News from the west

It is so long time that I did not write anything in English that I even do not remember where I stopped. We left the farm after a marvellous trek in the mountain next to El Bolson. During this walk of more than 50 kilometers in two days, we saw trees that are called Fitzroya and are very old and also a couple of condors flying some hundred metres far away from us. Just some of these huge trees left as it is really good wood and it was cut down during years. We also met a nice guy who lives alone in the mountain to receive the trekkers in a shettler and look after the forest.

Some days later, we left the farm because of the general mood there. We head to Atlantic ocean to see incredible animals. During a small excursion, we saw whales, sea elephants and penguins. Additionally, we discovered the name of Guarani (a kind of lama) and Nandu (a big bird like ostrich). The sound of whales is impressive and the travel there really deserve to take the boat to see them closer. The Magellan's penguin are smaller than the ones we use to see on television and are really cute. As they are also really curious, it is easy to see them really close. We also distinguished some killer whale in the distance but nothing to tell about.

Then we decided to go to the city which is the most in the south and called Ushuaïa. During the travel, the weather changed a lot and when we finally got there, it was snowing and I was still wearing shorts. We visited a glacier up to the city and met really nice french couple that we will probably meet again in Bolivia. We did this ascension with a Bolivian who made us really scary at the evening diner when he told us about some of the Bolivian traditions and beliefs. The scariest one is the sacrifice needed to begin a construction. If you are planning to build a small house, a chicken is enough but for a skyscraper, you need to sacrify an human. For that, there is a business of alcoholic or drug-addicted. A family is selling a member in one of these states to be drunk or drugged before being put alive in the cement of the foundation of the building. 

The next stop was in El Chalten at the foot of a massive mountain called Fitz Roy. We had a four days trek around it and we really enjoyed to see the glacier falling in the lake, some avalanches and nice mountains. The only bad thing is that it is crowed with tourists. Some 200 kilometres far away from it, there is an impressive thing to be seen. A huge glacier of 50 metres high is throwing a big amount of ice in the lake as it is moving of 2 metres by day. We stood in the town of El Calafate in a small room of a bunk hostel were we accidentally met the couple of french we previously met in Ushuaïa and we shared another nice diner with them.

Our following destination was Puerto Natales in the south of Chile which is the departure port for a boat that travels through the Chilean fjords. We left Argentina for good and passed again the border with Chile as we had to do it to go to Ushuaïa. It is not like the border with Europe or Uruguay. Chile and its neighbours have difficult relationship and they are really protective. Puerto Natales is a town full of tourist waiting for the boat or going to Torres del Paine, the destination for trekker in south America that we decided to avoid. We took the boat the day after and spent the first night on the pier. The cruise is magic. During the first days, you do not see any human settlement and evolute between the mountain which are sometime covered with snow. We had the chance to see another glacier but this one was falling in the sea. The next step was to cross a part of the ocean. I did not mind but Nora felt a bit ill. We then arrived in Puerto Montt.

We slept at Armando's place in Puerto Varas, a city next to it and at the feet of two volcanoes. We had nice time there and we then headed to Correntoso for a trek that would permit us to see again some of this huge trees we saw next to El Bolson. The weather was not really with us and it has been a really challenge to reach the old trees. At some moments, we felt like having to deal with a curse that protects the trees from the visitors. At the end, we arrived at the foot of a 4000 years old tree under an heavy rain that prevented us from taking any nice photo but making us think about the time that passed since the moment it was planted and the fragility of the nature. The way back to civilization was easier and we are now in Santiago to visit the city and the surroundings.