argentina 11 [eng]

hello dear friends

On a very tranquil afternoon like today I like to write, the sun is still shining over the lake and today we did not do anything ... pure relaxation ...

Let's start with the stories from the south. heading north, we passed some of Patagonia's most spectacular natural wonders ...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DateA2pja57LOJoFK52BEGDuXJ0hwJzh&usp=sharing

11.5. - 12.11.

When we woke up at desiz, we quickly packed our things together and then the bus drove us back out to the street. We hope to go as far as possible today, at least getting off the island would be nice.
After a short wait, a very nice man brought us to the Argentinean border post, where we got our stamps and the required papers and then waited a long time, in the sun, sheltered from the checkpoint.
Finally, we found a couple who were on their way to Punta Arenas. Actually, this is not quite our route, but because the ferry from porvenir did not run that day, they had to make a mighty detour and so we lucked out.

We reached the Chilean mainland and after a short while in the bus stop, we were already thinking about how to hang the hammocks of the guys here. all of a sudden a patrol of the Chilean carabinieros stopped, kinda police.

We climbed in and they kindly brought us about 40 km to the border. So the border, from Chile back to Argentina. We waited another eternity until we were taken by a transporter. He drove us to the house of Silvana, a friend one of Desiz, who had offered to house us tonight. We knew wich her house was, but since she was still working, she had put the door key under the mat and we entered alone and parked our backpacks in the living room. It is definitely a very strange feeling, to be in the living room of a person you've never seen before. but she has amazing kittens.

We then quickly got a dinner in a kiosk, cheese and rolls, then we ran back and reached the house just in the moment in which Silvana also arrived with two other couchsurfers.
the two frenchmen spent the night in the second bedroom and the three of us slept on the pillowed living room floor.

Silvana had offered to drive us for a contribution to the fuel money, to the crossroads outside the city. on the way, we covered ourselves with a good cargo facturas.
At the intersection, we waited endlessly until an electronic worker to take us to the next town: esperanza, (translated: hope) we had hope again and did not suspect that it would take us 5 hours. we stood in a strong wind, huddled together and after half an eternity, two men on the way to El calafate stopped.

They also took us directly to the hostel, where we checked in and then started cooking.
after the shower we went sleeping.

Daily goal for today was to see the huge perrito moreno glacier. this colossus slides down the mountains from the south patagonian ice field and then dissolves in lago argentino. this creates huge icebergs and a veritable wall of ice, which, in some parts is up to 70 meters high and extends over several kilometers.

We did not want to pay to pay for the transport to the park, about 20 €, so we went to the street quite early and then held out for about an hour and a half.
a man who in the national park opened his doors for us, he took us to his workplace, from there we were only 30 km away from the spectacle.
After we paidthe entrance fee at the checkpoint, we found an American couple for Nils, that still had a place in the camper.
chris and I asked three more cars and finally we joined three Portuguese girls who were in argentina for a 3 week vacation.

together with them we drove to the parking lot, where we met again nils and as a group of six we hiked through the paths of the national park.
the glacier is incredible, colossal, beautiful.
Particularly impressive are the large pieces of ice, which break out from time to time with all-encompassing cracking and then hit the lake thunderously. just a gigantic spectacle.

Unfortunately, no photo of us, but something like this we have seen there.
It started raining in the afternoon and we got back to the car. The girls had suggested visiting the Glacierum, a special museum for glaciers, and that's why I was looking for an Argentine couple who were also on their way back to Calafate. Chris and Schnilsi drove with the girls.
In the museum we learned a lot about the history of the glaciers and about the natural processes.

Glaciers are gigantic freshwater reserves that are created by falling snow on mountains. Layer by layer, the snow is deposited on the mountains, the resulting pressure squeezes the lower layers to ice and through the slope, the gigantic masses slowly slip into the valley, where it is too warm and the glacier breaks into pieces or melts away.
the perito moreno glacier we saw moves e.g. at a speed of about 2m per day, that does not sound like much, but at a time of about a quarter of an hour, it breaks down parts at the size of houses.
a very special thing here is the spectacular what you can see in the video. When the temperatures and conditions are right, at the end of the winter, a bridge of ice forms between the glacier and the peninsula:

with the girls went to the city and to the hostel, we took a shower and relaxed briefly, before we went to a restaurant, where we feasted a classic Argentine asado with the ladys.
We said goodbye to our rescuers and fell asleep in the hostel.

We started again very early, about 10 o'clock, after about two hours two mechanics stopped for us, who brought us to the junction of Ruta 40 before the city.
Here we waited a few more minutes until Frenchman with his Argentinean girlfriend and her camper stopped for us.
your first question was, if we had beer, actually we had three cans isenbeck in the backpack of chris, so they took us...

So we jumped in and drove together with the two to El Chaltén, a small climber village close to the Chilean border.
Here we quickly drank a café to have some wifi and booked us a hostel.
We checked in and then informed us about the trek we planned to do tomorrow.

day 1

day 2

tomorrow would have to wake up early to admire the sunrise on the laguna capri. until then it is about 4 km to walk and about 260 meters in high. So we cooked something delicious and borrowed the tent and the sleeping pads before we went to sleep early to get up in time for tomorrow.

today started very early, we left the hostel shortly after 4. the climb to the laguna capri was exhausting and we arrived slightly sweaty a few minutes before six.
here we waited for the unique spectacle that happens here every morning. The sun shines here first of all the peaks of the fitz roy mountain, which then shine very surreal bright and reflect themselves in the water of the lagoon.

as the sun went up, we walked further on and looked for a place to have breakfast and to drink the second mate of the day.
We also warmed our bodies in the radiant heat. as we continued to strengthen before the next crossing, we searched a place where we could put off the two large backpacks, because we would come back here later and we didnt want to carry the luggage 400m up and then down again.

then we marched the steep climb up the mountain to the laguna de los tres. closer to the mt. fitz roy you can not get from argentina.

Also we saw another laguna azul from here, which also radiated us surreal blue against.

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTCJhpp6S7jed4KVkggnRjSDiMGeDkSeHMfZUSneRwQNC/1a4ed50e-a1fa-424e-93c6-d517a65bd559%20(1) .jpg

We went down again, we took our things and then we took a little nap on the peninsula of the laguna chica.

Then we went to the campsite, which we reached in the early evening. Today we covered about 23 km and almost 800 meters in altitude. So we were very exhausted and relieved to finally be able to sleep. even if the group's opinions on our chances of survival diverge.

Contrary to expectations, we survived nestled together in the tent, the night. the day started with a new mate and then we started walking to a view point over the laguna torre, from here you can admire another glacier, which was very far away and we only stayed a short time before we ran back to the campsite and the put the tent together.

The further route took us over 8 km of rocky footpaths and, fortunately, downhill to the valley of El Chaltén.
We reached the village with relief and after we had moved into our beds at the hostel, we brought the camping stuff back to the lender and went out to eat a delicious ice cream.

In the hostel nils cooked a portion rice with shit for everyone and we asked a staff of the hostel, which attractions on the route to bariloche still waiting for us.
He said we absolutely must go to the marble caves to chile. So tomorrow we plan to be back early in the morning and make the way to perito moreno or los antiguos in a slip.

at 6:30 am the alarm clock rang us out of the beds and we grabbed the already packed backpacks and then with a short stop at about half past eight at the bus station to board a bus that would bring us to the intersection of Ruta 40.

Here we waited only two cars and got collected by a hostel owner from El Chaltén, which was on the way to tres lagos.
that's the next place on the track and we got happy.
we had no idea that this little village should be our ruin when the nice lady dropped us off at a crossroads just outside the city of tres lagos.
We waited a few hours until it was boring to answer the questions from the book, we drank mate until the hot water was finished. We sat down in the shadow of a street sign and when the boredom reached its peak, we started to look for glass bottles on the roadside and then to smash them with small stones.
we literally waited for death. a total of maybe 20 or 30 cars drove past us when we were about to collapse, after around 8 hours, a fiat-bus converted into a motohome, stopped for us.
An Argentinian couple offered us to take a bit with us. they were called camilla and federico and started their journey 3 days ago from ushuaia, where they lived the last few years.

in the breaking darkness, we arrived together. the town: gobernador gregores
we got out to look for a hostel or a bed. We also exchange the numbers, because tomorrow they wanted to continue in the same direction as we continue and after I asked, they said it would be absolutely no problem to continue with us. That made us very happy because we expected similar strains on the way to the marble caves.
After a mate in the hostel we went to sleep and looked forward to tomorrow.

Shortly after Federico had written us, we showered and got out of our accommodation, the two waited at the gas-station with their bus for us. we were so happy that they had actually contacted us and we would travel together.
The drive to Perito Moreno, the nearest major city on the route is very unspectacular and so we sleep even a little bit before we fill our supplies of biscuits and water in Perito Moreno and then on the way to the Chilean border at los Antiguos do.
The road that leads here to the border, on the Chilean side, along the Carrera Lake is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. So the road is a dirt road and nothing special, but the views are just overwhelming.

as it got darker we reached a small village called malin grande, where we first wanted to look for an accommodation, fede and cami can sleep in the bus, but we needed a bed and that's why we rang the bell at a house with a small hospedaje sign.
the woman who opened us said after our question about the price that it would cost 720 argentina pesos to sleep at her house, about 20 €, for the three of us. So we grabbed our backpacks from the bus and arranged us with fede and cami for the next morning for breakfast at the accommodation.
We then gave the woman the money and ran off to look for another opportunity to buy some bread or something.
When we got back, the woman said to us, we had given her too little money and she wants to have more, we told her that it is not our fault, if they wrongly convert the currency and then calls us a wrong price. she now wanted 720 per person at. Of course that is totally overpriced and money we did not want to pay under any circumstances. more expensive than a hostel in berlin or buenos aires.
but the woman absolutely did not let herself be talked to and insisted on her price, even when we offered to pay a little more, she said in 1800 or nada, so nothing at all. with the right pricing from the beginning we would just sleept in the tent, that fede and cami offered us.
So we packed our backpacks and money and left the house. I do not understand this logic, the place here may have 150 inhabitants and maybe 20 cars pass by on the day, I'm pretty sure we've been the only gringos we've lost here for weeks. why she does not take the 720 pesos and calculates the right price next time? now she has nothing. not even 720.
I did not really want to get upset about this, but it's part of this trip, day needs night too ...
However, we were now facing the next problem, it was of course the only accommodation and we already considered to sleep in the bus shelter, which had only three walls, but at least not stank of urine.
we just wanted to unpack the sleeping bags, all of a sudden schnilsi saw the bus of fede and cami.

The two were just about to cook something under the only lantern of the village and they had offered to sleep in their tent, but we had rejected that thankfully, because the hostel was quite cheap.
Now we ran over quickly and after explaining our situation, they grinned and gave us the tent and we were looking for a level place to build. Nils hung up his hammock in the bus stop.

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWtqDhyuJPuJf166fUenhBt9i5BRUp4kM11LC3BgkKikb/Snapseed%20 (1) .jpg

we were relatively frustrated by the narrow-mindedness of the woman, but more importantly, super happy about the kindness and helpfulness of the two lovely people who should share our way for a while yet.

Here, again, we are at the end of the story... continue in the next post in Chile with wonders and friends in the south ...

love
pauli

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