Ruta Canales Patagonicos & Capitan Leonidas

It took me quite sometime to get used to the fact that in this hemisphere, going north means that you are actually moving to warmer places rather than colder ones :)
Patagonian winter is just around the corner and I am making my way to the north...seeking for warmer places....I've had enough glaciers, snowstorms and winds...next destination is Valparaiso, but I have to go to Puerto Montt first.
There are many ways and routes to get there. I decided to take the most unusual, less advertised, most expensive and longer one....but promisingly the most exciting & "fun".
4 days on a cargo vessel through the Chilean fjords that is. I don't really remember who told me about this "excursion", I think a guy in Ushuaia, and when I arrived at Puerto Natales, I looked for it. Navimag is the company that runs those "ferries" for many years and their main purpose is to carry goods from the south to the north of Patagonia. Apparently though, they have converted some part of the ferries to carry some passengers, along with the truck drivers....

RUTA CANALES PATAGONICOS

Weather forecast was pretty ok for the season, although last week, the same ferry had to deal with waves as high as 7-8 meters, for 12 hours and arrived with 8h delay...
In most part of the trip, the fjords protect the ship from the harshness of the Pacific Ocean, but there is a point right after Puerto Eden where it cannot make its way through the little islands and has to get out to the ocean, before it goes back into the protection of the fjords.

horses, cows & sheep...ideal conpany :)

through the fjords....sea is great but is really cold....

the first of the two glaciers on our way

really magical scenery

see that dot in the middle of the picture?? that's COTOPAXI....
a very interesting story :)

It was around 5pm on the second day of the trip and I was at the bridge of the ship, talking to one of the officers trying to understand how they calculate the route from their radar....and from the map also. When I told him I come from Greece, he seemed quite excited and he showed me a single point on the radar that was named COTOPAXI. He told me to come back in about an hour and he would tell me a nice story about it....and so I did....and took the picture above.

COTOPAXI in all its glory :))

The story goes like this: Under that ship which is called COTOPAXI and sitting still in the middle of the sea since 1960, there is a reef which is 3 meters tall above sea level. Capitan Leonidas was in command of the ship back in those years, carrying sugar from the north to the south. Capitan Leonidas, a very experienced Greek seaman, he crashed the vessel on the reef, and there it stands until now. Story has it that he did it on purpose so that the company would get money from the insurance.
"There is no way a Greek capitan to make such a mistake. He surely did it on purpose" were the exact words of the officer I was talking to, while he had a devil's smile on his face. And of course the jury did not believe Capitan Leonidas either....and he was imprisoned. Poor guy...:))

Enjoy some more pics:

the second great glacier !!!

arriving at puerto Montt.....

....at 6am

It was definitely worth it. The scenery was amazing....and you don't really get the opportunity every day to travel with whales, dolphins and albatros along your way.....

Hasta luego amigos

Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine !!!

Just a few shots of the town.....

....

lots of stray dogs on the streets...but they get a lot of care from the locals

Kaweskar: Best hostel in Puerto Natales and the best I have stayed so far. 

Omar & Anije were amazing hosts...and breakfast was simply awesome !

TORRES DEL PAINE

That's still pretty south !

A complete map of the park

....RUTA CANALES PATAGONICOS

...but this is gonna be my next post :)

For now, enjoy some pics from Torres del Paine...no words needed !!!

Sorry for the quality of some images, but didn't have time any editing at all  :)

That's the Glaciar Grey...you cannot see where it ends !!

Really nice camping next to the Glaciar

Almost all part of this post was written while on a cargo vessel from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt, of course with no internet or any kind of access to the est of the world for 4 days.

On the next post will write more about this unique experience !!!

Quick update

Writting from Puerto Natales a very quick post. Weather is being crazy today with lots of rain and unbelievable wind gusts. Internet is mostly down. Leaving tommorrow at 6am to Puerto Montt, on a gargo boat, getting there on Saturday (sometime during the day)
Lots of nice things during the last few days...will catch up when I get to my destination

Ushuaia prison

Passage written in 1925 by Martin Chaves, one of the appointed prison guards

"Convicts had to undergo a medical examination. When the departure day came, watchmen were in charge of informing prisoners about this after supper. The whole Penitentiary experimented a silence full of fear, anguish and suspense. Finally, transfers depended on the number of 'chosen convicts' that could be lodge in the Prison of Ushuaia.

The next step was to get them to prepare a 'bundle' with their clothes and utensils to be then led to the grating yard where they were examined in case they carried forbidden articles such as weapons and tools. Once they went through this revision, shackles were put joined between then by an iron chain or bar- round their ankles so that they could not pace farther than 15 to 20 centimeters. Three hammer blows on every iron; nails must have been three heavy blows on the heart of every convict waiting in formation and on those that were waiting in their cells for a change of destination.

It is said that most hard and insensitive convicts looked at the blacksmith with arrogance while he was doing his work, but once they walked a few meters their spirit broke down as they begun to feel how iron hurt their skin, how limited their movements were and realized what their fate was"

U$huaia National Park

My last day in Ushuaia, and I had to visit the national park. It is so heavily advertised, that is one of the must-visit places. It is 12km outside the town, but there was no public bus to get there. Only way would be either by taxi, or by minibus organized by the hostel. So I arranged for the minibus to pick me up from the hostel at 11am and after 20' we were at the entrance of the park. We had fairly detailed maps with us, so we got started after paying an entrance fee. 65 pesos for tourists, 15 for locals....hmmm. Transportation & Entrance total 140 pesos. A bit of a rip-off but anyways....I am getting used to it :)
Not really much to say about the park. Some spectacular views and the constant feeling that you are somewhere far far away from home.

This is the end of my stay in Ushuaia. A highly touristic, expensive (thus the $ sign in the title) place that sometimes falls short of expectations. Tomorrow morning I am getting on the bus for a 15h drive to Puerto Nateles....my first crossing to Chile....bye bye Argentina, for now !!

La ciudad del fin del mundo

That's what Ushuaia is known as. "The town at the end of the world", a claim that is 100% accurate since there is no other human establishment of any form after this point, just penguins, sea-lions, whales and other wonderful creatures. Just to get an idea, the distance between Ushuaia and Antarctica is just 700 miles.

Tierra del fuego: where Atlantic & Pacific oceans meet

That said, Ushuaia is also the departing port, if you want to get on a cruise boat for a usually 2-week excursion to Antarctica. That is of course if you can spare the 4-5k U$D for the trip, which in my current declining economic condition can only dream of. Donations accepted though :))
I arrived in Ushuaia 4 days ago, in a zombie condition, after a 5am flight from Buenos Aires. Didn't do much during that first day; just walking around in the streets and try to get the feel of the town. It's very touristic down here, something that I wasn't expecting to that degree. Travel agencies and tech-clothing shops all over the place. Hostels, pubs, coffee shops, restaurants, 3 casinos and a handful of strip-clubs complete the picture. All of a sudden I got the feeling that I should have visited this place maybe 15 years ago....at least there are no McDonalds, KFC etc. yet.

No, I am not in Vegas :)

Seemed though as a place offering a lot of things to do. . . . at a price, as discovered shortly after.
The hostel I am staying as of this writing, is probably the best in town and costs only 12 Euros so accommodation is pretty much ok. At the hostel's common area there are a lot of leaflets, advertising all kind of activities you can imagine. From scuba diving, to trekking, horse riding, kayaking, penguin watching at the Beagle channel, and then some. Asking around, revealed that more or less you need about 50-150 euros per day depending on the activity. To cut a long story short, I decided to visit the national park, which takes a whole day, and also go to Glacier Martial which is a glacier (obviously) located at the mountains behind the city, and is actually one of the very few things that you don't need to pay, a strong incentive indeed. So, I started from the glacier. If you are still with me, this is where the actual post starts, so keep reading...
Asked several people about how long it takes to reach the glacier, and everybody was saying about 2-2,5h. So, I left the hotel around 12.30pm full of energy and commitment to reach the glacier. I had a draft map with me which showed me the way up until to a certain point. Walking towards the upper part, revealed a totally different face of this, seemingly very touristic town. Take a look at the pics below. They speak for themselves...

I was really glad I did not take a taxi up to the point where the glacier path begins and had the opportunity to discover this part of Ushuaia. It seems that not everybody enjoys the merits of tourism and wealth in this town, which is largely the case in Buenos Aires as well. No sad faces though, and people always willing to assist you in whatever you ask....starts getting better !!
Reaching the town borders, and only thing could see on the road, was taxis going up and down. I was already walking for almost an hour and the glacier wasn't even getting closer. So, I prepared myself for a looong walk. Didn't want to get a taxi, because usually you lose those little details that actually help you get a better picture of the place and the people.
And indeed, after about 15' of walking along the main road, I discovered there was a little creek coming from the mountain and a detailed map next to it, of several footpaths inside the forest, one of which was terminating at the the same point where a taxi would get me. 2h one way...just what I needed

This is where I started....

.....and that's where I was aiming to get. Yeah, right !

Nature can make the greatest paintings

Red fungus. "Eats" the tree from inside out.....

....turning it into red dust, until it falls to the ground

Just the sound of the creek & the light whistle of the wind. 

Already 1h into the forest and still had not met anyone.

For most part, the footpath was very clearly marked

After a short break and a quick snack, started again to make my way to the end of the path which should  be no more than half an hour away. 

getting closer, but not quite there yet

another 45' ???...

was worth every bit of the effort
What a spectacular view !!!
now, I have to get back down before it gets too dark

I made it back to the hostel at around 10pm....what a day that was....

Buenas noches mi amigos. 

Hasta luego !!!