…

The town here is heavily populated in the summer season with many guided trips and lots of restaurants. In the winter it is a ghost town.

This area is known for seeing condors and eagles, but none were seen today.

This town is a lot more expensive than El Calfate, some of it is the cost of getting things here, the other it is more of a tourist town than El Calfate. There are so many pubs. We miss our favorite restaurant Mi Ranchero.

Our tentative plan tomorrow is to do the whole circuit. If we do it will be around a 20 mile hike.

Feb. 4

We were up at first light and heading towards the trail. It was so quiet compared to last night. Below is a map of our route.

If all goes well we will take the purple route to be at the base of Mt. Fitz Roy then the green route past laguna Hija and then the red route past laguna Torre and the red route to return to El Chalten. The route is about 20 miles. Most people do it with some overnight camping.

We pass the entrance to the trail.

The trail is well marked and well used. We only see one person hiking up, however we do meet several hikers on their way down. Some hikers like to hike towards Mt. Fitz Roy at night and see the sunrise. Today though the mountain has been in the clouds. We are hoping that it clears by the time we get there.

The trail is a steady up and we check out the valley below us.

For several miles we are in the trees. We pass by a campground that is quiet as most people are still sleeping. I stop to use the outhouse. I had been told by some friends that an outhouse is basically just a hole in the floor that you carefully aim for. Some people had better aim than others. Not my best experience on the trail.

As we continued our climb we left the tree like and were surrounded by rocks.

The day is looking like we have a good chance of seeing the mountains.

At the end of the trail we are in an area known as the three lakes.

We arrived to this scenic view point about 10:30 and had a breakfast of macaroni that we had cooked last night. The clouds kept teasing us as they would briefly expose Mt. Fitz Roy and then cover it.

Eventually though it did come out and we have a better photo of it when we continued on our hike.

Lots of photos got taken with the famous backdrop.

Since we wanted to see if we could hike the 20 mile loop we decided to move on even though the views were spell bounding, As we start our hike down to where we will take the first junction we encounter a steady stream of hikers coming up. When there was a break in hikers we would scurry down to the next group and then wait for the next group of hikers to move up. There was a lot of heavy breathing going on. It almost seemed that people were on a pilgrimage to get to the top. Eventually we did make it to our turn off and were pleased to discover that the next 5 miles were going to be flat. We also got another spectacular view of the mountains.

We can see why this is a must visit spot.

By the time we got to the next junction that would take us to Laguna Torre, we were debating whether to continue on. After talking to several hikers that were coming down from the lake, they assured us that it was pretty flat and the view at the end was worth it. We ate some food, took a short break and headed up to the lake. We were glad we did as the view indeed was beautiful.

The clouds had lifted and the sky quite blue.

Now all we have to do is head back to our lodging. We are thankful that it is mostly down hill.

As we were walking past a marsh, we caught some movement and focused on it. Soon a snipe appeared, not a bird that is very common, as it is so secretive.

At a bridge we meet a couple that we start to have a conversation. Kati is from Sweden and Pontus is from Finland. They are in their mid to late twenties and both have done a lot of world wide travel. We tell them about us and we learn a lot about them. We continue our hike back to El Chalten hearing lots of interesting stories. It makes the miles go quickly. We got back to our place and limped into bed.

Feb.5

We were pleased to discover that our bodies weren’t too stiff. The ranger had given us good advice about the weather. Today the clouds cover the mountains and it is quite windy. We decide to take a short walk to a popular waterfall. It is indeed quite popular. Several tour buses pull up as well as many cars. We take a look to check it out and let the mass of people enjoy it.

As we were heading back to our place, we saw the couple that we had met yesterday. They were getting ready to take an eleven hour bus ride to El Bolson. We talked for awhile and gave them some Alaskan stickers. They were an inspiration! The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good. There is one more long hike in the area so we are planning to attempt it.

Feb. 6

We were excited to see the sun shinning today. Looks like we will have another good day of hiking.

Today we are heading to Loma Del Plague Tumbado

According to the map it is about 20 km or 12 miles.

We start out on the trail that we hiked the first day. It soon splits off and we start heading up. We see the town below us.

First we encounter a beautiful trail thru the woods.

And then we are above tree line.

Sharing the views with some Argentina cows.

Once above tree line the trail becomes rocky and steep in places.

This is the first view point and then we climb to the top.

Looking the other direction we see Argentina Lake and on the other side Chile.

So in a non covid year, we could have hiked to Chile in a couple of days or taken the bus. Now we need to fly to Santiago, and hope our next covid test is negative before flying to Coyhaique .

That is just how it is! Anyway we are enjoying the view which includes this glacier flowing into the lake.

On the way back we were fortunate enough to see the Giant Woodpecker (Campephilus Magellanicus)

The Male…Its skull is thick and contains spongy “pads” in order to avoid concussions. We heard them before we saw them.

And then there was this sign..

Telling us to be aware of wild cows. Glad to say they were all friendly.

Along with the beautiful scenery we also saw 5 condors soaring above us.!

When we returned to the trailhead, it was right next to the visitor center. We went in and spoke to the same ranger and thanked him for his advice. We gave him some Alaskan stickers for his family to start the dream for visiting there someday. The clouds are moving in this evening, the weather is changing.

Feb. 7

The weather today is rainy, windy and cold. So glad we did the hike yesterday. We feel fortunate in doing the major hikes in this area with good weather. There is a drop off laundry next door so we take advantage of it. We have good internet here so started to do some Researching on Chile. Felt good to just have a day off from hiking.

Feb. 8

We were up at 6 and walked to the bus by 7:30. There were 3 busses waiting to go to El Calafate. I am glad that we purchased a bus ticket early. The busses were mostly full. We talked to a woman on the plane that had just ran a marathon in Antarctica. So many interesting people. On the way back we saw quite a few guanaco. Some of them must not be very agile when it comes to jumping fences as there were some that died while trying. We also saw the large flightless bird called a Rhea that looked like an ostrich. We walked back to town from the bus station and found our lodging for the next couple of nights. It is on the third floor on Main Street. A great location for walking the town. Decided that since our favorite restaurant was open for lunch we should go and eat.

It was an early lunch for us, not many people eat at this time.

Smiles for a reason

With a full stomach we head to get our PCR test. We are assured that we should have the results in 24 hours. (fingers crossed) So now it is time to head to the chocolate shop and use our dollars to buy delicious chocolate!

Feb.9

We finally got our tickets to fly to Balmaceda in Chile. We spent the morning filling out forms for the flight to Santiago, The missing piece is the PCR test results, which should be available this afternoon. Finally at 5 we walk to the Health office and she hands us our results which are negative. Now we need to make copies of them. We went to the copy store and to our dismay the cell service on our phone wasn’t adequate enough so we tried their internet which also didn’t seem to work. Finally 12 pages of forms came thru and we breathed a sigh of relief. That called for a celebration so off went to Mi Ranchero and to buy a box of chocolate. We are going to miss this town!