Patagonia - glaciers, dream landscapes and German ancestors
We hiked a lot in Patagonia... There was one hike that really stuck in our minds and we'd like to share it with you not only photographically, but also linguistically...
Torres del Paine
There is so much to see in Torre del Paine National Park, there are so many different hiking trails that we could spend several days here alone. But we wanted to see the mountain that gives the park its name: Torres del Paine! So we booked a bus ticket to the park, as we wouldn't have been able to get there or back without a car. The park opens at 9am and closes at 7pm... But... let's start from the beginning:
7:00 am: It's a beautiful sunny day in Patagonia. The sun has been shining for about 2.5 hours, it's getting pleasantly warm, the air is fresh, the birds are chirping and the dogs are barking. We are on our way to the bus station, as this is where our tour starts. The bus is waiting here and leaves at 7.30 am. We should be in the park by 9 a.m. and then have time to do our hike.
8.45 am: We have arrived at the park. We show our tickets, which we bought online the day before, and go to the shuttle to go to the next point in the park. Everything is great so far. We are right on time, everything runs like clockwork 😊We have enough water with us: 4.25 litres, some fruit and homemade sandwiches. Plus sun protection, sunglasses, our jungle headgear and of course the 2-3kg camera. Oh yes... and of course a mini tripod, which also weighs another 1kg, as we might want to take a selfie or two.
09:05 am: We have arrived at the visitor centre. Great, there's a souvenir shop here! And even better, there's hot chocolate here too! We need it now, after all we haven't had breakfast yet! So we sit down comfortably and drink a hot chocolate and eat our first sandwich... Time passes and there are fewer and fewer people in the visitor centre.... The next shuttle bus arrives and somehow the people all run to the toilet, take a drink to go and start walking.... Well, who knows what kind of tour they are doing, we are only doing the 5.5km (105 min) + 3.2km (90 min) + 0.8km (45 min) tour to the Las Torres lookout base. So all in all 9km and 4 hours + about 20 minutes to the start of the first section...one way!
After we had eaten our bread with relish and drunk our cocoa, we also set off... We weren't the last, but probably among the last 100 people on the way... Artur also said something like: "In New Zealand the paths were also very roughly estimated. A 45-minute round trip was only 25 minutes long for the two of us! I'm sure it will be similar here!"
09:34... Off we go. We've already spotted our destination... First a few selfies. Capturing a few impressions here and there... more and more people overtake us. We don't let ourselves be put off and carry on walking. It gets hillier and more strenuous. The hot winter clothes we've put on underneath make us sweat like in a sauna.
10.50 a.m.: I simply can't go on, the winter clothes have to come off. Let's get undressed and have a drink. Oh yes, while we're at it, let's take a few selfies 😊After all, we want to have memories and our readers also want a few pictures to go with the text 😊
11:24 am: We've made it over the first hilltop... The finish line is not yet in sight and... um... WHY ARE WE GOING DOWN HERE NOW? We thought we had to go further up?
11:49 am: We have arrived at a hut. Sweaty, totally exhausted from the hike so far... We've done 5.5 km... so now it should be easier, the rest was only 1.5 hours + 45 minutes... Then we'll be there soon... So first of all we buy a nice cold drink and take a few pictures.
12:25 p.m.: We continue our walk... nice and flat along the river, sometimes a little up, sometimes a little down, all easy! We pose for a picture here and take a photo of a flower there. We have a drink in between, because the 4kg extra weight of water has to go!
The first people come towards us... How can that be? Deserters? When did they set off, please?
2:02 pm, we have arrived at the next section. The realisation sets in that we have to be back at the visitor centre by 7pm, as that's when the last bus leaves for the park entrance and otherwise we'll have to spend the night here, which we can't do because we've already booked the next bus from Puerto Natales tomorrow morning, and we haven't packed our bags yet either and ... aaaaahhhhhh! A quick brainstorming session has revealed: We can do it: We need 45 minutes to get to the top and then theoretically still have 15 minutes at the top to look at everything in "peace" and then go down. It's always quicker to go down and back anyway... So we stepped it up a notch and scrambled over the large and small rocks. Yes, 890 metres above sea level. We started at around 100/120 metres!
3:25 pm: We head back - another 9 kilometres. If we don't start running now, we'll have to spend the night here! So: step on the gas even more and watch every step so that we don't break our legs!
3.55 pm: Once we get further down, we ask the park rangers when the last bus leaves: 7.15 pm... Perfect! We've gained another 15 minutes 😊The likelihood that we can make it has increased a little. We also briefly considered buying another small drink at the hut in the centre. Unfortunately, we couldn't because the shop assistant was taking a break...
If someone says the way back is shorter than the way there: NO! It is not! And if someone says that going down is easier than going up: NO! DEFINITELY NOT!
On our way back, we encountered perhaps another 100 people. Well, we almost sprinted back without taking any more photos because time was against us.
7:00 pm: WE SEE THE VISITOR CENTRE! THERE IT IS! THE VISITOR CENTRE! WOHOOOOO! But.... There's no shuttle? Erm... We have to be back at 7.30pm for our bus, which is parked at the park entrance... Should we walk to the entrance? We look at each other... That will take at least 1 hour, we won't make it. Hitchhike? Lol... No chance... At this time of day, nobody is travelling, just a few people, and will they give us a lift? So we join the queue... About 50 people are still waiting for the bus. Only 20 people arrived after us.
7:26 pm: we are sitting in the shuttle AND are overjoyed when we see our bus at the entrance.
During this walk, we learnt something very important that we would like to share with you: A delicious sandwich and a hot chocolate can lead to a lot of stress! So it's better to take muesli bars and tea with you on your hikes 😉 No... joking aside. In any case, plan your tours well and rather go to your destination first and have more time there or more breaks on the way back than almost having to sprint at the end.
Of course, the whole thing passed us by without a trace 😊 Due to the "many" hikes and the amount of exercise on our trip, we had almost no signs of fatigue after this hike😉. We only couldn't really stand up for 3 days and had sore muscles all over our bodies because our calves and thighs and, strangely enough, our arms were so sore. We also only had back pain for 1-2 days due to the light rucksack and camera... But hey! We didn't use the tripod once, we almost drank all the water and nobody could have guessed that there were still 2 nectarines in the rucksack 😉
El Calafate
Until 2019, the Perito Moreno Glacier was one of the last remaining glaciers that had not shrunk. However, this has changed in recent years, as we learnt on our tour. The Perito Moreno Glacier lies at around 180 metres above sea level, which is very low. Normally, glaciers in colder regions and in the high mountains are above 2000/3000 metres. Here in Patagonia, in the Arctic and Antarctic as well as in Greenland, there are glaciers that are also lower. In total, there are more than 17,000 glaciers in Patagonia, i.e. in Chile and Argentina. One of the reasons for this is that heavy, humid air is pushed against the Andes from the Pacific. In order for the clouds to overcome this, they rain or snow off the moisture and can then move on dry over the peaks to meet the Atlantic Ocean at some point. Not all glaciers are accessible to all groups of people. Many can only be visited by experienced mountaineers or only on special tours lasting several days. The Perito Moreno Glacier, which we definitely wanted to see on our tour, was one of the highlights of our trip. It was very impressive when the cloud layer cleared and we saw how huge the glacier is and the breathtaking shades of blue and the different elevations, layers and water it shone towards us. Here are a few impressions. These can't really convey the 40 metre high glacier wall, but we can tell you ... breathtaking!
Playlist
El Chaltén
When planning the bus journey, we realised that we had 10 hours to change buses in El Chaltén, so we didn't want to waste our time there and went on a hike to the mountain lake at the foot of the Fitz Roy.The Fitz Roy, or Cerro Chaltén, is 3406 metres high and a granite mountain.The name Chaltén comes from the indigenous people, the Tehuelche Indians, and means something like "the smoker", which is due to the fact that clouds can often be seen at its summit.
The hike was definitely better planned and yes... this time we also had breakfast BEFORE the hike 😉
Los Antiguos
A place in Patagonia on the Argentinian side where you can find the fattest cherries. You have no idea how big and sweet these cherries were, which we were able to pick from the tree right next to our flat. We ate a handful of cherries and felt like we had eaten several spoonfuls of honey. You can find a few pictures below 😊 Apparently there are no tourists from other continents here. At least we only met tourists from Latin America here. As we later realised, this is more due to the fact that transport from here, across the border to Chile, over the Chilean side to Futaleufu and then back to Argentina is ... let's say ... complicated to almost impossible by "public transport". We found very little information during our research and bookings online... Pfff... at most a telephone number and the information via WhatsApp that the service had been cancelled or that we should turn up at such and such a place on such and such a day in the morning and then be given a lift if necessary. All the other travel reports we had read about this always spoke of rented cars and camper vans. We didn't have either and as our travel budget was running low, but we really wanted to see this part, we had to give it a try. At worst, we would have hitched a lift. There is only one road leading north anyway and at least one campsite, if not a few hostels, in every little town.
To get to our first stop in Chile, Puerto Rio Tranquilo, we had to book transport, which is only available three times a week. That much was on the internet. You couldn't buy this via WhatsApp, only in the neighbouring town of Chile Chico... As the name suggests... Chile 😊 So we borrowed 2 bikes and cycled over. About 4km to the Argentinian border, registered our bikes there and cycled 6km, stateless, to the Chilean border and registered our bikes there again. We then continued to the bus station, another 6 kilometres. The reservation at the counter was done in 5 minutes, so... what does reservation mean here... Our names were written on a slip of paper with nothing else on it. We did not receive a written confirmation, let alone a ticket. As we discovered 2 days later, a slip of paper really is enough 😉 Unfortunately, two other tourists who had spontaneously dropped by were out of luck: the bus was full. 10 seats are just 10 seats and you can't stand in the middle of a Sprinter on a mogul slope in Chile, as every passenger has to wear a seatbelt.
Here are a few impressions that we gathered along the way 😊
Puerto Rio Tranquilo
Why did we want to take the difficult route via Chile by public transport? Because there are so many things to see here, and as we discovered on our way north, we were sometimes the only foreigners... Apart from the Chileans and Argentinians who were also travelling here 😊 But back to Puerto Rio Tranquilo: there are the Marble Caves here. The marble caves are located on the shore and on a few islands near Lake Aires (Argentina) or Lago General Carrera (Chile), as it is known. At 1850 square kilometres, it is quite large. Approximately 53% of the lake belongs to Chile and 47% to Argentina. It is the largest lake in Chile and the second largest lake in Argentina... But that's not why we were here, we were here for the marble formations.
Da wir hier noch einen Tag zusätzlich eingelegt haben, hatten wir auch vor, eine kleine Wanderung zu einem Aussichtspunkt zu machen. Diese war mit 3 Stunden angesetzt, laut einer App die sich Artur auf seinem Handy installiert hat… Wir sind also wieder losgestapft… 45 Minuten später waren wir wieder in der Stadt, weil wir an der zweiten Kreuzung den falschen Weg genommen hatten und weil wir danach feststellen mussten, dass der umgekippte Bauzaun am Anfang unserer Wanderung eigentlich eine Absperrung zu einem Privatgrundstück… besser gesagt einem Steinabbaugebiet war… Trotzdem gibt es auch hier, dass ein oder andere Bild 😊 Wir haben die Wanderung dann einfach in der Stadt und am Strand fortgesetzt.
This time it was also exciting for us to book tickets for the bus: Not possible. At least that's what we were told in the café where the bus departs. There is one connection per day, after which you can wait until tomorrow. You may have the option of hitchhiking again. Around 15/20 other passengers were waiting with us for the bus to continue north... What few people knew was that you could book tickets in advance... online... Artur found out after 4 hours of research and we were able to travel. Of the 20 others, 6 had to stay behind. 4 people were allowed to "stand around" on the bus... So they were allowed to sit somewhere in the aisle.
Puyuhuapi
"Bless you!".... No, joking aside. This is a settlement on a fjord in the Región de Aysén in Chile. We stopped there the next day to visit a hanging glacier. Where can you book a tour like this, you ask? Nothing online here. Well... yes... The room booking was online, but nothing more. It was an exciting challenge for us. We arrived in the village and started by asking around. The first tip was the tourist information centre. This didn't help us at all. It was also closed when we arrived at around 9 pm. So we asked at our hotel and were given the tip to ask in a small snack bar 4 streets away... And indeed... "By chance" the owner has a small coach with 12 seats, minus 1 seat for himself, and he organises a trip to Queulat National Park once a day. Fortunately, there was still some free time for the next day and so we were able to visit the Hanging Glacier "Veintisquero Colgante". The green glacial lake, the "Bosque Encantado" (delighted forest), through which we hiked to the viewpoint, and the viewpoint of the hanging glacier really impressed us. Here are a few impressions for you 😊
Futaleufu
Alone in the wilderness... our bus threw us out in front of a small restaurant in a village with a maximum of 250 inhabitants in a side street... We were the only ones, the other 8 people walked somewhere. We were told that our bus to Futaleufu would arrive here in about 1 hour and take us with it. Then it left with the other 80 passengers. Our destination, not like the others: Puerto Montt. Our destination: Futaleufu, a town on the border with Argentina. From here we wanted to continue on to Bariloche, but more on that in a moment. 30 minutes later, we have fresh strawberry juice with ice cubes and Tatjana has a muffin from somewhere... wherever. Tatjana also brought 2 friends with her... 2 dogs who were totally fixated on... THE MUFFIN 😉 We had to defend him tooth and nail. The dogs here in Chile had a slightly different demeanour to those in other countries. There were more dogs and they were more like neighbours who just came by to grab a piece of lunch or our muffin. Anyway, we managed to share and finish the muffin and halfway through the strawberry juice, our bus suddenly arrived. "Cinco Minutos" ("Five minutes") was what the bus driver said when we asked when we were leaving. So we drank the rest of the strawberry juice super quickly, threw our suitcases on the bus and hurried to the toilet. A 2.5-hour journey after 300ml of drink is a long time 😉 So we and the other 2 passengers sat on the bus, 10 minutes later the bus driver came out of the restaurant and we set off. Off we went on our next adventure, because 4 more hours of research revealed that there was a bus on the Argentinian side and we had already been able to book the next ticket online, but what was going on between Futaleufu and the Chilean/Argentinian border? ... NO IDEA ... So, when we arrived at the bus station in Futaleufu, we asked around... supposedly there was more information in a hostel. After dropping off our backpacks, which now weigh 20kg each + the small pieces of hand luggage we are carrying (Tatjana about 4kg, Artur about 10kg), at our hotel, we trudged to the hostel in question. We are told to just turn up tomorrow morning, the minibus leaves from in front of the hostel at 7.30am. Reservation? You don't need one! Ticket? You buy it directly from the driver and pay in cash. Luggage? Will come with you somehow. "Tranquilo!" which means something like "Take it easy!" 😊 Well, we were there the next morning and there were a handful of people with us. The small minibus was still full when we set off and there were so many people in front of the hostel that the minibus dropped us off at the border and drove back to pick them up. On the other side of the border was an ageing coach that was already waiting for us "Chileans". And the Chilean minibus on the Chilean side then picked up the Argentinians. It was all planned, but not properly written down anywhere 😉In any case, we managed to get back on the "standard tourist route" 😊
And on we went to our actual destination and also the end of Patagonia... San Carlos de Bariloche.
San Carlos de Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, or simply Bariloche, has 140,000 inhabitants and is located in the province of Rio Negro. Some of you may recognise the name Bariloche. This could be because it is known from films and television, because some Nazi criminals went into hiding here and some of them were tracked down in the 1990s. We'll come to that later. When we arrived in Bariloche by bus, we had quite a bit of trouble checking into our AirBnB. The lady at reception didn't know anything about our booking and unfortunately we couldn't leave our light luggage with her until the specified check-in time. So we first set off with bag and baggage in search of something to eat, which fortunately worked out. Close friends and family kept asking us whether we were getting enough to eat... Yes, we were 😊 Due to our many different insights, we changed our eating habits and avoided highly processed, sugary and oversized portions. Fortunately, this has allowed us to downsize a little 😊
After dinner and a successful check-in, we went exploring with the aim of topping up the credit on our Argentinian SIM cards. As Bariloche was to be our last stop in Argentina, we wanted to avoid transferring cash via Western Union again. During the top-up process, however, we immediately realised that nothing goes without moss. So plan B - exchange US dollars. It was Saturday and all the official bureaux de change were already closed, so our only option was to exchange on the street. Our 20 dollar notes were not so popular as far as the exchange rate was concerned, but in the end we got a very fair rate. For your information: Exchanging US dollars or euros for Argentinian pesos on the street is done at the blue dollar or tourist dollar rate. For example, if the official rate is $100 = 850 pesos, then the street rate is around $100 = 1200 - 1350 pesos. However, you can only get this value if you arrive there with freshly printed and unbent US$ 100 notes. Otherwise, it all depends on the skill and taste of the staff in the unofficial exchange office.
The German influences cannot be overlooked in Bariloche. Buildings, beer, German school.
The next day was Tatjana's birthday, a very special birthday. Far away from home and very different but very relaxed and beautiful. In the morning we both went to the hairdresser, it was about time. Freshly styled, we then went on a short hike to an old waterworks. We weren't officially allowed in, but it was enough for a photo through the open door and at least our upper bodies were inside.
We ended the evening in a brewery (Kunstmann) of German origin. There was even a local serenade for Tatjana 😊 If that didn't make anyone blush...
There are many lakes in the region around Bariloche, which is why it is also known as the Patagonian Lake District. Naturally, we wanted to take a look. And where better to do that than from the top of a mountain. But you have to get up there first - luckily there was a chairlift 😊
Towards the evening we were back in Bariloche, where a really exciting tour was waiting for us, the "German Footprints and Nazi Presence" tour. We passed some historical buildings where we learnt about the history of the city. The first Germans came to the region around 1848 for both economic and political reasons. In fact, there were three waves of German immigration in total, which we found very exciting. In Germany, we are generally only familiar with the Nazi Germans in Argentina, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Chile. So let's delve briefly into the history.
First wave (mid-19th century to the end of the 19th century):
In the 19th century, the first wave of German immigrants arrived in northern Patagonia. Economic immigrants were attracted by the expansion of agriculture and forestry in the region. They were actively recruited by Argentina. There were also many immigrants who travelled to Argentina for political reasons. We find this historical knowledge extremely important, especially in light of the current anti-democratic sentiments in Germany. In part, the first wave of immigration was motivated by the social and political unrest in Germany at the time, which was triggered by the failed March Revolutions of 1848/1849. The aim of the March Revolutions was to introduce democratic reforms in Germany, limit the power of the princes and achieve national unity among the various German states. At this time, they were not yet united as a German empire. After the revolutions failed, many supporters were politically persecuted and set off in search of a new homeland that reflected their democratic values. At the time, Argentina had enshrined religious freedom and liberal principles in its constitution, which made it an attractive country of immigration for German emigrants.
This shows us once again how important democracy is for a free and self-determined life for us humans. Our German ancestors fled Germany because democratic values were not practised there and were warmly welcomed. We would therefore like to expressly appeal to you to stand up for these values in Germany. Because this is the only way we can live together in freedom.
Second wave - between the world wars
The second wave of German immigration took place after the First World War, when many people moved to Argentina due to the economic situation and political unrest. Many German institutions in Argentina, such as German schools, mountaineering clubs and social organisations, date back to this time. This also includes the first mountaineering club in Argentina, the Club Andino Bariloche, founded by Otto Meiling in 1931. The club ran various mountain huts, including one called Bergfreude. The club is still active and we saw the clubhouse on our tour.
Third wave (after the Second World War)
In the third wave of immigration after the world war, many refugees, including some high-ranking Nazis, came to Argentina. The government of Argentinian President Perón did not ask about their previous roles in the Nazi regime when they entered the country, so they felt safe here. They integrated themselves into the local German organisations and sometimes appeared with a fake name and sometimes with their own name. Among them were well-known names such as Joseph Mengele (1949-1959 under the name Helmut Gregor), Adolf Eichmann (1950-1960 under the name Richard Klement) and Erich Priebke and Reinhard Kopps.
Bariloche became sadly famous in 1994 when it was discovered by an American journalist who was searching worldwide for Nazi perpetrators that Erich Priebke, Reinhard Kopps and Josef Mengele, among others, lived in Bariloche. Priebke was caught and brought to trial in Italy, where he had committed serious crimes. At the time, Priebke was a close associate of the Gestapo chief in Rome and was involved in the massacre in the Ardeatic Caves near Rome on 24 March 1944, in which 335 hostages were shot. Kopps, who reported Priebke to the reporter, was able to escape and has presumably died in the meantime, and Mengele died many years earlier in Brazil. We were very surprised to learn that Priebke was head of the German school in Bariloche under his German name, without anyone noticing or being interested. The interview between the reporter and Priebke from the 1990s can be found on YouTube.
Erich Priebke – Tracking Down A Gestapo Officer | Nazi Hunters | Curious?: True Heroes (youtube.com)
On our last day on site, we visited the black glacier in Nahuel Huapi National Park. It is located at the foot of Mount Tronador, a volcano on whose ridge there is also a glacier. The black glacier below is fed by the glacier above. This means that ice is constantly falling from the glacier from above and contains a lot of sediment. In addition, there is the abrasion that the black glacier itself produces and so the glacier does not look blue, but black. Here are a few photos of the glacier and our little tour through the national park.
And with this our journey through Patagonia and Argentina comes to an end... We are also approaching the end of our wonderful journey of discovery... Chile is the last new country we are visiting... So off we go to the capital of Chile... Santiago de Chile!