Dos Papas Fritas, Por Favor

Dos papas fritas, por favor...or in English this translates to 2 hot chips, please. We have ordered a lot of this lately, it´s the only thing on the menu we can afford. We have been surprised by how expensive Argentina has been. I was expecting this in Chile, but Argentina was supposed to be a bit cheaper...it´s not. I think we visited the same cafe 4 days in a row and ordered that in El Calafate. Not the best diet really. Sorry mum, that´s not looking after myself is it.

I´m looking after Nick though. I gave him a haircut yesterday. His hair was driving him nuts and it went from looking like Richard Hammonds hairdo to more like Barry Gibbs 1970´s do. So we bought a pair of scissors for $4.80AUD. I didn´t know the Spanish word for scissors, so I was busy making chopping actions with my hands in the stationary shop, the lady behind the counter understood. Away I chopped into Nicks hair, I wasn´t allowed to laugh and explain that I was chopping chunks out of his hair as this didn´t inspire confidence apparently. Anyway, I think I did an OK job, he is happy with it and as he said he now has ears and a neck, plus I think he looks like Brad Pitt now, that´s a win-win!

So what have we been up to since the last blog, apart from eating chips and cutting Nick´s hair. We finally had some time to relax, which has been nice. We had an amazing couple of days on the Serrano Glacier. The day we left for the glacier the weather was wild and woolie and as we waited at the port in Puerto Natales, I was feeling a little concerned how Nick was going to cope on the boat through the fjords as it looked very choppy. Luckily that boat was out for maintence that day so we got treated to a ride on a zodiac boat along the Serrano River instead, at no extra cost. We had wanted to do this option but decided not to, to cut down the cost. As you can imagine we were very happy about that change of plan. On the zodiac we had to dress up in these super heavy duty sailor type suits, that I thought was an overkill, but by the end of the ride it was just enough to keep me warm with it sleeting on us.

When we arrived at the glacier we went to have a look at it. It was much steeper and more crevased than I expected it to be, so we were wondering how we would get into the glacier, let alone trek on it. We managed it, all roped up and with our crampons on...it was much more exciting than the Fox Glacier trek we did in NZ. In the end we got to do some ice-climbing as our our guide Mundo packed the ice-screws in his bag after he found out we had done some before. It was really enjoyable. Our time at the Serrano camp was one of the best things we have done on our trip so far. Mundo and another Chilean guy working there Alex were good company and we spent the night in their warm staff hut chatting, eating and drinking some Chilean wine. The next day we went kayaking in the crazy weather that was still blowing a gail. As we headed back up the Serrano River we crossed numerous expedition adventure racers kayaking the other way.

The crap weather continued for us and on our next hike to Monte Fitz Roy we didn´t get to see much. A bit of a pity. On the last day we climbed up to the view point at Laguna Los Tres in horizontal snow, the hard packed granular kind. After about 2 mins we turned around to avoid hyperthermia and so my left leg could match the right one in feeling like a frozen chicken thigh...the sort you might get out of your kitchen freezer. We packed up the tent in the rain and headed back to El Chalten, once we had our packs on we eventually warmed back up.

We took a bus along Route 40, a very scenic drive through Patagonia, apparently. I can´t confirm that though, the windows were filthy...well on day 1 anyway. Day 2 was better, as we could see out those windows. I saw a few road runners...known as Nandu, no Willey Cyote though. I have seen a few cartoon characters, I also saw Woody Woodpecker in Torres Del Paine, otherwise known as Magellanic Woodpeckers. The bird life is impressive here. The condors were great to watch on the Paine trek. I think I´m turning into one of those bird nerds. Since travelling we have seen so many varied and interesting birdlife. Especially Uganda. Some think I dont like birds...Es, Katie and Kerry I know you think that, but I really do. They just don´t like me. Pigeon´s want to poo on my head and magpies want to peck my eye´s out, but I really do like them. Soon I´ll be wearing binos and carrying a bird ticklist around with me. Hehe.

So we are now in Bariloche, Argentina. It´s a little peace of heaven. Mountains all around with a whole plethora of fun activites to do and the town makes chocolate and lots of it...what more could I want.