Argentina is the world’s eighth largest country, only slightly smaller than India. Stretching from the sub-tropics in the north to the subantarctic islands of Tierra del Fuego in the south, Argentina has an enormously diverse array of environment and terrain.
Sixteen hours on a bus across the border and we were in the Chilean town of Puerto Natales, gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park. After a day to prepare for our trek, we made the journey in by bus and were blessed with a clear view of the infamous Torres del Paine spectacle synonymous with Patagonia; the three sheer granite pillars that are the ‘Torres’ or towers, and the neighbouring black tipped peaks that are ‘Los Cuernos’ or the horns. Our decision to walk the five day ‘W’ rather than the ten day full circuit turned out to be a great one as the god of weather was unfortunately against us on this trek. We were hit with nonstop torrential rain, wind gusts that would come out of nowhere to blow us over on a couple of occasions and flooded rivers which made for some imaginative and wet crossings. Trekking in totally sodden clothes and boots filled with water (Gore-tex, my arse) with no view of the mountains whatsoever certainly brought the question ‘why’ to mind. However walking alongside the huge blue coloured Glacier Grey on our second day was a beautiful sight.
Crossing back into Argentina en route to the village of El Chalten, we stopped at the magnificent Glacier Perito Moreno with its very active terminal face. Situated at the entrance to the northern sector of Los Glaciares National Park, our stay in El Chalten should have given us the chance to walk to the base of Mount Fitz Roy, however again the weather an
d low cloud was against us. Being on the edge of the world’s largest ice mass outside the Polar regions however, we took the opportunity to go ice climbing at the foot of the mighty Cerro Torre mountain, a chance to hone in on our technique ahead of our future careers in mountaineering. As well as several trips to the local microbrewery, we managed to fit in an afternoon’s horse riding with the chance to gallop along a beautiful mountain valley floor, the only problem being Dan’s so called ‘tranquilo’ horse bucking every time the whip came out giving him the fright of his life.We travelled for two days up Argentina’s western Andean lined border along barren Route 40 to reach Bariloche at the heart of the spectacular Lake District area. Situated on the shores of Lake
Nahuel Huapi, Bariloche’s soaring peaks backdrop turn it into a ski resort in the winter and along with that has come some beautiful alpine architecture. Taking the chairlift up Cerro Campinario revealed perhaps the most beautiful scenic view we have ever seen; 360° of mirrored lakes, mountains and forests, apparently listed in National Geographic’s top ten. After cycling around some of those lakes on the Circuito Chico with a stop at a fine artesian microbrewery on the way, it was time to sample some of Argentina’s finest beef, in fact the best we’ve ever tasted. Next we drove up to San Martin de los Andes via the much hyped but slightly disappointing Ruta de los Siete Lagos for a relaxing boat trip around Lanin National Park.
Our first experience on one of Arentina’s overnight sleeper coaches complete with reclining leather lazy boys and red wine service took us to Mendoza, Argentina’s home of wine. A lively cosmopolitan city with a pavement café culture, it wasn’t long before we were having our first taste of the local nectar at an evening with a local winemaker showing off the fruits of his work. With labour being so cheap here, nearly every grape in the country is hand picked, a claim that only top end wines in other countries can make. The following day with slightly jaded heads, we hit the outskirts of the city on a couple of clapped out old bikes to visit a handful of Maipu’s finest vineyards.Another overnight bus and we arrived in Cordoba, Argentina’s second largest city with an architectural and cultural heritage courtesy of the Jesuits who set up shop here when they arrived in 1609. French legend Manu Chao happened to be headlining at a music festival in nearby San Roque that evening, not only a good leg shaking opportunity but also an introduction to the Choripan, Argentina’s answer to the hot dog.
Our starting point for visiting Argentina’s rugged north west corner was Salta, a city which manages to retain the feel of a small town with a beautiful plaza at its centre. The Museo de Arqueologica de Alta Montana made for a fascinating visit with its focus on the child sacrifices of the Inca culture. In 1999, three mummified children were discovered at the peak of Llullaillaco, a 6739m volcano in the sacred Andes, perfectly preserved thanks to the low pressure, oxygen levels and temperature. One of the three, a fifteen year old girl was on display with her intricately plaited hair and clothes also preserved. Controversial it may be, however it was Inca culture to offer the lives of highborn children to please or appease their gods from time to time, sending them to sleep with large volumes of a fermented maize alcoholic drink.
We headed north with our own set of wheels and it wasn’t long before giant cactuses started to appear by the roadside as we drove through the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a canyon of spectacularly carved rock formations with the most deep red colour. We spent the night at the dusty little indigenous town of Tilcara, its streets lined with typical adobe houses. A monumental thunderstorm hit that evening as we were walking around the surroundings and it was a perfect opportunity to visit a Pena, a bar where locals meet to listen to traditional folklore music. Heading out early the next morning to capture the colours of the canyon at their most vivid, we were again blown away by the scenery. After a brief stop at Humahuaca with its cobblestoned streets, we turned onto the ripio road in a bid to reach the remote settlement of Iruya across the mountains. Unfortunately after only 10km of fairly rough going,
we came across a riverbed which thanks to the previous night’s storm had a torrent of water flowing down it. Despite hoping there was a way through, a local confirmed our suspicions and we decided to head for the little village of Purmamarca situated under the Cerro de los Siete Colores, a jagged formation with an amazing spectrum of colours sweeping across its sedimentary strata. From here we drove up the long and winding road through the spectacularly bleak highland puna over a 4,150m pass to a plateau partly occupied by the remote salt flat, Salinas Grandes.
Routing back through Salta to avoid an impassable section of road, we drove southwest and entered Valles Calchaquies for three days of some of the most striking scenery we’ve seen on our whole trip. Our first stop was enchanting little Cachi, a village of cobbled streets, whitewashed adobe houses and a tranquil central plaza. Cachi was so beautiful and peaceful that it was almost as if it had been designed as a showcase for tourists but the reality is that it is just the way the Calchaqui people live there.Driving to Colomé vineyard, famed for being the highest in the world, the corrugated road turned to the worst we’ve seen since the Kalahari. The unbelievably remote location had us crossing a damp riverbed and before we knew it our VW chasis was making very good friends with the mud. After several failed attempts to separate them, out from the desert came a lone passer by whom within seconds was lying in the mud helping to dig and lift us out. Whilst this was an incredible act of kindness (as well as luck), it was actually a fairly typical portrayal of friendliness from the Argentineans as we experienced it.
Heading further south down the ripio road through the Parque Nacional Los Cardones, the otherworldly scenery was nothing short of breathtaking with its wild lunar landscape, giant cactus filled plains, snowy mountain backdrops and starkly coloured sandstone canyons with unearthly rock formations, all brought to life as the sun went down. The town of Cafayate, Argentina’s second home of wine, made for a great overnight stop and with it an introduction to the tantalising torrontes grape, unique to Argentina. We drove through the spectacular Quebrada de Cafayate back to Salta from where we picked up a bus across the top of Argentina to Iguazu in its northeastern most corner. Visiting the falls from both the Brazilian and Argentinean side, the sight was most definitely memorable, however Victoria still remains our firm favourite.
Yet another long bus ride south and we were in Buenos Aires where we had the pleasure of spending five days with old school friend Adam Cowan who had flown out to see us for a long weekend of restaurants, wine, Pacha and the Boca Juniors. A true playboy mission if we’ve ever heard of one, even managing to squeeze in a day trip to Colonia in Uruguay with a sunset dance festival atop the four hour return ferry.
Our final destination was Peninsula Valdes back down in Patagonia but on the east coast this time, almost completing an entire circuit of Argentina. Famed for its visit by the Southern Right Whales in the second half of the year, Valdes is pretty quiet for the rest of it. However from mid-February to April the resident orcas spend their days around Punta Norte, the remote northern tip, hunting for sea lion pups by intentionally stranding themselves on the beach. Ever since seeing the footage on the original BBC Trials of Life series in 1990, this was something we’ve always wanted to see but never really thought we would have the opportunity to do so. 
We were incredibly lucky to be staying at Punta Norte with the local Orca Research Project which meant twelve hour days on the private pebble beach under the baking sun, waiting for the unpredictable orcas and the ensuing spectacle to unfold. The resident population is only eighteen strong of which only eight of them have acquired the incredibly complex ability to strand. These eight are the only orcas in the world to demonstrate such behaviour. Our patience over several days was rewarded with some mind-blowing sightings of orcas patrolling the beaches just a few metres from the shore and hunting and stranding as little as 10m in front of us in what must surely be one of the most extraordinary wildlife shows on earth.Press play below to see some of our amateur video footage.
Returning back to Buenos Aires on such a high, the current account smashed and just over a year on the road, we decided that it was time to return home. After a quick call to British Airways, we were on a flight within hours and are now residing safely back on home soil.
Our year of travel has certainly been a life changing experience with memories that will stay with us forever. The world is an unimaginably beautiful place in parts which can all too easily be forgotten from the confines of city living. We feel incredibly privileged to have seen and experienced the things we did from the rawness of Africa’s landscape and its people, to the magnificence of the Bhutanese Himalayas and its mountain villages, to the indescribable uniqueness and fragility of South Georgia and the Antarctic at the end of the world. The wildlife encounters we had around the planet were a real centrepiece for us and have served to further strengthen our passion for nature’s beauty and innocence and our desire to help protect. We met some amazingly inspirational people along the way from all walks of life, but sadly also learned about the atrocities, past and current, caused by others, leaving us with a sense of sadness about society. Tourism has visibly colonised large parts of the world as we saw it, yet at the same time we were lucky to witness pockets of untouched diversity. A recurring theme seem to be that the happiest people we met were often those with the simplest of lives as we would define them from the western world.
Trying to sum up our experience over the last year is an incredibly difficult task, however three things that we can say we’ve really learnt are a true appreciation for what we have in our lives in the UK compared to the majority of people in the world, the desire to always make the most of our time and the importance of family and good friends.
Click on the album cover below to see some more of our pictures.
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| Argentina and Chile |
Lots of love,
Susie and Dan xx
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