Patagonia Review

So my time in Patagonia was not exactly what I had in mind. I had hoped to go down to the end of the world at Tierra Del Fuego, see the Perito Moreno glacier crash down into Lago Argentino at El Calafate, and take the classic touristy snaps with the sharp peaks of the Torres del Paine.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The thing about Patagonia is that it's very expensive. I knew it wouldn't be cheap, but I hadn't realised just how costly it would be. Transport is a huge factor, with long, expensive overnight buses needed to get to new places. When you get there, you also normally need to get buses or rentals to the attractions. Add to that the expense of staying in what is basically a string of tourist towns, and you're looking at a serious bill before you've even seen anything.
Get a room you two

That said, I did have a fantastic time in the bits I could see. I never thought I would see as many penguins in 5 lifetimes as I did in Puerto Madryn in one afternoon, and the hikes and experiences I had in the Lake District and Bariloche will be treasured memories. The hardest part was the choice not to go to the far south, but I had a great time in the parts I did see.

 Tell you what though, 90% of Patagonia is really, really, really boring.
This is an exciting picture. It has a power pole!

I had images of the Andes in my head when I first headed south, and was very disappointed when the sun rose on my first long haul bus to see endless scrubby plains for hours on end. And it was the same everywhere else. Once you got into the mountains things picked up again, but you trade that view for a longer journey time winding through those roads.
This is more like it


 It's such a wild and inhospitable place that even the greediest European settlers all but gave up on colonising the area until the late 19th century. The area was named after the 'Patagons', giants reportedly found in the area and given a name from a classical legend. It's likely they just encountered some of the fairly tall Tehuelche natives: not giants by any means, but at over 6 feet, much taller than your average European of the time.

Overall, I would say that Patagonia was a great way to start the trip. However, I am annoyed that I ended up leaving some of the best stones unturned. In my head I am already planning another trip there, starting in Rio or BA but carrying a tent, winter gear and camp stove for a serious hiking adventure. Who's with me?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Huarmey - Mud, Sweat and Volunteers

Image
Mariciela in what used to be her bedroom After hearing so much about volunteering from other friends on the road, I decided to give up a couple of weeks to volunteer in a small town badly hit by flooding in March this year. So after a 23 hour bus to Lima, a night in the capital and another 5 hour bus up the coast, I found myself at the scene of one of the most catastrophic disasters to hit Peru in decades. Around the time I was flying into South America, most of the coastal provinces of Peru, normally a desert area, were subject to more rain than they would normally get in a year in a less than week. A lot of significant damage was done in the north of the country which is where most of the disaster response has occurred, but next to the small but important provincial town of Huarmey, the normally very placid local river became a raging torrent that sent flood water as high as 2 metres in two separate floods a few days apart. Before... The organisation I work for, All ...
Read more

Chicken Bus Fear - Should You Catch One?

To get around Central America without wheels of your own, you have two options: chicken buses, or tourist shuttles. Many travellers are nervous of chicken buses and choose to pay very high prices for shuttles, but you don't need to! Here is my list of reasons for shaking off the chicken bus fear and taking the wild ride with the locals: - Chicken buses are cheap! The general price for an inter-city chicken bus is about $1-2 per hour of driving. For example, the bus between Leon and Managua that takes around 2 hours generally costs 50-60 Cordoba or $2, while the minimum shuttle price is $9 for the same amount of time! - There's snacks on chicken buses! Nicaragua in particular has a thriving network of people dedicated to selling fresh food on chicken buses. Whether you want some fresh baked corn bread, donuts with treacle sauce, coconut bread, hot tamales, pineapple pastry popcorn, sweets or just some fruit and veg, the chicken buses have it all. The vendors board the bus ...
Read more

La Vida Nica - Chicken Buses

Image
I thought I would end my blog's long hiatus by doing a few posts about the 6 months I spent in Central America, most of that in Nicaragua. First up in the series is the iconic method of public transport in all Central American countries: the Chicken Bus! These types of buses run inter-city and suburban transport routes across Central America. The name comes from the habit of some locals to take their farm animals with them, and the name has stuck in the tourist community. It isn't as common as people make it out to be - I think in over 100 chicken bus rides I only saw a handful of chickens and a few boxes of chicks. That said, it does always make you giggle when you hear the box above your head tweeting as you drive. To run the bus you need at least two people: the chofer  (driver) and at least one  ayudante  (assistant). The driver's job is simple: navigating the route in as little time as possible, usually achieved through driving that would make Vin Diesel ...
Read more