Goodbye Argentina, Hello Brazil WTRD 40-43

Saturday, February 20, 2016, Worrall Travel R Days (WTRD) 40-43

Happy Birthday Archie!  See you soon in Rio!  And Hooray for Garyn, Jessica, and Imogene, expecting another family member September 2016!

As I write this quick blog, we have just settled into our seats on a 737 headed for Rio De Janeiro.  Upon recommendation from other travelers, we have had our bags securely wrapped to thwart would-be thieves that work the baggage in Brasil.  But let me backtrack a little to catch up.

Tuesday, February 17, we left El Calafate and flew to San Carlos De Bariloche. Upon our arrival, we climbed into our little red volkswagon, Avis rental car, and drove to the Airbnb that we had booked many months ago.

The house is owned by Tuny, a lovely Argentine woman and excellent artist, high on a hill overlooking the beautiful lake Nahuel Huapi.

Bariloche is built on the western shore of the lake and became a haven for many Germans and Nazi sympathizers before and after WWII.  Since then, there have been many other European immigrants, but the town and region has a distinctive European Alpine flavor.

We are warmly greeted by our host when we arrive around 6:00 pm.







Tuny speaks little English, but her two adult children, Tomas and Loli, whom we had the pleasure of meeting speak English very well.  Even though Tuny's English is limited, she made us feel most welcome with joyous hugs and kisses. We felt like honored guests throughout our stay.

The first two days of our stay were overcast, cloudy, windy, and rainy.  It was perfect for two weary hikers looking to rest, catchup on laundry, mail, and reading.  And what a beautiful setting.  We did manage a visit to the Bariloche tourist office and a drive in the afternoon of day 1 , and trip up to the local ski area and into town for dinner on day 2;

and on day 3 when the sun came out we drove to the north east side of the lake to a quaint community of La Angostura.

We ate lunch at a brew pub,

visited some of the local shops, and wandered down to the lake where we sat in the sun, read, and enjoyed the view.

Returning to Bariloche Casa late in the aftenoon, we spent the rest of our day, packing, drinking Argentine Malbec, and visiting with Tuny.

This morning, we bid our farewell to Tuny with much appreciation for her kind hospitality.  We certainly hope our paths will cross again someday when we speak better Spanish and Tuny speaks better English.  We look forward to and expect a visit from her daughter Loli and her Dutch boyfriend Gerard this coming June. 

So now, we are in the air flying to the third leg of our trip - Brazil. Leg 1 - Antarctica, Leg 2 - Argentina/Patagonia.  Leg -4 Chile and Easter Island, Leg-5 Peru, Leg 6 - Ecuador and Galapagos Islands.

If you haven't checked the older blog posts, you might want to recheck them now that they have had photos added.  Http://worrallwind.blogspot.com.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's 35,000 feet in the Air.

Return to El Calafate to Say Goodbye

Fitz Roy

Monday, February 15, 2016 - WTRD 38

It rained again last night and wind howled, but this morning looked clear.  This hotel was very nice and our accommodations were very comfortable.

We boarded our mini bus at 8:00, crossed through both the Chilean Border and Argentine Border very swiftly today.  Along the way we got a few photo opportunities of clear Torres del Paines, more guanacos and Rheas.  Arriving at 2:30 at our hotel of origin in El Calafate, Russ and I went straight to our room to reorganize our luggage once again.

We had each left a bigger bag of gear at the hotel, and took only what we needed for our 11 day Patagonia tour.  To get on the plane tomorrow, we needed to rebalance the weight limits required by the airlines.  Having completed that task, we are spending the rest of the afternoon catching up on blogs and emails.

Tonight, our group is going out to dinner.  We will all say our goodbyes and head off in different directions tomorrow.  Don, Mary, and Ian are headed to Ushuaia and Antarctica before returning to Australia; Annika, Nicola, and Michele are off to Buenos Aires before returning to their homes in Chicago, Ireland, and Scotland.  It's been great fun as usual meeting people from all of the world on our adventures.

Russ and I head of to San Carlos de Bariloche for four nights, then to Rio de Janeiro to meet up with brother Archie on February 20.

All is Well 95% with the Worrall Travel R's in Patagonia

Happy Valentine's Day from Torres Del Paine, Patagonia

Sunday, February 14, 2016 - WTRD 37

Wonders never cease!  The day turned clear with no wind. Our guide, took 5 of our group to the base of the towers today, while three of us (all who got the bug with the exception of Russ) spent a day enjoying the views and reading, luxuriating in the spa, or simply sleeping, rehydrating, and recuperating in bed (me).

The hike apparently was pretty rigorous, 22 kilometes, over a rocky terrain, but all seemed to enjoy themselves.  Russ had hoped to find a geocache, but couldn't find it.  He thinks it went missing, but that was the only disappointment he says, other than not having me along on Valentines Day.  Aw!  Such a Sweetie.

Here are some of Russ's photos from the trek.

By dinner at 7:30, we were all together again. I felt well enough to have a few cooked vegetables.  Russ is back on course feeling much better.  It is rainy and windy outside.  We leave at 8:00 a.m. In the morning to return to El Calafate.

All is Well 75% with the Worrall Travel Rs in Torres Del Paines

Fresh Snow on Torres del Paine - WTRD 36

Friday, February 13, 2016 - WTRD 36

Today, the weather is cloudy and windy.  It snowed last night at the higher elevations.   Perhaps this is a good thing for a couple of reasons, our trek has been modified to two shorter walks where we will be hiking only 13 kilometers and take refuge in our mini bus between hikes.  This modified day is also better for those who are recovering from the stomach bug.

Russ is feeling better this morning.  I am too, and hoping that I dodged the bullet. I stop taking the Pepto and feel okay.  Our first hike is to an overlook of the Torres del Paine and the "horns".  The towers and horns fade in and out of view as clouds swirl through the mountains. It's beautiful and well worth the walk.

The wind is so fierce on the way to the overlook that I have to plant my walking sticks, back to the wind, to keep from blowing over.  Our Mountain Guide Joy (Joey) estimates winds at 80 kilometers and hour, and we are instructed to drop to our knees and get close to the ground if the wind gets stronger.

We return by way of a rushing waterfall.

As mesmerizing as a waterfall can be, we do not linger and seek shelter on the bus where we eat our lunch and rest a bit before our second hike which will again be uphill.  We are heading out to see some cave art and hopefully see some Guanaco (wild species of lama), puma, and maybe armadillo.

We pass by a well known puma den, but with no success of seeing a lounging puma. There is evidence though that they have been around, cleaned bones everywhere.

By the time we make it to the caves, I'm not feeling well at all.  We are miles away from the bus.  I hold on as best I can, and even manage to take some photos of the 9,000 year old cave art,

a look out sentinel guanaco that would alert the herd of a stalking puma

and a herd of Guanaco and then.....well, let's just say I stayed far behind the rest of the group because my body began to erupt.

Russ became the sentinel that watched the trail behind me just in case a puma decided to pick off the weakened herd animal.

The guanaco are an interesting herd that lives partly on National Park property and part on private property.  There is a fence that separates public and private lands primarily to keep in the private cattle.  Pumas typically live in cave like ovehangs.  They eat horses, guanaco, and whatever else they can find. There are many whitened skulls and bones, and as we approach the fence line, we saw many small, very bloody bones, just having had its flesh ripped off.  

Our guide tells us that the puma has learned how to chase the herds of guanaco toward the fence.  The babies and the unfit cannot leap over the fence and are easy prey.  I look at the fence and wonder if I could get over it...probably not.

As we walked down the trail we could see sentinel guanacos keeping a lookout for pumas and other threats.  We could see guanaco pits that had been stamped out by the animals to use as group toilets.  Backs to the circle and sentinels watching they can defecate with some security.

Most of the herd was grazing in a large grassy field to our left.  Babysitter guanacos with all the youngsters were on the right side of the fence.  Babies we bleating for their mothers,

Bleat, Bleat!

Milk is on the Way!

Aww!  Guess this isn't in the baby sitters job description.

whether they were frightened or wanted a feeding, and the mothers would coming running and leap over the fence.  It was interesting to watch the behavior and interaction of these animals.

Finally, we get to our beautiful Hotel Del Torres where all I want to do is get to our room so I can explode in private.  I am grateful that tomorrow we will stay in the same hotel, and I can sleep all day.  Russ goes to dinner with the group and raves about the gourmet meal.  I pull the pillow over my head.

The briefing that I did not attend held by our Mountain Guide after dinner, doesn't look really promising for tomorrow's big hike, snow, wind, and high winds, according to Russ.  He won't know until morning what the plan is.  I already know what my plan is. Ugh!

All is Well with Half the Worrall Travel Rs at Torres del Paine.