The first days in Argentina
I arrived in Ushuaia, my first destination in Argentina, after an 11 hour bus ride on Christmas day. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling great, so I spent my first 2 days keeping it easy. But on day 3 the weather was nice and I got tired of just staring towards the…
W-trek: glacier Grey
It had rained a loooot overnight and it kept going in the morning. I thought it was dry, went to brush my teeth, only to find out it was raining again when I left the toilet building. Waiting didn’t make sense. I had to pack up camp in the rain.…
W trek: day of the miradors
At 6am I was awake and feeling good. I’d gone to sleep early and felt great, so I decided to pack up and take my backpack down to the lower part of the campground. I brushed my teeth, added water to my mix of milk powder and oats and, after…
W-trek: a surprising day in the valley
It’s popular for people to hike up to the Torres viewpoint to see the sunrise. In December this means you have to start walking around 3am. This didn’t seem appealing to me. I hadn’t had the best view though and as I was talking to people, I started to think…
W-trek, in search of the Torres
It was raining cats and dogs and I lay in bed in Puerto Natales, worrying about my food choices, the potential of mice eating through my tent and the strong gusts of wind. So when I arrived at the bus station for my 7am bus I was far from well-rested.…
El Cañi: a mighty day on a mighty hike
Pucón has many hiking spots, big and small. My first hike there went up in the El Cañi sanctuary. It’s a private park with a lot of endangered araucaria or monkey puzzle trees. I got there with the first micro that left at 8.15am, to have plenty of time today.…
An encounter with Patagonian wildlife
Here I am in Punta Arenas. Almost in the most Southern part of Chile. I arrived by plane and had to go through all the taxi offers. There is no bus or group shuttle, so I found a shared taxi. After dropping off my bag I went for a walk…
Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park
I only had a couple of days in Puerto Varas, so I decided to explore this German heritage town and the nearby national park. My base was the beautiful MaPatagonia hostel. It’s a historic house, surrounded by other wooden buildings first built by German settlers who arrived in the 19th…
The birdman tradition
The Rano Kau volcano used to be the scene for a very special Rapa Nui tradition. Every year the people gathered here for a fierce competion. Each clan would send one competitor in a race for the first egg of the Manutara bird. In this race they had to get…
Walking Easter Island
I had my mind set on hiking the North coast of Rapa Nui. However, since you now need a guide for most parts of the island, it would be an expensive walk. I tried to ask around for prices or group trips, but it wasn’t a popular activity. In the…