Patagonia, Boats, Mountains, Glaciers and Wind

Hola Amigos!
We have just spent some time in Southern Patagonia on both the Chilean and Argentinian sides.  We have now crossed the Argentine and Chilean boarder 6 times and we are still not done yet.

Navimag Freighter Puerto Natales Chile

 We took the Navimag boat from Puerto Montt in Chile for 4 days down to Puerto Natales which is at 51 degrees latitude south.  It is a working cargo ship and we were 143 passengers for the trip.  We met some hilarious French folks along with some Slovenians who all became our new best friends for the trip.  We sailed through the beautiful Chilean fijords and saw some terrific scenery along with a humpback whale.  We sailed through the 49 parallel south and it is getting colder as we go down but we are chasing the Spring weather so everything has been fine so far. 

Mirador de Torres del Paine Chile

We went to the famous Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and stayed overnight for 2 nights.  We hiked up to the Mirador de Torres del Paine and we were lucky enough to see the towers at the top.  It was hailing near the top of the trail and it took us 7 hours to get to the top and back.  We experienced the Patagonian wind up close and personal.  People tell you about the wind, you hear about it, read about it and imagine it, but until you hike 7 hours in it you cannot know what this wind is all about.  There were times when we were blown backwards off the trial and at other times it blew so hard it was difficult to breathe!

Massif de Torres del Paine Chile

 Here we are in the Torres del Paine park looking at the Torres Massif mountain.  It is right beside the Cuernos de Torres which we saw as well.  There are active glaciers on this mountain and we heard the ice crack and saw a big huge chunk fall down while we were there.  We just loved the Park although we have to say that it is very very expensive to visit this part of the world.  The Southern part of Chile thinks it is Switzerland and the prices match - everything is at least 3-5 times more than what we have been paying so far. 

Perito Moreno Glacier El Calafate Argentina

We crossed over into El Calafate in Argentina to see the famous Perito Moreno glacier and did we ever luck out.  The sun came out just as we got there and we got to see it up close from a boat.  Sort of like the Maid of the Mist but with a huge glacier instead of a waterfall.  This is the 3rd biggest glacier in South America and it covers the same area as the city of Buenos Aires.  It is simply huge and it ranges from 40 to 70 metres in height.  It is difficult to imagine the scale of it.  The blue ice was simply beautiful and the shapes are just like something out of the movie Superman.  We heard the ice moving and saw some little pieces calve off.


We will now continue to move south and head for Ushuaia in Argentina which is considered the end of the world.
Much more to come
Salud,
Pat and Gary