5. Glaciers, Lakes and Attack by a Picnic Table
DAY 191. Ride to El Calafat
I woke up in the morning to the rain predicted. Looking back in the valley and it is pretty dark over there but I can see some blue skies towards the east. I quickly packed, bundled up and put on the rain gear. There's no point hanging around in this weather.
Destination today is town El Calafate. from there, I want to visit Perito Moreno glacier. The ride today should be pretty straightforward. there's nothing to see and there's only one little town on the route. I left El Chalten when I looked back, I can see the wall of dark clouds behind me. It is good time to leave. But I forgot about the wind. It is blowing to the point that it is not comfortable to ride a bike. 60 km is with the tailwind, but for the rest of the day I'll be battling the crosswinds. I'm not having any fun. The wind is way stronger than anything I experienced before. But I gotta do it. My GPS told me to take a turn, and I ended up on a very bad dirt road. And this is supposed to last for next 150 km. I don't think so. Not today, I'm not in a mood. a search for alternatives and there is one road further down I can take. But it takes 100 km extra to my route today. But it is not guaranteed that road is paved either. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Otherwise, it will be a bad day in the office.
It was my lucky day, the road was paved. But now I am battling quartering headwind and it is awful. I'm surprised my eyes won't jump out of their sockets. I'm getting headache from battling the wind. It is mentally exhausting. It is not a steady wind there's a lot of gusts and turbulence. At least the road is nice. This would be a nightmare on the dirt road. Besides, the wind is very nice day, party, cloudy, and the temperature in mid teens.
After what it seems like forever I finally reach El Calafate on the side of a huge lake. No issue finding my hostel. I'm glad this day is over. This was not fun.
DAY 192. Perito Moreno Glacier
I have two nights in El Calafate. I'd like to go and see Perito Moreno glacier which is about 80 km through the west in the mountains. The forecast doesn't look too good. Looking at all the charts I have available it should be raining in the town the whole morning. But the weather around the glacier is totally different. So I just hang around catching up on my blog and anything pictures while waiting for the weather to improve. Of course the wind is howling outside. By noon the weather improves. but it still looks iffy to the west where I need to go. The forecast is there for tomorrow morning, but much much colder. Well, let's try it. I leave my bags behind and it is nice to travel light. It was windy but dry until I got 20 km from the glacier. Then it started to rain. Of course. I'm here and might as well continue. Usually all the natural attraction in Argentina are free but not here. no big deal. I get to the parking lot and it is a zoo. Full of people. I parked my bike in a designated spot with 50 other bikes. Pretty cool. I caught a few glimpses of the glacier on the way and it is absolutely massive. there are few trails you can take, so take the one right by the water. The groceries right in front of me. it is difficult to comprehend the size of the glacier with nothing around to compare the size. I read that the front of the glacier is 70 m high. Few sightseeing boats show up so I can see how massive the glacier is. the boats don't go anywhere near it. They stay at least 200 m away. And for good reason. the glacier is like a living organism. It is constantly moving and making noises and it is breaking apart almost constantly. I was lucky enough to call a few chunks of the ice falling through the lake below. It doesn't look too big when you look at a picture, but those chunks swear sizes of a large house. Is one of the fuel in the world, which is actually growing and not retreating. The weather is bad overcast, limited, visibility and rain. But I took couple hundred pictures anyway. Well I think I have enough of the glacier and it's time to go back home. By “home” I mean a place where I gonna be sleeping that particular night. Of course the rain stops again about 20 km away from the glacier. at least I don't have to ride in the rain all the way back. It was a pretty cool visit despite bad weather.
Back in town it was windy as hell. In the lagoon in front of my place, few guys were kiteboarding. I went back to my room to get my camera but by the time I went back the guy were already packing up their gear. But I didn't take out my camera for nothing because the sunset was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.
DAY 193
Today is just a transitional stage to get to port city of Puerto Natales. It was pretty much a carbon copy of previous day to El Calafate. Good road, nice weather except the wind. It is getting on my nerves. Also, the scenery away from the mountains is absolutely boring. Rolling featureless hills with nothing on it. No lakes, no rivers, no towns. Just grass. lots of guanacos so you have to be careful. Some of them are very close to road and trying to cross it as well. And of course, it is really windy. I don't think I can live down here. certainly I wouldn't enjoy it no matter how beautiful the scenery around is.
Also, I'm crossing the border again from Argentina to Chile. This is the sixth crossing between those two countries. luckily the procedures are very streamlined and the whole process takes only few minutes. The customer and immigration officers are very efficient. were pretty slick system in place and once you go through one border crossing the rest of them are exactly the same so you know where to go and what to do. It took lesson five minutes to clear Argentina side and it was the same. From the border it was only 20 minutes to the town.
DAY 194-195
I'm looking at the weather forecast, and it changes every hour on the hour hour. I don't know where to go. I would like to go north to Torres Del Paine national park. The park is a synonymous for Patagonia. I think it is the most visited park in Chile. Unfortunately the weather doesn't look too good. I'm in no hurry so I can stay in town for a couple days with the hope for the weather to improve. So just hanging around town taking it easy. Is interesting talking to locals. Everybody saying how busy it was before the pandemic with all the tourists around. But now the restaurants are empty not too much is going on. At least not in the town.
Is it happens, there is a big ferry coming here from Puerto Mont, about thousand kilometres north. That gives me an idea which I will talk about on the way north. But the ferry couldn't dock because of the Highwinds. It was blowing over 80 km/h and the statement from the ferry company was talking about 100+ km/h enroute here. And that's through inside passages not on the open ocean. The next day the wind died down in the ferry finally made it. It was interesting to watch the procedure how to dock a huge ocean going ferry. I can do it myself now.
The waiting here paid off and there is a window of an opportunity to go to the Torres Del Paine national park. I should have at least three days of decent weather. But you never know here.
DAY 196-197
I have the ticket to the park, so I'm ready to go. Everything is done online and sometimes it is pain in the butt. Also managed to get my old age discount which is quite substantial. I paid about 1/3 of the normal price. The admission fee is not exactly cheap, $65. I leave the town quickly but not early as it gets to single digit temperatures overnight. I get a full tank of the gas on the way out as there is no gas station until I get back here after 300 km. It's partly cloudy and cold and windy. A normal day in Patagonia. I knew that it is like this over here, but I expected to have a more nice days in the summer. I've been told this is as good as it can gets. In this case, I won't be buying any real estate around here no matter how beautiful the views are.
The ride today is short, about 100 km. The paved road ends about 30 km behind the town. The majority of roads in Argentina and Chile are actually unpaved which was a surprise for me. I expected a few dirt roads that seems it's all I have been riding on.
You can see the main peaks of the park from quite a distance away. And you are driving directly towards it. At the park entrance I get my ticket scanned and I am in. The weather is pretty cloudy, not bad, but it can be much better. Or much worse. I plan on camping as there is virtually nothing for accommodation in the park. And those places are very high end and priced accordingly. My plan is to stay for two days in a campground on the side of the lake, facing directly the mountains. I checked in and found a beautiful spot. I have the lake and mountains right in front of me. But the best part is, there's no wind. It almost feel strange. I set up a camp and head out for a hike. There is a viewpoint above the Campground overlooking the lake in the mountains. I was thinking I can leave the hike for tomorrow, but I have already learned the lesson. The weather can change in a few minutes over here and I will never see the mountains again. So off I go. I get to the top and the views are incredible. I'm taking dozens and dozens of pictures. it is interesting because I've seen this view many, many times while doing research about this place. So it looks very familiar. And now I'm standing here for the real. Pretty cool. With no wind, it is so warm that I am hiking in shorts and a T-shirt. I stayed at the top for couple of hours admiring the view. I came down and it was a good time to clean up. There are showers with hot water in this camp, so it is very civilized. I didn't bring any food with me so I have a dinner in a restaurant. Not bad. It's time to go to bed. It has been every nice day.
I woke up in the middle of the night with the sound of the wind. Not a normal wind but it fierce Patagonian wind. My place was pretty exposed, but I made sure that my tent is secure. Also, I put a huge wooden picnic table on the side, and in front of my tent to shield me from the wind. It went through my mind that if it falls on my tent, it's not gonna be nice. But it is heavy and leaning into the wind, there's no way this thing will move. Boy, was a wrong!
It was difficult to sleep with all that wind. But I got a rude wake up call when something was crashing on top of me. It was the 200 pound picnic table crashing through the tent on me. It hit my shoulder and pinned me in my sleep bag. This is a pretty bad situation. I'm having a hard time getting out of there. My shoulder hurts like crazy. I don't know what's wrong with it yet. I can move all my fingers and toes so that's a good sign. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I wanted to laugh. That would be a pretty good sketch for SNL. Adam gets attacked by a picnic table. I can see the headlines. Anyway, after a little bit, I managed to get out of the tent and from underneath of the table. My shoulder hurts, but I think I'll be fine. I will walk it off. Unfortunately, my tent is in way worse shape than I am. Tent poles are broken and there is a gaping hole through the canvas. I think I'm done camping with this tent.
I can't stay here, so I need to pack up and retreat back to the town. It is not easy to pack in these winds. Everything which is not tied down flies away in a second. And the rain showers are coming on and off so I'm getting wet in the process. Not a morning I was hoping for. But that's life, you win some and you lose some. I didn't win today, that's for sure.
Looking at the lake, all I see is whitecaps. The wind is incredibly strong today. Stronger than anything I've seen so far. And I've seen some pretty strong wings here. It'll be a very, very difficult to ride my bike. But I have to do it. I can't stay here. It is about 150 km back to the town. Most of it on a gravel road.
I am getting out of the camp and in a few hundred metres out I see a familiar bike. It is Kathleen and her friend John. The world is really small. The first time I met Kathleen was at border of Colombia and Peru. I turned around and we chatted for a bit. They are going to the same campground I'm leaving. Also, Kathleen is going to Ushuaia so I am sure I will see her again. There's only one way through the park. The wind is so strong it creates 2 m waves on the lake. Incredible. I stopped few times to take pictures but I get buffeted so badly I'm afraid I will fall off the bike. It is easier to ride. Easier, not easy. It is not a fun ride but I made it to the town again. First thing I do is to get a gas so I don't forget tomorrow. Then I go to the hostel I left yesterday morning. The lady was surprised to see me again this soon. But I was lucky there was one room left. That all I need today.
Next on the agenda is to find a new tent. I went to few outdoor equipment stores in the town, but they have everything but tents. I guess I won't be camping next few days. I hope I can find something in Ushuaia, which is a bigger town.
So, the plan is to head down to Ushuaia which is the end of the road going south. If everything goes well, I should be there in three days. But winds are getting stronger further south. This will be interesting. I will get to Ushuaia and then will decide what next. Not a dull moment in Patagonia.