On Ernesto's Tracks

After El Calafate I stop for 4 days in the lake district, a region north of Patagonia (some people even say it is not Patagonia). Small trivia: Patagonia is believed to mean "the country of the people with big feet" and was named like this in 1520 by 1.55 m-tall Spaniards (Sarkozy would have felt at ease with them) when they met indigenes Tehuelches - whose size was about 1.80 m on average - and were impressed by the size of their feet.

The main city in the lake district is a cute and relatively small town and ski resort laying on the banks of beautiful lake Nahuel Huapi called San Carlos de Bariloche (but everyone calls it Bariloche, apparently I'm the only one who finds that strange although I agree it sounds better and more special than just San Carlos).

The region has dozens of dark blue lakes and sits geographically at the door of the Andes, just miles away from Chile. Snowy peaks fill the skyline all around and plunge in the lakes. It makes me think of Switzerland and of Grenoble and I already feel like home here.

Following the advice of various locals and people who know the region well, I rent a car to drive `la ruta de los siete lagos´. It is a windy and picturesque road that passes through lakes (7 of them) and wonderful scenery (waterfalls and lush forests). When I bought a map the morning before, the store clerk tried to warn me that the road was not finished. I understood the meaning of "ruta ripia" soon enough. The distance is not great between San Carlos de Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes (about 150 kms) but it took me more than 4 hours due to the poor quality of the road. Moreover, I forgot to charge my camera battery so I

couldn't take any picture along the way. I guess you will have to believe me when I tell you the landscape along this road is splendid, even under pouring rain!

The Lanin Volcano and National Park

The next day I continue north a little past Junin de los Andes on my way to Chile to see the Lanin volcano. At 3747 m it dominates with majesty the eponymous National Park. I stop a little before the international border because I'm not sure I can enter Chile with my rental car. I come back by the mythical Ruta 40, the one the Che used on his trip across South America that participated in feeding his sense of revolt, except I'm not riding a motocycleta and I'm also going it in the opposite direction, going back to Bariloche towards the south. I still try to imagine what it may have felt like: there is something about this country that makes it seem like it's made for traveling!

La Ruta 40 above the Northern Branch of Lago Nahuel Huapi near San Carlos de Bariloche

(Almost) Touching the Glacier

The 2.5 km-wide Perito Moreno glacier

Peter - my Canadian traveling buddy - and I returned to El Calafate, at the South of the P.N. de los Glaciares. This is the "base camp" for the Perito Moreno glacier "expedition". And it must be quite an expedition to make your way among people on the balconies to take a peak at the glacier during high season. Thankfully, this is the lowest of low season and we are about 100 in the park. The setup makes me think of Iguazu falls, where entire buses of tourists are guided to something grand and amazing. I guess I like better to hike for 7 hours to enjoy something like this almost by myself - like yesterday - but the Perito Moreno glacier is enormous and unique and loud (it advances 2 meters per day, makes loud cracks and loses huges pieces of ice to the lake every so often). It was also one of the milestones of my trip, something I have wanted to see since I heard about it a few years ago. I probably won´t come back, but I´m glad I saw it because it´s definitely something that would be hard to see anywhere else. The boat tour was also quite amazing, since it brings to about 100 meters of the icy cliffs - themselves 80-meter high.

¡ Increible P.N. de los Glaciares !

Postcard Material #1

Instead of talking about the magnificence of the Parque Nacional de los Glaciares, I´d rather post a few of the pictures taken along the hike above El Chalten. This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen: a combination of landscapes from the Alps, the American Northeast during foliage season and its great and wild West, to form pure natural beauty. I made friends with Peter, a Canadian from Toronto and will travel with him for a few days. It had been raining for a week in El Chalten but the weather was simply perfect for our hike, yet we met with maybe 10 people the whole day (they probably all left, discouraged): we can´t really believe how lucky we are!

From foreground to background: Max, la Laguna de los Tres and el Cerro Chalten (or Fitz Roy)

Postcard Material #2

Where Are the Penguins?

Are these sea lions Chilean or Argentinian?

I saw a few animals (sea lions, cormorans, seals) on my boat tour on the Beagle Channel, the sound that separes Argentina from Chile, but no penguins. According to the guide, they are moving up North during winter (Rio? I asked). What´s with penguins nowadays, aren´t they supposed to be polar animals?

Also, I found out that Ushuaia, the self-proclaimed most austral city in the world, is actually only so because of their own definition of city. Puerto Williams, in Chile, is technically more South, but doesn´t qualify as a city according to Argentines: it doesn´t have 10,000 inhabitants, or a night club. It´s true that Ushuaia has a few fun ones.

Oh and I got my passport stamped, not once but 5 times (one guy went a little crazy). These things are like flairs at Applebees, the more and the cheesier, the better.

El Fin del Mundo

Above the city of Ushuaia

Yes, it is far: the flight to Ushuaia is 3-and-a-half-hour long from Buenos Aires (not counting the 4 hour delay at the airport which is much easier on one when one is on extended vacations), and it really feels like the end of the world. Nature is wild and right here in your face. An hour hike brings you to glacier Martial, a few hours in a boat to Cape Horn, where Atlantic meets Pacific. I have two more days to experience this unique location before heading north to El Calafate and the - I have heard - majestic Perito Moreno. This is low season and the city is empty, which is nice because I did not come here to see tourists. I came here to see what it looks like where the world ends. And also to get that cheesy passport stamp if I find where they do it...

Day One

A typical porteño bus in the streets of Palermo, Buenos Aires

This is it. After a week of preparation (i.e. 7 vaccines, stocks of drugs against any disease found in a typical medical encyclopedia) and mild apprehension, my journey finally begins.

I arrived in Buenos Aires after an uneventful (and half-empty) 13-hour flight from Paris on April 28. I could not have hoped for a better welcome gift than the weather: it is beautiful (30º C) on this side of the world too (I just had a spectacular week in France). The hostel I booked for my first night in BA is great, except for a minor tweak - it moved since the publication of the guide, which led to my first communication challenge with a cab driver, but I know there are many more are to come. The place is full of people with strange ideas like taking one year off work to travel the world. After a day of visiting Buenos Aires (more on the city when I return after heading south) and a night of good food and conversations (carne asada and wine beats jet lag), I leave tomorrow to Ushuaia at 8am. I will not be further from home at any point of my trip than there. "El fin del mundo", as the Argentines proudly call it, some 3000 kms south of Buenos Aires. I think it is quite an appropriate place to start exploring.

A cute meat shop in Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires

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