本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Beneath the Southern Cross
http://www.pbase.com/ssnclv/south_america_2011

After 4 days 90km trekking at Torres del Paine, I was exhausted and waiting at Laguna Amarga for my bus back to Argentina. At 6pm, the bus finally showed up.

We visted Iguazu Falls. It was the New Year's eve. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and sit in the pool with a couple of Argentine guys. It was a quiet night. All of a sudden, fireworks burst in the night sky. "Prospero Ano!" This was my first new year beneath the Southern Cross. Next day, we did the lower circuit trail and were totally drenched on the zodiac ride below the falls. Later my friend flew back home in Sao Paulo. I continued my journey to Patagonia.


After 4 days hiking, Rick went to Puerto Natales and from there returned to El Calafate. I stayed at TDP for one more night and return to El Calafate directly. The next day, residents of Puerto Natales were protesting government Subsidy Policy and blocked the only road connect to that town. Tourists were trapped for more than one week and held as hostages. Poor Rick.

The Lake Pehoe (pronounced as piwi) camping site was very quiet. I set up my tent 100 meter from the lake. My neighbour was an Australian photographer, he had been camping here for 5 days. I had dinner at the restaurant. For $30, I had steak served with soup, salad, desserts and coffee. Next morning I went to the lake to shoot sunrise. The sun light painted the Cuernos in scarlet from peak to the base. Then the tone changed from scarlet to gold. The Australian photographer was late. When he rushed to the lake. It was already too late. He must drink too much beer the previous night.
At 12pm, I packed my backpack and waited for the 1:30 shuttle bus returning to Laguna Amarga.


El Calafate has 5 ATMs. On my arrival day, 2 of them were broken and 2 of them were out of cash. I waited 1 hour in line to get 700 Argentine peso. Then I sprinted to the Currecy Exchange shop for Chilean Peso. I had never run that fast. After I got money, I felt relieved and bought a 2 flavoured ice cream, one flavour was pale blue moreno glacier and the other flavour was purple calafate (a berry grows abundantly in Patagonia. According to legend, individual who eats it is destined to return).

The next day, a bus bound to Torres del Paine picked me up at 5am from my hotel. The driver told us that fruit and meat were not allowed to bring to Chile. I had 6 apples in my backpack. In the following 2 hours I had to consume all of them. I made it! When we approaching the Chile border, I ate all six. I will never touch apple again in 3 years.
On the bus, I met Rick from California. He watched a documentary film about TDP 3 weeks ago. He then bought a plane ticket and flew here. I heard about TDP 5 years ago and I have planned this trip for 7 months. In the following 4 days, we trekked together most of the time.
First sight


The water color is real.It is caused by mineral particle reflecting the blue-green sector of the light spectrum.


Lots of guanacos


The TDP is the world trekking mecca. In the following 4 days,we did the famous "W" circuit. In this stretch, we walked towards the Cuenos, black "horns" of slate atop gray granite, and we hiked the French Valley, an amphitheatre of granite peaks and hanging glacier.

Rick was lost and looking for the trail sign


Today was the longest single stretch. We hiked along the shore of lake Nordjerkold. There were four streams to cross. Two of them were difficult. I tossed my luggage across the creek and hopped on three boulders. An Italian guy decided to wade in the rapids. The water was about knee deep. He had to take off his hiking boots and pants. Later two girls came. He volunteered to help them, but the girls refused to wade in the rapids. Tragedy happened, a girl slipped on the stepping stone and fell into the water. We pulled her out and she was drenched. With sun shinning from Antarctic ozone hole and Westerlies constantly blowing, she would dry quickly.

Scenes from our camping site. We both got up early to shoot sunrise.


A gaucho or huaso led a pack of horses carrying food to Refugio Chileno. A can of Coke cost $5 and a can of beer $5.5. After 25km hiking, I was totally exhausted. I stayed at Refugio Chileno. Rick decided to continue to walk to Camping Torres, which is 1.5 hour closer to the well known Mirado Torres.

If I wanted to see sunrise, I need to get up at 3am and climb in dark towards the three granite spires. I dismissed this crazy idea. I climbed up into the Ascending Valley and reached the rock moraine under the three towers at 8am. It was arduous. The three spires were wholly concealed by clouds. I waited 40 minutes with a dozen of people, the sunshine came through and the clouds were rising and melting. The sun painted the 3 towers in gold


I got back to El Calafate at 11pm. This time it was even worse. All 5 ATMs were either broken or out of cash. And it was a weekend. I only have 100 peso left. I decided to risk to go to El Chalten. If I couldn't get money there, I would sleep on street. I had done that at Milan railway station and Birmingham. I didn't mind doing it again. Later, I talked to a Chinese Born American from New York. He quit his job and traveled around the world. He gave me a sleeping bag. It might have bed bug. but it is better than nothing.
On the Chalten bus, we could see the peaks of Fitzroy and Torre from distance 100km away. Everyone was excited. In this picture, FitzRoy is on the right and Cerro Torres is at the middle. This was the first time and the last time I saw Cerro Torre. In the following three days, it was enveloped in clouds.

It was a windy day. I walked out of my hotel and the notorious patagonia wind fiercely slammed houses and knocked me down to the ground. I waited until the wind died out. Today I had to walk 12 hours and ascend 800 meters to Laguna de los tres. It was the toughest day.
I dropped my BW CPL in the creek while trying to filter out water reflection. I couldn't reach it. A fellow hiker said he could get it. He took off his shirt and lay down on the log bridge. He asked me to hold his legs to secure him. That was awkward.
The 80 minutes steep climbing took a toll on my energy, when I reached the top, the fierce wind pushed me down to my knees. I struggled to stand up and it pushed me down again. I had to grab hold of a boulder and waited for the gust to die down. I spent 20 minutes to walk through that 300 meter section. At the top, the wind was howling and blew the downwards stream from lake back like pouring rain. Everyone was hiding behind giant boulders. I managed to climb to a higher position so that I could photograph the FitzRoy and two lakes all together. It is interesting to see lake los tres feeds lake sucia, however one is emerald, the other azure.
On my way back, I looked at FitzRoy again. It was like Atom explosion. At the foot of the hill, I encountered Joe again. He was from Toronto as well. We constantly run into each, but we only talked briefly.

I took the 90 minutes minitrekking on Glacier Moreno. I should have booked the 4 hour BigIce.


A tale of two cities: Rio and Buenos Aires. I had some stories and incidents in these two cities.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net