27 December 2009

Picture of the day: the view of Monte Fitz Roy from El Chaltén.

After leaving Ushuaia, we had only the briefest stopover in El Calafate before coming to El Chaltén, about 180 km north. The clouds cleared briefly while we were walking to the internet cafe, letting us grab a shot of the elusive Monte Fitz Roy.

Blogmistress note: we´ll be hiking for the next four days, so don´t expect any posts for bit. Chau!

26 December 2009

Picture of the day: the beginning of the trail to Glaciar Martial, reached after walking up a ski slope (the aerosilla was closed for Christmas!).

After stuffing ourselves silly with Christmas dinner, we took a nice gentle (hah!) walk up a ski slope to a glaciar... then up on the glaciar. Yeah, we broke the rules--we're rebels like that.

25 December 2009

Picture of the day: the view of Ushuaia and Isla Hoste beyond, from the roof of the hotel where we spent our Christmas.

On our cruise, we met a lovely Australian couple (hi, Christian and Katie!) who were nice enough to invite us over for Christmas. They cooked unbelievably tasty Argentinian steaks, asparagus, potato salad... and of course, great wine. Not a bad way to spend the holiday.

24 December 2009

Picture of the day: water running through the soft soil of the peat bog.

We spent our first full day in Ushuaia trying to hike to what Lonely Planet described as a "lovely alpine glacial lake". Despite what the guide said, there was really no trail to speak of, and so instead we spent 6 hours slogging through a lovely valley... filled with peat moss.

Water water everywhere

Thought you were done with pictures from our cruise through the Beagle Channel and surrounding archipelago? Not so, I'm afraid. We took close to 500 pictures. (Hey, digital cameras make taking photos cheap!) Plus, we are lining up several posts so that you all are entertained while we hike around Tierra del Fuego.

The most surprising thing about the islands at the very southern tip of Patagonia has got to be the waterfalls. I had assumed we'd see glaciers and snow and ice; waterfalls, not so much. But all that snowmelt has got to go somewhere:

Several waterfalls cascading down the side of a small island.

A bigger waterfall, below a larger icefield.

A view of the ship, below a large snow field.

You know you're on a luxury ship when they serve you whiskey (or coke!) after every excursion... chilled by glacier ice, of course.

23 December 2009

Picture of the day: the view of Ushuaia from the Beagle Channel.

Ushuaia is in Argentina, while the Beagle Channel is split between Chile (south half) and Argentina (north half). This picture was taken in Chile, of Argentina.

22 December 2009

Picture of the day: the Chilean flag flying over Cabo de Hornos.