around Argentina

Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn/Peninsula Valdez

After the stress on friday, i had a nice brunch with my friends
before i left Buenos Aires. the trip on the bus was very comfortable, i
almost had a bed to sleep and the service on board was also very good.
after 17 hours i arrived in Puerto Madryn. the temperature was not as cold
as i thought it would be. so after i reached the hostel i was all sweaty.
my bagpack is heavier as i thought... after i checked in at the hostel, i
walked around the city. the city looked like a ghost-city, nobody on the
streets... later on i had the answer. Boca (football team from Buenos
Aires) had a very important game, so everybody was sitting infront of the
TV. Boca won, and the whole city went crazy!

on the following day i booked a tour to Peninsual Valdez, a nature protected area. very nice nature, no
tourists at this time of the year. i saw some pinguines, sea lions, seals,
birds, armadillos and guanacos.

Ushuaia

at 11am on the next day i already continued my trip further south. Comodoro, Rio Gallegos, into Chile (4 times passport control!!), Rio Grande and finally after 32 hours Ushuaia. in the bus i met an australian guy and i spend some time with him in and around Ushuaia. it's a dream, the end of the world! i didn't think, that it's going to be so great! and once more, it wasn't as cold as i thought. we made a boot-trip, where we saw lots of sea lions, seals and cormoranes. and of course we saw the most southern lighthouse. at night we cooked some vegetables as a variety to all the meat.

next day we went horseriding. i felt like a cowboy, or as they say here, a Gaucho. we went through woods, rivers, swamps and at the ocean we washed the horses from the mud. in the afternoon we went to "Tierra del Fuego" Nationalpark. there you can do different walks in time, length and difficulty. marvellous nature protected area. in the summer time you can camp there very good, but for this time of the year...would have been a bit cold...at night the hostel organized a asado and we had a good time eating, drinking, singing...Paul "left" me on Saturday and i spend some quiet days in Ushuaia.

El Calafate/El Chalten

on Monday, 15th of May, i booked a flight out of Ushuaia to Rio Gallegos. almost the same price as with the bus, but much more comfortable and much faster! from there i took the bus to El Calafate, only 4 hours. After i ckecked in at the hostel in El Calafate, i decided to continue the next day to El Chalten. at 7am we started and after 4 hours bumpy road we arrived in El Chalten. only about 800 people are living there and the town is surrounded with the famous mountains "Fitz Roy" and "Cerro Torre". unfortunately we didn't have much luck with the weather the first day. snow, wind and fog. we did a little hike to a nice waterfall.

over night it snowed about 20 to 40 cm! and the next day was just perfect weather! we got up early and got ready for a longer hike. in our group were 3 french, 2 argentines (Martin and Rodrigo), 1 english guy (Ian), 1 Kiwi and me. we stumped through the snow and were looking for the path. there was a gorgeous panorama, mountains, glacier, lakes... at one point we couldn'd finde the path anymore so we were a bit lost. we strumbled over a swamp area and jumped over a river, we all made it safely to the other side. and finally we found the path again. after 6 hours we returned totally happy to El Chalten. it was a fantastic day to remember for ever. at 5pm we took the bus back to El Calafate. we ended the perfect day with a perfect dinner with "bife de lomo".

Of course you have to visit the Perito Moreno-glacier when you are in El Calafate. incredibly!! i never saw so much ice at one spot! very impressive and when you have luck and see some ice crash, then your day is made!

Bariloche

my travel went further by bus at 3am to Bariloche. Ian also plend on going to Bariloche, so we traveld together and i had nice company. the longest
bustour till now for me, 34 hours!! but it was also one of the nicest. the
nature is very nice here, looks very similar to Switzerland... that's why
this region is also called "the argentinien switzerland".

the first day we went with the public bus to do the "circuito chico", it takes you to a little town called "Colonia Suiza". as the name already tells you, was the town found by swiss people over a 150 years ago but these days not much remembers of Switzerland. the way back we hiked and passed some beautiful scenery. dinner we had in the famous restaurant "Albertos" where i ate the best meat till now.

Monday, 22nd of May, we rented a car and drove towards San Martin de los Andes. 2 guys from south africa joined us. 4 people in a Fiat Uno over rough and smooth and over snow, that was very exciting! the route is called "ruta de los 7 lagos" and goes along lakes (of course!), woods and mountains. it crosses 3 different national parks! the steet is not paved for over 140 km, so it's a bit bumpy especially with a Fiat Uno. on the way we had luck and could watch 2 deers fighting. after our returne to Bariloche, Ian and me had 2 new room mates. Martin and Rodrigo from El Calafate/El Chalten. you always meet again. Ian left the following morning back to Buenos Aires, so it was nice to have these 2 guys for company!

3 boring days followed, lots of rain, didn't do much.

Friday we rented again a car (3 argentine machos and me). we went again through the national parks and passed bye a town called "Villa Traful". it's located on a big lake and you can only reach it over a unpaved road. fall took over the woods and we could see some very nice colours. Saturday i went up to Villa Catedral, the closest skiarea from Bariloche. in about a mount should be opening of the season, but there is no snow and they are still renovating the town. the chairlift doesn't look to comfortable but i guess we are just to spoiled in Switzerland!

the boys convinced me for a kayak-trip! so i ended up 3 hours in a kayak with freezing toes! no, so cold was it not, but floor heating wouldn't have been bad...

maybe your asking your self, why i'm spending so much time in Bariloche. well i asked me that question as well! but the reason is, that i was waiting for my credit cards which would be send over from Buenos Aires. but as i am in a country of south america, all takes a bit longer. finally
they arrived today, so tomorrow i take of to Chile, Puerto Montt, Chiloe.