The 11 hour flight to Buenos Aires went smoothly enough despite a total lack of air-con in the hot cabin, however real issues arose trying to catch our connecting flights down to El´Calafate in Argentina. Despite being assured by STA Travel that both the international and domestic airports were within walking distance from each other, we were forced to take an urgent taxi across town for 50 mins to arrive at the right departure location. Ironically, strong winds had delayed all outbound flights, which gave us more than enough time to make the connection AND slum it out on the overcrowded departure lounge floor, waiting in true backpacker style :)
Arriving at El´Calafate close to midnight, I remained surprised at the sheer intensity of the howling winds outside and the thought of pitching tent directly outside the airport quickly dissolved. We ended up hitching a ride with some upmarket backpacker types from Israel (ie. those who use backpacks but travel in hire-cars and stay in upmarket hotels). Luckily we found a great value hostel at 1am with *surprise* hot showers!
The following days plan involved co-ordinating a meet up with our friends Geoff and Etiennette whom we would travel with for the first month. Coincidentally, before even locating an Internet-cafe to make contact I spotted Geoff in the street with his signature purple, puffed out windproof jacket. What really stood out however was his unforgettable ensemble of ´bright blue´ shorts over ´long black thermals´; an obvious homage to fashion degenerates and walking 'Ribena berries' everywhere which sent a clear warning about spending too much time in the wilds of Patagonia :)
What followed was some post-English winter catchup and note swapping about how to best fit in the vast number of adventures over the coming month. Amazingly I randomly bumped into some friends on a round-world trip in this sleepy tourist town and I didn´t even know what continent they happened to be on at the time :P During conversation I mentioned we were open to consider possible volunteering opportunities along the way, which prompted them to recommend contacting a particular 'animal rehabilitation sanctuary' located in Bolivia that they had heard about from others.
First up however would be a trip to the amazing Pierto Moreno Glacier; one of the largest, most active and 'few advancing' glaciers in the world today, outside the polar regions.
Despite a wealthy collection of great friends and memories living in old London town, it was past time I took a real lifestyle-break from the usual rat-race for something more random, unpredictable, adventurous and hopefully sunny ;)
With little more than backpack/tent, camera/lens cap, wallet/girlfriend (always a clever combination) plus the odd change of underwear, Nic and I said goodbye to the cold English winter for ... err ... similarly expected temperatures in the southern Patagonian Andes bordering Chile and Argentina (it is the closest continent to Antarctica after all).
So what should we expect? Hopefully it will at least get warmer as we slowly move northwards into Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia and beyond, plus we may see the odd mountain or two in the Andes with possibly a few trees in the Amazonian north too. Personally, I'm fully anticipating 'the unexpected' as all too frequently happens when inclined to explore off the beaten track, however if this blog doesn´t end up too crazy or inspirational for your tastes, just sit back, enjoy the pretty photos and appreciate the dicipline required too update it regularly it whilst on the move :)
That's all for now; stay tuned for more soon ...
- Andrew
Arriving at El´Calafate close to midnight, I remained surprised at the sheer intensity of the howling winds outside and the thought of pitching tent directly outside the airport quickly dissolved. We ended up hitching a ride with some upmarket backpacker types from Israel (ie. those who use backpacks but travel in hire-cars and stay in upmarket hotels). Luckily we found a great value hostel at 1am with *surprise* hot showers!