2-14 through 2-16-10: Futaleufu, Chile

2-14-10: We drove 30 minutes from the town of Futaleufu to the Futaleufu Explore Lodge to pick up our rafting gear before driving to the river put-in. We were told it would be a 2 hr float down the Rio Azul (Blue River) but it only took about 45 minutes. The rivers in the area were untypically high for February due to the preceding months being quite rainy; thus the river flow was very fast. The kids had a good time on the float and alternated between sitting in front on the floor of the raft or paddling in the rear situated in front of the guide. Their only complaint was that the guide would hold onto the neck flap of their life jacket when going through the rapids and this 'choked' them.

After returning to the lodge, a group of rafters (2 rafts) was preparing for a trip down the Futaleufu River and we added on so that there were 5 passengers in each raft plus a guide. The trip was totally amazing! Mike and I paddled up front for most of the trip and we felt the intensity of the enormous waves first. We were knocked into the raft a couple of times by their force. One section was called the "Magic Carpet" because we were able to catch eddies on either side of the river to ride the waves at least 5 more times. There were 2 Chilean guys and a Swiss girl in our raft and the guide asked if anyone wanted to try the front position; so the 2 Chileans took the helm while Mike moved to the 2nd row next to the Swiss girl (Kirsten) and I went to the 3rd row. Mike, Kirsten, and I were surprised to see the 2 Chileans paddling frantically and ineffectively. I joked with Kirsten that the guy in front of her was splashing her more with his paddle than the waves were! lol! Actually I was able to appreciate a different perspective from the 3rd row of the raft. I could see how the front of the raft absorbed much of the water's initial impact then rose and fell as it rode the waves. After our trip down the river was completed, everyone had a scrumptious late lunch back at the lodge. Kirsten and our family had a wonderful dinner in the evening also since we we spending the night at the lodge. Mike and I were thankful that we were able to raft 1 of the 3 best rivers in the world!

(explanation of the pics: #1-Mike and Patty after rafting the Futa River, #2-our raft taking a hit with Mike visible in front, #3-the beautiful, light turquoise-color of the Futa, Gaby getting a lift back to the raft after taking a dip in a swimming hole on the rio Azul, view of the mountain called 3 monjas (3 nuns), and our family before starting the Rio Azul float).

2-15-10: We spent most of the day hanging out at the lodge; we serenely took in the view of the Futaleufu River and surrounding mountains. The beautiful light, turquoise color of the river just couldn't be properly captured in our pictures. We set out in the late afternoon, crossed back into Argentina, continued to Parque Nacional Los Alerces, and found a nice campground by a lake to spend the night.

2-16-10: We drove to Bariloche, turned in our rental car, and took a 17 hour bus ride back to Mendoza, Argentina so we could spend a few days in the familiar surroundings of our favorite hostel, Quinta Rufino, to plan our next steps.

2-9 through 2-13-10 Back into Chile- Carretera Austral, Villa Cerro Castillo, Parque Queulat, Futaleufu

2-9-10: We drove northward most of the day and spent the night at a rustic guesthouse at Casa de Piedra Estancia. It was located about an hour south of the town of Perito Moreno (which we would be traveling through tomorrow). Gaby and Luke played outside a while in the early evening to burn off energy while the estancia's cows looked on curiously.

2-10-10: In the morning we navigated through Perito Moreno and crossed the border into Chile (again) at Paso Ingeniero Ibanez-Pallavinci (border checkpoint) and into the town of Ibanez. The stretch of gravel road between Argentina's and Chile's checkpoints made for an adventuresome ride; a winding and narrow road with many ups and downs to be precise. We ended up at Villa Cerro Castillo for the night at Camping La Araucaria. Cerro Castillo was another impressive mountain to see.

The road from Ibanez, Chile is part of the Carretera Austral which ranks among the world's ultimate road trips. It runs 1240, mostly unpaved, kilometers alongside ancient forests, glaciers, pioneer farmsteads, turquoise rivers, majestic mountains, and the Pacific Ocean.

2-11-10: As we left Villa Cerro Castillo in the morning, I happened to spot 2 huemuls (Andean deer) in the field alongside the highway. We stopped for photos since they are elusive animals and are not frequently seen even by the locals. We continued our drive along the Carretera Austral through Coyhaique, through an enchanted forest, and ended up at Parque Nacional Queulat. We set up the tent and since it was still sunny and warm, we decide to go on a trek (it was 6:45 pm). We crossed some raging whitewater on a wooden slat and rope bridge then took the trail for the Mirador to Ventisquero Colgante (Hanging Glacier). The trail ascended through a forest thick with ferns, southern beech, and inpenetrable foilage. We reached the lookout at 8:15 pm and waited about 15 minutes for the glacier to break off but it wasn't to be. We couldn't wait any longer; the ascent took 1-1/2 hrs and the descent would easily take an hour. We arrived back at our camp around 9:30 pm with barely enough remaining light to see by.

The name Queulat means 'distant lands'; a name likely given by the native Chonos people. The mean annual rainfall in this area measures between 350-400 cm!

2-12-10: During our drive to Futaleufu, we stopped for another photo op. I spotted a strange-looking bird in a tree and looked it up in our flora and fauna guide; it turned out to be a male cara cara. Adolfo's B & B was our home base for 2 nights as we explored the town of Futaleufu. Mike and I checked on some rafting companies and made a deal with Futaleufu Explore to go on 2 raft trips with a night stay at the company lodge alongside the beautiful Rio Futaleufu. The 1st trip would consist of a guided, family float on the Rio Azul which had class 3 rapids. The 2nd trip would be Mike and I on a guided trip down the Rio Futaleufu (a dream of Mike's for 20 yrs) while the kids stayed at the lodge with one of the owner's teenage daughter and couple of employees.

2-7 to 2-8-10 El Chalten, Argentina (pics of El Chalten, waterfall, and last 2 from lookout for Mt. Fitz Roy)

2-7-10: We set out for El Chalten today and quickly found lodging at the comfy and practical Cerro Torre Cabanas. The gusty, high winds typical to this area did not make camping a viable option since most of the campsites were exposed and wind-whipped. We spent 2 days here to enjoy Argentina's Trekking Capital; named such due to the wide range of outdoor activities one can partake in. El Chalten is located within Los Glaciares National Park and it's named for Mt. Fitz Roy's Tehuelche name meaning ' peak of fire' or 'smokig mountain'; an apt description of the often cloud-enshrouded summit. On the 7th, we walked a short hike to see the waterfall Chorrillo del Salto. As I admired the falls from a sunny perch at the base, Mike and the kids scrambled across the stream for some climbing which led them to a vantage point above the falls.

2-8-10: Today we took a longer hike to Laguna Capri and the mirador for Mt. Fitz Roy. We waited about an hour to see if the clouds would clear enough for a good view of the elusive peak but they would only tease us with brief glimpses. The family returned to our cabana from our hike just in time as the sunny, warm weather turned cold, gusty and rainy.

2-1 through 2-6-10 Torres del Paine Park (Chile)

2-1-10: We parked our car at the trailhead, packed our backpacks (Gaby and Luke were also carrying backpacks containing their sleeping bags and foam pad) then headed up the trail. We hiked 4.2 km with a steep ascent and a windy section just before hitting Refugio Chileno to set up camp; it took us about 2 hours to this point.

2-2-10: We continued our trek to Mirador Torres (4.8 km sans backpacks except for daypacks Mike and I were carrying). The granite towers of Torres del Paine, the surrounding mountains, and light green waters of the glacial lake were an amazing site although clouds tended to obscure the peaks of Torres most of the time. Luke and Gaby had a blast scrambling over large boulders (see the big boulder picture and pick out the kids to the right of it) and even discovered a neat cave that Mike and I had to see. After a couple of hours, the kids and I decided to begin our descent while Mike lagged behind to enjoy the views and peaceful solitude just a bit longer. We spent another night at our same camp.

2-3-10: We hiked back to the trailhead this morning and bid Torres del Paine Park goodbye as we headed back to Puerto Natales.

2-4-10: The Cueva del Milodon (cave of the Mylodon) warranted a visit before leaving the Puerto Natales area. It is a huge cave (30 m high) where the remains of a giant ground sloth creature were found in the 1890s. Mylodon is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in the Patagonia area of South America until roughly 10,000 years ago. Mylodon weighed about 200 kilograms (440 lb) and stood up to 3 m (10 ft) tall when raised up on its hind legs. Preserved dung has shown it was a herbivore. It had very thick hide and had osteoderms within its skin for added armor. The Mylodon museum had a small piece of the Mylodon's hide with fur still attached and some of its bones. After completing out tour of the cave and museum, we loaded up in the car and crossed back into Argentina with a planned destination of El Calafate. We took a wrong turn at one point and nearly found a new crossing back into Chile except for the road ending at the base of the mountains which effectively blocked our passage (ha,ha). Thus we turned around, ran into a couple of ranchers checking on their sheep who pointed out our wrong turn, and ended up on their estancia for the night since we wouldn't make El Calafate before nightfall. Their estancia, Rupai Pacha, had a nice campsite which made for a cozy stay. The next morning we chatted with our hosts and had a little tour explaining the history of their estancia as well as the inner workings of their sheep ranch. We were invited to their large garden to pick a small basket of organic starwberries for our road trip; what great hospitality!

2-5-10: We arrived at El Calafate and spent 2 nights here. Downtown Calafate had a nice mix of resto-bars, eateries, coffee shops, chocolate shops, souvenir shops, and bookstores.

2-6-10: Today's highlight was a trip into Parque Nacional Los Glaciares to view the amazing Glacier Perito Moreno; the park is 78 km from El Calafate. Glacier Moreno is among the Earth's most dynamic and accessible ice fields. It measures 30 m long, 5 km wide, and 60 m high but what makes it exceptional is its constant advance of up to 2 m/day, causing building-sized icebergs to braek off from its face. You could hear what sounded like a cannon shot as the glacier moved or broke off into the Lago Argentino!

1-25 through 1-31-10 (Peninsula Valdes, Trelew, Cabo Dos Bahias, Pt. St. Julian)

1-25-10: We visited Reserva Peninsula Valdes today. There were informative displays at the Visitor's Center then we drove a 300 km loop on gravel roads to 4 major viewing areas. We saw Magellan penguins, elephant seals, sea lions, piche armadillos ('peludos'), guanacos (wild relatives of llamas), and Darwin's rheas (ostrich-like birds). We didn't see any Orca whales (which are actually dolphins not whales) although they had been spotted in the area the previous day. The main way to see them from shore is when they come up to the beach for a sea lion meal-to-go.

1-26-10: We made a return trip to Trelew to hit the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio (MEF). First we viewed an hour-long movie on how several factors (climate change, volcanic activity, the breaking apart of the supercontinent) helped create variety among the dinosaurs of the mid-Jurassic period. The displays of authentic fossils and dinosaur skeleton replicas were fascinating. We could also peer behind some glass windows demonstrating an actual lab; there wasn't much activity because the scientists were out in the field since it is summer here. The kids (as well as the adults) definitely thought this place was well worth a visit. That evening we drove to Camarones and camped out on the beach for 2 nights so we could visit Cabo Dos Bahias.

1-27-10: Today's highlight was exploring Cabo Dos Bahias Reserve. This is actually a less-traveled site for seeing a Magellan penguin nesting colony compared to Punta Tomba but we thought it was no less spectacular. We were able to walk along a fenced path in the midst of the colony. There were penguin parents and chicks everywhere; nesting in little dens in the arid ground, crossing under and over a wooden boardwalk as they freely moved about, and parents waddling out to sea to find food for their young. There were even guanacos walking nonchalantly among the penguins as you can see in one of the pictures above. On a nearby shore, we saw sea lions sunning themselves. We returned back to camp and an unexpected, strong gust of wind picked up our staked tent and blew it in cartwheels until Mike quickly nabbed it. We repositioned it beside the rental car to protect it from the fierce wind that battered our tent with sand all night. The next morning we spent most of the day driving to Puerto St. Julian. We had some pizza at a small bar overlooking the bay and as a tour boat returned back to its dock, Mike and I saw 1-2 tonina overas (Commerson's dolphins) as they spun their bodies just above the water's surface! They are known to be very playful and like to follow boats around.

1-28-10: Before leaving Puerto St. Julian, Luke and I took a guided tour of the Nao Victoria. This was 1 of 5 ships that arrived here in 1520 from Spain. The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was at the helm as he searched for a passage between the Pacific-Atlantic Oceans. The true-to-scale replica of this ship recreated the people, animals, and interior of the original ship.

1-29 through 1-30-10: On 1-29 we continued south and drove from Puerto San Julian to Guer Aike. We spent the night at the rustic but cozy Hotel Guer Aike. Then 1-30 we crossed from southern Argentina into Chile! We spent the evening at Puerto Natales in the lovely Hostal Don Guillermo as we planned our subsequent trip into Torres del Paine National Park.

1-31-10: We entered Torres del Paine National Park and took in the spectacular mountains and turquoise blue-green glacier-fed lakes as we drove around. We camped at Hosteria Las Torres which was near the trailheadfor the 1st trail on the "W" hike circuit (east to west route).