It was time for a two stage feast!

As I laid in my coffin for a tent at the end of Tuesday 1st Dec that I rented for 15pesos a night, (roughly 3 pounds) I looked straight ahead through the trees that formed part of the amazing scenery in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in Patagonia, Argentina at the sun setting in the sky. To the right and basically at 1 ´o clock if you had a watch in front of you was a crystal clear view of the Fitzroy mountain range.

It transpired that the park, along with El Chalten was ´created´in 1985 over a land dispute with neighbouring Chile and that Argentina won in this instance. I was also informed that the area was still being fought over. Whoever owns it...its incredible!

I went for a 9hour hike from El Chalten up a few mountains, back down again, around another mountain and over some pretty crazy rocks to see a spectacular glacier, Pedrias Blancas. Its actually the most amazing glacier I´ve ever seen as it has real character!

To get to see the glacier I hiked through an alien environment to find a stunning and completely isolated turquoise lake/lagoon with icebergs floating in it, surrounded by mountains and of course the glacier itself which lay perched on the side of a mountain! It was fabulous as I was the only person there too! I guess nobody can really be bothered to hike there as its a total mission.

Before seeing this glaicer, I´d hiked to the top of a neighbouring mountain with around 18kgs on my back through a small snowfield on to see another incredible sight, the Laguna De Los Tres, which I think refers to the fact that it sits at the bottom of the Fitzroy mountains which are known as the ´Three peaks´. This too was a breathtaking sight, one made even colder by the fact that my Irish friend Patrick dared me to have a photo taken in my boxers! I obliged but regretted it from the second I did it as it must´ve been -5 with a -15 windchill im sure. Lol.

The trek from El Chalten was really nice. It took on a number of different types of torrain from mountainous to lake and forest. Perfect.

On Monday (30th Nov) wasn´t very exciting. A very early 4 1/2 hour bus ride from El Calafate to El Chalten was followed by a day of planning for potentially 4 days in the national park. In total I planned to hike around 24hours over 4days, the torrain and scenery dramatically changing along the way. At the end of the day I took a quick 2hour hike up to the top of a more local mountain to see the Mirador De Las Aguilas/De Los Condores. Cool views. It also gave me a taster of what was to come!

Wednesday (2nd Dec) arrived and the morning unfortunately didn´t feel like it as I hadn´t slept a wink! I was so cold during the night that my bones ached! This was despite the fact that I was wearing everything I owned! The site I´d chosen, which I knew was on a slight slope actually turned out to be like a slippery slide for my sleeping bag so it was more like a lame fairground ride than a deep and peaceful slumber.

The only good thing about the day to that point was the clear blue sky and consequently the stunning view of Fitzroy. The plan changed at that precise moment and I was packed and heading back to El Chal to hand in my hired bits and camp no more! I also planned to chill for the day as I´d sucked up too many of the suns rays and was regretting it with a bright red nose! If only I had my gorgeous gf to keep me company and to discuss current affairs, how awesome India is and that other many subjects we cover on a daily basis.

A nice chilling day in El Chal allowed my face to recover a bit. In the afternoon I met an Aussie orthopedic student who was staying in the hostel and travelling with a cool Italien dude and a really interesting Vietnamese guy who had a fascinating story to tell of how his family tried to illegally migrate to Australia in the 70s.

A 10 ´o clock checkout from the hostel and check into another one (which was 20pesos cheaper!) and I was ready for hike no. 2! The map and tourist office said 8hours return from Cerro Torre, but I completed it in 3hours 50mins. Clearly they thought only old people trek here.

It was a beautiful day and I kept topped up with suntan lotion! I saw the amazing lagoon, glacier and mountain range of Cerro Torre and then challenged myself to get back to El Chal in 1hr 3mins (instead of the 4 it says on the map). I achieved 1hr 50, so not too disappointed.

It was time for my planned two stage feast. The first consisted of instant mash that I´d taken from the freebie cupboard a few hostels ago with pepper. The second, and can I say quite impressive set up was rice with a tin of peas with added albhaca herb. Quite yummy if I do say so myself!