juddtrip: January 2007

So I am in El Calafate, Argentina, which is a bit of a jumping point for tourists, trekers, and the like to access Parque Nacional de los glacieres. I have spent the last five weeks making my way further and further south from the northern part of the Patagonia region that starts in central Chile. I spent the first 3-4 weeks with two great boulder amigos and we fished, camped, hiked, bused, played hearts, and ate our way down to my old stomping grounds of the Aisen Region of Chile to do a week long trek in an area that has seen very few people, but is extremely beautiful and varied in its scenary. In fact, when when I was down there five years ago guiding, we made our way out by horses and kayaks to where the trail now ends and we were the first people to travel back there. It was a great feeling to arrive to this same point from the other side. my boss worked with the chilean government to create this trail and has done a great job using modern help of helicopters and a lot more with just a machete in hand. After the hike we spent a week with my old boss at his new ranch/farm that he is creating on the banks of the Rio Baker just downstream of where i lived in Puerto Bertrand. Days spent fishing, doing chores, eating, and bathing in the river were very relaxing. Plus we got to stay in his "guest" dome right on the river.

Then I met up with an old friend from when I studied abroad down here 5 years ago. We made our way even further south to the ultimate end of the road. From there, we took a 3 hour boat across lago ohiggins and spent the next two days hiking on a trail that spits you out in argentina and give you a taste of fitzroy, which is a monolith that takes your breath away every time you look at it. this has to be one of the most remote border crossings out there, but also one of the most beautiful, and there were indeed a couple teenaged looking border people sipping mate and ready to stamp our passports. From there we made our way to el chalten which is the outpost for accessing the trekking trails around cerro fitz roy and her surrounding peaks. we spents three days hiking in this mind blowing park. i had the best sunrise of my life as we made a predawn hike up to the base of fitzroy which towers above everything at 11,000 feet (raising over 6000 feet from the valley). fitzroy can be a bit elusive in showing herself as the weather is coming straight off the southern patagonia ice cap and the clouds can often keep her hidden for weeks at a time. but we had a cloudless sunrise and one that will never be forgotten.

i head further south tomorrow to do the 8-10 day torres de paine circuit on my own as my friends will all have left me. being able to travel with my good friends and show them this part of the world that i have come to love has been great and very simpatico. Although I am also excited about traveling solo. New friends have been easy to find and fortunately the ones we have been meeting are spanish speaking so my spanish is getting dialed back in and the cobwebs are flying off. I am also compiling a list of people to visit and places to stay as I make my way north in south and central america... if that is what i decide to do...