Category: Uncategorized

El Calafate – Argentina

Author: Jarik

The city of EL Calafate is the tourist gateway to the Argentinean side of Patagonia. The landscape is mostly scrub covered undulating plains with cattle, roaming guanaco’s and anchored by the majestic Andes in the distance. We were surprised at how “touristy” El Calafate is. The main road through the town is lined with upmarket restaurants, gift shops, little arts-and-crafts walkways and stalls, and numerous hotels, hostels and travel agencies. The homes in the neighbourhoods are mostly well kept and set further apart from each other than in the Chilean cities. It reminded us of a weekend destination close to a major city such as Knysna (South Africa) or Noosa (Australia).

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We were hosted by a lovely couple in their home on a quieter section of the main road, ten minutes from the main bus terminal, two minutes from the tourist section and right next door to a bakery, which we discovered, had the best empanadas. An ideal location for the always-hungry van Rensburg clan!

The picture our hosts painted of Argentina was, however, very different to what we saw. It seems that El Calafate received special attention from the President a number of years ago, with a lot of money spent on the town to upgrade infrastructure, establish new neighbourhoods and boost the economy. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the region and have resulted in an influx of people lured by the apparent opportunities. The town is solely dependent on tourism, but with double digit inflation, prices are high (even in US$ terms) and business is slow. People are generally struggling to make ends meet. Most people are holding down two or more jobs, but with prices increasing markedly every month, even this is not always enough.

We took a bus to the Perito Moreno glacier, about 90 minutes from the town. Although it started to drizzle while we were there, the 120m high wall of ice was still a spectacular sight. We walked around the northern flank admiring the different hues of blue of the cracks and crevices and occasionally, witnessed large pieces of ice break away and cause waves in the lake at the foot of the slow moving mammoth.

After the afternoon out in the cold, we were glad to get back to our lodging and a few yummy empanadas!

– Jarik –

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Up to the Torres

Author: Ruzow

We started our hike up the mountains to Torres Lookout at about 8am. Throughout the hike, I saw many beautiful and amazing things. The mountains were full of beautiful flora, fauna and beautiful streams and a river.

We climbed up the rocky track and came to a part of the path where we had to walk through a narrow stretch right on the edge of a high cliff above the river. It was very exciting. Soon we came to the Chileano ranger station. There we only had a look around, filled our water bottles and set off on our journey again.

During the entire hike, we had to cross many streams and a river. Every time we came to a stream, we would have to scramble across, trying hard not to get wet. Esto slipped almost every time. Some parts of the track were muddy, and others were just rocky, but altogether, it made it more of an adventure.

Then we arrived at the final stretch of the hike. It was rocky and very rough going. We slowly but surely clambered up. For most of the time, we were using our hands to grip the rocks in front of us. We had to go up single file for most of the way. I slipped twice and hurt my arm, luckily not badly.

Finally, we arrived at the lookout, the view was astounding!!!! There were large boulders around a lake. This lake was at the foot of the three peaks. It was beautiful. I saw the mountains around these peaks were of different colours and some were covered in snow. This hike was the best I have ever done.

– Ruzow –

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Punta Arenas

We arrived from Santiago in a grey, cold Punta Arenas – the gateway to Chilean Patagonia. The drive from the airport took us through an industrial area before arriving at our accommodation, a granny flat in a lower class neighbourhood. We were cold to the bone, but too early to check in. Destitute and hungry, we walked with our backpacks to the nearest main road where we found a supermarket. We had our picnic of bread and ham on the sidewalk in front of the supermarket, taking shelter from the icy wind behind a trolley filled with our backpacks. Not the greatest start. A stranger offered to take us home for a hot drink. We declined the offer, but realised that we must be a sorry sight.

After a good night in our modest but comfortable room and an early run through the neighbourhood, we set out to explore Punta Arenas. Our primary focus was to purchase the bus tickets we needed to get to Puerto Natales and the Torres del Paine national park.

The Punta Arenas city centre is a beautiful collection of older buildings centred around an attractive square and tree lined central promenade. It is clearly a tourist gateway, with outdoor equipment stores, travel agencies and hostels found throughout the city. We ventured to a modern mall on the outskirts of the city to stock up on items we would need for lunch during our hike in the national park and to find gloves for the kids. All of this was done by foot, so by the end of the day we had done nearly 15 km’s (excluding our run!).

We left our accommodation early the next morning, walking 3km’s in darkness and waking all the dogs in the neighbourhood as we made our way to the bus terminal and the next leg of our adventure.

– Jarik –

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Stuffed!

Being used to travel with a number of large, bulky bags (think up to 12 large suitcases between the six of us), getting what we thought we needed into 30l backpacks was going to be a challenge. Add in the electronics for schooling and the all-weather clothes we require for Patagonia, and the 30l packs became a very tight squeeze.

Each of us is carrying the following items:

  • water bottle
  • microfiber travel towel
  • eating utensils and plastic containers
  • headlamp
  • insect repellent
  • sunscreen
  • sunglasses
  • 1 x long hiking pants
  • 2 x shorts
  • 3 x t-shirts
  • socks and underwear for a week
  • running shoes
  • thongs
  • lightweight jumper
  • weatherproof jacket
  • general toiletries
  • medication
  • earphones
  • swimmers
  • hat / cap
  • sarong

And between us we are also carrying:

  • 18 passports!
  • other travel documents and copies of documents
  • 2 x ipads
  • laptop
  • 2 x kobo/kidles
  • 2 x mobile phones
  • chargers, adaptor plugs and cables
  • 2 x poncho’s
  • padlock and cable
  • inflatable pillow
  • inflatable foot rest
  • mutlitool
  • first aid kit
  • speaker

Total weight = 48kg (not evenly distributed!)

Let’s see what we have in our packs when we get back….

 

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On our way!

It is finally time for us to take the first step in our crazy adventure to travel around the world over the next eight months.

After weeks of hard work and preparation to finish the extensions to our house and setting it up as an airbnb, we finally got everything packed into our backpacks for the big trip. We would have loved to give what we packed more thought, but as we ran out of time, we basically just stuffed what we thought we’d need into the small packs in the early hours of the morning before we left!

We were exhausted from the hard work and lack of sleep in the days leading up to our departure. We made it to the airport with hours to spare – a lesson we learnt from our recent trip to South Africa. Then however, the wait began…our first flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles was delayed with more than 5 hours! We were forced to just slow down…….and wait. Having access to one of the airline lounges was fantastic and made relaxing easy. Stop – breathe in – exhale.

We are really on our way!

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