Patagonia Briefing

Hola amigos!
So we flew on a hop-off hop-on airplane-bus to Ushuaia (the southernmost city of the world, as they say and the Wikipedia does not confirm;-), took us 5 and something hours (it´s more than 3 000 kilometres) and we´ve enjoyed some pleasant sights..especially that of the Beagle Channel where we were landing (on a peninsula). Then we checked out the pretty ugly town (the old, shabby and poor mixing with the new, hip and rich) and explored its tenedor libres, that is, the all-you-can-eats. Our second evening the typical Patagonian lamb was even better than the first and moreover half-priced! We hiked up to a tiny glacier Martial and walked down through an incredible fairy-tale like forrest...reminded me of horror or Lord of the Ring movies...On the second day we hiked to Tierra del Fuego National Park, which was simply incredible...with similar kind of jungle like andean forrest, lots of lagunas, channels, colourful leaves (it´s autumn here;-), islands with golf field-like banks...we even discovered a beaver dam (first time I saw it ever) and saw how beavers change the landscape (will post a pic soon).
Then we took a bus to Puerto Natales in Chile (16 hours or so), where we stayed with a Chilean family, old matron, old man, both really nice and trying to please us. The dwelling was pretty poor (only on the inside though) and bathroom not much inviting, but we enjoyed our stay and met some nice Spaniards who are travelling the world there. We took a tour of Torres del Paine National Park..had luck with weather and saw it all (or almost;-), guanacos (lamas) and condors included. The best was the Grey glacier I guess, since we´ve never seen such big chunks of ice before...and since we were able to hike there too. We had a wonderful fifty-something guide, all in Spanish, he reminded me very much of my Papa Espanol...with his gentle manners and readily available information about anything in the area. He was simply a sweetie.
Then we took a bus to El Calafate, almost home of Perito Moreno glacier and the Los Glaciares National Park. El Calafate is a very touristy little town, reminds me of Telluride in Colorado, but it´s mostly empty at the moment. The glacier is about 80 kilometres away, again we took a tour, since it offered an English guide and the price wasn´t much different from a regular bus service (we did have a choice here, as opposed to exploring TDP). The guide was nice and proved to be pretty informative. ;-) Perito Moreno is increible, unforgettable...one of those things you glare at and you cannot tire, and then you feel tired and wanna walk away..and then you have to turn back and don´t want to leave..want to have one more look at least ;-) More on pics soon...(if time and connection permits)
Next we took a bus to El Chalten (3 and half hours) and we hiked towards Fitz Roy on day one and towards Cerro Torre on day two. Both hikes were great but we did not see the peaks in their entirety. We saw a big part of FR but none of CT. Still the locals claimed we had great weather and local diaries confirmed that...it´s usually really windy and rainy...we only had drops of water and some fog...few snowflakes. It was great to be one of the very few on the trails and in the town itself. And what a blast to find a pivovar there! There´s this Argentinian lady Blanca who learned to make Medlesicky lezak from the owner of that brewery and she makes that right there in the back room and serves it to the guests withou filtering etc. Incredible taste!
We´re heading north now, skipping Bariloche due to Chaiten´s (the so-thought inactive volcano that errupted in Chile) ashes there. We´ll hop on a bus tomorrow and should reach Mendoza in wonderful 38 hours! ;-) We ride on semi-camas (half-beds) and the meals (hot) are included! ;-) Great deal ;-) I´ll write you more on South American hostels, toilets, bus rides etc. soon. This is just a quicker sum up from a very slow net connection while we´re also checking the progress of the Chaiten´s activity and political troubles in Bolivia where we thought we are heading....;-) Enjoy and write comments so we know you´re alive and well too!