22-30 March...Eight days and one change of clothes

Just another day in Torres Del Paine National Park!


Lynne says...

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Tales of collapsing bridges over fast flowing glacial rivers, knee high mud, viscious mosquitos, torrential rain and difficult climbs had made me nervous. My heart filled with dread as I surveyed our brand new tent, roll mats and various camping gear laid out on the dorm bed before me. I was not an experienced walker and definitely a fair weather camper so what on earth was I doing?

Torres del Paine National Park is Chile´s most popular hiking destination. The most popular trek is the "W", a three to four day hike to the base of three mountain peaks - Torres del Paine, Paine Grande and Los Cuernos. The more adventurous trekker commits to walking the circuit - a seven to eight day hike that also covers the back of the peaks. We´d decided to walk the latter. After all, we had time on our hands, didn´t we?

We spent the next eight days trekking and camping alongside clear glacial streams, turquoise lakes and distant glaciers. Mountains rose majestically on all sides, crowned by fresh snow and shrouded in wispy clouds. The terraine ranged from easy footpaths to difficult climbs over rocks and boulders. I was both exhilerated and exhausted at the end of every day.


Cloud descended upon an Argentinian mountain across the border from Chile as we descended to Refugion Dickson at the end of day five


We encountered sunshine and torrential rain. At one point, the rain was so bad I was crying with frustration. It didn´t help when we discovered that Matt´s sleeping bag was soaking wet. Fortunately, we dried our soggy possessions in a cosy, wooden hut, looked after by a solitary park ranger. He also cooked us a delicious meal with home baked bread and we treated ourselves to an ice cold beer.

The highlight was undoubtedly the hike over the Gardner Pass, a part of the park that most people miss because of the difficulty involved in reaching it. After negotiating ankle deep mud and a long, exhausting climb, we were rewarded with a spectacular natural phenomenon, made even more special because of the effort involved to get there.

Below us was Glacier Grey, a huge expanse of ice making its slow journey towards Lago Grey. At around 10kms at its widest point, its sheer scale was unnerving. On the far side, a mountain range was framed by a brilliant blue sky. And we were totally alone.


The fact you haven´t washed for four days doesn´t matter when Glacier Grey takes your breath away from the top of the John Gardner Pass



To see more of our pictures, follow this link.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thefears06/my_photos

22 March 2006 - update

Lynne says..

This is just a very quick message to let you know we are about to go on an eight day trek in Torres del Paine National Park,Chile. We decided to splurge on a great tent so we´ve got seven nights of pot noodles to look forward to. Mountains, lakes and glaciers are ahead of us and I´m both excited and a little nervous.

We´ve been a bit slack with our updates but we should be back on track in around ten days time and I´ll let you know how it all went.

18 March 2006 - Celebrating 32 years at the end of the world

Matt and Lynne with the legendary traveller´s friend Luca Toscani


Lynne says...

Ushuaia, Argentina - the southerly most city in the world.

We´d spent the last few days staying at Cruz del Sur - an independent hostel run by a charismatic 32 year old Italian man called Luca Toscani. The place was small and not particularly spotless yet Luca´s personality made up for everything. The hostel was his home, the kitchen was his kitchen, the main room was his living room and he slept in a room out the back where travellers used the internet during the day.

He was the kind of guy who never turned anyone away, even if he was full. Instead, he offered them the floor for free and always threw in breakfast as well. Needless to say, most people who crashed on the floor ended up staying longer than they had planned.

After only a few hours he´d given us his life history and explained how he fell in love with the place over eight years ago, "I just kept coming back until I decided just to stay here...my mother wasn´t very happy". He´d been running the hostel for the past two years.

"I met my girlfriend here. She´s from Canada and was travelling at the time. We corresponded by email for a while and then she changed all her plans and came back to Ushuaia. She´s moving here from Canada in a few months time - giving up everything".

The weather in this part of the world is very changable and unfortunately it took a turn for the worst on my birthday. We´d spent the previous day trekking in Tierra del Fuego National Park so I was more than happy to take my time and relax - I´m sure my feet were pleased too after climbing to the summit of Mount Guanaco, overlooking the Beagle Channel (I would have some pictures to show you but the camera battery ran out - could anyone recommend a professional photographer?).

Despite the weather, we decided to take a four hour boat ride on the Beagle Channel. We sailed close to sealions, seals, penguins and cormorants and also disembarked for a half hour walk around an uninhabited island.

The Latin name for the main species of plant found on the island is "Bollocks" so you imagine the hilarity it caused amongst the English contingency, Island of Bollocks, load of old bollocks, big bollocks etc. Even the Argentian tour guide couldn´t stop smirking when she tried to explain the joke to the Spanish speakers amongst us.

On the trip we met a lovely couple from Manchester and their eight year old daughter who were also on a six month trip around South America. They certainly gave me plenty to think about...

We decided to blow the budget and treat ourselves in the evening. Luca had recommended a restuarant high in the mountains overlooking the Beagle Channel, Chez Manu. A French restaurant that used local ingredients to produce fantastic cuisine. Three courses, a bottle of Saint Felicien and complimentary champagne and it still came to half the price of an equivalent restaurant in London.

Did I mention that "Happy Birthday" was sung to me in four different languages back at the hostel?

12 March - Cataratas del Iguazú

Simply unbelievable


Matt says...

Those of you that know us will agree that it would take something staggering to render both Lynne and I silent at the same time. Well, the Iguazú Falls are so breathtakingly beautiful that we were both simultaneously speechless on two occasions during our first day at the Parque Nacional Iguazú. It really would be impossible to try and put into words just how amazing the falls are so we will let the pictures do the talking. View them at:

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thefears06/my_photos

4 March: Buenos Aires - tangotastic

Lynne says...

Buenos Aires is the spiritual home of tango and we'd already seen several street performers attracting crowds of onlookers. It was clear from the number of porteños who stopped to watch that tango is just as mesmorizing to them as it is to us. Tango is a slow, sultry dance with flashes of speed and flair. Incrediby sensual and passionate, couples gaze into nothingness, transported to a different place by the feel of the music. Personally, I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face for more than a few seconds - the serious, intense expressions made me chuckle just looking at them.

Tonight was the climax of a two week tango festival and we'd arranged to meet Martine and Julian for a drink before going to an outdoor melonga - a melonga is basically a tango gathering where people come together just to dance. The street had been cordoned off and a live band played the familiar, evocative sounds of tango. Hundreds of porteños had gathered together - couples of all ages and abilities danced in the cool night air.

Tango is not just the domain of the older generation - teenagers and middle aged couples mingled with their grandparents and the odd tourist who fancied a go. I tried to use my unsuitable footware - flip-flops - as an excuse not to join in but Julian is a tango teacher from Brighton and he insisted.

Later in the evening we went to Confitireria Ideal - one of Buenos Aires' oldest dancing halls. It looked as if the building hadn't been improved for years and this only added to the sense of tradition. It was the equivalent of the English afternoon tea dance apart from the fact that is was just after midnight and the evening had only just started.

Several couples circled the dance floor, expertly avoiding each other. Everyone had dressed up for the occasion - ladies wore elegant, flowing dresses and men wore suits. In the corner of the room an elderly, well dressed gentleman in his seventies ordered a bottle of champagne and gazed into the eyes of his rather young suitor - soon they were on the dance floor with everyone else. The whole scene was completely mesmorizing and I longed for a pair of shiny black tango shoes and a beautiful flowing red dress - I looked down at my flip-flops and sighed.

8 March - Life is not a dress rehearsal............

Matt says...

Somebody much wiser than myself once assured me that, "life is not a dress rehearsal", and this indeed proved to be very poignant on Wednesday evening.

I had suggested to Lynne that we go to see Buenos Aires´current top football side River Plate play Ecuador´s El Naciónal in the Copa Libertadores which is South America´s equivalent of Europe´s Champions League. She wasn´t too keen and I have to say neither was I after the debacle which was Wednesday´s Español lessons. So, I dutifully completed my Spanish homework and we left the hotel at about 8pm to go and have dinner.

As we sat down in the restaurant Lynne noticed that they had the game on the restaurant TV (yes, that´s how fútbol obsessed they are over here) and she graciously offered for us to swap seats so I was facing the television. The sides were just going in for half-time and River were 3-1 down which, at home, is pretty disgraceful. I, rather cynically, thought that I had made the right decision to give the match a miss as the atmosphere from the supporters would have been pretty woeful given the team´s poor performance.

The outcome? River staged an absolutely remarkable comeback and won the match 4-3 in the dying seconds.

Sorry, Auntie Brenda. On this occasion I failed to take heed of your words of wisdom. Never again!

8 March - Mi Español es muy mal

Well, fifteen years after leaving Coventry´s Woodlands School, it seems that my ability to fail gloriously in the classroom has not diminished. My alma mater must have been glad to see me go. I took a very impressive selection of four, yes four, GCSE passes with me to accompany a barely-scraped grade E in ´A´level Geography.

Alas, it seems that the long hours I spent hating my education have returned. I can assure you that attempting to get a basic grasp of Spanish in one week is very, very hard. Do you know what the worst thing is? My classmate, a wee slip of a girl still in her teenage years, is sailing through it. She´s holding full conversations with the teacher and seems to be right on top of things. Meanwhile my four classroom hours a day leave me with intense head pain.

Every afternoon as I stumble back to the hostel, a shadow of my former self, I wonder if the intellectual void will ever diminish. I am currently very tempted with the option of abandoning Español completely and just shouting louder in English.

However, I have grown up since I left school, and will redouble my efforts in tomorrow´s class hoping that some sort of breakthrough is just around the corner. The main difference between choosing to study and being forced to study is that, in the end, you are seeking some level of success for your own gratification.

The only thing that has kept me going today is the thought of the unforgettable Basil Fawlty telling Manuel that, "there is too much butter on those trays". Manuel´s answer? "No, no, no Mr Fawlty. Zer is too mooch booter uno dos tres." Only now do I know how Manuel felt!

PS - If the title of this entry (which is supposed to mean ´my Spanish is very bad´) is in any way gramatically wrong, please DO NOT leave a message telling me as I don´t think my fragile ego could take it. Gracias.

2 March - The Buenos Aires Pipe Smoking Club

Lynne says...

Every second Thursday of the month a group individuals, consisting mostly of men, meet in an obscure bar in the heart of Buenos Aires´microcentre. They are all members of an exclusive society with one shared passion - tobacco.

The variety of tobacco available in Buenos Aires is astounding and the price even more so. Cigar and pipe smokers are faced with a huge variety of options to choose from and specialised shops are everywhere. The members of this particular club took their pipe smoking seriously. I watched as a rotund man in a smart suite lovingly cradled his ornate pipe in his hands whilst passing round two different pipes for his fellow smokers to admire. Another member unzipped his large leather holdall and produced several different packets of tobacco. They were passed around and sniffed as if they were vintage wine.

More men joined the group until around twenty men sat huddled around a few tables, sipping beer, smoking and comparing notes. Most of them were dressed in work attire although a few were more casual with open necked shirts and sandals. A young lad, the son of one of the members, moved around the table trying to attract someone´s attention but everyone was too preocupied with their pipes to pay him any attention. After a while, a middle-aged, well-dressed lady joined the group and after kissing everyone in greeting, settled down to light up.

"There are around 130 members", explained Gabriel, a member of the group who came over to talk to us, "and around four of our members are women. We smoke a variety of blends from Denmark, Germany and England. I have a friend in London who owns a tobacco store on St James´- he´s a millionaire" he added with a touch of pride. "You should pop by my store for a coffee". Kissing me goodbye, he handed me his business card and disappeared in a haze of tobacco smoke and expensive aftershave. I glanced down at the card in my hand - we had been talking to Gabriel Estrada, the President of Davidoff - one of the most luxurious tobacco brands in the world.

1 March 2006 - Boca Juniors 3 Gimnasia 0

Lynne says...

La Boca stadium is in one of the poorer areas of Buenos Aires and although Boca Juniors are one of Argentina´s most famous teams (Diego Maradonna began his career with them) the stadium and surrounding area is very run down and in need of major modernisation.

We paid 14 pesos (around 3 pounds sterling) to stand on the middle tier terraces with the locals which was without doubt the best way to experience the real passion of the supporters. Unusually for South America, spectators are not allowed to drink alcohol in the stadium and I wasn´t even allowed to take in my bottle of water.

We´d arived in plenty of time and settled down to watch the warm up match - possibly the reserves or under 21s. The stadium is enormous and we picked a spot behind the goal.

As dusk fell the stadium slowly began to fill up and we were soon gazing upon a sea of blue and gold. A few plucky supporters climbed over the barbed wire railings and unfurled huge banners, some precariously tip-toeing along the outside edge of the third tier terrace opposite - probably some 200 feet up.

Cheers and chanting began to reverberate around the stadium in anticipation of the match. Finally, the teams ran on to the pitch accompanied by a huge roar of support and ticker tape fluttered down from the skies. I was surrounded by men, women and children of all ages, dedication etched onto their faces as they all sang in unison.

Boca scored three goals and I found myself cheering and clapping in support, swept along by the fans. As a bonus, I also learnt a few choice words in Spanish which might just prove useful in the months ahead!

2 March 2006 - Meat.........the carnivore comes home

Matt says.....

I am generally not a slave to the cavemanesque 'me man - eat meat' school of thought and can easily enjoy a veggie stir-fry as much as the next tofu-wielding hippy. Yesterday, however, I tucked into what is possily the finest meat feast known to man - the traditional Argentinian mixed grill - or parrillada as it is known here. The dish is presented on a sizzling pan which is bought to your table on a warmer so the meat stays hot while you decide which piece to devour next. The parrillada consisted of a thin slice of beef on the bone, sausage, ox tripe, a pair of kidneys, a thick piece of beef, a quarter of chicken and a piece of the finest black pudding I have ever tasted.

The most surprising thing was just how much care had been taken in the preperation of the meat. The black pudding was so, so good - like no black pudding I'd ever tasted before. It really did melt in the mouth and believe it or not had the consistency of a really good liver pate - no bite, just soft succulence. However, the piece de resistance was the thick rectangular chunk of beef. It was so brown, and the fat so yellow, it must have been hung for at least a fortnight - none of that pink tasteless stuff we get at the supermarkets back home. I think I shall have to limit myself to parrillada a week while we are in Argentina for the good of my health.

Oh yeah, the ox tripe............................of course I ate it. You didn't doubt me, did you?

2 March 2006 - Buenos Aires ...first impressions

Lynne says...

We started out as we mean to go on - a two hour bus journey from the airport with the locals for grand total of 30p. My first impressions of the Argentine people are good - all the men at the bus stop stood back and let me on the bus first - I can´t remember the last time that happened in London.

At first glance Buenos Aires could easily be a capital city in Europe. Broad tree-lined avenues, fashionable porteños (port city dwellers) chatting into mobile phones or sipping coffee in cool cafes, men in snappy suits carrying briefcases and expensive looking department stores. The big difference though, is the price - everything is incredibly cheap. This is a large, sprawling city and I felt strangely disappointed but perhaps it´s because I´ve just left one large city and arrived in another one. I´m sure Buenos Aires has a lot to offer and we have two weeks to find out what makes this city so special.