Roadtrip Part III: Fin del Mundo

Let me begin by saying, "Marisa hates birds!"
If anyone has had the opportunity to take Marisa by the hand and guide her through a park full of pigeons, raise your hand. Can you still feel that hand you raised? Because I can't. Marisa is a strong woman. And strong women tend to hold on for dear life when they feel their life is in imminent danger. For Marisa, birds evoke the most primal of fears.

Let me follow that thought with this one, "Marisa loves penguins!"
If anyone has had the opportunity to take Marisa by the hand and guide her through a park full of penguins, just try to wipe that smile off your face. Because I can't. The joy is infectious.
Shhh... I don't think she realizes that penguins are birds! (Marisa here to offer my rebuttal. Birds are scary because they aimlessly duck and weave wherever they please and they are ugly. Penguins do not fly, therefore do not frighten in that regard and they are adorable. Hence, penguins are amazing and birds are still scary.)

So, as we traveled south from Puerto Natales on the road trip of a lifetime, we stopped in the town of Punta Arenas specifically to visit a colony of these flightless birds. Not to mention, one can only drive so far in a day, and the Straight of Magellan provides quite the obstacle. Thus, flightless birds proved to be the perfect excuse to spend a day not driving down gravel roads for hours on end.
Marisa even tried to put a penguin in her pocket.I tried my best to hold her back. Although, I too would love a pet penguin.

Punta Arenas is a town that not many people visit and even fewer return for a second visit. In the main square there is a statue of Magellan (I think...), as well as a native man with a bow and arrow and a sweet bowl cut. Rumor has it that if you touch the big toe of the man with the bow and arrow and sweet bowl cut, you will one day return to Punta Arenas. I made Marisa touch it... This may have been an error in judgment.
A brief anecdote, if you will. While wandering the streets earlier that day, I met a man who arrived on a cruise ship from Antarctica. At first I was jealous that he had visited Antarctica and I hadn't. After a brief conversation at the ATM, he was jealous that I could make the ATM give me money and he couldn't. I guess the grass is always a little greener on the other side.

Although hesitant to ever return to Punta Arenas, I too touched the toe...From Punta Arenas, we put ourselves and our trusty car on a ferry across the straight of Magellan en route to the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia.That's us on a boat crossing the strait of Magellan. Below you will find Marisa directing traffic on a boat... or anticipating an enormous bear hug.After crossing the border back into Argentina, we drove a couple of hours on unpaved road, followed by another couple of hours on paved road, and finally arrived at the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia! Initially, we intended to drive all the way down Route 3 until the road ended and the car fell into the ocean. There is actually a wooden sign informing you that you have driven to the end of the world. Pretty cool, no? Unfortunately, the last 20 kilometers of Route 3, as well as the sign that informs you of your awesome location, reside in a national park with a hefty $15 US dollar per person entrance fee. So, instead of shelling out $75 US dollars, we took a picture at the southernmost point of Route 3 that doesn't cost money...Sidenote: While Argentina claims that Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, Chile claims that Puerto Williams is actually the southernmost city in the world because it lies across the Beagle Channel (to the south...) from Ushuaia. In Chilean territory of course. I will officially settle this argument by saying that Ushuaia is, in fact, the southernmost city (key word "city"), while Puerto Williams is more like the southernmost military outpost/town in the world, with a couple hundred people who happen to live there year round.

Throughout our time in Ushuaia, we had phenomenal weather. This is apparently not the norm. On our first day of miraculous weather, we visited a glacier just north of the city. The lady working at our hostel told us that we could take a chair lift all the way up the mountain to see the glacier and get some great views of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel from the top. We were misled... and slightly bamboozled. The lady at our hostel was correct about two things. 1. We did witness some great views of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel from the top. 2. We could ride a chairlift. However, she failed to mention that the chairlift was A) expensive, B) only carried you 1/10 of the way up the mountain, and C) moved so slowly that the smart people who didn't take the chairlift beat us to the top. That said, we have now ridden the southernmost chairlift in the world! And the view from the top was amazing. Once you manage to pry your eyes from our phenomenal pose, you will see Ushuaia behind us, the Beagle Channel behind that, Chilean territory beyond that, and Antarctica behind that! Well, aside from the Antarctica part, all of the other stuff is true.Can you name the movie that inspired the sweet pose pictured below?After visiting the Perito Moreno glacier outside of El Calafate, we were pretty disappointed with this one. In the background, above Marisa's head in the picture below, is the glacier. When we looked at it we were all like, "Umm... isn't that just snow that hasn't melted yet?" But don't you worry folks, I single handedly made that glacier a few degrees cooler. By posing in front of it...Sliding down it on my ass... Then flying over it like superman...That night, we threw a couple bottles of wine in my backpack and hopped aboard a boat for a nice sunset cruise through the Beagle Channel. Along the way, we stopped at a couple islands to get learned about the various flora and fauna that manage to thrive in this region, as well as soak up a history lesson regarding the indigenous communities that used to thrive in this region before Europeans came along and did what Europeans typically do when they come ashore...At first, Marisa thought the birds covering the island behind her were penguins. She started giggling and rolling on the floor. It turned out they were not flightless birds after all. She was disappointed to say the least.
After watching the sun set with a glass of wine in hand, we didn't think life could get much better...Until we were walking home and came across a Flintstone mobile!! We have no idea who put it there or why, but we were tempted to ditch the station wagon and hit the streets in style. On our second day of miraculous weather, we visited the oldest farm in patagonia, Estancia Harberton. It was one of the first permanent settlements in the area and is still run by the great great grandson of the original owner. We took a tour of the grounds and snapped this pic from the top of the hill.After the photo opp, I asked our tour guide how many sunny days she had witnessed since she began giving tours at Estancia Harberton. Her answer: 5 days in the past 5 months...
From Ushuaia, we drove north for two straight days until we reached the town of Puerto Madryn. The only break we took was to take a picture of a life size representation of Magellan's ship that looked like something straight out of Disneyland.And that, my friends, is the last known photo of my Patagonian mountain man beard. When we arrived in Puerto Madryn, Marisa kindly requested that I shave. I kindly replied with this...Yes, we did go out in public with that killer mustachio sitting on my face!Puerto Madryn is primarily known on the tourist trail for its proximity to the Peninsula Valdez, a national park dedicated to the preservation of natural habitats for penguins, sea lions, elephant seals, various bird species, and even armadillos!Until our visit to Peninsula Valdez, I had never seen an armadillo before. We got a couple pretty good videos of these goofy creatures tooling around the parking lot chasing tourists and looking for food. Actually, as I was about to pull out of the parking lot, I realized that there were like 20 people taking pictures of us in our car. I rolled down the window expecting to sign a few autographs before we hit the road. However, much to my chagrin, it turned out that people were not taking pictures of me with my newly shaved face, but rather the armadillo hanging out right in front of our tires. I now understand why armadillos frequently turn into speed bumps.From Puerto Madryn, we had two days to kill before our car was due back in Bariloche. Knowing that we may hit some trouble along the way, we intentionally scheduled an extra day at the end of the trip... just in case. Well, fortunately we did schedule that extra day... just in case we needed to do some wine tasting in the Patagonian wine country! Thus, we spent our last day with the Chevrolet Corsa station wagon cruising through the city of Neuquen and visiting 3 of the southernmost vineyards in the world.

Bodega Schroeder: Our favorite of the 3 we visited. When they broke ground for the construction of their main building on the vineyard, they found an enormous dinosaur fossil. Due to the discovery, they now market their wine under the label "Saurus." Their pinot noir rocks. We took one for the road.Bodega NQN: This place was ultra modern with a nice restaurant overlooking the vineyards. The wine wasn't half bad either. Neither was my sweet jumping photo at the front gate...And last but not least, Bodega Fin del Mundo: I love the name of this vineyard. The wine is good but the whole setup is super corporate. I think they are the biggest exporter of Patagonian wine. All that aside, it was the perfect last stop on our 5 week marathon road trip to the end of the world and back. After 5 weeks and 7,413 kilometers, we returned to Bariloche absolutely astonished at how well everything worked out throughout the entire road trip. Dude, we didn't even blow up the car! In fact, when the owner of our favorite Chevrolet Corsa station wagon came to collect his long lost vehicle, he was astounded to find that the car had no dents, dings or scratches. Furthermore, he actually laughed out loud when he looked in the trunk to find that we didn't have to use the spare tire. Apparently, the odds of not getting one flat tire along unpaved Route 40 are about the same as winning the lottery.

On our last night in Bariloche, we all went out to dinner to celebrate a successful road trip and a certain bloggers 28th birthday. From here, we will say goodbye to our road tripping compadres and continue traveling north in search of new adventures to write home about.

Until next time...
Mikey&Marisa

Roadtrip Part II: Torres Del Paine National Park & Puerto Natales

We crossed the border into Chile once again. And this time not on a bus, but in a car! Huzzah!

We stayed in Puerto Natales, a shabby little city, known for nothing other than the being the closest town to the highlight of Patagonia, one of the most amazing and frequently visited national parks in the world...Parque National Torres Del Paine. We spent a couple nights in Natales, getting ourselves organized and mentally prepared for the trek of a lifetime, not to mention the longest trek any of us had ever done.

If you are wondering why the Puerto Natales entrance has what looks like a huge bear as a mascot, it's actually a mylodon, the city's other claim to fame. We'll return to that story later in the post.

Day 1:

We intended to get up at the crack of dawn and sneak into the park to avoid the $35 entrance fee. Government workers tend to be lazy and don't get to work until 8am. So, if we crossed into the park before they got to work, we could play in the park for free. Unfortunately, we failed at packing the night before and ended up going to bed around 2am. Avoiding starting a 7 day trek with 3 hours of sleep, we opted for a few extra hours. We parked the car at Posado Serrano, ate a sandwich by the lake, strapped all our food and shelter for the next 7 days to our packs and hiked what they call the "tail" of the park, a 5 hour hike to Refugio Paine Grande.

On this leg of the hike we were supposed to get some killer views of the mountains we would spend the next several days trekking through, but instead the peaks of the mountains were enshrouded in clouds and we got to walk through 2 hours of rain. It was still worth it and very picturesque.

Fortunately, we locked down a bed in the refugio for the first night, getting used to the roaring winds and pouring rain from inside and watching fools chase down parts of their tent over a cup of tea. Score.

Day 2:

We woke up with sore shoulders, busted out the camping stove and heated up some minute soup for b-fast. Mom, I know soup must gross you out first thing in the am, but the packets weigh less than 50 grams, and we had many breakfasts for 5 to carry. We then threw on our packs (Mikey's was his rocket pack...or so he named it, more than twice as heavy as the girls', but to mister rocket pack man, "light as a feather and always well fueled..."). At this point we were all stoked to hit the trails for Glacier Grey, one of the few places that you can hike up and look down upon the Patagonian Ice field, the second largest ice field in the world, just behind Antarctica.

Well, just as we were warned and the reason so many fear the trek through Torres, the weather was shit. Cloudy and windy with a hint of rain and moments of such heavy downpour I thought the raindrops might pierce the skin on my face. When we had slight breaks in the rain, we were able to enjoy the beautiful views and watch chunks of glacier ice float in the lakes.

We hiked about 4 hours to our campground, set up the tent and dropped the packs. The campsite was amazing, nestled in a little valley on a black sand beach next to the glacier lake.

We then hiked another hour and a half up the valley to get a better view of the glacier. After the last glacier mentioned in our previous blog, we weren't sure if we would still be wowed, but the isolation of the glacier, a 10 hour hike from civilization, and the fact that we were able to sit perched above it without another soul in sight was unreal.

Mike was on a mission to break off a piece of the glacier and drop it in his camping cup with a little scotch to have the ultimate scotch on the rocks. Plopping an ice cube out of a tray seriously pales in comparison to cracking off a piece of glacier and pouring some scotch over it. We got a break in the weather and the sun popped through the clouds for an hour or so. He couldn't get close enough to the glacier to actually grab a chunk, so he just drank scotch while looking at it.

Later that night, he succeeded in pulling a piece of glacier out of the lake next to our campsite and shanking a piece off into his tin camping cup. He made everyone drink scotch on the glacier rocks! Success.

Day 3:

We started the day with the obligatory jumping photo at the campsite before throwing on our packs for a serious day of hiking.Throughout the day, the weather got progressively worse. Rainy, windy, nasty. We only took three pictures the whole day because we had our heads down and hiked for about 6 hours with heavy packs on. I quote Mikey, "I don't want to carry my rocket pack today..." Always well fueled my ass. Regardless, we found a few breaks in the rain and moments to view the imposing mountains above and surrounding us.

Six hours later, we arrived at Campimento Italiano, where there was a huge sign indicating a maximum capacity of 30 tents. As we scanned the campsite, where over 100 tents were scattered and stuffed between trees and over running creeks, we hastily snatched a spot just big enough for our 5 person tent. We got the water dog up just before the heavy downpour hit. In a packed campsite, well beyond capacity, we struggled to find a shelter for our campstove that wouldn't immediately blow out from the heavy winds. Once dinner was over and we were all nestled in our sleeping bags, finally dry and warm the next problem arose...we would eventually need to use the bathroom. Fortunately, our water dog had not only a spacious awning in the front, but also a small awning off the back with nothing being stored. Natalie and I used her tevas (later named "Peevas") to rush out the back, take a quick pee and jump back in. On our first night of rough weather, we applauded ourselves for risking the extra weight in our packs and carrying a water bottle of rum. We needed it.

Day 4:

Campimento Italiano was located at the base of the Valle del Frances, one of the most picturesque parts of hiking through Torres del Paine. We wouldn't know though, because when we woke up in the morning to hike up the valley, it was pouring rain, windy as hell, and we couldn't see a thing. We set the alarm for an hour later, hoping that it would pass, but eventually we realized this was a fool's errand. One of our first sights when we finally opened the tent door was the previously impressive tent set up that someone had constructed over what was a tiny creek the night before. In the morning, there was a heavy stream flooding through his tent and somehow he managed to still be sound asleep. I wished we'd been there when he finally opened his tent door. Instead, we finally sacked up and hiked about an hour and a half up the valley on what used to be a trail but had turned into a river over night. Eventually the rain turned to snow and we were forced to turn back to camp without ever getting a real glimpse of the valley.

Soaking wet, we packed up our muddy, nasty camp and nearly froze to death in the process. We then hiked another 3.5 hours to Campimento Los Cuernos. We were cold, wet and miserable. But not too miserable to throw down a killer jumping photo and walk straight into the lake with our shoes on because we couldn't possible get more soaked. It was actually an incredible trail, that popped out on a rock beach on one of the lakes. Natalie and I were stoked because everyone had been joking about swimming in the glacier water and we got to put our feet in without even removing our shoes!

That evening marked one our more trying nights. Arriving at camp, with a wet tent and a choice of either a plot with a huge puddle or one with huge rocks, we were less than enthusiastic to say the least. With no other choice, we set up our tent with fingers that were about to freeze off and squeezed into the overly crowded refugio eating area to try and get warm. Unfortunately, the refugio itself was meant for the guests paying the unreasonable $40 US for a bed and $20 US for dinner in the crappy dining hall. We managed to stop shivering in the refugio until they finally kicked out all the campers so the rich, old people could enjoy their meal, dry and warm, without us stinky campers. Returning to the tent, we refused to leave it again and tried cooking in our tent's awning, the ultimate fire hazard. Fortunately, we had chef Mike who safely boiled us some pasta. That evening the peevas were critical and even more than the night before, the rum was a vital necessity.

Day 5:

The next morning we awoke to yet another day of freezing, pouring rain. With dirty pots from the previous nights' pasta crusted to the sides, clothes still sopping wet, Josh recovering from having puked the night before, our morale was low. The thought of waiting for our crappy burner to boil a pot of water so we could consume a crappy packet of soup, we sucked it up and spent the best $10US of our lives on breakfast inside the refugio. Coffee, eggs, toast, heater (where Natalie and I spent standing rather than eating breakfast so we could dry our wet clothes we dared to slip back on in the tent) was priceless.

With a newfound vigor for life, we were able to pack up the tent and pose for a rockstar photo.

We were ready to hit the trails again in the pouring rain, and ripping wind. Again, we hiked with our heads down for almost 7.5 hours. The sun only peeked through the clouds for about 5 minutes. We took 2 pictures the entire day.

Unfortunately, it also happened to be our hardest day...the last 3 hours were almost entirely uphill and no one was in the mood to hike any longer. On a positive note, we were all so soaked that we no longer had to try and jump rock to rock across the rivers...we just walked straight through. That night we earned the shots we took in the tent to keep warm. That rum proved to be more important than even my below zero sleeping bag.The use of the peevas were also a moot point. By now it was raining so hard and there was no way we were willing to get wet once we'd dried off in the tent, we all got that much closer by just sticking our butts out the backside, under the awning and peeing while technically inside the tent. What I wouldn't have given to be a boy.

Day 6:

The highlight of our trek through Torres del Paine was supposed to be on the morning of day six. We woke up at 4:30am in the pitch black to hike for an hour to watch the sun rise hit the granite towers that give the park it's name. If it happened to be a good sunrise, the towers would turn red and provide the view of a lifetime. Since it had rained consistently for a few days, we weren't expecting to see much, but we had to give it a try. So we set the alarm, rock, paper, scissored for who had to get out of the tent and see if any stars were visible, and since we finally had clear skies, we hiked up one of the sketchiest trails I've ever encountered at the crack of dawn, with only a few hours of sleep and headlamps. We were essentially scrambling up snow covered rocks in 50mph winds. Probably not the safest thing we have ever done. But it all paid off. The sunrise was beautiful, the granite towers were breathtaking, and all our hard work paid off.

When we couldn't feel our fingers or toes anymore, we headed down the mountain with a feeling of absolute accomplishment. The rest of the day was a walk in the park with literally perfect weather.

We had to backtrack a few hours to get to our last campsite, but it was a different hike that day. I literally took the same photograph from the previous day. Couldn't even see the imposing mountains on the horizon the day before (scroll up if you don't believe me).

Six day W trek through Torres del Paine with a sunrise view of the torres... check. We been there done that!

While an exhausting week...We all made it to the end, healthy, happy and proud.We spent the night in the park at the end of the trail, as it was too late to make our way back to Puerto Natales at this point.

Day 7:

We packed up the car and drove back along the road overlooking the skyline of the mountains that many, unable to hike themselves, tour as their experience of Torres del Paine. The weather was clear once again and we finally began to appreciate the scale of what we had been hiking through for 6 days. While hiking amidst the granite towers, turquoise lakes and snow capped peaks, we thought it was beautiful, but never really had a chance to soak it all in from one vantage point. As we drove further away, we witnessed phenomenal panoramic views. Truly incredible.As well as the most narrow bridge I had ever witnessed...

And we even caught some glimpses of the wildlife people search for days to see...

...a wild fox...guanacos (part of the camel family)

...a grounded condor with his wings outstretched. This was the coolest of them all, as we had seen hundreds at this point flying high above throughout different parts of S. America. But on the drive, we spotted on the hill 100m away, a grounded condor just perched on a rock. Excited, I yelled for Mikey to slam the breaks and I ran up the hill. I got about 30 meters from the condor before it flew away, but it was close enough to be able to truly appreciate the magnitude of this massive bird. He was at least 4 feet tall. It was amazing.

If six days of trekking wasn't enough, we opted to go for the short hike out to see the waterfall overlooking the panorama of the park. Once we'd exited the National Park, we stopped at a famous cave on the way home, the size of a airplane hanger, where they first found the remains of the enormous ground sloth that used to roam Patagonia. They call it a Mylodon. It looks like an anteater mixed with a bear mixed with a sloth. Of course they put hideous statues of them all over Puerto Natales (exhibited in that first photograph above) and even in the cave where they found the remains. The laundromat is called Mylodon. The discoteca is named Mylodon. The restaurants are named Mylodon. They love their Mylodons here. We love taking pictures hanging off the hideous statues.After a week of canned tuna, minute soup and meager bowls of pasta, that night we drank beer and ate 6 pizzas between the 5 of us.

And yes, it was all worth it. Matter of fact, I think I'll throw on some even dirtier clothes and an even heavier backpack and hit the trails this afternoon!

Peace out.

Mikey&Marisa