I know.. I know I haven´t updated this in a long time but when one is in Patagonia with no broadband, it´s not the easiest thing to do! Well myself and Nicki left Buenos Aires far behind us and flew south to El Calafate, a quiet little town with not much to do except organise a bus to the neighbouring national park of Los Glaciers. It´s winter in the southern hemisphere at the moment and as far south as we are it´s very cold, cold enough for a glacier to still advance at an astounding rate. Well we visited Glacier Perion Moreno and were awed by it´s beauty and size. It´s really hard to decide which photos to put up from the many we took. I hope these do it justice, if not, you´ll just have to go there yourself some day! After El Calafate, we crossed over into Chile, second time for me but first for Nicki. We stopped at another sleepy town called Puerta Natales. I say sleepy but walking around and seeing all the closed hostels and restaurants, it must be a hugely lively place in summer. We decided to go hiking for a few days in the renowned park of Torres Del Paines. Well we were there in the off season which meant very very few tourists and cheaper accommodation but it also meant that all but one refugio in the park was closed, the transport to the park was very limited and the weather was antartically cold. This meant we needed to go self sufficient. We spent one stressful evening renting a tent, cooking gear, random bits and bobs and trying to figure out and buy the food we´d need for four days in the wilderness in Patagonia. It was a great learning experience for both of us and when the day arrived we hitched up our heavy packs and hiked off with high spirits.

Day one:

What was to come:

The weather:

Our first night in the opened kitchen for campers:

Day two:

Promising skies:

The "Horns" in the background. I´m standing sideways to try and avoid being toppled by the wind!

Our water supply:

Misty glaciers:

Heart for our Justin and Simon:

Our kitchen night two:

Day three:

Filling up for the day... icy!

Clear skies at last, but still the ever present wind. The gusts would pick up sheets of water and slam them down on top of us, knocking us over if we were standing. I´ll never forget hearing Nicki shouting "look out, there is another one coming" at which point I´d run to the nearest tree or boulder, crouch and hang on for dear life!:

Beautiful!!

Us!

The last valley!

For Simon:

Kitchen night three: Day four:

Our trusty (wet) tent:

The refugios were closed but that didn´t mean we couldn´t sit in their porches:

Us again:

Winter peaks:

One last look back:

Guanaco:

Condor:

Fox:

Puma:

Our reward!!!!!

I could write so much more about our experiences but all that photo uploading took a long time and I´m going to bed. I´ll tell anyone whose interested when I get back.

xx R & N