Southern Patagonia

In this southern part of Patagonia called Region Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena I will stay the last couple weeks.

Day 68 (21.01.2024) Ferry 01

The first night on the Ferry I didn’t sleep a lot. The seats fold back pretty well but it was extremely hot and sticky in the passenger’s room. Also, the excitement from the new situation kept me awake for many hours. In the morning hours, just before sunrise I finally could sleep a couple of hours until we went for breakfast at 09:00 am. To spend a whole day on a Ferry is not as boring as it seems. Since we crossed through all these amazing fjords it was more like a amusement cruise than to bring people simply from A to B. Before lunch we came to a huge old, rusty shipwreck which was still in very good condition. Grass and even trees were growing on the surface, indicating that it must have been there for several decades. It was hard to tell whether it was a transporter or a fishing boat. It didn’t look like a tanker or a battleship. To have a good view from all sides the captain was making a full loop around the wreck. Later, just before lunch was served, we had a quick stop for approximately 45 minutes in Puerto Eden where we could buy some Empanadas in the harbor area. We were not allowed to leave this area. A wooden board indicated that in the year 2002, 172 people lived in the town (70 women and 102 men). An official from the Carabineros told us that by now even less people would live there because due to the climate change the density of fish decreased. Fisheries is the main economy the small town has to offer, which is only reachable by boat or air. After lunch we were cruising through a very small channel with beautiful fjords. Later the captain showed us an icefield where he let the ferry rotate twice around the axis, so we could see it from all places from the boat. The dinner was served around 19:30. While there was pork and mashed potatoes for lunch, we had now chicken and rice. Both times a soup was included plus a yoghurt or an apple. The evening I spent on deck watching for wildlife, such as dolphins or seals etc. The evening I spent on deck watching for wildlife, such as dolphins or seals etc. I saw a couple gulls and then a bird running over the water. A man, to whom I talked a bit, told me that it was a bird that can’t fly and looks kind like a goose. I guess I must do some literature research on this. Good I new quite a lot of people on the fairy already. There was Silvia, the Swiss girl I new from Cochrane already and the two Chilean bike riders (Werner and his friend) that I met after Puerto Bertrand. Furthermore there was the German couple bike riders that I met in the Refugio Rio Ñadis, the ones that took the Sauna before me and some guys that spent the last two night in the same hostal Rio Bravo as I did. This was the backpacker Giulia from Italy, then an older Chilean woman with red short hair and a bit of a strange couple Erich from Germany with his 20 year older female chilean friend Laura. Strange in the way that Erich complained always about traveling with Laura and paying her everyhing. Don’t know which benefits he gets in reward but it’s his choice to be with her or not. Laura was about 42 and Erich roughly 15 years older. Last but not least, there was Cinthia from Concépcion, which I also met already in Cochrane on the Festival of 70 years. By chance, our seats were next from each other and so I had someone to practice my spanish with and since she was already traveling a lot all over the places she also gave me tipps about further potential trips and hikes. She was traveling also by bus and backpack but brought tent and all the camping equipment along.

Day 69 (22.01.2024) Ferry 02 – Puerto Natales

I slept much better this second night. First I was already used to the seats and second still extremely tired from not having slept much the previous night. The day began similar cloudy as the previous but we still had a fair view to the surrounding fijords. The last couple hours I spend mainly on deck in hope to see some sea mammals but I wasn’t successful. Finally we came to Puerto Natales in the later afternoon. I was then going straight to the hostal Yu, which was a bit outside of Puerto Natales. Funnily that Silvia from Switzerland was also in that hostal. Somehow we keep on crossing each other all the time. I had a large room with three beds for single use and it cost me 40’000 which was rather a lot. I didn’t go to bed too late because I was still very tired from the ferry trip.

Day 70 (23.01.2024) Puerto Natales 01

This day was relaxing day. Besides working a bit on my computer I went to buy a couple things in the supermarket and planned quickly my 3-day / 2-night Trekking adventure in the Torres del Paine National Park. In the evening however, I went to the gym my friend Nate told me about, who was also in Puerto Natales a couple weeks earlier. I then bought also the bus tickets for the next day at 07:00. Since the hostal Yu was full, I went to another hostal which was more downtown which belonged to the same owner. There I had a private room which cost a bit less (30’000 Pesos). There were some other tourists that also planned to go on the Torres desl Paine the next day. In the evening we did all the past preparation and I went to bed a bit passed midnight.

Day 71 (24.01.2024) National Park Torres del Paine 01

General thoughts about Torres del Paine

Torres can’t be compared to any other Park I’ve seen in Patagonia. On one side because it’s astonishing beauty and extreme powerful nature which perfectly reflects Patagonia. No wonder it’s rated as fifth most beautiful place on earth. But on the other side because of some cruel private companies located inside the park ripping of tourists. Official camp sites are scarce, small and booked out many month’s ahead. Besides this, some shameless companies offer tents equipped with a sleeping bag and charge 200 Dollars per night! So I had no other chance to book this private camp grounds and do the W-Trail in an absolute minimum of time of two nights. Since there was no need of carrying around camping equipment, I decided to go on minimum of weight and booked the VIP-Package which included half-board. Good I still brought a lot of Cereal Bars, Nuts and Bananas, because the portions were extremely small and never would have compensated the calories I burned. And best, hyper clean glaciar water was provided by mother nature:-)
To my surprise, a towel was not included in the VIP Package, so I had to rent one at the first site and use my spare shirt on the second site. Ok, that was enough complaining. Still extremely happy that I went and about the right decisions I took regarding trail choice and starting time. Moreover I was extremely lucky with 7weather conditions!Would I recommend this National Park? Definitely, but under consideration of a couple things. Main thing: If you want to do easy, enjoyable hiking, then choose at least 4 days, most people do it in 5 to 6 days. But if you like being the first person laving the camp site in the morning, walking fast all day without longer breaks and then end up partly trail-running in the evening while carrying a backpack in order to rush to the next camp site just before they close kitchen and showers, then choose 3 days! To me it payed out this way, because I was mostly alone on the trail and didn’t spend much time on the over-crowded camp sites. For further details keep on reading.

At 6.00am I got up, had breakfast, and walked to the bus terminal. Many buses left from there at that time, but they were all marked, so it was easy to find my bus that left at 07:05am. The bus ride was quite relaxing, and I could even charge my phone and watch again. At the Park entrance a guard entered the bus and told us that we all must leave and go to the gate o scan our tickets. People that would keep on going to the other entrance of the park named Pudeto could leave their bags in the bus he mentioned further. So, I left and went to scan the ticket. When I reentered the bus, the driver told me that I would have to change the bus and that the guard told us wrong. It’s probably because most people had left the bus and took the shuttle to the main entrance. Since I was going to do the famous W-Trail in the opposite direction I had to go to the other entrance Pudeto and so did only a few other people. So, I quickly grabbed my things and went to the other bus that brought us to Pudeto from where I had to take the Catamaran that took us to the Sector “Paine Grande” from where I would start hiking. Now I figured out that I had left my AIWA ear phones in the previous bus. I told the bus driver to contact the driver from the Spiderman bus about my lost phones. He said he would and so I just hoped that I really left them there and didn’t drop them somewhere else and that they would keep them and take them to the bus terminal. Well, I would have no music for the hike, this was for sure. The Catamaran was quite big and so everyone could go on board to make it across Lago Pehoé. It took around 30 minutes and cost an extra 25’000 Pesos. The ride was very nice, and I was able to gaze a first time really on the Torres Park (Vid. 01). When we arrived at Paine Grande, there was a long line of people that wanted to border to leave the Park. They must have waited already for a long time because they didn’t make it on the first Catamaran that came to pick us up. It was definitely a good choice to do the W in opposite directions, so I would avoid the big flow of people. Once on land I started immediately to go on the trail. It was a very nice trail, not too steep, not too difficult. I was full of energy because I already ate a sandwich on the boat. Without any big break I went all the way to the sector and campground/refugio Grey which was a bit more than 10k (Vid. 01). On the way there I had already a marvelous view on the Lago Grey where junks of ice were floating. I went one more kilometer to the Look-out for the Glacier Grey. There I had a lunch break for approximately 45 minutes, gazed on the nice lake and glacier and was extremely fascinated by the pure nature up there (Vid. 01). Then I went back to the Refugio Grey and had a cappuccino for 4000. Price was ok because it was large and tasty. I left around 4pm and saw a sign that you shouldn’t go on the trail after 3pm. Well, I had already booked my tent at Campground “Francés” ignored the hand-written sign and was going fast back. It was the same trail and so I knew I could even trail-run a bit on it. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one on the trail because I passed quite a few people also returning. Wind got stronger and stronger and was even pushing some rain clouds from the glacier. Having these extreme wind gusts additionally helped to go fast. Back at Paine Grande I took a left and continued a new trail that would bring me to Francés. This was quite an easy and very scenic trail too. I passed Lago Sköttsberg with extreme gusts. Some of them raised the water from the Lake and looked like small tornados (Vid. 02). It was still a long way because I frequently stopped to take pictures. Finally, around 8.30pm I reached the campsite. At check-in they told me that warm shower ends at 9.30pm and that I should go immediately for dinner that I booked in advance. I received my sleeping bag and was heading down to the dining room. Even though I booked the VIP-Package I still had to pay 3000 Pesos for a towel. After dinner and shower I went immediately to my tent which was on a platform about 1.6m above the ground. The tent was very large and soft (Vid. 01). I fell a sleep quite quickly because the previous night I slept only 4 hours.

Day 72 (25.01.2024) National Park Torres del Paine 02

At 6 am I woke up even though I didn’t sleep a lot due to the heavy rain drops falling on the tent all night long, producing lot’s of noise. I needed to be finished taking breakfast by 6.30 as they told me the previous evening. So I packed all my things, brought the sleeping bag to the place where they collected them and went to the dining room which was around 500m down the hill. When I entered around 6.20 I was the only one and a small breakfast was ready for me with a greeting card. The self made card was nice however the breakfast lousy. Two small slices of toast, a bit of cheese and 2 hard boiled eggs. Good that some muesli dispenser was in the room as well. Surely I couldn’t make a couple sandwiches for lunch. The eggs however I took with me. Later a waitress came and when I asked for more bread the answer was a clear “No”. This for a breakfast that I payd 30 Dollars…a joke! After breakfast I filled my hydro bladder and left the Campsite around 7.15. The weather was still very moist with a bit of shower. I began by wearing rain coat and put the rain cover over my backbag. The first two kilometers I had to go back to the entrance of the Valley Francés where the trail started to the Britannico outlook. The trail was much steeper than the previous day and more difficult due to the water that was sometimes crossing the path. Because of the heavy rain during the night, some paths turned into small creeks. Since my shoes were not completely waterproof anymore I had to be careful not to step in the water. All the way up I was alone on the trail. About half way up I saw two girls on a small look out point. Some of their clothes were laying on the rocks besides so I guess they were illegally camping out somewhere there. When I came to the upper section clouds disappeared a bit and I was able to see the incredible panorama. Once on the final outlook “El Britannico” I took the first longer break to eat something. I wasn’t the only person anymore because shortly after my arrival an English speaking young couple came. Knowing that I didn’t cross anyone on the way up showed me that I must have been the first one on the trail this morning. On the way down I crossed a lot of people that started after me. I also met once again with Giulia. I was back at the Francés camp site around 13.45. I only entered the site because I wanted to charge my watch which was about running out of battery. The recording of the two days used a lot of battery. However the bar was about to shut down and the dinning room too far. I keept on walking until the next site “Los Cuernos”. There I had a coffee, 2 peace of cake dnd could charge my watch. At 15.15 I left this site and continued my way in the direction of my next camp site “El Chileno” which was about 17k more two go. Even though my feet and legs were not that fresh I tried to trail-run occasionally to safe-up some time. My goal was to be at the campsite no later than 7.30pm in order to have enough time for showering and dinner. In the end I was even a bit quicker because I mistakenly calculated the large connecting trail from the second to the third leg fully. But already after 3/4 of the trail I turned into another path that would bring me to the camp site. When I found out about this I took a break to relax a bit and eat a banana before continuing walking on moderate speed. I reached the site around 7.15 pm. My turn for dinner wasn’t until 8pm, so I had time to take a shower. This time I had to use my shirt as a towel because they didn’t offer anything for rent. At the dinner table I met some people that also planned to start hiking at 3am in order to see the sunrise at the world famous Mirrador de los torres. We had a good conversation and even received the welcome drink this time. The food was totally cold but they heated it up for us. Around 10pm I went to bed. The tent was identical from the previous night. But this time two sleeping bags were already in the tent.

Day 73 (26.01.2024) National Park Torres del Paine 03

Even though I put my alarm to 3.30am I woke up already at 2.45. Since I didn’t feel too tired I slowly began packing my things and went later to the restaurant to see if there was already some breakfast prepared. Besides a bit Muesli and coffee, nothing was around yet. It was ok because most people ordered their breakfast in continuation to the morning hike. After two coffees andca bitvof cereals I left around 3.45am (Vid. 01). First I followed three Chilenean women and later I teamed-up with a Dutch guy. Because it was completely dark we were using head lamps. Almost on top, the sky started to get brighter and we could see for the first time the silhouette of the world famous Torres. By the laguna in front of the torres peaks around 50-70 people gathered. Most people started from Refugio Chileno as I did a few crazy ones started a bit after midnight from the very bottom. It was cold and windy and I was happy that I brought lots of clothes with me. Now the color changed and Las Torres appeared pink. It was a breathtaking moment and the time for everyone to jump on the huge Boulder before the scene forca selfie. Suddenly a man and woman went up together. The man down on his knees proposed to the girl. Big applause followed from everyone around. Unbelievable, but within the next 10min another couple jumped up on another rock and did just the same. They also received applause but much less. Everyone felt a bit sorry for them not to be the first ones. I even though it was a spontaneous reaction after they saw the first couple. Later I’ve heard that it was also planned. What a pitty not to be the first one I thought. He could have waited another occasion. A bit later the first sun beams stroke the torres and lighten them up. Slowly from top to bottom. Around 90min after my arrival I left completely happy with many pictures and videos taken. If not the nicest, then it was surely one of the nicest sunrises ever. Down at Refugio Chileno I went straight to breakfast. This time it was much more and the waitress even brought scrambled eggs. Shortly before 10am I left and hiked down to the main entrance. People told me at breakfast that I could change my 8.20pm bus ticket to a 3.00pm ticket at the office by the gate. On the way down I crossed a couple thousand people hiking up to The Torres. Mainly just with a small backpack indicating that they were day tourists. At the gate, around 12.00 , I could change my ticket and they told me that my shuttle to the bus station would leaf at 2pm. In the meantime I went to a small creek to bath my feet for about 30min. My Achilles tendon hurt quite a bit. The shuttle brought us to the exit from where the bus sur took off. Back in Puerto Natales they told me that found my head phones dnd I could pick them off at the autobús service station. First I walked home and then went to pickup my head phones before going to the gym. In the evening In went to bed and fell asleep immediately.

Day 74 (27.01.2024) Puerto Natales 02

After the last three days of hiking marathon, I didn’t plan a lot for today. Since the hostal was full I had to go find a new one. So I left around noon and checked out a couple places in the center. Mostly they were full until I found one for 45’000 which was ok looking but too expensive. Finally I found the hostal Nancy for 35’000 where I checked in. The room was nice and had a private very clean bathroom. I went back to the previous hostel Isla Yu, loaded my bike and rode to the new one where I spent a couple hours on the sofa working. It wasn’t too nice weather and so it was good to work a bit. Later I went downtown to buy new socks and then for a coffee and cake near the sea. The evening I spent in a Bar restaurant eating a tasty Ceviche and Salmon with Guinoto (Guinoa that tastes like Risotto).

Day 75 (28.01.2024) Puerto Natales – Villa Tehuelche

Today was the day to leave Puerto Natales and heading towards Punta Arenas. I left the hostel around 11 o’clock and did some grocery shopping before hitting Highway 9 “Carretera Fin del Mundo”. On the way out google maps was guiding me through a gravel riad which wasn’t too nice. Around 12 o’clock I was finally on the highway and blessed with some tailwind. Weather was also quite nice and so I decided to go as far as possible. The further I was riding the flatter the area got. The landscape was not that interesting and remained the same. While passing a couple smaller lagoons I could spot some geese and later I saw a couple lama herds. Around 8.30pm I began seriously thinking about how to spend the night. Firstly I wanted to camp out because there was no city around. But the strong wind would make it very difficult to put the tent. There were no trees neither hills around to provide a protected area. So I decided to go to the next and only kind of city near by named Villa Tehuelche. As an alternative I was even thinking of sleeping in one of these bus station houses on the side of the road. Down here they looked quite fancy and some you could even close with a small door. While passing the village I saw a house with a couple bikes on the front yard with bags. So I was sure it would be some hostal. Indeed it was but it was fully booked. The lady told me that there’s only one more hostel at the entrance of the town. So I went there and luckily they offered quite nice and very cheap hospedaje. I ended up paying only 15000 with breakfast included. I also was able to use the kitchen and so I cooked Couscous for dinner on a wood stove. The owner of the house was a very kind and nice lady. Around midnight I went to bed.

Day 76 (29.01.2024) Villa Tehuelche – Punta Arenas

The breakfast I was served was really nice and included scrambled eggs, ham, cheese and bread. Also different jams. During breakfast we spottet a Fox on the other side of a small field. It was a fox mother feeding their 2 cups. I went quickly outside to do some filming. In the later morning I left and had to put on my rain coat because it began to rain. Luckily it was just short and the only time during the day. Generally the cycling was much harder than yesterday even though less kilometers. Today with lot’s of side and head wind. Just little bit of tailwind. But it’s all compensated by the spectacular encounter of today. Condors! While going on the Highway 9 (Fin del mundo) through the pampa I suddenly saw 4 birds in the air ahead. I thought they were black vultures. Coming closer I saw their white ring around their throats and also their huge appearance. By the time I finally got my camera, they have flewn away. Two on one side the others in the opposite direction of the road. After waiting about 5min two were turning around and flying towards me again. But approximately 500m before, they flew on the ground. I waited about 10min for them to take off again but nothing happened. So I put my bike on a road sign so it wouldn’t fall and decided to look after them. First I had to cross a fence and then I stepped through the bushes. After sbout 300m I saw a huge armada of Caracaras like guards standing around an area that was a bit lower on the ground. Then from this lower area I could see sometimes heads sticking up with the white band around the throat. They must be eating something dead animal I guessed and was firmly approaching. Suddenly one of the Condores flew away and a bit later the other took off. I jumped on the ground and crawled to a bush to be invisible for the birds. Then a couple Caracaras where approaching to where the Condores were before. A cadaver of a sheep was there. I layed there for about 15min but the Condores didn’t come back anymore. The Caracaras were now fighting over the left overs. Looks like Condores are much shier than Caracaras. Happy about this nice encounter I went back to the bike and continued my journey.

Day 77 (30.01.2024) Punta Arenas 02 – Isla Magdalena – Punta Arenas 02

In the morning I relaxed a bit and after lunch I went to a small touristic office to check what type of tours they had. The lady from the small hotel where I was in told me, that it would be the cheapest agency in town. I was interested in a Penguin tour but read in the internet that it’s a one-day tour to Argentina which includes visiting the Magellanic Penguins. I then found out that they also go to Isla Magdalena twice a day, which is Chileans largest colony of Magellanic Penguins. It’s a very beautiful island in the middle of the Magellan Strait. However, they would only go if the sea was not too rough. I then asked if they have one more tour for today and they had one leaving in thirty minutes. So, I booked this tour for 95’000, went straight home to get my camera and then went to the pick-up place on the side of La Placa de las Armas, which was only a 7min walk from my hostel. A small van brought us then to the harbour where we entered a rather large catamaran. It was about one third filled with people. The boat ride to the island was quite fast and it took only 90 minutes. During this time, the guide explained us a little about the colony but mostly told us how to behave on the island. It’s illegal to leave the small round path and that we always should maintain at least 2m from the Penguins. If they approach you, you can not stand still but you must move back. Touching and feeding them was strictly illegal. Once on the island it began a bit to rain. But the weather didn’t matter because I was astonished by the thousands of breeding Penguins there. Besides the Penguins, there were also other birds, such as sea gulls, geese and skua, the natural predator bird of the Penguins. I tried to be always a bit before the crowd from the boat, because there were a lot of screaming kids that I wanted to avoid. The vice chief of the guides, a woman that came on the island with us, let me go ahead, which was very nice. So, I was able to do a lot of filming (Vid. 01). Exactly after one hour we had to be back on the boat. On the way back the chief guide, a man, explained us a bit more deeply about the life of the Penguins. He knew quite a lot about Penguins and Biology in general that impressed me. The sea was rougher, and the wind got stronger. Still, I went outside because it cleared up and was very nice weather by now. I could then see a couple dolphins. After the tour I went home and rode with the bicycle to the Zona Franca, a district where you can find tax free products. It’s extremely famous for tax-free cars and so there are a lot of car-dealers there. But they also have a mall and a couple outdoor and outlet shops. Most of them were already closed when I arrived and so I went to larger warehouse which looked a bit like Walmart. There I also found a section with camping equipment. Since I was going to go on a multiple Trekking hike in Puerto Williams I needed a good backpack. They had only very cheap ones a couple medium quality ones. So I bought one for 24’000 Pesos which is in fact very cheap. I hoped it will do it’s job for a couple days trekking. In the evenings I went to a gym near the Zona Franca. It was quite nice but extremely crowded and cost me 8000 Pesos.

Day 78 (31.01.2024) Punta Arenas 03

In the morning, I went right after breakfast again to Zona Franca to check out outdoor clothes and hiking shoes. Clothes I bought finally in a large outlet store. I was lucky that they had a lot of good products from the Chilean brand “Doite” in my size. I liked their style and it somehow fit me very well. The trail running shoes from New Balance and a pair of hiking boots from Lippi, which is also a Chilean brand I bought then in the mall “Fallabella”. In the later afternoon, yes it took me about six hours, I went to my hotel, put all my products that I bought there and went to the Cemetery “Sarah Brown”. Normally I’m not visiting Cemeteries unless I know someone that is buried there. But this one in Punta Arenas even appears on travel guides as one of the top 10 rated in the world.
Honestly, I wasn’t impressed that much. Many thumbs need to be renovated and the multicolored plastic flowers are neither my taste. A bit irritating was the War Memorial for the Germans that lost their lives after First World War (Vid. 01). After the Cemetery I went to the same gym I was already on the previous evening.

Day 79 (01.02.2024) Punta Arenas 04 – Ferry

In the morning, I packed all my things and left with the bike to a friend of Cynthia (Cin), named Mauricio who lived on the outskirts of Punta Arenas. It was quite windy, and I had to fight against the wind, which was quite hard. Unfortunately, my bike hit a hole in the asphalt and on my rear tire a spike broke. I already had this before Valdivia once, so I knew they can repair these kinds of things in Patagonia. Cin told me a couple days ago on the Ferry from Tortel to Patagonia that she is going with a friend to Puerto Williams, the southernmost city in the world which is located on the Island “Isla Navarino” on Tierra del Fuego, not far from Cape Horn. To this Island you cannot go by bike, only by Ferry or airplane. The trekking trip Cin planned supposed to be in the pure wilderness away from every kind of civilization. Since she seems to have a lot of experience in trekking, I asked if I could join in. I never planned on going there because I didn’t really know about this place. As many other things on my trip so far, I decided spontaneously, that’s why it’s beneficial to travel alone, without making too many plans beforehand. The friend of Cin, Israel (Isra), is a total beginner, when it comes to Trekking and therefore Cin was glad, I would join in so we would be a group, which means more safety for this kind of adventure. Furthermore, Cin also asked the Italian Girl (JuJu) that I met in the hostel in Tortel and so we were finally a group of four with whom I’m going to spend my largest Trekking Adventure in Patagonia. At Mauricios place I put everything I needed for the trekking adventure in my new backpack and left the bike and bags at Mauricios place. Mauricio then brought Cin and me downtown, where we met with Isra. We went together to a travel agency to book a return flight from Puerto Williams back to Punta Arenas. We decided that it’s enough to have the Ferry, which lasts over 30h just for one way. Furthermore, this ferry only leaves Puerto Williams once per week, and one week might be not enough, while two weeks would be too long. So, we bought the airplane tickets for the 12^th of February. After we’ve done the reservation, we went to a place for lunch where you get served local food and where we met up with JuJu. The place was quite crowded since it’s very popular for locals and it took us a while until we found a table for four. After lunch we went for a walk on Costa Nera. The wind was extremely strong that day and we were almost blown away on the sidewalk. A bit later we received the message, that the Ferry will not leave as expected because of the strong wind. We would get informed later. Hmmm, with this information you don’t really know what to do, because you cannot plan anything that takes too much time. Cin, Isra and Juju wanted to go to the cemetery, so I followed them there. Since I was already the previous day and not too impressed, I decided to wait for them in a near-by coffee. There I had a good internet connection to work a bit on my side. Later on, we met in the big mall “Fallafella”, where we bought all the essential food for the 6-day trekking adventure. While being there, we received the message that the Ferry would still leave tonight, around 10:00pm, which was good. Glad I haven’t booked another hostel yet. After the mall I went with Isra to his hostel to get his bag, and then after a short coffee break to the Harbor from where the Ferry would leave. Cin had to go all the way back to the outskirts of Punta Arenas, where she had her things with her friend Mauricio. Isra and I arrived right in time, but Cin wasn’t there. Juju was flying to the Isla Navarion and wouldn’t be with us on the ferry. After 15 more minutes the staff asked me, when Cin is about to come because the ferry was about to leave. Finally, in the very last moment she arrived with her luggage and my backpack. The wind was now totally gone, and we could go on the upper deck to look at the stars and the quiet night. Later, Isra, Cin and I played a game with wooden blocks, where you have to take out one piece and then put it on top of the growing tower. The one loses by whom it fells down. Seemed like Isra and I had the better nerves than Cin, where the tower crashed twice. Later we went to our seats. My seat neighbor was a quiet French guy, which was good, so I could right fall asleep.

Day 80 (02.02.2024) Ferry

The night wasn’t too great, but I still could get a couple of hours of sleep. I already knew about these seats from the other ferry and so was my back prepared to a rather unused sitting/sleeping position. This ferry was smaller than the previous one and had less people on it. The meals were served to everyone at the same time, without eating groups as on the ferry from Tortel to Puerto Natales. Quality was mainly the same but with the amount they were not as greedy. It was no problem to ask for additional food and the staff was also very nice. I guess the reason is because it is a smaller ferry, and a lot of people were not tourists but locals that went back to their town Puerto Williams. Residential people also had the right for a bed-seat, which was much more comfortable than ours and paid almost nothing for the tirp. This is totally fine since they are not on holidays. After breakfast we went a bit on the deck, from where we could observe different sea birds and “Focos del mar” occasionally. The weather was cloudy with sometimes rain drops in the air and much colder as on the previous ferry. Also, the vegetation from the surrounding fjords was much lower than further north. There were hardly any trees and it looked tundra-like. Later inside we played a bit Uno, and it looked like that Cin had more luck on this game than the coordination game on the previous evening. In the afternoon we went on deck again to look-out for whales, but we couldn’t see any. Later we saw some dolphins. In the evening before it got dark, we saw the Darwin-Island, which wasn’t anything special. It looked like any other island in the area. In the evening, I took a shower and went to the seat to work a bit on my website. The shower in the Ferry was quite nice, with hot water. Later I went to sleep not too late.

Day 81 (03.02.2024) Ferry – Puerto Williams

We arrived in Puerto William in the early morning and fortunately Cin had already organized a transfer to one of the rare hostels in Puerto Williams. The driver then told us a bit about Puerto Williams and showed us the only place where you can rent outdoor equipment in the town. We all checked in to the hostel and looked a bit through the window. We could see a couple snow covered, not too high mountains on the other side of the island, which was clearly Argentinian mainland. It was very impressive that the vegetation stopped already a couple hundred meters above sea-level. It was obvious that we had arrived to the very south finally, which is part of the Subantarctic Region. Afterwards we took a shower and went right away to bed to sleep for a couple more hours. When we got up a couple of hours, for the second time already today it was almost noon and so we decided to go to the outdoor rental place. It was a very small but neat shop with a very nice man working there. He also sold fishing gear and so I asked him about good spots. He told me then about a good place to catch Salmon. I then rented a Doite Backpack which was much larger and of better quality than the one I had bought in that Walmart looking mall in the Zona Franca in Punta Arenas. In the afternoon we went for a walk downtown, which was very small. In the early evening, we walked then all towards this place where you can catch Salmon, which was by a small bridge on the way to the airport. On the way there we passed a small harbor where an old navy ship was open for public. It was very nice on the inside with a lot of flags from different sailing crews and looked museum-like. By the time we arrived at the fishing place it was already 5.30pm. We then walked a bit on the side of the laguna until we came to a small peer, where I started fishing. Another man joined us fishing with bit older fishing equipment. He was quite sympathic and mentioned that he works for a hotel that was a bit higher up the hill and has been living for nine years in Puerto Williams. He gave us many tips about what could be done in the area and so on. Then it happened and I had a bait. I could feel that it was a big one and got very excited. Now it was all about bringing it on the shore. Now I could see the fish the first time and saw that it was a good-sized Pacific Salmon. My heart beated higher because I never caught a Salmon and it had been always a dream of me. I successfully brought the Salmon to the shore and then it released from the hook. I was very happy this didn’t happen when the fish was still in the water. After the obligatory photo session, we went home. Me, being very proud and happy! Back at the hostel I had to cut the Salmon in 5 portions, so it was possible to put it in the oven. We then all enjoyed a nice fresh Salmon dinner 😊.

Day 82 (04.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Trekking 01)

We woke up at 7.15am in order to take the transfer at 8.00 that brought us up to the place from where the trekking trail started. So we had a very quick breakfast and packed the last things in the backpack. Finally we were around 15min late for the 15min transfer. Once at the starting point around 8.30am we made the final checks on our backpack, put rain covers on them and coats on ourselves since it started to rain. Additionally to my extremely heavy backpack I had to carry the second tent since no one else had room nor too much power. Well, since it seems that I am the strongest one in the group it was ok. The fishing gear I brought also in case there are possibilities. By the time the driver brought the other group of hikers to the starting point we were still there. The three guys we met at the Garabineros station on the previous day were also at the starting point but began hiking right away. So, we began as the third and last group. The first couple of kilometers was a moderate incline inside a forest of Ñire trees. It was slightly raining and every hour a bit less. We were going on a moderate speed but obviously the four of us don’t have the same fitness level and so it ended up me going ahead, putting my backbag down, running back and taking the backbag of Israel uphill. His bag was not nearly as heavy as mine but somehow he was lacking energy. By the time we came out of the forest it almost completely stopped raining and we could see for the first time the impressive mountain range”Los Duentes de Navarino”. After a while we passed the group of the older people and were heading down to a laguna where we had a lunch break. Next to the lagoon I noticed footprints of an animal that could have been the size of a Puma. Since there are no Puma reports for the island, it must be another animal. Later I saw more footprints from paws with claws. Now it was sure that they didn’t belong to a cat-like species but a dog. After lunch break we continued our trekking. Our group leader Cynthia “Cin” proposed to go a bit faster, so we make it to the campsite in time and also for the fact that the winds wouldn’t be too strong on the pass that was ahead of us. Now we were mainly going up-hills and winds got stronger and stronger. We even reached the level of some snow patches we had to cross. One steep incline came where I was waiting for Israel “Isra”, who was still quite behind. When he came I offered him the last coffee out of my thermos that he drank with pleasure. The caffeine was very good for him because now he went faster. Finally we reached some lagoons with campgrounds. Most sites were completely soaked with water or totally exposed to the extreme winds. Finally Cin found a good spot where we set our tents. In the wind it was extremely difficult but we managed in the end. I went then down to a lagoon to wash myself. The water was extremely cold and so was the icy wind. It wasn’t a pleasure but a necessity. I could never enter my sleeping bag unwashed. I would feel disgusted and don’t think I would sleep well. So I jumped in the water and tortured myself with the song in my head “what doesn’t kills you makes you stronger”. Then I ran back to the tent, jumped in the sleeping bag and tried to heat up my toes, which were pink-blue from the cold. After 30min I was feeling better and joined the others that had prepared dinner already. Isra made Couscous and Cin cooked some rice. Dinner was very tasty. During the night the wind gusts kept me up for a long time until I could finally sleep.

Day 83 (05.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Trekking 02)

All night was very rough with strong gusts and heavy rain. But when we got up in the morning, the rain had stopped and the sky cleared up. I was happy my gear that was outside of the tent was covered well, so nothing was wet. After breakfast, which contained also some left overs from the Couscous, we started the hike around 10.30 am. The plan was to go down to lake Winhond, do some fishing and come back the same day. So we left the tents and only took essentials for one day. I took my big backpack because I had no other option but without most of the gear, while the others just brougt the very essentials. Giulia “JuJu” and Isra shared a small shopping bag while Cin only brought her camelbag. Her sweater she put in my bag. For me it was ok to have the heaviest bag, so I would do a bit extra exercise. First we came to a small forest of Ñire trees, where we got lost the first time. After about 15min we found our way out, continued on the trail until we came to the foot of a big mountain. The area was quite wet and JuJu complained already for having wet shoes. She brought only her old, completely worn-out running shoes, which got already soaked the previous day, once she stepped in a wet area towards the end of our hike. Then she wrapped them all in ductape last night, hoping they would hold. Of course they didn’t and so she had to fix the again. Good Isra brough a full new tape because JuJu covered their entire shoes in it. While she was renewing the whole thing together with the help of Isra, Cin and I continued the hike to the top of the mountain from where we had a wonderful view all around (Vid. 01). By the tim Isra and Juju catched up with us, we continued our hike on the ridge until we reached the end of the mountain from where we descended a quite steep little trail. Since I’m very experienced going downhill on this type of trail, I passed Cin and took over the lead. There was another drop which was full of loose rocks that you could sort of surf-down on your hiking boots. On the bottom we continued hiking on a the flat are until we reached a small but beautiful lagoon. A small river was going into the lagoon, from which we took water to fill our bottles and hydration bags. At the end of the lagoon was a small river exiting which we followed about 1 kilometer until we entered the forest area. The trail in the forest became worse and worse until we got lost. Now the biggest challenge began for me. Namely following the others jumping over and beneath fallen trees with my large fishing rod that was attached on my backbag. I always had to make sure not to entangle in the branches or leafs so the rod wouldn’t break. The soil was covered with dead trees that were falling apart, some of them covering holes. And the whole thing was in extreme steep area. At some point I gave up following the others and made my own way through the deep forest. I just new from the screams of Cin that we should move on to the right. After about half an hour more I entered the path again. I could see the others above and waited for them to continue the path together. The path was descending steeply until we came to a river. Once again, the path ended in the no-where and we continued our way on the right-hand side downstream. It wasn’t really a path, but sometimes we saw marks on the trees and knew we must be right. We did so until Cin told us that we would have to cross the river. Since there was no bridge we crossed by walking over a beaver-dam. Beavers are famous for constructing solid dams and so we tried our luck. The dam was about 15 to 20m long and in the middle about 3 to 4 meters high, and therefore rather scary to pass it. The stems and branches the beavers used to build this dam seemed quite solid and so it was more likely that we would slip out on the wet wood and fall as the dam would break. No matter what, it would be a great adventure and of course we took several pictures and a video of this happening. Once everyone made it safely to the other side, we continued our way through a rather open forest until we came to some open wetlands. In the very far we could see the Lago Windhond, where we wanted to go. The way through the wetland was interesting because the small ponds were in orange-rusty color and besides the water the vegetation was dominated by moss. When I checked on google-maps it seemed like the lake would be about 3-4 km away. To not demotivate the others, I didn’t say anything because I wanted to go badly to the lake and catch some salmons. Shortly before the lake we came to a “Refugio Charles” which looked more like an old wooden cabin which was abandoned half a century ago. Inside the Refugio someone set a tent on the ground, so we knew we were not the only ones in the area. Furthermore, there was some old fishing equipment, an old stove and a couple worn out mattresses without cover. Juju and Cin found a guestbook with entries reaching back to 1970 and started reading through the pages until I mentioned that we rather go now to the lake. By the time we finally reached the lake it was five-thirty. Juju said that I could fish until six and then we should head back to our tents. I was just looking at Cins eyes and knew that she was thinking the same as I did, and I replied to Juju that it was impossible to return anymore on that day. It took us over seven hours to reach the lake and even if we could start returning right away, we wouldn’t be able to be back before 11pm, in the complete dark. It was already easy to get lost during the daylight, and so it would be most probable to get lost during the night. Additionally, we would have to go uphill, against the very strong and cold wind, possibly rain and all this being quite tired already. Since returning on that day was almost pure suicide, we discussed what we could do instead. Food and clothes we brought only for one day. Further we had no tents nor sleeping bags. The only option was therefore to stay in the Refugio because there they had at least a wood stove and some mattresses. After we discussed the further program, the girls made a fire on the lake and went for a quick swim to wash themselves while I went along the like in hope to catch a fish. The lake was extremely shallow and so I took off my pants to walk about 100m into the lake until the water reached above my knees. The water wasn’t very cold and so I could fish there for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, besides a lot of seaweed I didn’t catch anything. Around 7pm I told the others that I would try to catch fish in the river nearby while they go and collect some wood for the night. The river was totally inhabited by beavers and so I tried several spots after dams, where the water was a bit deeper. The only fish I saw were very small trout of about 10cm that sometimes followed my rubber-fish. Suddenly I saw a quite large beaver on the other side of the river. It was bigger than the ones I saw in Switzerland. I took my camera, but the beaver had disappeared already. But then I saw another one on my side of the river and I was able to observe it and even film it for a little while (Vid. 01). Afterwards I tried some more fishing and returned to the Refugio. By the time I was there it was already dark. The others collected some wood, and the stove was already burning some of it. We split the rest of the food we had and discussed that we could start walking around 3am with our headlamps if it would be impossible to sleep. I put then two mattresses next to the stove and covered them with an old sleeping bag that was left there by some earlier travelers. The guys from the tent in the Refugio placed our tent outside meanwhile we were on the lake. Around midnight we tried to sleep. Isra and I tried to sleep first while the two girls were keeping the stove working by putting some wood occasionally. Later, Cin and Juju joined the mattress and now it was Isra and me that took care of the stove. Isra could sometimes even put wood in the stove while still laying on the mattress, that close we were from the fireplace. Covered in all our clothes we tried to spend the night somehow. I was quite alright, but the girls mentioned that they were freezing a bit. This was a night, no one of us will ever forget.

Day 84 (06.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Trekking 03)

Shortly before six and after having survived the night we sort of got ready to leave the Refugio and go back to the place, where we had our tents. We had saved up some tortillas and grapes for the breakfast, so at least we could eat a little bit. On the way back we first had to cross the wetland. Somehow Cin got lost and we ended up facing a large pond that we couldn’t pass. Going around wasn’t possible because it was connected with a rather big creek that we couldn’t pass. Therefore, we had to go back for about two kilometers and lost already approximately one hour. Then we went back more or less the same path as we came on the previous day. This time we did not get lost in the forest. I was recording all the trekking on my Garmin-watch that was about running out on battery. I estimated it would last around five hours more and since we were not moving extremely fast, I decided to go faster than the others and meet at the campsite. Around one o clock I was at the campsite, and everything was still there as when we left the previous day. Quite tired I took a short nap until the others came around 45min later. They yelled from outside the tent that they found a new friend. When I opened the zipper from the tent, I saw that a big black dog was with them. Somehow, they found the dog on the way and it followed them. It looked like a domestic dog because on the gut you still could see some marks from the band he was waring once. Around three o clock we put our tents together and continued fully packed our way. We had about 10more kilometers to go until we reached the Laguna Escondido. It was much higher and there weren’t any trees around. There were already three tents, indicating that we were not the only ones in the area of wild camping. The only flat place seemed to be on a small peninsula because there was already one huge circle made from hundreds of loose rocks that would serve as a shelter against the wind. It looked kind like a igloo without no roof. Right next to it was another flat place, where already some rocks were laying, but not enough to protect a tent. Therefore, we began collecting all the stones in the area to build another wind shield (Vid. 01). After about 45 minutes it looked reasonable and so we placed the other tent there. It was almost dark and so I went a bit further up and found a small, shallow laguna to wash myself. The dog Juju found in the morning was following us all the way and tried to play with me, while I wanted to wash myself. This was a bit annoying because I almost fell in the water.

Day 85 (07.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Trekking 04)

Surprisingly the night wasn’t too windy, and I slept quite well. At sunrise time I woke up and saw the nearby mountains behind the laguna in a sparkling pink color indicating that it will be a nice weather day. I slept for another two hours until finally getting up. For breakfast, Isra cooked a very tasty porridge for the four of us. Since we had to cross a pass before the wind gets too harsh, we left right after breakfast. During the day the clouds got denser but still it wasn’t raining. Still, we covered our backpacks with the rain cover. Just before the pass we felt the strong wind and so we put on all the wind stoppers we had available. Wind got intense but not as strong as expected neither was the difficulty of the trail. Almost on top I left the path and was crossing over the loose rocks to get a real nice view over the valley and lagoons laying behind us. On laguna hermosa we had lunch and rested for a bit before we went further. We didn’t do that much on this day and were already at the next campsite in the middle of the afternoon. It was at the beginning of a nice looking laguna. There was also another campsite located on the other side of the laguna, where we would pass the next day anyway. Since we didn’t hike too far yet and were not tired at all, we went there to see whether this campsite was as nice as the one we were now. We went about 2km on the shore along the laguna but then returned to the first one, because it wasn’t as nice looking. On the way there we crossed a mid-sized river coming from the mountain, from which we loaded our water tanks. Even though the water from the laguna looked very nice we didn’t risk taking the water directly out of there. It’s been said that the water on “Tierra del Fuego” is contaminated by the bever activities. Truly, there were lagunas with totally contaminated water because they were quite shallow and dammed by beavers. Not this one, but since it was still in a forest area with beaver traces on the trees, we decided to use the water only for cooking. Back at the first campsite, we could choose among several nicely arranged spots, since there was no one else besides us. In comparison to the previous day, where there were round, circular walls made from loose rock around the place for the tent, this time wooden branches were used. Since we were on a lower elevation, surrounded by trees, wood stems seemed to be the better option for constructing a wind shield instead of rocks. For the fact that we were so early, we had all time to wash our clothes and take a bath. In the evening, we made a nice fire on the lake.

Day 86 (08.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Trekking 05)

In the morning Cin told us that we were now on the pre-last day and have about 10 kilometers ahead of us. On the last day, we then only would have to go approximately 6-7 kilometers. Juju then wanted to do it all in one-day to be earlier back in Puerto Willims. It didn’t make much sense to the rest of the group, because the purpose of going to Isla Navarina was the Trekking adventure. So why to return one day earlier, pay an additional night in a hostel and potentially being bored in Puerto William. And in the end, we were happy we had not to go further than these 10k, because it was very difficult terrain. First, we were going to the other side of the lagoon, as we already did the previous day. On our path was a duck-family with about 8 nestlings. I told the group of going a bit uphill to make a large circle around them. To me it’s important to respect the wildlife and give the animals priority, especially when they are having offsprings. After the laguna we were coming to the last but most difficult pass of our trekking adventure. Going up was not difficult but then we had to hike along a very dangerous traverse full of loose rocks. Cin and Juju were ahead, and Cin tried to carve small platforms with her walking poles into the ground, for each step a new one. The walking speed was almost zero and I was a bit bored. Juju on the second position was extremely scared and almost totally laying to the mountain side because she was afraid of sliding down. Her body was total shivering, and I could see that she was extremely scared. To me it wasn’t anything special since I’ve been walking in much harder terrain. I decided to pass Cin and Juju and to go quickly to the solid rocks that were about 50meters in front of us, so I could help them on their way. I also wanted to demonstrate that the path just looked scarier than it really was. Further I told them that today wasn’t the day to die and that everything would be ok. Since it was my 46^th Birthday today I definitely didn’t want to die on that day, but this I kept as a secret. It was the first time in my life I didn’t receive any greetings from anyone that day which was sort of awkward on one side but also very amusing on the other side. Now I finally felt being at the “End of the World”, with absolutely zero connection to the rest of the world. I deposited my backpack on the solid rocks and jumped back to take the backpack from Juju. I was surprised how light her backpack was. Once, everybody on the other side we had to go down towards a large laguna. I was relatively fast down because I was most likely sliding on the rocks. I then kept walking on the left side of the laguna until its end where a wild campsite was located. After about 30min everyone came along, and Cin told us that there would be another wild campsite a bit further down in the forest. We continued our way for approximately 15minutes more until we arrived at a couple really nice spots. Once again, we were the only ones around. The ground was soft and mostly flat, and the wind didn’t enter so it was the quietest campground so far. We arrived around 5pm and so it was now even clear to Juju that it would be a total stress to continue until Puerto William on that day. After I set the tent, I went upstream on the river that came from the laguna to wash myself. Like on most other days the water was freezing cold and so my toes were extremely cold after the washing was done. Tonight, the girls were responsible to make the fire, which was more difficult because the wood wasn’t as dry as the previous night. Furthermore, we wanted to save gas and so the purpose of the fire was not only to keep us warm but also to cook our food. We still had several options for dinner, and I would have appreciated Polenta. Juju then replied that she doesn’t want Polenta because it’s “food for the poor” in Italy and that she prefers Couscous. Finally, they ended up cooking Couscous. It was a bit irritating to me because it was not the first time that Juju showed this bossy behavior. She always wanted it “her way” from the first day on and was also very loud always. Further she didn’t seem to care about the wildlife in the area and even wanted to ignore the duck family that was on our path earlier today. Once I told her to be quiet for one minute, because I was video taping a rather rare geese species she just replied, “who cares about these ducks”. Mostly irritating to me was the way she treated Isra when he wasn’t that fast on the path. Yelling “Isra, hurry-up” is not the way how to shout to the weakest link in the chain. Isra wasn’t that used to trekking and so this several-day trip was a big challenge to him. Often, he was the last one in our group, and I sometimes tried to help him out carrying the heavy backpack or waited until he passed so it was me on the last position. Juju could have better contributed to the group by taking some weight from Isras bag because Juju’s bag was by far the lightest. Anyway, these are just my thoughts, and she also has her good sides. She was always fun to talk to and never in a bad mood. Further I respected her iron will to continue the trip with us by wearing her old trail-running shoes that were falling apart, leaking water and taped all over. A classical vagabond as she called herself. After the Couscous was cooked, we then additional cooked some polenta and I was happy because I remained still very hungry. The night was very quiet and not as cold as other nights. Seems like the trees also isolated very well because the tents were not exposed to the cold night-wind.

Day 87 (09.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Trekking 06)

The last day of our 6-day trekking adventure started with a mixture of sun and clouds, which is typical for Patagonia. Since we only had about 3 to 4 more hours of hiking ahead of us, we didn’t hurry too much in the morning. Shortly before lunch we started our last hiking adventure by firs cruising through a network of smaller lagoons and beaver dams. Once more you could observe the disaster the invasive beavers conducted in the area. They cut down so many trees, regardless of how thick they were and constructed dams all over the places. Sometimes the path was extremely wet and so we had to go around it or walk along-side of a dam. Once we passed this area, we continue our way by going through a quite wild forest with trees laying all over. Sometimes we had to jump over the trees, sometimes to crawl beneath them. Surely it slowed us down and we just very slowly came along. It was interesting to observe that more and more trees had cancer-like ulcers from which some orange-beige “fruits” were growing. Isra told me that this was a fungus living in a symbiosis with the trees and that the fruits were eatable if they were still of pink color. People would collect them and add them to the salad. Surely, I tried some of them and must say that they were of a very nice and fresh consistency but without any taste. On the last kilometer, Cin proposed that we could leave our backpacks on the ground and hike up to a near-by waterfall. Juju then replied by ignoring everyone else opinion that she had seen already enough waterfalls in Chile and so we kept on going to the main Carretera that connects Puerto William to the airport. Finally, we were back in the civilization and had internet connection. This was the end of our long and amazing trekking adventure. Cin then ordered a minivan from the airport that brought us to Puerto William. It was time for late lunch, and we went to a Colombian restaurant for some big Churrascos. Fortunately, the waitress then hooked us up with a near-by apartment where we checked in later for the remaining days in Puerto William. The apartment was quite big and had room for six person and included a small kitchen and a washing machine, which was very useful for the moment. For the evening, we went to a nice restaurant, where played some card games and celebrated a bit my belayed birthday.

Day 88 (10.02.2024) Puerto Williams – Puerto Evgenia – Puerto Williams

After a good and long night of sleep I went to the near-by rental station to return my backpack. Already on the first day in Puerto William I understood that the cheap backpack I bought in “La Zona Franca” in Punta Arenas probably wouldn’t last for too long. Further it contained only a volume of 60 liters and therefore I went to rent a large Doite backpack that was extendable to 100 liters. Now I brought it back to the rental place, which was a small shop not too far from our apartment. The owner was a very nice guy and charged me one day less because we came home on the previous day, while he was not in the shop. Further he told me where I could go fish for Salmon. It was in a bay, called Puerto Evgenia, which was about 23kilometers going south on the coastel highway. Therefore, I rented a bike and left around 3pm. The purpose was to catch a Salmon for dinner. Cin, Juju and Isra stayed in the town and went to the beach. Later they bought ingredients for a Salmon-Ceviche. So it was all on me to catch a Salmon. The highway to Puerto Evgenia was a pure gravel road and t took me about 90 minutes to go there. It was very nice weather, and I could enjoy the nice coastel scenery of Puerto Williams. Once at the bay I saw already others fishing. I started to fish and walked towards the open sea. The wind was very strong and so I stayed mostly in the wind-protected area. Slowly the water was coming in more into the bay and everyone told me that its best to fish during high tide. There were a lot of plants in the water and so I got my fishing-spoon entangled many times. After about two hours, around 7pm, I saw rainclouds on the sky c coming from Puerto William. Since I agreed to be back latest by 9pm I got a bit desperate of still not having caught anything yet. I decided to cycle a bit back and try it in another lagoon again. After about 3k, I came to a very long lagoon that was just barely connected to the sea. Somehow it looked promising and so I tried my luck again. Indeed, after about 30 minutes I had the first bait. I felt a strong Salmon on my line and was very happy. When I almost had the Salmon on the land, I saw that it was enormous, at least the size of the one I caught on the arrival day of Puerto Williams. But then somehow the Salmon came free and swam away. At least I knew now that there were Salmons in there and that they were hunting. So I tried intensely to catch the same Salmon again or another one in that laguna. By now I had extremely cold fingers because the sun had already disappeared long time ago and the wind was now not only strong but also very cold. Finally, I realized that it was already 9pm, the time when I agreed to be back latest. Very disappointed of not having caught a Salmon I packed my things together and was cycling as fast to Puerto Williams as possible. The wind in my face slowed me down extremely and so it took all my power to cycle back. When I arrived a bit after 10pm they already waited desperately for me and bought already a Pizza for the case I wouldn’t be successful. The pizza came from the Pizzeria named the “Pizzeria furthest south of the World”. For the night, my friends wanted to go to some karaoke disco called Antartica. I said that I would rather go a bit earlier and then not staying for too long. I also agreed with Cin to go on a fishing hike on the next day. There’s a laguna called Alinghi, which was around 13km away from town. The guy from the rental shop told me that you need around 4 hours to get there. So, we agreed to go there by 8am of the next day. Finally, at 1pm they were standing up from the table and said let’s go, after I was waiting for over one hour on the kitchen table for them to get ready. I went to my room and grabbed my jacket and by the time I left the apartment they were already gone. I didn’t understand their behaviour. Guess they were mad at me because I came home without Salmon of because I was late more than an hour. Then I saw them a bit later on the street but was already in a bad mood and just wanted the key to go back to sleep.

Day 89 (11.02.2024) Puerto Williams (Hike to Lago Alinghi)

After a night without any second of sleep I was standing up around eight o clock. I cleaned all the dishes from the previous evening made some coffee and a sandwich to bring along with me. I had no appetite and waited for about 90 minutes. Since no one was around I left shortly before 10am with my fishing equipment. The weather was awful, and it was already raining. The total opposite of the previous day when it was nice, warm, and sunny. I walked in a fast way down to the harbor, passed the bridge and then entered the path that would bring me to Laguna Alinghi. My thoughts were all over, just not on the right path and so it happened that I took wrong path. I loaded the coordination on my Garmin watch, but the southern America cards were missing. So, I just saw whether I was on the right track or not, but without seeing where I really was. The plan was that Cin would join me and she had the path perfectly saved on her app on the phone. The path I was on now was going straight up with an extreme incline. There were ropes on the side of the path so you can pull yourself up. It felt strange to me because the man from the rental shop told me that the path is very flat. I saw on my watch that I wasn’t on the path, but it didn’t seem to far either on the side. So, I decided to take a short cut through the woods to find the real path. I crossed then through the deep forest with lots of dead trees that were falling apart. Everything was moist from the rain and extremely wet. Sometimes the trees just broke under my feet, and I fell down half a meter. I was the first time a bit scared, because if I would break a leg or have some kind of accident, no one would ever find me there. There was no phone signal or anything. By the time I came to a small river I was now close from the path and thought that I was probably right. I went back to the marked trail and hiked further up. Now the path was even steeper and there was a constant rope so I could pull myself up. After about 500 vertical meters I could see Puerto Williams from above and the path was still going straight up, even above the tree level. Now I knew that this can’t be correct, and I decided to go back. Down in the valley I followed the path back until an intersection where I took the wrong path. It was already 12.00am but I decided to still go to the Laguna Alinghi. I continued then the right path and got this verified with the signal of my watch. The path was relatively well marked but extremely wet. Much wetter than on the multi-day hike we did on the previous days. There was also a strong wind. I put on the raincoat and covered my backpack with the cover as well. Unfortunately, I had no rain pants and my regular hiking pants were completely wet. Now I also could feel that my hiking boots were completely soaked, and that the membrane isn’t as good as Goretex. So far, I was very happy with my Lippi hiking boots, but they are definitely not waterproof. Just water resistant. To keep myself warm I was now trail-running a bit. After the forest I came to the wetlands. It was covered with dams from beaver and creeks were all over. There was no path anymore just occasionally, a rubber band on tree. So, I was orienting myself by them. After about 10 kilometers I came to a dense Ñiere forest and tried to cross it a bit on the way. This was a big mistake because I got lost again. I was going uphill but somehow came more and more away from the path indicated by my watch. I tried it to follow the signal and entered a very dangerous zone of the forest full of cliffs. Some of them were about 20 meters high. Now I was scared again and took maximal attention not to fall. I spent around one hour on this section until I found a way out. Then I found again the red ribbons and followed them. I was about 4 kilometers away from the laguna now. I kept on going without watching my watch because I saw the ribbons marking the way. But somehow, I was surprised that the wind was coming from the other direction. After roughly one hour I saw a small city ahead on the horizon. I was now totally confused and checked on my watch. I was still on the right path but now 8 kilometers away from the lake. Oh gosh, I was just going all the way backwards and didn’t even notice it. While being lost in the forest I was somehow making a 180° turn. Since there was no sun and the mountains were all covered by fog it was impossible to orientate myself. Maybe it was also just because I didn’t sleep during the night and my thoughts were elsewhere. It was now already 3pm and I was totally wet and cold. Under normal conditions I would have returned to Puerto Williams but somehow, I decided to still go to the Laguna Alinghi. I was running again, driven by all my strange feelings and came to the place where I got lost before. This time I went on the other side of the Ñire forest and found the way. I came to a small lagoon that I crossed on the left side. Now my brain was totally focused, and I sucked the landscape in like a camera. Getting lost one more time could be very dangerous because I was now more than 10k away from Puerto Williams. The last two kilometers were an incline above the tree level with strong winds. Fortunately, the rain stopped. At five pm I finally reached the laguna Alinghi. It looked very nice even though the weather was still bad. This would be a perfect place to camp out and fish a whole day…but in my next life. First, I needed a coffee because my fingers were just numb from the cold wind. I didn’t bring gloves with me. After about ten minutes my fingers were finally warm enough to make a nod into the fishing line so I could attach the iron spoon. I began fishing but the laguna was full of water plants that came all the way up to the surface. So, the hooks were entangled every time. I then changed the iron spoon to a floating rubber fish. Since there was strong head wind, I couldn’t throw it out and so I went to the other side of the laguna where a small river exited the laguna. This river merged directly to the Pacific Ocean and that was the reason why this laguna contained trout and salmon while almost all other lagunas don’t. Now I could throw in much further because the wind was blowing from the back. Finally, I had my first bite by a potential trout. But it didn’t bite totally and so I lost the fish immediately. I couldn’t pull in too quick, otherwise the floating rubber fish would sink to fast and get entangled again. So, it was fishing on highest level. I then passed the river by just walking through because I was already completely wet anyway and walked further around the laguna. Now I came to very shallow place without any water plants. Now I could pull in a bit faster, and the rubber fish went to the ground of the lake. Finally, I caught a nice rainbow trout that I could safely bring on the land. I kept on fishing for another 15minutes, until 6pm without any further luck. Now it was time to go back. I put the trout in a isolated back in the backpack and packed all my things and left the laguna Alinghi at 6.15pm. There was no time and energy to clean the trout. I was also too cold to do so. I was now partly walking, partly running back and fortunately got lost only one more time. But this time it took me only about 10min to find the correct way again. Around 8pm it began to get darker, and I knew if I would get lost now, I would face a real problem. Under these conditions a headlamp wouldn’t help a lot because the markings were far away of each other. Finally, around 8.30pm I came to the intersection again, where I took the wrong way in the morning. Now I knew that I wouldn’t get lost anymore. Around 9pm and after 39kilometers and almost 2000 vertical meters I was finally back in Puerto Williams. Juju had left already on a boat for Ushuaia, Argentina, so there was Cin and Isra. Luckily, they didn’t throw away the ingredients for the Ceviche from the previous day. I cleaned then the trout and surprisingly the meat was pink as it would have come from a Salmon. Isra then cut the trout in very small pieces and finally Cin finished the Ceviche. In the end it was a pink looking trout Ceviche. What a day! Totally tired but feeling much better, also after the long warm shower of course I went to bed.

Day 90 (12.02.2024) Puerto Williams – Punta Arenas

Today was the last day in Puerto Williams. After a long time of good sleep, I got up with much better feelings today. Isra, Cin and I made some breakfast with all the leftovers and packed all our things. Just before lunch I brought my bike back to the rental station and was lucky that I had to pay only one day. We still were all tired from the intense time in Puerto Williams and were therefore just happy that we didn’t plan anything but the airplane back to Punta Arenas on that day. At 15.45 the taxi brought us to the nearby airport of Puerto Williams. It was the smallest airport from which I was flying so far in my airplane history. It wasn’t actually a real airport. There was a smaller airplane standing next to a huge iron container which looked like the check-in and waiting area. There were a lot of people and we figured if they would fit all in that small airplane. The captain then entered the airplane, and the door was closed by hand. I’ve never seen that either. A small car that looked like a vehicle from the golf court was then maneuvering the plane around. Everything looked very cute. We were then informed that we were in a specific boarding group and that our plane is late. The first group then entered the plane and took off. We were then in the second one. There was no security control or anything alike. Once in the airplane it was very full. The 4 engines for that small airplane seemed exaggerated but probably necessary so the plane could accelerate on a very short distance. Indeed, the airplane accelerated extremely fast and took off already after a couple hundred meters. I had isle seat but could still gaze a bit through the window. It was marvelous to see the skyline of the mountains of Puerto Williams a last time. Also, a bit melancholic because this trip was a bit of a fairy tale to me. The flight to Punta Arenas took only 45minutes and by the time we were there we could observe a nice sun set behind the airport. Cin then went to her friends, and I could go to the hostel “Ballena Azul”, where Isra already booked a bed. Isra had to fly already the same night back to Santiago due to family reasons. An uber then brought me to the hostel where I had a large room with four beds all for myself. Cost of the night were only 16’000 Pesos.

Day 91 (13.02.2024) Punta Arenas 01

Today I had a big decision to take. I only had about 10 more days of my Patagonia trip. My initial plan was to go by bike until Ushuaia, the southernmost city of the world. When I planned my trip, it was just a rough idea of my Patagonia trip, and I never bought any return flight. By now I was even further down south because Puerto Williams is the southernmost town and even below Ushuaia. Puerto Williams, however, you and only reach by Ferry or airplane since it’s an island. To ride my bike down to Ushuaia would approximately take me 5-6 days. The road there looked alright but wouldn’t be too interesting from what I’ve heard. Further it can get very windy. So, I could either go down to Ushuaia, and then do some hiking in the area before flying back to Switzerland or do what I’ve actually missed when I went on the Ferry from Tortel to Puerto Natales, namely the whole National Park Los Glaciares, which lays on the Argentinian side as well. But this would require that I ride my bike up north, to Puerto Natales again, and this against strongest winds. This route I’ve done already and wasn’t that interesting either. Further I would have to go all the way through the Argentinian Pampa until Calafate and later El Chalten. Since it’s going all up north, it means against strong winds. I possibly would end up 6-8 days only on the bike, without any time to do some additional trekking. And El Chalten is the Trekking capital of Argentina. In the end the decision fell very easy because leaving Patagonia without visiting the world-famous glacier Perito Moreno or trekking around Mt Fitzroy would be like going to France without visiting the Louvre or the Eifel tower. Furthermore, my new trekking friend Cin had similar plans and so we might could meet up for further trekking. Now I needed a way to ship my bike and bike bags back to Switzerland. Therefore, I googled around but couldn’t find anything smart about shipping and so I went to FedEx. There they told me that they don’t ship boxes of this big dimension and that I should call FedEx-International. Just to get an idea of the cost I asked how much a medium parcel of 25kg would cost. The lady behind the counter did some calculations and came up with a rather ridiculous price of roughly 780’000 Pesos. She further said that there would be a 50% discount on it. Still, it would be around 400 Swiss francs, which was a total rip off. I then called the FedEx-International hotline and a guy answered that put me on hold. After listening to the phone for about 30min I hang up. Ok, seems not to work. After thinking a bit, I concluded that I might could transport it via Bus to Calafate and then taking it with me while flying out of Patagonia. I went to the Bicycle store Margoni and was able to buy a bicycle cardboard box for 5000 Pesos. I also asked them if there’s a possibility to sell my bike to them. They replied that they don’t buy used bikes and that it would be very difficult to sell it for a good price to a private person in that short time. Normally people wouldn’t be looking for gravel bikes down there. Anyway, I had now a box. Later I found out that it’s possible to bring a box along the bus with a small extra charge. In the afternoon I went to the Zona Franca again and met up with Cin. I wanted to buy a good Trekking backpack and some more trekking pants. I found a real good one from Doite in the show where I already bought the previous gear. Now I had to rush back to Margoni because they were closing soon. Since I couldn’t find a taxi, the son of the owner brought me together with the box to the hostel Ballena Azul. I gave him 5000 Pesos for the service. Then I went to Bus Sur and bought the tickets for the next day to Calafate and three days later to El Chalten. I paid then an additional 5000 for carrying the bicycle box. Then I went to the friends of Cin, where I had my bike while I was in Puerto Williams and gave to Mauricio my fishing gear that I couldn’t use anymore. Basically, everything I bought for fishing in the sea and with hooks. I only kept the hard basics and some spinners and wobblers. Back at the hostel I went to bed because it was already late.

Day 92 (14.02.2024) Punta Arenas – Puerto Natales

I woke up quite early because I needed to make my bike ready for the cardboard box. I had to remove the racks, the pedals, the handlebar and then wrap everything sort of nicely and put it in the box with all bicycle bags. Somehow, I managed to put everything in there. I then tithed it up by a nylon band, so I could reopen it easily later. The final wrap I would then do before flying of Calafate. The lady from the hostel organized one of her friends with an old Toyota van that brought me then to the Bus Sur station from where the bus took off to Puerto Natales at 2pm. Everything worked out very well and I was in Puerto Natale around 6pm. Good that I could leave the bicycle box in the bus terminal and so I was able to walk just with my new backpack to the hotel. Later I went to the gym for a workout session. Now I felt that I got much weaker in my upper body because not many specific workouts in the last couple weeks. In the evening, I had a nice T-Bone Steak in a rustical Steak House. It was my last dinner in Chile.

Day 93 (15.02.2024) Puerto Natales – Calafate (ARG)

After a short Uber trip from the hotel to the Bus Terminal I went to the information desk to get my cardboard box with the bike. Everything went quite well, and the bus took off at 08.00 am. Good we had panoramic seats, the first ones on the second floor of the the bus. The 3h ride to Calafate was interesting. First the bus stopped at the Argentinian border where we had to pass the Passport control. Then we continued through the Argentinian Pampa. Once, there was a small herd of Lamas. Compared to Chile, the Argentinian side of Patagonia was not as diverse, at least from what I’ve seen so far. The bus then stopped at a Estacion, where everyone could buy some Empanadas or use the toilets. There were a lot of “Wanted signs” from Bush Cassidy. Lookls like he was also doing some crime down there in the area. Once in Calafate I asked if I could leave my Bikebox at the Bus terminal as well. This was also possible and so I put everything in the box I wouldn’t necessarily need in the next couple days on the trekking. Then I booked a hotel downtown but once there the guy said that it was completely full. So, I needed to find another one. Hotel Tierra Tehuelche had availability. It was a nice rather new hotel that seemed to be built initially as an apartment block. They also offered a Perito Moreno tour for the next day which was very suitable. In the afternoon we were going for a walk to the Lago Argentina, where I showed Cin how to fish. However, we didn’t catch anything. In the evening, we went to the Lake Music Festival that they had during these days in Calafate. Tonight “Soledad” was playing. The Stadion was very big and about one third filled with people. They didn’t charge any entrance fee, even though it was a quite famous act. We then sponsored the event by eating burgers by a food stand.

Day 94 (16.02.2024) Calafate – Perito Moreno – Calafate

The agency came around 9:30 to the Hotel Tierra Tehuelche to pick us up for the Perito Moreno Glacier Tour. The tour cost was 55’000 Argentinian Pesos and included just the guided bus ride to the Glacier. The guide, Maria Luciana Villareal explained us a lot about the glacier and its uniqueness. Perito Moreno is unique in the way that it’s still floating forward but at the same time loosing about the same amount of ice that breaks off daily on the front tip. Before 2020 it was still moving forward but because of the climate change it’s not effectively growing anymore. At least it’s not melting like all the other glaciers. She further explained that the whole area we were driving through belongs to the Argentinian Steppe with Calafate as the highest plant. The bus driver was a cool looking dude with a couple cheap tattoos and a huge nose. But most impressive were his driving skills. He managed to pass cars on the shortest distance and was speeding way over the limit. The craziest thing however was when he went on the opposite line to enter the park gate, because our side was full of cars waiting in line. Once at the Entrance of the National Park de Los Glaciares I went with the guide to pay the entrance fee of 8’000 per person. The guide also made the reservation of the catamaran for us which would leave right after we would reach the parking lot. The catamaran cost was a 45’000 Pesos per Person, which included a 45-min ride on the lagoon in front of the glacier. The boat was completely full, and we didn’t go very close to the glacier. Probably for safety reasons because once and then a big junk of ice breaks off and falls into the water producing a huge wave. Honestly, the boat trip was nice, but not worth the money. For Argentinian conditions it was a huge rip-off. After the boat trip we ate a couple sandwiches, drank some coffee from the Thermos and went to the different Walks they had all over the mountain that was just in front of the glacier. From there we had a broader view on the whole glacier and could observe a couple times how a piece of ice broke off and fall into the lagoon. At some moment I unfortunately pushed my hat over the rail, and it fell a couple meters down on the ground in front. To get it, I had to jump over the handrail and climb down. The park-photographer wasn’t amused about my action and came to tell me that I’m not supposed to do this. However, I didn’t care too much because by that time I already had my hat. After roughly two hours and 2.5km walk on these iron fences we had to go back to the parking lot, where the bus was already waiting. All in all, Perito Moreno is worth seeing because it’s unique and very beautiful. However, it’s a huge touristic magnet and extremely crowded. Personally, I like more quiet places that are less touristic and have less people. In the evening, we went to Calafates big music festival again to listen a couple songs from the Latino-Rock group Luk Ra. The Stadion was extremely crowded, and the young lead singer had a good voice and lots of vibes.

Day 95 (17.02.2024) Calafate – El Chalten (Trekking 01)

This morning started with a bummer. Firstly, I was booking my two flights, one from Calafate to Buenos Aires and the other from Buenos Aires to Zurich, Switzerland. My original plan was to go to the outdoor gym, but it took me almost two hours to book these flights. The fact that I had to book them individually made it extremely difficult because I had to synchronize them to be able to spend one full day in Buenos Aires. Also, I had to read everything about the bicycle transport. Shortly before eleven, when I wanted to go to the breakfast it was already removed, and the buffet lady said that it was only until 10.00am. Then I found out that the check-out time was already 10:30am and so I had to stress packing my bags and moving to the lobby to call for a taxi to the Omnibus terminal. Good that at the Omnibus-Terminal they had a Mexican Restaurant next door, where they served tasty Lama Burgers and Quesadillas. The bus ride from Calafate to El Chalten began very monotonous. For about two hours there was nothing else to see besides the Argentinian Stepp and occasionally, a river. The last hour of the ride, however, was amazing. On the left side the big Lake and right in front of us the marvelous panorama of the famous mountains such as Fitzroy and Cerro Torre. From our front seats on the top floor, we had a panoramic view. In the early afternoon the bus arrived to El Chalten, which has a bit the look of a small hippie town. The plan was to start the first part of the four-day hike in the later afternoon. So, it was essential to buy enough food and a map with all the trails because later aren’t any further possibilities. To enter the first Supermercado “Pachamama” was a huge mistake. None of the products were labeled with prices which is not abnormal because of the huge inflation. Once at the cashier I got almost paralyzed seeing the prices of the products. They were extremely high and about two to three times higher than in Switzerland. 300 grams of a nut mix cost 16’000 Pesos and a small can of tuna 4100 Pesos. Believing that this was the regular price for this touristic town I payd the total of nearly 130’000 Pesos for the basic food of four days. Still better than to starve my thoughts were. Later, I found out that this Supermercado is extremely overpriced, and they call dem “ladrones” because they rip-off all tourists, being the first supermarket in town. Prices are sometimes up to 500% higher than in the regular stores in the town. Further we needed to buy a map and while walking through the town, Cin found a wallet on the ground with a credit card, some cash and a stamp card of a coffee shop named “Paisa”. After buying the map in an outdoor rental store, we went to Paisa to give them the wallet, so they would announce it in the forum of the town. The coffee shop seemed very neat and so we took the chance to have a last cappuccino before heading into the trekking adventure. Around 7pm we finally started the hike to the Laguna Capri, which includes a wild camp site on the way to the famous “Laguna de los Tres” with Mount Fitzroy. The path there was good marked as all the other paths in the area as well, so it was hard to get lost. Furthermore, the paths were quite large and very easy to pass, and every kilometer was marked with a distance sign. It’s an absolute beginner Trekking area.  On the way to Laguna Capri, which was only about 4km away, we could observe a pair of Condores flying towards their nest which was good protected in the upper half of a huge cliff. Once at the campsite, it was almost dark and the obligatory bath took place in the moon line, in front of the spectacular mountain range. While walking back to the tent I could observe a fox that was nearby looking for food. The dinner contained mashed potatoes with a nice sauce made from Tuna and different spaces. All prepared by camping-gourmet cook Cin.

Day 96 (18.02.2024) El Chalten (Trekking 02)

On day two of the Trekking adventure, the aim was to go the next campsite called “Poincenot”, which was the starting point of next days sunrise hike to the “Laguna de lost tres” The camp site was quite crowded already with lots of hikers from Russia. A girl named Marina explained me, that they were a huge group from all over Russia with the aim to hike all over the area. To set the tent was a challenge because of the wind that got stronger and stronger. It was also a bit scary because the trees were extremely shaking from one to the other side. Then we left the campsite with a small bag, the fishing equipment and a camelbag towards the Rio Electric, which was about 7km north-east. On the way there we passed Glaciar Blanco. The mountains above, including Fitzroy were all covered by clouds. Once at the river I tried to fish for about 45min. The water was very turbid, coming from the glacier and I couldn’t detect any form of life in the water. Furthermore, it was extremely windy and almost impossible to throw the line out. Without any luck we turned back to the campsite where the wind finally began to drop a bit. However, the tent was covered with sand that was coming through the window. Good, I didn’t enroll my sleeping bag by that time already. Tonight’s dinner contained rice with cherry tomatoes.

Day 97 (19.02.2024) El Chalten (Trekking 03)

The hike today started at 5.45am with the aim to see Mount Fitzroy in the sunrise light. My first look out the tent put me in a positive mood because I could see some stars. Later, during the hike my motivation dropped a bit because it began to rain a bit and by the time you should see the silhouette of Mt. Fitzroy, it was clear, the chance of seeing it would be very small. The first kilometer to the Refugio was a moderate incline. The second incline, up to the Laguna was extremely steep. The first light beams appeared, and I could turn off my headlamp about three quarter up. Finally, after roughly 500 vertical meters within 2.5km we reached the Laguna. There were about two dozen people up there, all hoping the weather would change better. After about an hour it finally brightened up a bit and we could see the basic rock formation of Mount Fitz Roy and some lower peaks nearby. We then hiked to the laguna Sucia which was a bit on the other side. There we could observe a wonderful rainbow.  Around 9.00am, after being a bit more than two hours in the area we began our descent. By that time, we saw a coupe rainbows and minor ice avalanches coming from the glacier below Fitzroy. The probability to still see Fitzroy was extremely bad because the forecast wasn’t great for the whole day. At least it wasn’t too windy on that day. Back at the tent I took a nap for about 2 hours before we continued our hike with all the luggage until Campsite Agostini. There we arrived in the early evening. The hike to Agostini was easy going. First, we passed Laguna Madre, then Laguna Hija. The path was very easy and mainly flat. The last two kilometers from the intersection was going a bit uphill and along side a medium sized strong river. The water of the river was extremely muddy-looking and so it was quite clear that we had to get water from another source. A bit later, about 1k before the campsite we found a small river with crystal clear water to fill our tanks and camel bags. The Agostini Campsite was in a forest, just next to the dirty river and a bit below the Laguna Torre. The mountains were still covered all in clouds and so we couldn’t see them. After setting the tent I wanted to go for a quick dip in the water to clean myself. Since the river wasn’t looking as great and seemed to be also quite dangerous because of the strong current, I decided to go up to the Laguna Torre. Once up there, I saw that it was just as dirty as the river and the big junks of ice floating around, let me guess that it was extremely cold too. So, I checked up one more very small river which was along side the last couple hundred meters to reach the campsite. But somehow this wasn’t great either. Finally, I decided to hike back to the place where we loaded the water. Just before it got dark, I was able to take quick bath. On the way back, I had to use the lamp of my cell phone to find the way. Cin already prepared Gnocchi with a real tasty sauce. Totally tired I slept very well that night.

Day 98 (20.02.2024) El Chalten (Trekking 04)

I woke up around 6.30pm and took the opportunity to check, whether you could see Cerro Torre in the sun rise. It seemed to be very nice weather today. Unfortunately, there were still some clouds hanging around Cerro Torre and all you could see a bit the foot and the top. So, I went back to sleep a couple more hours. Around 10 we went up to the Laguna Torre without any luggage and hiked then along the right border until Mirador Maistrani. Now the clouds disappeared more and more and finally we had a perfect view to Cerro Torre and the huge Glaciar Grande which was right behind the laguna. The other glacier, Glaciar Torre we could only see from far. After about one hour we went back to the campsite and left with all luggage around 13:30. Cin had a Reunion from work and so she needed internet. Since there was no availability in the park, we had to be back in El Chalten by four. The way to El Chalten took us much less than indicated. This was good because the reunion started already at four and not as suggested at five. In the coffee place Paisa, downtown of El Chalten, I spoiled myself with two double shot cappuccinos and some cake. To sleep again in a bed was very pleasant, after three nights camping out. Furthermore, I had the chance to hand wash all my clothes I used on the four-day trekking adventure.

Day 99 (21.02.2024) El Chalten (Hiking around)

First thing in the morning, I changed the bus ticket from El Chalten to Calafate from the 22^nd afternoon to the 23^rd morning. I decided to rather stay one full more day in El Chalten than going back already to Calafate on the previous night of my flight to Buenos Aires. Good, they had a bus leaving at 8am, so I would have plenty of time to catch the plane in the later afternoon of the same day. After this was done, I spent most time of today relaxing and looking up some one-day hike possibilities from El Chalten which I didn’t know already. One option was to go to Lago Desierto, which was on the way to the Chilenean border. I’ve heard that it’s a nice hiking area and that they have buses there and back every day. So, I booked the seats on the bus. In the afternoon, around 5pm, Cin and I decided to go for an easy hike to the Mirrador Condores and Mirrador Águilla, which were both on the way to Lago Viedma. This was about the only hike you could start from El Chalten, that we haven’t done already. The path to the two lookout-points started right after leaving the town and crossing the river Fitzroy. First, there was about a 200 vertical meter smooth incline and then the path continued on the plateau for another 2-3k. On the Mirrador Águilla the path ended, and we had a great look over the big flat steppe until the Lago Viedma. We could even spot a path down there, that would somehow go in the direction of the lake. So, we risked it and continued following a very small trail through Calafate thorns and Ñire trees. Finally, we managed I found out that I ripped a bit my pants in the thorns. Now we reached the open area and followed a tractor-lane looking path for about 2k until we came to a fence and some buildings with a couple trucks. It looked like an “Estancia”, but we couldn’t see any person there. So, we decided to jump over the fence to continue our way. After another roughly 2k, the path completely disappeared, and we were just walking through the grassland. Different poop let me guess that there must be several animal species inhabit the area. Occasionally, we also saw a hare running away from us. After crossing one more fence we finally reached the lake, after having walked nearly 9k. One thing we knew for sure, that we wouldn’t want to go back the same way. So, we crawled underneath one more fence and ended up on a gravel road. Somehow, we remembered this road would merge into the Highway that would go to El Chalten. It now was almost completely dark, and the moon raised from the other side behind the hill. The walking was now quite easy, but somehow, we were just going into the opposite direction and the loop until reaching the highway turned out to be much bigger than expected. Around 10.45pm and 17k of walking we finally reached the highway. Luckily, already the second car stopped and took us to El Chalten which was still roughly 9k away.  Good that a hamburger place was still open, because by that time we were quite hungry.

Day 100 (22.02.2024) El Chalten – Lago Desierto – El Chalten

The bus to Lago Desierto picked us up at 09:45. Like on previous bus tours, they pick people up right in front of their hotel. Since they collect people from all over the place, you never know exactly when they come. But normally it’s within a half hour time window. Out bus was mid-sized with 24 passengers, fully packed plus the driver. Shortly after leaving El Chalten, the road turned from asphalt into gravel. There were a couple bridges on the way…or at least something that looked like a river-crossing. Sometimes the bridge was just made from a steel-frame with a couple wooden boards as driving line. Road-signs next to the bridges we passed showed “max 6 tons”. How in the world can we be below these six tons I figured. 25 people, each of them with a small bag (25 x 80 kg = 2 tons) are already a third of the max weight. I don’t know the weight of the bus, jus know that my E-tron is almost 3 tons, so this bus should be at least 7-8 tons. Well, hard to tell but what I saw was that the bridge was every time shaking extremely when we passed (Vid. 01). After about an hour the driver told us that we could go for 10 min to take some pictures of a waterfall (Vid. 01). Around 11.15 we reached the entrance of the Provincial Park, where the path to the Glaciar Huemul began. First, we had to get the entrance tickets which cost 7000 per person. Then we made our way, like most people from the bus, up to the laguna. On the way there we passed a couple smaller waterfalls. Once at the laguna, you could see part of the hanging glacier on the other side. The upper part was covered with clouds. We then kept on walking and passed the Laguna on the right-hand side until reaching almost to the glacier. It was about 200m away from us. However, it was impossible to go there. First it was illegal to do so and second the way there were just steep, flat, and slippery rocks. We spent about 15 minutes at the end of the trail until the clouds began to disappear and we could see more and more the upper part of the glacier. Luckily, we didn’t right return once we reached the top. Finally, after about half an hour, we could see the whole mountain which was quite impressive. Looking backwards, you could see part of the lake Desierto and the other mountain range on the opposite side (Vid. 01).  On the way down there were many different berries. The white ones I’ve seen before on the laguna of Cerro Castillo. Cin told me that you can eat them, so I tried them (Vid. 02). Later, some hikers told us that you could also eat the purple- and red-ones. I did so and was impressed by the different tastes and aromas (Vid. 02). Once we reached the bottom of the trail, we continued our hike to the lake. There we could observe some fly-fishers (Vid. 03). The water didn’t seem to be too cold because one fisherman was with bare legs standing in the water. On the side we had our lunch and then walked back to the bus. The driver told us to be there no later than 15:50. I guessed that he would leave no earlier than 16:00 but by the time I came 15:52, everyone was already in the bus waiting for me and once I was inside, the driver took off immediately. Back in town I still had some spare energy and decided to go for a trail run to the Miradores from the other day. Equipped only with my walking sticks, my phone and ear pods I was running up there and back. Now I had burned enough calories to spoil myself with a nice pork steak in the evening 😊.

Day 101 (23.02.2024) El Chalten – Calafate – Buenos Aires

Since my bus to Calafate left at 08:00am I got up at seven, packed my things and went for breakfast. Breakfast was good in that hotel called “Cumbres Nevades”. You also could see the peak of Mt. Fitzroy from the window, that was now all shining in rose because of the sunrise. Still feeling a bit sad, we couldn’t see it from close a couple days ago on our multi-day trekking tour. The bus left at 08:00 sharply and I was lucky to have a front seat on the upper level. However, this time the panorama wasn’t that nice since we were driving away from the mountains. First, we went to the airport of Calafate and then we were stopped by the police that did drug-testing with dogs. They did this already on the way to El Chalten a few days ago. Today however, the bus stopped more than one hour, and the dog passed about 5 times. It was strange because no one got arrested finally. One of the policemen asked if someone was in contact with marihuana lately. The guy next to replied and said that he was on a campground where some people smoked weed. However, he didn’t participate he replied after the question of the officer whether he smoked. Finally at the bus terminal in Calafate I took a taxi to go downtown. I still had to pay the bus tour to Perito Moreno, because the guide never charged us that day and later, they contacted me on whatsapp and per mail and asked for the money. I also needed to get some cash from the ATM, since I could only pay in cash for my room that I had already booked in Buenos Aires. I literally tried every ATM in the center and none of them wanted to give me enough money at once that I would have to pay the commission of almost 6000 Pesos only once. It always said that I exaggerated the limit. Finally, I decided to go to the travel office to pay my depths, then go to a Ferreteria to buy some tape, to better seal my bicycle box and finally walk back to the Bus terminal. Since it was almos 2 pm I quickly run to the Mexican place on the other side and ordered a Lama-Burger to take away. Then I rushed back and took my bicycle box from the office where I stored it. At 2 pm a driver from Condor Taxi picked me up and brought me to the airport which was about 35km out of town. Luckily the box fit into the car without any problems. Cost of the taxi was 18000 Pesos which was ok. At the check-in, they charged me another 14’000 Pesos because my box was almost 32kg. When I additionally bought a sport equipment in advance the limit was only 23kg I’ve been told by the lady of the check-in. Mostly I was stressed by the early take-off. The official take-off was at 17:25. But somehow, they decided to leave earlier and sent me right to the gate. By the gate they told me that I forgot to take out the power banks from my checked bag and therefore I needed to go back to the check-in place. Power banks you always must take on your carry-on luggage. Once I got the batteries, they told me that I better run back to the gate because they would only wait for me. Good that there were not many people at the security check that I already passed twice now. By the time I entered the plane the stewardess called that check-in is completed and by the time I sat down the airplane took right away off. That was really in the last second. I still don’t understand how they can take off half an hour earlier than scheduled. Even on my latest boarding pass there was still the official time of 17:25 and not 16:55. The flight to Buenos Aires was nice because I saw a lot of the glacier panorama around Mt Fitzroy. The only bad thing was the Chinese woman next to me that was coughing all the time without taking her hand in front of her mouth. Since I just had a caught myself, I hoped that I would be already immune against the current viruses. In Buenos Aires I got my luggage within a short time and went right outside to the taxi stand. Good that I found a small carriage to put the bicycle box and backpack on it. Once outside, there was a rush of people and cars from which most were taxis. The taxi I preordered was already there because I sent a WhatsApp, that I would be 30min earlier. After a while we finally met in the trouble of taxi. By that time, I already had about 15 mosquito bites. There was a huge mosquito invasion in Buenos Aires these days and they were active 24/7. I haven’t seen anything like this, not even in the Everglades or Amazon. They just covered you as soon as you went outside. Now we tried to put the box into the car. The car a small Fiat wasn’t made to transport a lot. After trying all possible ways, we finally managed by putting it sideways over the front passenger seat reaching to the very back of the interior. The trunk was too small. I squashed myself on the back seat and so we could finally drive out of the airport area. The “Alojamiento Aeropuerto”, where I would stay the next two nights was on the other side of Buenos Aires, in the neighbourhood “Barrio Uno” by Eseiza. This was also very near the Airport from where I would fly back to Europe two days later. Around 22:00 I reached the place, and a nice older lady showed me my room. She then recommended me a good “Barria” (Steak House), where I went to have dinner. Around 00:30 I finally went to bed. Good that the lady gave me an electric mosquito repellant, so I wasn’t disturbed by them all night.

Day 102 (24.02.2024) Buenos Aires 02

After a good night of sleep, I went to the nearby center of Eseiza to get cash from the ATM. Unbelievable, but shortly after leaving the house I was already attacked by mosquitos, which is totally abnormal because it was in the middle of a sunny day. I tried to escape them by walking very fast. Next to the University of Eseiza was a small container with two ATMs inside. Likewise, to Calafate I couldn’t get the amount of money I wanted. It said that the limit was 15’000. Even trying the ridiculous limit of 15’000, which seems to work for locals, it didn’t work for me. Still the notation that it was above the limit. For curiosity reasons I then tried 10’000 and finally 5000 Pesos. Unbelievable, but with 5000 Pesos it finally worked. The commission however didn’t change and so I ended up paying almost a 6000 Pesos additionally in commission for withdrawing 5000. This is more than 100%!!! Of course, I will then also be charged by my bank and the exchange rate. Surely this was the last time I used an ATM in Argentina. I skimmed through the internet, and it showed up, that exchanging money is still the best option. Luckily, I still had Swiss Francs, Chilean Pesos and Canadian Dollars. In a bank at the Airport Eseiza they changed me these currency to the official exchange rate into Argentinian Pesos. That was about all I did until 4pm, besides a short gym session in the center of 1h15min. At least the gym was quite good, free of mosquitos and with a cost of 1200 Pesos the by far cheapest gym I’ve ever been to. This was about the only positive thing so far. In the afternoon the Taxi driver (father of the guy that took me from the Airport the night before) brought me downtown. He was a nice guy and told me a little about Buenos Aires. He also recommended me to go to one of these Bus-tours in the city. So, I went to City Bus and booked a tour. Additionally, I booked a Tango show with included dinner for the evening, since I was already in the capital of Tango. There were busses that left every 20min to go on this loop with 24 stops across Buenos Aires. It was possible to go out at one stop, walk around and then hop-on at another stop or at the same. I did this once successfully, however by the second try I went for a longer walk on the Costa Nera and once I wanted to jump on the last bus it didn’t show up anymore. After waiting a bit more than 30 min I took a Taxi to the famous Obelisk in the center of down-town. There I observed a manifestation with Ukrainian flags in memory of the 2-year war already. Yes, the invasion of Russia was exactly two years ago. I walked then to the hotel “Libertador” from where a van picked me up and brought me to the Tango show. It was a very nice show with a good, tasty dinner. Wines were à discretion. After nearly 2.5h, around 11.30pm the spectacle was over and the van brought me back to the lobby from Libertador, from where I took a taxi back to my room in Barrio Uno, Eseiza. Quite tired I fell asleep.

Day 103 (25.02.2024) Buenos Aires 03 – Barcelona – Zurich

I woke up around 8.30am, finished packing my bags and then took the taxi (the father again) at 9am to the airport. At the airport I paid a 103’000 Pesos for my oversize cardboard-box with the bike. It was ok and was about as much as I paid on other long-haul flights. Even though I booked the combi flight Buenos Aires – Barcelona and Barcelona – Zurich with Iberia airline, none of them was carried out by Iberia. The first company was Level. The flight was 12.5h and they only served a small lunch-dinner after taking off and then almost 10h nothing until shortly before landing a croissant with cheese and ham inside. Further they had no pillows neither blanket, even though it was an over-night fly. At least I could then buy a small meal and a chicken wrap with 25 Euros extra. Very lousy company. The second company from Barca to Zurich wasn’t any better. They didn’t even serve us a piece of chocolate. At least it was only a short flight. Back in Switzerland I was very happy to see my mother and father at the airport. So happy and grateful that they came and picked me up, so as they did already when I left Zurich for my adventures more than five months ago.