Our short encounter with ARGENTINA- El Calafate and El Chalten

The crossing into Argentina was fairly smooth, and after 7 hours we arrived in the town of el calafate. The accommodation prices meant that we had to suck it up and go for dorm rooms in a hostel- something we had managed to avoid so far. It wasnt the worst place by far but we were not used to being woken up by people entering and leaving the room late at night or early in the morning.

The tourists that visit Patagonia seem to be mainly either hardcore hikers with their tents and powdered mashed potato, or older people, most likely retired and able to spend money on nice hotels, tours and being fully kitted out with the best hiking attire, including hiking poles which are not actually needed for the short hikes their tours take them on. All the shops and restaurants were similar to UK prices if not higher, which meant we mainly resorted to cooking pasta with slight variations of vegetables at the hostel, which got boring fairly quickly. On the plus side, the wine was still extremely cheap- £1.50 a bottle. Shaaame.

Crazy birds doing crazy neck stretches 

Walking by the lake in El Calafate

Very Important Pup

The main place to visit in el calafate is the perrito morener glacier- about an hours drive from the town. We had seen glaciers before in New Zealand and glimpsed one in Chile, and from what we had seen they were just a big block of grey ice in the distance, so our expectations were not high. 

This glacier was definitely not the same. If you want your mind blown by a massive icy beast this is definitely the place to come. 

They said there would be ice, we paid to see ice....where is it?

Ah that might be it

The glacier and Jonno's hair, both competing for the title of Most Jagged and Unruly

Even the clouds are showing off

Metal walkways let you walk around the glacier, which is actually growing in size compared to all the others we have seen that are shrinking. It is 5km wide, and 74 metres tall. And as you watch it, you can hear the ice groaning and cracking, even seeing parts of it crumble and crash into the water. Seriously nature, you have done well here. We were also entertained by some of the other tourists and their attempts to get the perfect shot or video- one older lady wouldn't let her husband get a cereal bar out of her bag as she was so fixated on getting a video of the glacier breaking. We saw the same couple a few more times over the next few days, and were concerned that he was wasting away after the abuse we witnessed.

Ice ice baby

Videos of the ice breaking- we were not the only ones who were impressed! We hope Jerry got it too!

We also visited a museum of the history of Patagonia, starting from the dinosaurs who lived in the area including the Mylodon and Giganotosaurus, to the first civilisations and how they survived in the harsh and bleak area. At the beginning we were basically given a photocopied textbook of all the information, then had to sit and study it in front of a replica dinosaur.

Wouldn't trust this with a china tea set

We knew from our research that Argentina wasn't going to be a cheap place, but it was only when we had a free afternoon and sat down to plan out route that we realised that our original plan might drain our bank accounts more than we hoped. In the last few years, the economy has been very unstable and the prices of things have been massively inflated. We had wanted to travel back up the continent on the Argentina side, and visiting San Carlos De bariloche, Mendoza, Puerto madryn and Buenos Aires. However, after looking at the bus options, we discovered that each bus journey was going to be around £100 each (totaling around £1,000 for us both for the whole country), for what are apparently awful buses and would involve multiple journeys of 24 hours or more. We also checked flights, but the government puts a tourist tax on these and were also expensive. We spoke to people who had hitchhiked through the country, but we didn't feel this was something we wanted to do. After a frustrating few hours of trying to work a way around it, we came to the reluctant decision that maybe it was better for us to miss out the majority of Argentina for this trip, and to come back when either the exchange rate is more in our favour or when we can do it as a nice holiday rather than trying to work it on a backpacker budget. 

We checked flights and it was far cheaper for us to backtrack to Chile and then take a flight back up to Bolivia, so this is what we decided on. Before then, we could get the bus a little further to El Chalten and spend a few days here, making the most of our short time in Argentina.

Overlooking El Chalten

El Chalten was a 3 hour bus ride away, and is in a national park, which meant that the main activity was hiking.  Amazingly, they didn't charge an entry fee to the area, and also the hikes all started from the town, meaning we didn't have to stick to bus timetables to decide when we started our hikes. Again, we stayed in a dorm room in a hostel, which was overrun by earwig looking bugs, Jonno found one in his coffee and I found one in my bra as I was about to put it on. 

Seeing as we arrived at 11am, we decided to try 2 of the short easy hikes that day- one to a waterfall and the other to some viewpoints with some great views. As we had finished the second hike, I turned the corner and saw people taking pictures of something. Before I knew it an armadillo was heading straight for me- it bumped into my foot, hesitated apologetically for a second and then waddled away before I had a chance to introduce myself.

AHMAGAWD

Please stay and chat!

We had 2 days left and 2 hikes we wanted to do- an 18km 6 hour one to Laguna des Torres and a 20km 8 hour one to Laguna de Los Tres. We decided to start with the shorter one, and even though it was forecast for rain in the middle of the day, there was no clouds in the sky when we started, just a strong wind. After about 5km, we started feeling a few drops of rain but still there were hardly any clouds. By the time we had reached the Lagoon, the weather was do horrific we were struggling to stand upright and had to hide behind a rock with a guy who had been waiting an hour for the weather to improve. The clouds were so thick we couldn't really see the lagoon much. Defeated, we started heading back towards the town, and the further away from the lagoon we got the better the weather, and it was perfect sunshine for the last few kilometres. 

Looks allright..

...Okay maybe a little grey...

#Nofilter, a sight worth a 9km hike

The next day we decided to tackle the long hike. The first 9km were not so bad, until the last kilometre to get to the viewpoint of the Laguna de Los tres, which was a steep scramble up rocks but the views were pretty rewarding at the top.

Hello lagoon

To get back to Punto arenas for our flight to Bolivia, we had to go back the same route, bear hunt style. El chalten to el calafate, same hostel in el calafate, then back to Puerto Natales then back to Punto arenas. We stayed at the same lovely Airbnb for the 24 hours we had in Punto arenas, where the son of the family offered to take us and their other guest on a tour of the city.

Even though we only spent 9 days in Argentina, it seemed like a country worth exploring and we will definitely be planning a return trip to see more in the future! 

Puno, Arequipa and Colca Canyon

After speaking to the guy who owned the hostel in Cusco, who when we had told him we were going down to Patagonia, had advised us to go sooner rather than later to catch the milder weather. We decided to change our plans slightly- instead of going from Peru to Bolivia then to Chile, we would skip Bolivia for now and try and get south as quickly as we could, and then return to Bolivia on our way back up. There were only 2 more places on our list for Peru, Puno and Arequipa,which we wanted to fit in first.

Puno is a town by lake Titicaca, which is the highest navigable body of water in the world at 3,812 metres above sea level. From there, there were tours to a few of the islands on the lake (it's a massive area). We checked out the options at a tour agency and decided on a half day visit to some tombs one day, and a full day boat trip on the lake the next.

A review of the hostel mentioned they liked the 'Dolphin taps'- I can see why they were impressed!

With some time to kill in the morning, we paid a visit to the coca museum, which explained the history and significance of the coca leaf to the people of south America, used as gifts and in ceremonies dating back to before Incan times, and then how it became used by the West to make cocaine. There was also a video showing us traditional dances and costumes, with some dressing up options. We also stumbled across a free gig which was a kind of heavy rock-traditional peruvian music fusion, complete with a guy who alternated between playing the pipes and headbanging.

Just in case you didn't know what a crack head looked like

Of course, a Llama marriage ceremony!

Like something from The Labyrinth

Being dressed as a curtain- Not sure the hair piece is fooling anyone

Handsome

The afternoon tour to the pre- Incan cemetery of Sillustani involved a drive of about an hour into the countryside and a short walk, where we could then see the conical structures made from cut stones. The guide explained that they were mostly used for the important people in society, and some of them had numerous bodies in them, buried in the foetal position with a few possessions. We also paid a visit to a local home, where they gave us a lovely snack of a boiled potato and slice of homemade cheese, and they showed us how they weave rugs from alpaca wool.

Two bulls placed on the roof of every building for luck

Our tour guide insisted we did a photo shoot at every opportunity

A tomb or a very large starbucks cup?

Enjoy these Llama and Alpaca pictures

A feast of dry potatoes and dry grains

Probably not just the family pet

The following day was the boat trip. Firstly, we were taken to the floating islands of Uros, which were man-made floating structures made from totora reeds that grow on the lake. The residents used the reeds for everything- their floors, their houses, their benches, and even chewed on it to brush their teeth. The women wore big skirts and waistcoats in bright colours, and the men wore bright wooly hats. Then, of course, the residents all got out their tourist tat to sell, and encouraged us to pay more for a boat ride to another island with more tourist tat.

The new Cyberdog range in Peru?

We were then taken to the next island of Taquile, where we were highly disappointed to learn that they didn't have any police or dogs on the island as it was so safe they had no need for security (a pup is so much more!) The residents have a unique cultural identity- they wear red and white hats when they are single, and red when they are married, their marriage ceremony lasts for three days but the bride and groom cannot join in the party, they have to stay kneeling the whole time. When they get married, the woman weaves the man a belt partly made from her own hair, and the men spend their free time knitting. We then went with the guide to a local house where they had cooked us lunch, and gave us a demonstration of their crafts and traditional dances. After that, we walked around the island where we were met by our boat to take us back to Puno.

This child is clearly not married as you can see by his head wear

Knitting is taken seriously here

Just a child with a sharp gardening implement

Man with his bag to keep coca leaves in to chew

The main reason why people visit Arequipa is for the tours to colca canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. We were undecided about if we wanted to do it or not, but again thought we might as well go and see what the tour companies offered and there were a few other things to do in Arequipa even if we chose not to go to the canyon.

We arrived in the accommodation we had booked and were immediately hit with a blast of stale, wet air. The 'en suite' was actually a part of the room walled off, but the shower was hitting the wall with no waterproofing surface, so the water was going directly into the walls and making damp and mould. 3 nights there ensured we both had colds by the time we left.

Anyway, Arequipa itself had a nice old town to walk around and a fancy plaza, extremely touristy but we had expected that. They also had some kind of competition for 'queso helado' (cheese ice cream) going on- called this because they make it in blocks that look like cheese rather than its ingredients- and were offering free samples in most of the stalls.

Gotta love a fancy plaza

Street performer by the 'Queso Helado' stalls

The following day was my birthday, and exploring the sights in Arequipa seemed like a good way to spend the day. We started with a slightly alternative birthday treat- a visit to a museum where they kept Juanita, a 500 year old girl who was a human sacrifice and mummified by the ice. Her body is kept in a box at -20 degrees to preserve it, and apart from her face which was exposed to the elements, she was doing pretty well! The Incas believed the mountains were the home of the gods, and if things were not going too well they selected the healthiest and purest children to sacrifice to them- giving them alcohol to make them unconscious and then hitting them over the head and burying them with offerings of statues.

Let it go, let it go...the cold never bothered her anyway (Not our picture)

Next stop was 'mundo de alpaca' (Alpaca world). Most of it was an overpriced shop where they sold alpaca wool products, but they did have llamas and alpacas chilling out at the back who entertained us for a while.

So many flavours!

Duhhh

We made a few stops in some other places- another plaza with a supposed view of the volcanoes around the city which were not visible that day, and a park which initially looked nice but our opinion changed when we saw they had caged up monkeys for people to see, many of them clearly traumatized or terrified. Then a local marketplace, which had mainly hats, vegetables and meat, with a row of stalls for alternative medicines- including llama foetuses strung up.

For a suggested valentines day gift?

After all these unique experiences it was definitely cocktail o'clock- the local drink of pisco sour was calling. Firstly, a cheap place, then we decided to go a bit more upmarket and have one overlooking the plaza. Then we went hunting for dinner- unfortunately our first and backup choice were both closed but we found a pizza place with wine which was an improvement over our usual basic 'menu of the day' choice.

Pisco time!

After checking out the tour agency options for Colca Canyon and our experience of the arranged tour to Machu Picchu, we decided to try and do it by ourselves instead. We could get a bus to the town at the top of the canyon, walk down, find somewhere to stay at the bottom for the night and then walk back up the next day. From looking into blogs from other people who had done this, it shouldn't be too difficult.

The town of Cabanaconde

We arrived in the town of Cabanaconde, with around an hour of sunlight left, enough time to have a quick walk to check out the viewpoint of the top of the canyon. It did look pretty deep. We had checked into accommodation for the night where we could then leave our big backpacks, ready for an early start.

A disused bullfighting ring

First sights of the Canyon- with a rock that looks a little like a Condor

Sunset over the canyon

Before walking down the canyon, there was first a bus to catch to take us to a place to hopefully catch a glimpse of condors gliding through the canyon, catching the warm air currents. The Condor is a prominent creature in South American culture, they represent the sky, the domain of the Gods, and are pretty huge, their wingspan can be around 2-3 metres. We arrived at the viewpoint and began our wait. Less than an hour later, a few appeared from far in the distance, swooping around, and even though they are not the prettiest of beasts, it was impressive to watch.

Found them!

Very glidey

Quick bit of Condor yoga

Now the bit we were not sure of, how to get back to the town to start the walk. Most people had come with tours in minivans, and the route did not have regular buses. After a bit of waiting, we managed to find a combi vehicle who took us within 3km of town, adding a bit of distance to our walk but the weather was nice and it had some good views

Right, down we go...

Dodging loose rocks and animal poo on the way down

After successfully getting to the edge of the canyon, we began our descent, Jonno making it very clear that a) he hates walking downhill, and b) the views at the top are more impressive, so after all the effort of getting to the bottom all we get are worse views and then have to climb all the way up just to see the view you had seen first. The walk was mostly very steep and gravelly, and at a few points one of us would loose our footing and almost fall. And it was fairly disheartening knowing that the further down we went, the more we had to climb up the next day.

We reached the bottom after about 2 and a half hours and found a few tranquil hostels, very basic except for the fact they had pools using the water from the springs. There was nowhere else to go and nothing to do but chill, which was fine with us.

Our haven at the bottom of the canyon

We were up early the next day for the hardest part- the walk up. We had 5km and an incline of 1,200metres, which Jonno worked out was about 750 of me. We powered up in just over 2 hours, meaning we had almost 3 hours to kill before our bus back to Arequipa, plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast on a balcony of a cafe.

We had one more day in Arequipa to get Jonno some new walking boots as his had fallen completely apart, and we were ready to cross the border into Chile.