leisure time at "el calafate"

Hi, yes it is us again. If you think we have nothing else to do.. you are right... today we have "free time" in the afternoon :-) ... in the morning we visited "glacier perito moreno" another glacier which is very big. but in contrary to the one we saw in the national park we didn´t have to sweat and work for it, but instead we were carried there by a tourist bus (iiiiiiihhhh!!) yes, indeed but there is no other possiblity here because this town seems to be created entirely for tourists visting this famous glacier, which may not miss from any travel itinerary of every tourist tour... the average age is about 50, the prices are high for everything: buses, hotels, food... so we will continue tomorrow as soon as possible to "El Chalten", which is still "touristy" but the starting point for a trek in the national park "los glaciares" where we want to trek arount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre.. if the weather is fine and allows trekking.

Yesterday we decided to save money by using the local campground instead of an expensive hotel (of which we thought we were now used to ;-) - an idea which we regretted bitterly later - and instead spend all our daily budget on food ...hehe.... Mirko had on of these mega thick beef-steaks and I had a very good and exotic salad in a very nice restaurant.... mmmmhhh...
today we changed the plan and will sleep in a hostal instead... :-)

wish you a nice weekend!

Renate y Mirko

after 8 days of trekking...

Hi all of you! We are back to civilization! JUCHU! and we would have a whole lot to tell. But to keep it short and readable: The nature was GREAT, we saw the biggest glacier we have ever seen in our lifes and probably ever will ... it was very, very impressing! additionally the scenery as a whole in the national park was really great! and we were lucky concerning the weather: mostly sunshine, some clouds, one night rain and about 20 minutes kind of "snowfall", at times very, very windy what made the temperature - which as a whole was not very high - at times unbearable cold! the "dark side" of the trek were big swarms of mega-mosquitos attacking us longing for our blood, a REALLY heavy bag (all the food for eight days (all the chocolate for Mirko and hundreds of apples for Renate ;-) ) , the warm clothes, the cooking utensiles, tent etc... after the second day we were really fighting against moral problems during walking with the heavy weight pressing agains our shoulders and hips.
All together we hiked a distance of 123km and covered an altitude difference of about 4000m (up and down).
The trek was relatively smooth and easy to follow but at times a kind of climbing over big stones and roots, wading through marches and finding your way in and out of holes and hopping over rivers and streams.
But after all we think that is was really worth it... view our pictures with the link, I think you will agree!

After a recreational night in a more expensive hotel (hot shower...WOW !) we will continue to "El Calafate" today, planning to view glacier "Perito Moreno" and do another trek around mountain Fitz Roy of about 4 days.
So maybe there will again pass some time till we reach internet again to create a new entry.

We hope you are all well and send you kisses and many, many regards! Don´t forget to write us, we like to hear from you!
Renate & Mirko

from Tierra de Fuego to Patagonia

Hallo to all of you,
after a very nice trip to Laguna Esmeralda we went by bus to Punta Arenas crossing the chilenian border. We managed to smuggle three apples into Chile !! ha! :-)
Into our diary we could add "broken bus", "long waiting time in the middle of nowhere", "crossing the "estrecho de magellanes" with blue sky and nothing but sun on a ferry", "viewing dolphins from the boat" and "a night at a hostal-bed which our orthopaedist woul not have approved of" including "the devlopment of creative mechanical skills in order to take a shower" ...

Here in Punta Arenas we enjoy sunshine, blue sky and walking around in T-shirts ... just three days after the snowstorm in ushaia... incredible!

Tomorrow we will proceed to Puerto Natales directly continuing to the National park "Torres del Paine" where we plan to do a 8 day trek through the park to test our endurance and ability to share a VERY VERY small tent :-)
For our parents: this means we will not be able to give any notice till we return (give us some more time than 8 days just to make sure we can manage to reach an internet cafe, instead of invading a chilenian home in quest for a computer)
For all others: I know you will hardly make it without out entries ... but don´t despair ..we´ll come back! :-)
Renate & Mirko

Finally reached Ushuaia

we made it! or "the airline made it" .. we really reached ushaia yesterday and - although nobody really believed it - also our luggage !!! ... and what a good thing THAT was !! ... because here the ("so-called" - haha) summer presents itself with steady rainfall, snowfall and/or strong wind. We are still not sure which combination is worse. Ok, I must admit, not to do unjustice.. we have seen the sun at least ..hm... 5 minutes.... ok...6 minutes.. behinde clouds ... but that´s the maximum! in the shop windows they have signs saying "summer outlet" ???? are they crazy ??

today we did a trip to a glacier... but there was such heavy snowfall, so many clouds and fog that we actually could not differenciate between the lying snow and ..was there also some ice somewhere.. a glacier ?? hm ?? ... also the "incredible" view mentioned in the guide turned out to be one of about 3 meters for us. but we decided to see it postive... at least it was a check of the equipment .. and here we really can report something positive.... we were warm and dry beneath our ten layers of cloth, functional wear and rainproof overclothes... fairly good, no ? :-)
But we are full of hope for better weather .. I mean.. hey... if they managed to bring out luggage, everything is possible, even wonders, and maybe from tomorrow on the sun will shine .... :-)
Therefore - full of hope, or still overmotivated - we have planned to do another day-trek to "laguna esmeralda" tomorrow to check out whether the promising name can also be veryfied under worst thinkable conditions of heavy snowfall and fog. Maybe we can see the water if we put our face real close to the surface of the lake .. probably will stumble into it.. but... testing the quality of the gear is always a good thing :-)
I hope you all feel nice and cosy now in your warm offices and flats... you are welcome ..I always feel glad if I can help :-)

we send you a lot of regards and hope you are all fine !!!!!!! xxxx kisses
Renate

Buenos Aires ... w/o luggage

actually we should have been in Ushuaia by now but yet again Aereolinas Argentinas "wanted" to pay a hotel for us and so we are going to stay one night in Buenos Aires ... after 12 h flight and about 2 h waiting time for the information that there is no flight today and which hotel we are going to stay this night .. btw it is "Hotel Presidente" ... we realized that WE are at least on the right continent and even in the right country but unfortunately nobody could tell us where our luggage is :-( ... they just were very confident that it will arive tomorrow and with some luck it will even arive in Ushuaia ... with us ... HaHa ... at least we got 100 $ :-) in order not to wear the same cloth the third day ... tomorrow we are going to buy some T-shirts as we still are in winter cloths and here it has about 25 degrees ... and then we hope to finally reach Ushuaia .. let`s cross fingers that our luggage finds the way too ...
Mirko

unvoluntary change of plans ... we are still in Madrid

if someone is wondering ...yes, you are right ! ... we should have been in the airplane heading for Buenos Aires by now .... but instead we are here in a hotel in madrid relaxing with good food and red wine makeing friends with hundreds of other passengers who hoped that they would fly today ..haha...flight was cancelled ... but we are relaxed, knowing that we have more than enough time left, even if we fly tomorrow morning and as Mirko said: "This will probably be the best hotel in the next six month" .. how true... four stars... we¨ll never see this again anytime soon.... unfortunately we are not able to use the pool or the fitness room here in the hotel as our luggage is ... S O M E W H E R E ... ??? ... we were told that it will "surely" arrive in ushuaia.... double HAHA..... long live "Visa insurance" which will hopefully pay for the sex toys we will need to kill the waiting time .... tripel HA HA...... :-)
however we are now going to have one or two drinks in the hotel bar (let´s see if Aerolinea Argentina will pay for this as well :-) ) -> we need alcohol to forget the fact that we are going to miss our connecting flight to ushuaia as well which means another day waiting for the next "connection flight" ( I want to meet the person who invented the idom "connectiong flight" personally ...at night... in a dark street ... - very funny ... ) we will try again to catch a "real" flight tomorrow morning ...

summarization of day 1:
negative: cancelled flight
positive: good room, good food instead of airplane junk food, big bed, nice day in madrid

-> hey... more postive than negative ! JIPIIIEEHHH! :-)

see you! :-)
Renate & Mirko

on our way...madrid

day 1... JUCHUUUU.... we have about 6 hours in Madrid till our connecting flight leaves to Buenos Aires...we still like each other ;-) ... cafe con leche and tapas ...
we prepare mentally for another 11 - 12 hours in the airplane and then another 5 till we finally (and hopefully) will reach Ushuaia. We also hope that our luggage will arrive too... they told us everything is fine and checked the luggage through ... hm ???.... but we ourselves need to check in again in Madrid ??.... naja, guess contradicting information will accompany us through the next six months... we are (still ?) optimistic :-)
Kisses from Renate and Mirko