Torres del Paine - Patagonia - Chile

We figured we are in Patagonia so we should probably do a serious backpack trip. After some research we decided to see the Torres del Paine National Park via the 'W' trek. It's a 5 day/4 night trek, covering about 48 miles. It takes you to the base of the Torres del Paine at sunrise, the face of a huge glacier (Glacier Gray) and into the French Valley, which is a huge glacial valley/bowl. Check out the photos by clicking on the photo slideshow or link on the right hand side.

Patagonia, Argentina

We're so excited to have made it to Patagonia! Our first stop was Glacier Perito Moreno, just outside El Calafate. It was very impressive with a height of about 120 feet. You can hear the ice crack, and once in awhile huge pieces break off and crash into the water of Lke Argentino.

Next, we went about 200 km northwest to El Chalten to do an ice trek on Glacier Grande, below Cerro Torre. El Chalten is a tiny, cute mountain town at the foot of the beautiful Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre peaks. We were really lucky and had spectacular views the whole time (which we heard people have come here several times without ever seeing them). The trek was a long 12 hours (round trip), with a cool single-rope (harnessed in) river crossing. Walking on the glacier was awesome! We felt so rugged with crampons. We also tried some ice climbing on the glacier!

Patagonia is known for it's beautiful snow capped mountains and glaciers, but also for it's consistent hurricane force winds (we are in the roaring 40's after all). We almost got knocked over by the wind (video to be uploaded soon).

Here are a few pics. We are now off to Chile for a 5 day hike around Torre del Paine. It should also be amazing.

From Patagonia - Argentina

From Patagonia - Argentina

From Patagonia - Argentina

From Patagonia - Argentina

From Patagonia - Argentina

From Patagonia - Argentina

La Bomba de Tiempo

Wow! We were blown away by this amazing band in Buenos Aires last night. They are an improvisational percussion group. It was wild to watch the director create songs as they performed.

If you are ever in Buenos Aires on a Monday night, head to Ciudad Cultural Konex at 7pm. You will be amazed at what you hear and see.

The World´s Most Dangerous Road

WE SURVIVED THE WOLRD´S MOST DANGEROUS ROAD!! We road mountian bikes down the road from La Paz to Corico in Bolivia, desending about 12000 feet in only 64KM. It rained almost the entire way which greatly reduced the visability. Mentally it helped because you couldn´t see the 3000 foot drops on your left. No one in our group crashed, except one of the guides who was goofing around at the start of the ride and landed on his head.

We´ll write more and add photos when we have a proper internet connection.

Trekking in Peru

Wow, trekking in Peru was amazing! We met some new friends in Huaraz from Holland and Germany and joined them for a day hike to Lake 69 in the Cordillera Blanca. The scenery was absolutly amazing. The Cordillera Blanca has many snow capped peaks over 20,000 feet.

The hike started in a huge glacial valley at about 12,000 feet. The lake was 3,000 feet higher at 15,088 feet (new personal record). With only 1 day of acclimitization, we were lucky we didn´t have any issues with the altitude. It was pretty slow going on the last steep section, but overall everyone did great. The lake was an amazing color blue and was surrounded by towering peaks. It reminded us of Hamilton Lake in Sequoia National Park, but much higher in altitude.







A few days ago we did an overnight hike into one of the deepest canyon in the world, Colca Canyon. It is about 2 times as deep as the Grand Canyon (peaks to river below). The walls are not as vertical as the Grand Canyon, but it was still very impressive. We hiked down from Cabanaconde to Oasis where we stayed the night in an adobe hut with a dirt floor. They also had a spring feed swimming pool. The views were amazing. We were also lucky to see a number of Andean Condors flying along the canyon edge before the hike. They cruise right past you as they float on the warm currents of air lifting from the deep canyon below. It was an amazing sight.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu in the morning mist



It cleared up later in the day

Machu Picchu really was as amazing as we hoped. The misty morning added to the majestic feeling of it all. It's hard to believe that the Incas could build such a beautiful city so high on top of a mountain. They even built on top of the mountain peak in the background, Huayna Picchu. We hiked to the top and were equally amazed, and scared, by the carving of steps into the shear rock face. We were awarded with amazing views from the top of the Incan world. From Huayna Picchu you can even see that the city of Machu Picchu was layed out in the form of a Condor. The Incans believed in three levels to the world: the higher world (Heaven), this world (Earth) and the lower world (Hell). They represented these with the Condor, Puma and Snake. The Incan capital, Cusco was laid out in the form of a Puma, Machu Picchu was laid out as a Condor. So some believe there might be a lost city in the form of a snake way down in the Amazon jungle.

Learning some of the Incan mythology while standing in this awe inspiring location was an experience we will never forget.


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Primitive Travel in Ecuador

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Riding on the top of a train through Ecuador.

We really enjoyed Ecuador! Such a beautiful, friendly country. But its travel network is a bit primitive, we had to ride on the roof of a freight car during one leg of our journey to Peru. It was a beautiful train ride through the Andes and no one fell off. The route includes a famous ridge called "Nariz del Diablo" (Devil's Nose), which included two "V" switchbacks that were carved into the cliff wall. It was wild to be on the roof of the train as it pulled into the switchback, then proceeded to traverse the cliff backwards on the lower track.


Pulling into the first switchback.
About to proceed backward on the lower track.