El Chaltén, Ruta 40 and Perito Moreno

El Chalten, self-proclaimed youngest village in Argentina, was founded in October 1985. The Argentine government's strategic vision was obviously to occupy this geographical region where the borders are still the subject of disagreement. In fact, here, Chile and Argentina are in agreement that there is a disagreement. That's a good start!

This little village of 1,000 inhabitants off tourists is also modestly call National Capital of Trekking. Okay, there are beautiful walks nearby in the foothills of Mt. Fitz-Roy and Mt. Torres, one-day or several-day hikes. Fitz-Roy, what a funny name down her! Not very Hispanic! In fact, this rocky peak was named in honor of Sir Robert Fitz-Roy (1805-1865), commander of HMS Beagle, which travelled up the Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted large parts of the Patagonian coast.

After a few days in El Chalten, I hit the road again: Ruta 40, the equivalent of the Carretera Austral on the Argentine side. The road is better paved, but absolutely no village, unlike Chile. It is a true desert, a windswept plain, large expanses of burnt grass. For example, between El Chalten and El Calafate (my next step), there are more than 200 km (125 mi), with just a small inn and restaurant in between. Considering that, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to find people to hitch-hike. Either take the bus then.

In El Calafate, little (actually nothing) to do. It's a dead place. And it's actually here that died former president Nestor Kirchner (husband of the current president). Except from learning that, I went 75 km away (50 mi) to visit the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. You also want to know where the name comes from? Perito, which means specialist or expert in Spanish, is a term often used to describe Francisco Moreno (1852-1919), director of the Museum of the Argentine Scientific Society and a great explorer of the southern region of Argentina (who played a important role for the defense of the Argentine territory in the border conflict that opposed Argentina to Chile. Well, well, again!). He also established Scouting and Guiding in Argentina.

The glacier has a 5 km curved front (3 mi) to an average height of 75 meters (250 feet) above Lake Argentino, the equivalent of a row of 25-storey buildings. Glacier spreads to 30 km inland (18 mi), covering more than 250 km2. We understand that this ice mass pressures and makes the glacier advance (even if it is a rare phenomenon apparently). Its estimated average speed of progression is 2 meters per day, 700 m per year. So it creaks, it groans, it rumbles, it breaks down constantly.

The Perito Moreno looks a little like a meringue pie or a floating island (well, it was long ago since I last mentioned food in a post!). It moves in one leg - the Brazo Rico - of Lago Argentino, until it reaches the opposite bank (where visitors observe the glacier) and separate the Brazo Rico from the rest of the Lago Argentino. In this new small "lake", water can rise up to 30 meters above the rest of the Lago Argentino. This pressure on the glacier gradually hollow tunnel, which turns arch and eventually collapse. And the process begins again. Cycles can last two years for the shorter, up to 16 years for the longest recorded. Have to be there at the right time to see it all collapse. The last time was last year. But otherwise, every day swathes of ice break off. In a deafening noise, so it is the equivalent of a 25-storey building which collapsed and plunged into the water.

This is what is most impressive about this glacier, in the end. It is not necessarily more beautiful or more majestic than another. In fact, I almost preferred the glacier O'Higgins (see previous article): fewer tourists, more isolated, more difficult to access. And it was my first of its kind. However, the region and the glacier still worth a visit. You can judge for yourself...

Carretera Austral (4/4)

Wanting to cross the border with Argentina in this windswept region is a challenge. But with a little motivation, sufficient time ahead and enough battery for the camera, it is doable. And I don't regret anything.

The journey begins early in the morning on the shores of Lake O'Higgins, near the village of Villa O'Higgins, at the end of the Carretera Austral [editor's note: O'Higgins (first name, Bernardo) is a hero of the Chilean independence]. The three-hour boat ride leads on the other end of the lake. There is a possibility to extend for five hours to admire the glacier O'Higgins. The weather is clear, slightly cloudy, I'm going! So much for the schedule, I will camp en route if needed.

Navigating in another branch of the lake to the glacier. This is beautiful: the blue-green lake, snow capped mountains, hanging glaciers around and, at the end of Lake O'Higgins, here is Glacier O'Higgins (him again!). Patagonia as we imagine! Two crew members make their way through the icebergs to get ice and offer us a glass of whiskey with ice from this multi-millennium glacier.

End of fun for today, now begins the real work. There are 35 kilometers (22 miles) to cover before seeing the road: 20 km (12,5 mi) to Lago del Desierto, 15 km (9,5 mi) along the lake. Arrived at port at 5pm, I can only hope to arrive at the lake. Useless, I arrive at the border with Argentina, at kilometer 15. Never mind! I sleep there, under the stars, before the frontier sign, feet in Chile, head in Argentina. We talked about border in the previous article. I suspected Chile clinging to hers (you can refer to the history of the Pacific War, which finally deprived Bolivia's access to the sea). In this corner of Patagonia, even some trees are stamped with a panel looking like Chilean flag. And a small airstrip was built just before the border. In Chile, a square foot is a square foot, and it's worth defending it!

The next day, I walk closer to Mount Fitz-Roy. I even managed to capture its reflection in the Lago del Desierto in the morning. I finish along the lake. On the other side, Natalia and Max give me a ride to cover the 40 km (25 mi) separating me yet El Chalten. And here is a memorable border crossing in a remote area, probably the most adventurous of my trip, but not the last. I still have a few steps in Argentina, Chile and then again Argentina, ending in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. I can truly feels that the end is coming soon. Another month to contemplate this wonderful nature.

And here is the whole "Carretera Austral" slideshow.

Carretera Austral (3/4)

Tuesday. A new day starts... a little late though. I slept badly, it was cold that night. Anyway. At 10am, I'm buying my bread-rolls for my sandwiches when I meet two French. Good news, bad news. The bad news is that it's been two hours since they started trying to hitchhike, without success. The good news is that I did well not to get up so early after all!

They abandon the idea of hitch-hiking to take the mid-day bus. I hit the road, while hoping the passage of a car (or the bus). After two hours of walking along the lake, only one car passed. And it was full. But eventually a truck stops. Milton transports soil for the maintenance of the Carretera Austral, a few kilometers away. He offers to drive me. I agree, saying that anyway the bus is not passed yet, so I can keep going. We discuss work on the Carretera, trucks, football, etc.. When I left him, a deliveryman (in contrast, not really talkative!) takes me to Cochrane. I'm happy. And as I am a lucky, I would still try my luck. This is a bonus, I'm not late on my program, but I want to move forward, and try to visit Tortel. Fifteen minutes of waiting and Carles, Esteban and Rosario stop their jeep. After making room for me in the car, they almost apologize telling me they are going to Tortel and not further!

Tortel is a unique place. A wooden walkway along the fjord, others on the slopes leading to the houses. The whole village is made out of wood, wooden streets, wooden houses. It is far from everything. The village has been connected to the mobile network for 6 months only. It's pretty funny because everyone walks around with his/her cell phone, like children showing off their new toys. Otherwise VHF radio is always used to communicate from house to house. The electricity comes from the North. And the village is connected to the Carretera Austral by a 25-km dirt road. As you can see, very thin connections to the outside world.

The next day, Wednesday, I walk again nearly three hours before, again, a construction truck stops. I cross the Río Bravo by boat. On the other shore, there are still 100 km (60 mi) before Villa O'Higgins. But the more I advance on this Southern Route, the fewer vehicles there are. Fair enough, it is a dead-end road. In Tortel, I might have taken advantage of the departure of five jeeps I've regularly seen for three days (and I'm rather proud to successfully keep their pace). But it would have been too easy! I therefore prepare myself to camp there in the middle of nowhere, and wait for the passage of the bus the next afternoon. But luckily enough, while I thought all the cars on the boat were full, the last to leave the boat beckons me. What a luck! They go to Villa O'Higgins.

I arrive at Villa O'Higgins, the end of the Carretera Austral. From Bariloche, it took me 8 days to cover these 1,400 km (870 mi). Again, in Villa O'Higgins, it is far from everything. At 500 km (300 mi) from the “big” city by a dirt road, a day walk from the village of El Chalten in Argentina. No access to open sea by boat but a small airfield. I suspect the Chilean government to subsidize the village to "mark his territory". As everywhere in Latin America, there are many areas of territorial conflict about borders. Regardless, I'm here and happy to be here.

Finally a small anecdote, I came face to face with Simon in the hostel that I have chosen. Simon is an Australian I left around a breakfast table in my hostel in Santiago, two months ago! I was leaving, he was arriving, but we got along well together. Since then, we each made our way and we are happy to meet again completely by chance, to tell our adventures and to give some recommendations for our respective developments, he is going North while I'm continuing South.

What's next? I'll be crossing the border with Argentina over the week-end. This is probably the most adventurous border crossing of my journey: a bus, three hours by boat five hours of walking, the border, the new boat (or 3 hours walk) and bus. And I'll be in El Chalten, Argentina. But that will be for the fourth and final episode of the series.

Carretera Austral (2/4)

Sunday morning. Fog banks are still struggling to completely clear the fjord. I wake up smoothly, with the smell of toasts. Don Luis, the owner of this small hospedaje (bed & breakfast South American version) is already in the kitchen. Homemade bread, homemade jam, scrambled eggs, and good coffee. What a great start to the day! The rain even finally stopped. During breakfast, I question Don Luis on life here in Puyuhuapi before and after the construction of the Carretera Austral.

He tells me how this little village, founded in 1935 by Germans fleeing Nazism, was completely isolated at the very end of the fjord, waiting patiently for supply boats fortnightly or monthly. It was doing as it could and was autonomous. Then the Carretera allowed more regular supplies. It also allowed the development of tourism. Yet, this is not Disney-World though, but some influx of people keen of outdoor and adventure, crisscrossing the southern route in one direction or the other, by car, by bike, in motorhome, by bus, or even hitch-hiking. Many Israelis, a lot of French and Germans too, and Chileans from the "North" willing to explore the boundaries of their own country.

And then at least two Belgians also, to my great joy! Jerome and Emilia decided to stop in front of my thumb up. Immediately, they make room in the minivan and Emilia moved to the back alongside their little Mateo, a year-old blonde face with a big smile. After several years on a mission in Central Africa, they are waiting for a new position for Jerome, in the field of forest management. The three of them left from Santiago late February. They will roam Patagonia for three months, along the Carretera Austral on the Chilean side of the Cordillera, then back from Ushuaia by Ruta 40 on the Argentine side.

In this quiet and peaceful Sunday, with warm little breads in my bag for lunch, I was rested and motivated after this two-night step in Puyuhuapi. And learning that Jerome and Emilia were going to the same destination and planning a short stop to take a look at the Ventisquero Colgante glacier, I was thrilled! So we spent the day together, a small hike to the glacier in the morning and drive in the afternoon under the rain again. The road is long for the driver: the rain and potholes demand attention at every moment.

After a very pleasant day of sharing experiences, we even realised they knew my blog. They visited it while preparing their own road trip in Patagonia. They dropped me in Coyhaique, the uninteresting regional capital. I stayed in a small hospedaje a bit peculiar. The owner never wanted to sacrifice her home to large distribution. Result: the big block store that occupies the entire block surrounds her house on three sides!

Monday morning. The day will be beautiful. It was announced several days ago and forecasters were not wrong. But I would not be French if I do not complain a bit: the wind is cold this morning. To avoid dying freezing on the roadside, I walk and put thumb up every time a car passes. After four rides of 5 to 10 kilometers each, Daniel stopped to offer me to go to my destination for the day. I was no longer believing. Two days in a row riding more than 200 km, nice performance on the Carretera Austral! I hope I can carry on this way. I must be on Friday at Villa O'Higgins, at the end of this Southern Route, and it's still 350 km away (200 mi) in even more remote places.

Few dozens of kilometers before Coyhaique, the landscape began to change. After the valleys and forested fjords, we arrived in more open places, dryer also, with less trees. The colors are beautiful: blue and white slightly cloudy sky, gold grilled grass, green groves, turquoise lakes and rivers, black summits, and white glaciers.

Few hours with Daniel were a good opportunity to discuss the project of hydroelectric power station (a series of five dams) where he works in the Cochrane area a little further south. For now, the government has approved the construction of the plant as such but not its connection to the rest of the network via a power line that will traverse the wilderness and inaccessible Patagonia. Opposition to the project is fierce. Environmental NGOs denounce the move of 19 families and flooding of different eco-systems impacting wildlife. And others such as Douglas Tompkins (founder of American clothing brands North Face and Esprit who acquires huge territories to help conserve the natural heritage of Patagonia) are concerned about the environmental impact, aesthetics and tourism.

By mid afternoon, I arrived at Puerto Río Tranquilo, on the shores of Lago General Carrera, beautiful blue-green lake in this mountain setting. I missed the boat ride to see the creeks but I still spent the night there. Enough road for today. I will continue tomorrow!

Note. Meanwhile the traditional slideshow (to be published in the last article of the series), you can click on the pictures to enlarge.

Carretera Austral (1/4)

It's 7am on Thursday. The clouds are still hanging to the surrounding mountains. In a valley of the Cordillera, the small village of Futaleufu slowly wakes up. Smoke from the wood stoves is escaping from the small wooden color-washed houses. It is not cold as such; it is just very humid. Leaning over my steaming coffee, I regularly take a look out the window. The rain has not stopped since late yesterday afternoon. Clouds do not know borders; I arrived in Chile but nothing changed. Instead, with the weather coming from the Pacific ocean, I do not expect changes today or in the next days.

It's been two days since I left Bariloche. In Argentina, I hitch-hiked with uneven success, but thanks to Cesar, Carlos and Pedro I managed to reach each of the steps set (Esquel, Argentina and Futaleufu, Chile). It makes me remember when I was hitch-hiking in the Northwest United States, and specially on the wonderful and wild Pacific coast.The climate is probably helping. But the traffic here is even less dense. On the Chilean side, there is a car coming every hour and a half! Fortunately, there is a 95% chance it stops and picks me up. Hence, the average waiting time is just as good.

Click on the map to enlarge

Today's program: join the road No. 7, the famous Carretera Austral (the southern route). From Puerto Montt, the terrain becomes increasingly hostile to human settlements. About 1,600 km (1,000 mi), the Andes ends in a succession of mountains, lakes, fjords, rain forests, glaciers, until Tierra del Fuego. This area is difficult to access. At least it benefited from a "positive" outcome of General Pinochet's dictatorship: a road (sometimes asphalted) going south to Villa O'Higgins. I can not go further and will be forced to return to Argentina, El Chalten.

Between Futaleufú and the Carretera Austral I was led by Walter, happy to present the region, to name lakes and streams, to describe the colors of the water and its incredible transparency also. Not going through the whole way, I then had to walk two hours before joining Villa Santa Lucía, on the Carretera. En route, I crossed a jeep camper. Far, I don't know what intuition convinced me that they were French. The closer they drove, the more I recognized a European plate with a French flag. I stopped them and there we go: Patrice and Véronique, two smiling and enthusiastic Normans, told me about their road-trip throughout South America for two or three years. Having already spent six months doing what I intend to do on foot in one and a half months, I understand they have planned much longer!

Arriving at Villa Santa Lucía, on the Carretera, I thought and hoped there will be more traffic. No. I had to wait an hour, still in the rain, before Lucas stops. As drivers decide to stop or not, when you hitch-hike, you also have a second and a half to decide whether or not to get on board. Twice in the US, I went saying to myself with uncertainty "let's go, it should work!". Lucas had an strong accent that I could only from time to time understand and a strange behavior. Anyway, the incessant rain and the prospect of arriving safely at night made me jump in. He begun by sharing his sandwich with me. NIce. But then he also shared the bottle of Vermouth (Martini kind of)! Here I begun to understand why I couldn't understand everything. With alcohol, articulation was not his best asset anymore. Once driving his van, Lucas was dreaming himself as Sebastien Loeb [the nine-time French rally world champion]. After two days hitch-hiking in the rain and wind, I tried not to see that very nearly bumped into a goat, a public work truck, the back of a cow and a number of potholes. Instead, I even managed to escape my attention and sleep a bit thanks to the heating of the van.

Arrived safely in La Junta, I left the next morning. Patrick and Rose dropped me in Puyuhuapi where I stayed overnight. It is a charming little village on a lake with a small "Danger Tsunami" sign... oh yeah! In fact, the Pacific reaches the bottom of the small fjord. Very remote village which horizon is blocked by clouds, it really looks like the end of the Earth. It is far and wild, but it is beautiful! It is cold and wet, but this is adventure!

Nico el Patagónico

Hey! This is it, you can now call me El Patagónico (the Patagonian in English). Indeed, with a certain emotion, I arrived in Patagonia. San Carlos de Bariloche (or simply Bariloche) is my first step in the Argentinian Patagonia. Emotion and pride also, I admit, to succeed in reaching the Great South from Alaska safely, in time and (almost ...) in the budget. Finally I am there! And that's what moves me from the start: to discover Patagonia was the original idea around which I then built my Pan-American route.

Patagonia, what is it? where is it? For me, this is a wild land to explore. For geographers, this is the most southern region of the world, except Antarctica. For politicians, it is five Argentinian provinces and five Chilean regions. For some of you, it's only a clothing line. And for nature lovers, these are mountains, glaciers, lakes, trees, condors, penguins and southern summer sun that still shines enough to warm us ... but for how much longer?

I will spend a month and a half going down the 3,000 km (2,000 mi) that separate me yet from Ushuaia, crisscrossing the Argentine-Chilean border from time to time. My first step, accompanied by Aïssata and Jack (two very good friends from France), made me stop in Bariloche on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi. And here I fell in love almost instantaneous. I certainly rank the lake among the most beautiful ones in the world. I'll let you discover in the photos.

On-site program: a lot of hiking in the mountains, on the shores of the lake, on a day or for several days, and generally under the sun. Also my first rafting experience (you'll see in the gallery of portraits to the Photos page). Very good restaurants with beef to die for. And good Argentine wine, unsurprisingly never bad. All this bodes well for the rest of my stay in the region!

Buenos Aires

To be honest, I've been stuck on writing this 100th blog-post for two weeks now. I don't have all the pictures I wanted to take for various reasons. And I don't want you to overwhelm you with all kinds of explanations in the city.

So let's do simple, just some pictures. You'll see mainly the popular neighborhood of La Boca, where Italians started to migrate, very colorful: once boats were completely painted, they were happily doing the same on their house with the left-over pots of paint. For soccer fans, Diego Maradona originally from Buenos Aires played a season in the club Boca Juniors. Finally, Buenos Aires is where we traveled directly to Bariloche, the gateway to Patagonia!

Buenos Aires will remain for me a city with very European architecture as I had not seen since the beginning of my journey. It will remain as the city where I welcomed my friends Aïssata and Jacky from France and spend a fortnight with them, and the city where I said goodbye to two of my greatest traveling buddies: Kati is heading North to Brazil where she will fly to Galway, Ireland (via New York) and Henning ends her stay in South America before returning to Cologne, Germany. It was a real pleasure to meet them (in the Costa Rican mountains for the first, in a bus to Cuenca, Ecuador for the other) and travel that much with them.