Monday, February 1st 2016
For the next few days we will be crossing the border from Argentina to Chile via a hiking and boating combination that is gaining popularity, especially with cycle tourists. We will take a ride 37 km down the to the end of the road at Lago Del Desierto, from there take a boat or hike along the lake, camp for a night, hike into Chile and then take another boat to the nearest town, Villa O'Higgins.
We woke up extra early today to get all of our camping gear packed up. I also wanted to make us a big pot of chili to take with us for lunch, so I did so utilizing canned lentils, brown rice, carrots, zucchini, onion, potatoes, canned tomatoes and chile spices I brought from the US. Our transportation to Lago Del Desierto arrived at 9:30. We had expected a mini bus/van but it turned out to be a large 4WD pickup truck with a large passenger cabin in place of a bed. Every so often, a gps coordinated narration system came on and told us about what we were seeing, however, the translations into English were quite strange and hard to understand! We got to stop once to take a photo of Cerro Fitz Roy's north face. Today was cloudier than the previous days had been, but all of the mountains were still perfectly visible.
We arrived to the lake at 11, and spent our remaining pesos at Estancia Lago Del Desierto to gain access to a short hike up to Glacier Huemul and the small lake at its base. It took about 45 minutes each way and passed though some beautiful virgin Southern Beech/lenga forest. It was strange to think that the glacier and forest were owned by a rancher and that they could charge whatever they wanted. It was quite expensive at more than $10 USD per person. At the top we had a view of the deep blue green Lago Del Desierto, the mountains towards Chile and all of the Fitz Roy range, in addition to the glacier and its turquoise glacial lake. We had a picnic at the top, consisting of avocado and tomato sandwiches.
By the time we were back down it was 2 pm and we no longer felt like carrying our heavy backpacks the 12 km along the lake to the Argentine customs outpost. We decided instead to take the boat. We were led to believe that tickets could only be purchased at the estancia. We tried to ask the senile old lady there if we could just send our back packs on the boat and walk the trail, but she told us it would cost the same, so we decided we might as well ride the boat too. We had to pay in US dollars, since we were out of pesos, and she would only give us a 12 to 1 exchange rate, even though 13.8 is what the banks are giving. At that rate, it cost us $75 for a 45 minute ride! We were quite disappointed to find out on the boat that they also accepted US dollars and only charged $30 per ticket and that for half price they took some bicycles on the boat and let the riders walk, so we could have done the same with out back packs! We were ripped off by the crazy old lady at the estancia, after we'd already paid here more than $20 to go see her glacier.
The ride was beautiful. We could see several glaciers along the way and the Fitz Roy mountains the whole way too. The lake is long and narrow and a beautiful clear dark turquoise green.
At customs we set up our tent in an open field and decided to walk a little way down the trail along the lake. We discovered it wasn't terribly scenic and that there were a lot of wet mucky sections, many little stream crossings, uneven footing from lots of rocks and many fallen trees. We were glad we had chosen to take the boat and saved our legs and backs for the longer day tomorrow. This is an isolated place for the border control agents to be stationed, and it only remains open in the warmer months from November to April.
<View of Fitz Roy mountains from the lookout at Glacier Huemul>
Tuesday, February 2nd 2016
We got going just before 9, got stamped out of Argentina and started up the trail that led 22km (13 miles) to Chilean customs. We had 6 km with a gentle meandering uphill trail through the forest and up into the pass. It was pleasant walking and our backpacks with all of our stuff were not bothering us as much as we thought they would.
Once we reached the pass there was a small tower marking the dividing line between Argentina and Chile and some welcome signs for each country. From there, a wide bulldozed dirt road led the remaining 16 km to the Chilean customs. It was easy walking and slightly uphill or flat-ish, as we continued through the long plateau of the pass, but the repetitive motion of walking for so long on a flat surface wore us out quickly. There were kilometer signs nailed to the trees, so we walked looking foreword to each passing kilometer sign. We were in forest most of the wait, but it was not as nice as the Argentinean forest had been. There were many fallen and cut up trees, it looked as if it had started to be logged, but none of the fallen trees were ever taken away. It was quite strange.
After awhile we saw an SUV go the other direction to drop off hikers at the top, and we hoped that maybe it would take us on the way back down. With 6 kilometers to go, the SUV caught back up to us, but instead of offering us a ride, the guy offered to take our backpacks instead, which was just as good, if not better since it allowed us to see the rest of the hike on foot! He had another guy in the car that he must have picked up at the top. We are unsure if he paid for the ride or arranged it ahead somehow, or just got lucky. We also don't get why he took that guy and not us, but we were delighted all the same. Delirious with joy and with a new burst of energy, we began the final descent from the pass, all the while with glorious views of a new lake, Lago O'Higgins, one of the largest in South America and a milky bright turquoise.
When we arrived to Chilean customs, the other hiker we'd seen in the SUV was getting checked in. He was Austrian and told us about a 4 day trek he wanted to do in the area that goes around a section of the lake and up a pass with views of the massive O'Higgins glacier that pours down from the Southern Patagonian ice field. We had not known of the existence of these trails and wished we could go too, but we wouldn't have enough food for that many more days. Next time!
From customs we walked one more kilometer to the "town" of Candelario Mansilla. Really it's just one family's farm. There are a few buildings and a grassy field for camping, all of which is on a bluff overlooking the lake. The lake is fed by many glaciers from the nearby ice field and is itself glacially carved. It is quite massive with an unusual shape, consisting of many narrow fjord like arms. It is also extremely deep. There is no road access to this area and the rest of Chile can only be reached by taking a boat across the lake to Villa O'Higgins.
Parked at one of the buildings we found the SUV with our backpacks inside of it. We knocked on the door of the house and the driver of the SUV answered. We retrieved our backpacks and learned that he is the owner of the farm and possesses the only car in the area, the border control guys get around on quads! He occasionally uses it to take hikers up to the border. For $3.50 (2,500 CHP) we got to camp in the field and were given access to the bathroom and hot shower. He also rents out rooms that are quite affordable as well. Rather than take a shower, we went down to the dock and jumped into the icy water. It was absolutely freezing, so much so that you're almost instantly paralyzed when you are submerged. We jumped in 3 times though and felt quite refreshed afterward.
There were a few cyclists camping with us. They'd had a difficult day pushing their bikes the 6 km up the pass, but a nice ride down from the top! There is also a group of 3 American hikers, and we have learned from them that there is an option to get on the boat early, at 11 instead of 4:30, and take a scenic cruise to the O'Higgins glacier. Since we had wanted to hike there, taking a boat would be almost as good and give us something to do tomorrow instead of just sitting around, so this was good news.
The boat leaves Villa O'Higgins in the morning to drop off hikers and bikers in Candelario Mansilla, then continues with day trippers out to the glacier and then back to Candelario Mansilla for the 4:30 pickup. It's possible to do the crossing in a day, by leaving on the first transfer out of El Chaltén and taking the first boat across Lago Del Desierto and finishing the 22 km hike over the pass before the arrival of the boat at 4:30 pm. We decided to take it easy and split it up into more days though.
Wednesday, February 3rd 2016
We learned today that we were again ripped off by buying our boat tickets in advance. We purchased them through a travel agency in El Chaltén that also booked out transfer to the lake. It seems we were charged more for the transfer than the other Americans paid, we think this is due to the cheesy tour and one photo stop that were provided. We were also charged more for the boat ticket we purchased from them for the ride between Candelario Mansilla and Villa O'Higgins. We would have been better off to just pay for the tickets on the boat. In all we think we lost out on about $50 between the two boat rides and the transfer by road. We have learned it doesn't pay to book tickets ahead in this case and that we should have bought them from the source!
We had an awesome day touring the lake and cruising back and forth along the 2 mile wide face of O'Higgins glacier. The water surrounding the glacier was filled with many enormous icebergs and the surrounding mountains were filled with many additional glaciers. The only downside to the day was that we ran out of food and ended up eating 4 different kind of granola bars to try to stay full and it wasn't enough! The offerings on the boat consisted of instant mashed potatoes or instant rice, both with meat in them.
It was a long way to the glacier and back. We were on the boat from 11 until after 5 when we arrived late back to Candelario Mansilla. There more passengers boarded, then it was another 2 long hours to Villa O'Higgins.
Once at the port on the other side, we had to take a 7 km transfer on a mini bus into town. We were among the last people off the boat because we had to wait for our backpacks to be pulled from their storage compartment in the hull and by the time we got to the bus it was already packed. So packed that the captain of the boat had to take our bags (along with a few others) in the back of his pickup truck to town. By the time we got our backpacks and had our tent set up in a campground it was almost 10 pm, and only a few mini markets were still open. We managed to find a few decent apples, a can of beans and a can of vegetables, but little else.
There was a dining and kitchen area at our campground, but it appeared there were no pots to use. I guess most campers have their own, but our pot is a specialized one that goes with our camp stove and isn't meant to be used on a kitchen stove, so we gave up and just ate the apples. While we did so, we looked longingly at an abandoned sandwich left on one of the other tables. We were so hungry, that at that moment, we would have done just about anything to get our hands on the boring, standard Chilean/Argentinean breakfast offering of white bread and jam!
Before we could get to bed the guy running out campground asked us if we were looking for a bus out of town. We hadn't looked into it yet, but knew that there were only a few buses a week and that they often fill up in advance. He knew of one that was leaving tomorrow and still had space, and since we didn't want to be stuck there, we went and got the tickets.
We were then challenged with the task of finding food at such a late hour to have for breakfast and during the long bus ride. We found another open minimart (the bigger supermarket closed at 9) and from the dismal selection we purchased a package of black olives, a package of mashed potato flakes, a can of hearts of palm slices, a can of sliced mushrooms, some raisins and 4 more apples.
We went back to our tent exhausted and passed out around 11 pm with a 6 AM alarm set to prepare for the bus ride.
What an experience you two are having. I could never do any of that. Sorry you're getting ripped off a lot, too.
ReplyDeleteWhat an experience you two are having. I could never do any of that. Sorry you're getting ripped off a lot, too.
ReplyDeleteThe scenery is almost indescribable. Thanks for including the maps. Even the most basic map that you have down there is 100x more detailed than anything we can easily get in America of that area. It looks like the glaciers are re-treating down there as fast as the ones in Alaska. I guess it is the end of summer, though, and maybe they fill back up in winter. Can't imagine what winter might be like down there. very few people must stay there year-round. Hope you guys don't starve to death down there, with all the dietary limitations and poor selections. You certainly must be in good physical shape to attempt a hike of 22 km with full packs. We walked from Italy to France, along the flat coast road, with no packs, and it took us 4+ hours and we were dead at the end of it. I don't think we went as far as 22 km either. Maybe 20. (That is probably what led to Sherry needing her knee operation!) What you are doing takes huge endurance. I guess you know that! But the scenery must inspire you.
ReplyDeleteYes the maps are nice. I will try to include them when I am able to. Carrying the back packs is really not to bad, the scenery definitely does motivate us!
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