Bariloche and El Calafate - Our first taste of Patagonia

We awoke early in the morning on the bus from Mendoza to our first glimpse of the Patagonian landscape. This vast area comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains down to the south west towards the Pacific Ocean. It encompasses both Chile and Argentina and we were going to try and see as much as possible in little over 3 weeks. The scenery was beautiful, lots of green and blue lakes surrounded by large pine forests with snow-capped mountains in the background. The land is sparsely populated so towns or even houses were few and far between. 

Scenery we awoke to on the bus

We arrived in Bariloche in the early evening, and after checking into our hostel, set off to explore the town. The town itself is quaint, it reminded me a lot of a French ski resort with lots of log cabins and buildings made out of irregular bricks. 

Some of the local architecture

Bariloche prides itself on being the capital of chocolate in Argentina and the main street is packed to the brim with lovely chocolate shops selling every kind of chocolate by the kilo. With this in mind we helped ourselves to the first of many hot chocolates here.

Some of the lovely hot chocolate

In order to see a bit more of the surrounding area we rented bikes and cycled for a few hours around the Nahuel Huapi National Park. The going was easy enough as it seemed mostly downhill. We stopped to have lunch along the way at a deserted lake.

Picnic stop

Next we took a slight detour to visit a nearby Swiss village. The village itself was a bit of a let down, but the hot chocolate we treated ourselves to was not! On the return leg of the cycle the views got more expansive and we could make out the road we had cycled in the distance behind the large lake strewn with small islands.

Cycling in the National Park

The view from the lookout point

That evening after the cycle we decided to treat ourselves to our first steaks in Argentina. We both ordered the “Bife de Chorizo” or sirloin steak and marvelled at the sheer size of the steak we were presented with. Its size matched only by the taste, which was also amazing!

Steak time!

From Bariloche it was a “short” 30 hour bus trip to El Calafate deep in the heart of Patagonia. The bus started early in the morning, and with plenty of cheesy movies to entertain us, the journey seemed swift. We arrived at midday the following day and after checking into our hostel signed up for the Asado (Argentinian BBQ) that was taking place that night. There was a mountain of meat prepared by the chef and plenty of wine to keep the spirits high. We headed to bed afterward still tired from the mammoth bus trip that day.

The chef helps himself after dinner

The main draw in El Calafate is the nearby Perito Moreno glacier so we decided to get a bus to the national park the following day to see it. The glacier is considered to be the only sustainable glacier in the world as it’s actually advancing each day unlike others which are slowly melting away.

At the glacier

The glacier itself was massive, disappearing far off into the distance. The slightly blue tinge to it made it seem almost man made.  Every now and then we could hear a huge crash, as some ice would break off and fall into the icy water below. We took a boat right up to the face of the glacier which gave us the opportunity to really appreciate the scale of the thing. Truly amazing! There were also some walkways which you could use to walk right along the face of the glacier and see it from all sides. After a few hours at the glacier we boarded the bus back to El Calafate.

Perito Moreno Glacier

The following day it was onto Chile and to Puerto Natalales in preparation for the W trek!!

San Pedro de Atacama, Salta and Mendoza

We arrived at the Chilean border tired and grumpy after the 5am start whilst still on the Salar tour. Our entrance into Chile was via the Atacama desert, known as the driest desert in the world.

The town is an oasis in this sprawling expanse and is pleasant enough with whitewashed buildings and a tree lined square. Because of many contributing factors (high altitude and crystal clear desert nights being the most important) San Pedro is an ideal place to go stargazing. We booked on a tour and at 9pm boarded a bus out into the darkness.

Snail

The location of the stargazing was just outside town and our guide to the night skies was an enthusiastic Canadian astronomer. Now that the light from the town had petered out it was possible to see clearly the star strewn skies above. The moonlight was very strong, but even with this to contend with there was an abundance of stars. Our guide spoke about the history of astronomy and then began to point out planets and galaxies with a really cool laser pointy thingy. Then the best bit began… telescopes! There were around 10 to choose from each focussed on a different astral object. My two favourite were those pointing at the moon. It was so bright and the telescopes so strong that you could see crevices and valleys and mountains very clearly on the chalky looking ground. Our guide took a picture with our camera through the telescope! I swear to god that is the bona fide moon you see below!

La luna

After a couple of nights we left San Pedro to cross the border bound for Salta, Argentina. The bus was during the day and wound its way around the mountains, slowly descending from the heights of Atacama. Once we crossed the border things began to change, the little houses made with mud bricks were now replaced with concrete structures, there was more traffic, road markings and rubbish. On coming into the moderately sized city of Salta it already seemed more European, more familiar.

Down down down down

Our little hostel was really friendly and we had a fun few days adjusting to the new country and chilling out with the staff and other guests. The main thing that shocked us on arrival into Argentina was the price of everything. With an unofficial (but undoubtedly real) annual inflation rate of around 25%, our two year old guidebook was totally out of date regarding prices. Time to increase the budget!

Not letting this put us off we went out for our first steak dinner, and realised that most of the restaurants in Salta also include a Peña, a show of music and dance for customers while they dine. Unfortunately the dinner wasn't great, but the Peña was excellent! 

Singin' and dancin'

After a few days, we carried on south to Mendoza, the sunny heart of the main wine producing region in Argentina. I expected a small town with a pretty square and vineyards all around but after another 18hour bus journey I quickly realised the city is practically the same size as Dublin!

We booked onto a wine bicycle tour. Even though drunk cycling sounds like a mental idea, this is the typical way to see a few vineyards in a day because the distances are not that great. It turned out that the group consisted of just us two and a lovely Swiss guide so we had a private tour, noice!

Still sober, we started at an old bodega that no longer produces but has a beautiful collection of French oak barrels (including the mammoth below).

In bodega Giol

After this we had our first tasting of red, white and dessert wine and wobbled along on the bikes on to bodega Lopez, a huge wine producer a few kilometres away. I drink a lot of wine but I'm ashamedly lacking in knowledge on production, and it was great to learn a little more. For example the skin of the grape goes into making red wine and that renders it full of anti oxidants.. ergo drinking red wine is good for you! Yippee! A lunch of empanadas was followed by a trip to another vineyard, where they produce organic wines. This was a much smaller operation in a beautiful setting.

Already a bit wobbly

The reason the Mendoza area is so well disposed towards wine production is that the area is in fact a desert, but receives irrigation from a glacier nearby. Therefore the soil is very dry and there are low night time temperatures and high day time temperatures, all of which result in hardy vines that rarely get any diseases.

Yum yum

After some more wine we wobbled back to get a lift home and en route I fell off the bike. (It had to happen eventually.)

On our last day in Mendoza we spent a very relaxing few hours in a thermal spa soaking up the last bit of sun going. Next stop Bariloche and the beginning of our Patagonian adventure!

Tupiza and the Salar de Uyuni

Tupiza is a dusty little town in the south of Bolivia and was a short (by South American standards!) bus from Potosi. What had drawn us here was the fabled scenery, said to be akin to the wild west. As a result  horseriding tours have really taken off and Damien was only dying to give it a go. I myself was a lot more interested in the only hotel in town with a pool… bliss! (And all for just over €10 a night each, Bolivia is fantastically cheap.)

Swimboy 

Relaxing and sunbathing complete, we set off on a horse ride into the country. Within ten minutes of leaving the town it felt like we were in a different world, the land was burnt red brown with lots of cacti and strange rock features. My horse Zapeto was a little feisty and Damien’s Linda was a little lazy but the riding was fairly pleasant if a little sore on the backside!

Cowboy

After two nights in Tupiza we boarded a bus to Uyuni from where we would embark on a tour of the famous salt flats and also cross the border into Chile. From the off it became apparent that this was going to be a nasty trip, for many reasons...

1. It was stiflingly hot
2. There was a sour smell of rancid meat inside the bus. I suspect this came from the locals bringing meat to the isolated communities in the desert like area we were going to cross. But still, ugh!
3. There was a guy sitting beside us who insisted on playing the five (utterly rubbish) songs he had on his      phone over and over and over again. At high volume.
4. There were many children.
5. Some of the people on the bus had not had a wash in quite some time.

Unhappy campers

We broke down half way through the journey in a little hell hole in the middle of the arid landscape. 10 men gathered around a battery and fiddled with it for a while apparently solving the problem. Finally (after 8hours on a very windy bumpy dust road) we arrived at our destination.

View from bus of lonely cloud somewhat making up for smelly locals

Uyuni is a desolate windswept town and the only industry here seems to be tourism, as hoards of people pass through on their way to the magnificent salt flats and national park. We organised a tour for the next day and took an early night.

The next morning, exit stamps from Bolivia obtained, we set off in a 4x4 with a German couple and two French ladies on our three day trip. The first stop was a train graveyard just outside town where there were rusting locomotives strewn everywhere. It was a pretty cool sight with the dramatic mountain scenery as a backdrop.

Trainspotting

The drive carried on for another 20minutes as a blinding white light emerged in the distance. Suddenly the light was all around us and we had arrived in the Salar. This vast area of white salt exists because of an ancient saline lake that dried up many moons ago. The crystals are used commercially but there is just so much salt that it seems it would never expire. It was impossible to look to the horizon without wearing sunglasses. Time for some dumb photographs!

Feeding the llama

We ate some lunch and drove to the next stop, an “island” in the middle of the salt plains, covered in cacti. The lake when full was bigger than Lake Titicaca which gave us some perspective on its massive size. The salt naturally occurs in hexagons which look sparkly and dazzle in the sun.

The "island"

That night we slept comfortably in a little hotel a few hours drive from the Salar. The next day was spent driving around a series of beautifully coloured lakes full of flamingos. Some were like mirrors and reflected the azure blue sky and mountains perfectly. One amazing aspect of being so high is the sheer blueness of the sky, it’s gorgeous.

Water meets sky

One of the lakes had a herd of Vicuna grazing on the shores. These are a protected Andean deer-like animal whose coat is one of the softest in the world. We saw a lot of Vicuna in Bolivia and Peru and they are lovely to watch, light footed and agile. This time they scampered when people got too close, which was a pity (I think the guides could have been a bit stricter on keeping people at bay).

Flamingos background, vicunas foreground

Lunch was al fresco beside one of the lakes. The sun was blinding yet it was quite cold, the perfect conditions for getting sunburnt! (We did of course.)

Nom nom

The most spectacular lake was the last, Lago Colorado, which due to certain minerals present in the water is a rusty red colour. There were lots of people here but plenty of space to admire the view.

Which is redder, a) the lake, b) Damien's hair c) Damien's sunburn?!!

That night the accommodation was a lot more basic.. and cold! The only common language between everyone in the group was Spanish so it was a great opportunity to practice and learn from everyone. I’ve got quite a way to go yet! A bottle of wine courtesy of our guide made it easier to sleep in the cold.

We woke at a brutal hour and drove to see the geysers. As we got closer there was steam everywhere and the horrible eggy sulphur smell filled the jeep. But the geysers were amazing, shooting steam everywhere and creating a very eerie vista in the rising sun. There were also open holes of bubbling grey slime to watch out for!

Alright geezer!

After some more driving and lakes it was time to cross the border into Chile. The tour had so many incredible natural sights it was hard to process them all. Thankfully even our basic little camera did them some justice.  Wow and wow again.

We were sad to leave Bolivia which is a wonderful, cheap, friendly and interesting country to visit. But after a brief stop in Chile it will be onto Argentina and who wouldn't be excited about that!

Sucre and Potosi

First problem with the bus from La Paz to Sucre – there was none. Por que? Well of course they wouldn't tell us, but ourselves and another Scottish couple who had reservations were booked onto another service for no extra charge. Unfortunately there were a few problems with this overnight “cama” bus. Cama my backside, the seats did not recline enough to sleep, there were no toilets, the bus was freezing, they kept stopping for no apparent reason and opening the doors making it more freezing, the driver was smoking, there was a guy snoring like a chainsaw beside us, they played Spanish movies at full blast until about 12pm and finally the reading lights did not work.. all in a nights travel in Bolivia, I kept telling Damien! You've got to be flexible! (Screw flexible, that’s the end of night buses in Bolivia we decided afterwards.)

Sucre from above

Sucre is so different to La Paz. It definitely is wealthier and the white buildings give it a rather regal air. After a day relaxing we decided to do a mountain bike tour, taking the “challenging” classification with a pinch of salt. I can safely say the first half of the tour was the worst two hours of the whole trip to date, and possibly of my life! It was solely uphill at a steep gradient, the road was incredibly dusty and the sun was beating down like a maniac. By the time we reached the lunch spot I had fallen off twice and was quite miserable. Thank the lord the lunch was good and after this it was mainly downhill. I am now firmly not a fan of mountain biking! 

At least Damien managed to stay on the bike..

We hit up Oktoberfest (in Bolivia, how odd!) afterwards to numb the pain in my extremely bruised backside. In a last minute change of plan we decided to head to Potosi in the morning as it would eradicate the need for any night buses and we had heard lots of good reports about the city.

Potosi again was a very different and interesting place (Bolivia, you just keep on giving!) Once an incredibly wealthy city and the equal of many European cities in size due to its large silver mine, the city nowadays is a lot more modest, but bright and appealing with lots of multicoloured buildings lining narrow streets. Also it it is one of the highest cities in the world at a lofty 4090m. You really notice altitude like this, it crushes your lungs when you try to inhale a deep breath and makes any sort of exertion extremely difficult. The main attraction here is a tour of the mines, no longer yielding silver, but other valuable minerals, and now worked as a cooperative amongst 15,000 miners. The interesting (and potentially dangerous) thing about these tours is that you are in a working mine, where dynamite is used constantly as the miners do their work, and there are no real safety precautions.

The mine looms in the distance

Firstly we were given protective clothing and headlamps, and then taken to a refinery where they sort and process the minerals the miners extract. Then we visited a miners market to buy gifts to give to the miners (good old coca, this is all they consume once below as eating would mean ingesting a lot of dust, which makes them ill, we also bought some dynamite and juice). Finally it was up to the mouth of the mine we were going to enter – La Candelaria. I think everyone felt a little nervous at this point as the giggles had died down and the mood was a bit subdued.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go!

The first bit of walking was fine, but then the roof got lower and the temperature began to increase. Eventually we were crawling on our knees, ouch ouch ouch! We finally reached an opening where we got to speak to some of the miners. There was a family of a man and two sons, and the father has worked the mines for thirty years. His nineteen year old son had been there for 5 years. Everyone was more than happy to shower them with gifts after experiencing some of the horrible conditions they work in. “ You'll love your jobs after this!” our guide had told us, and he certainly was right.  

This miner was a little shy (or just didn't like Damien)

We sat in silence (and fear on my part) as the dull thuds of 12 rounds of dynamite echoed through the mountain, making it shake. Quite scary! The rest of the tour involved more horrible crawling through extremely narrow passages and a visit to El Tio, the god who the miners offer up coca and alcohol to. Usually he’s also very well endowed, but this guy’s bits and bobs had fallen off!

Castrated Tio

Everyone was delighted to emerge into the bright sunlight after two hours in the mines, but it was a humbling few hours and like many other experiences and sights in South America made us feel very lucky to lead such comfortable and privileged lives.

That night we had a meal out with the mines group, in a restaurant which I doubt ever served a table of eight before! Next stop Tupiza!

I'll stick with insurance, thanks

Rurrenabaque and the Pampas

The jumbo jet to Rurre

The flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque was on board a tiny 19 seater twin prop plane. The flight was only 40 minutes long, compared to the alternative bus journey, which was a bone shaking 24 hours along a windy, dusty road! In the interest of sanity we decided to go for the faster and far more expensive option. The flight was awful, it seemed like even small clouds were enough to make the tiny plane shudder with fear. I tried my best to read some restaurant reviews that were in the back of the seat in front of me, but even these weren't enough to stop me from leaving fingernail marks in the seat cover!

Rurrenabaque international airport

It was with great relief that we touched down on the dirt runway. The airport at Rurrenabaque was no more than a glorified shed, with a total of 5 people working there in various roles. Rurrenabaque is a nice little jungle town with wide avenues, set right on the Beni river. Everyone drives around on motorbikes (even the taximen or “mototaxis”). We had decided to do a Pampas tour, which is similar to a jungle savannah. The Pampas is a wide green area that floods completely during the rainy season. However in the dry season it is incredibly lush and abundant with wildlife. We checked into a nice little hotel and booked the tour for the following day with Indigena tours, having heard good reviews about them.

Downtown Rurre

Day 1

The first part of the trip was a 3 hour trip down a very bumpy dirt road in a very smelly 4x4. We then had some lunch in Santa Rosa and started to get to know the rest of our group, a guy from Germany, another from Australia and a Polish couple.

Our transport for the next 3 days

Next we entered the national park where we would begin the tour. Our laid back guide Antonio introduced himself and everyone boarded the narrow boat to take us down the river. Immediately we began to see wildlife, lots of tortoises, crocodiles and caiman. The craziest looking animals were capiwaras (which were like huge guinea pigs, as big as baby hippos), we also spotted monkeys, dolphins and loads of different species of birds. Every time you turned your head there was more wildlife, it was incredible. 

After a few hours we reached the lodge which would be our base for two nights. The setting was lovely, on the banks of the river surrounded by trees and with the incessant sound of the jungle all around. The huts were pretty comfortable, but pretty open so mozzie nets were a necessity! On arrival there was popcorn and coffee and afterwards we walked to a nearby lookout point for a few beers and to watch the sunset. Then it was back to the lodge for dinner and a game of cards before heading to bed underneath the mozzie nets.`

Day 2

After an early start and some breakfast, we donned the wellies and made our way towards the pampas in search of snakes. After about an hour walking we reached a marshy area covered with pink flowers, and Martin spotted something in the water. Sure enough it was a decent sized anaconda. Our guide didn't disturb it too much, but enough for us to get some decent pictures.

Anaconda

Some pampas flowers

On our way back to the lodge we stopped for water in a shaded wooded area (where Cora got eaten alive by mosquitoes!). The polish guy saw a bird landing nearby and went to investigate, the bird had flown away but what was left was even more interesting. He had just interrupted an eagle attacking a rattle snake. There was snake blood everywhere and the poor snake was not in great shape. Our guide Antonio told us that the snake was very poisonous and its venom could kill a person in a few hours.

My tiny catfish

Having spotted 2 snakes and feeling proud of ourselves, we made our way back to camp for lunch. Later that day we went fishing for piranhas, only our guide managed to catch one however. Cora and I both managed some very small catfish. All thrown back in of course! That evening it was back to the lookout point for some beers and a game of volleyball, followed by dinner back at the lodge. We also went on the boat that night to look for caiman, easily spotted at night as their eyes glow red in the torchlight. The boat trip at night was a little eerie but the night sky was full of stars and it was quite peaceful floating down the river with the motor off.

Twilight in the jungle

Day 3

In the morning we went to go swimming with the famous pink dolphins. The area where the dolphins lived was full of bird sh*t, so Cora decided against jumping in. I wasn't as smart, so jumped right into the crocodile invested waters where we had fished for piranhas the day before.

Swimming with dolphins (honestly!)

The dolphins were playful enough, but I didn't really enjoy it too much, as I was more worried about the state of the water so got out soon after. The polish girl was actually bitten by one of the dolphins and had the marks to prove it! After the swim we returned to camp for lunch and to pack up our things. I helped myself to a much needed shower after that dirty swim. Then it was a very fast trip back up the river to where we had started from 2 days earlier, into another rickety jeep and back along the bumpy dirt road. That night we met with the rest of the group for a couple of drinks.

The next day was spent relaxing in Rurrenabaque, before flying back to La Paz the following day. My heart was in my mouth for the whole flight, which was much worse the second time around.