You don't know how lucky you are.: March 16, 2009

March 16, 2009

We had to wake up at the crack of dawn (actually this time, it was 7 and the sun had just come up). We erased all traces of our presence from the expedition campsite and were laying around with our clothes spread out to dry when the expedition man came up and started checking over his equipment.

Fitz Roy in the Morning

Around noon we set off to Cerro Fitz Roy (which is just beyond Campamento Poincenot). The hike was even more beautiful in the sun, and there are many glaciers to be seen all over the mountains. I’ll realize later that this is my favorite place in all of Argentina. Once we passed Campamento Fitz Roy we had a virtually vertical climb up the mountain to Laguna de los Tres. It was absolutely beautiful up there.

Alyssa on the way to Fitz Roy

Rob and Alyssa

Yes we are hiking up that squiggly line

We ate lunch on a rock in the laguna over looking a huge glacier that looked close enough to touch. Alyssa and I hiked off to look at a waterfall and Rob wandered into the pronounced “danger zone” for an hour. We got worried and I had to go in looking for him. Once he was found we set off on the return hike to our campsite.

Amy on the glacier lake

Alyssa and Rob on our lunching rock

Alyssa next to the waterfall and in front of a lake that looks like turquoise paint.

I have turned from the musical genius of the group to the story teller and on the hike back to our campsite, created a story about the three of us. I am Tree Girl because I’m obsessed with plants, Rob is Caterpillar Boy because he plays with every bug he sees and Alyssa is the Patagonian Princess. Tree Girl and Caterpillar Boy are stealing the Patagonian Princess from her family to come back to our tribe. Rob requests that his name is changed to Butterfly Prince so he can marry the Patagonian Princess and immediately regrets that decision. He will be forever known in our mind as the Butterfly Prince – very masculine.

View on the way back down

I have to hike down that?

March 17, 2009

Today we woke up, ate breakfast, and packed our campsite. We had a pretty easy hike back into town where we re-established ourselves at our wonderful hostel. I had milanesa for lunch – which is a large pounded piece of beef, breaded and fried – this can also come “completo” but I did not order it that way. To stretch out our muscles Alyssa and I did a short hike to a small waterfall, it was pretty and senic, but the hike was mostly on a dirt road, not in the woods.

Hike down from the camping spot

We booked our glacier trek for the next day and spent some time in the one internet café in town. I found out Yar got into Austin – SO EXCITED!!!!

March 18, 2009

Unfortunately none of our alarms went off this morning so we woke up very late for our glacier trek. Our group left one guide to help us to catch up to the others. The hike turns into Mao Ze Dong’s “long march,” with very few breaks. At the base camp we caught up with the rest of the group, which consists of a whopping four doctors and many people traveling together on a tour of South America.

After a light breakfast of coffee and cookies (very typical here) we hiked to the river. We had to cross the river by pulling ourselves hand over hand across a line suspended about 10 feet above the water. Then there was a strenuous, but invigorating hike through the forest, over a waterfall, and down through a rock field.

Alyssa crossing the stream

Waterfall crossing

At the glacier we put on cramp-ons and hiked around. We looked at many crevasses. It was very cool to be literally on the glacier walking around. Unfortunately one of our group members took a fall into a pretty deep crevasse, hit his head, and had to be carried out of the glacier on a stretcher. This also meant we had to pass up on our chance to go ice climbing. We joined up with another group and hiked back. I got to practice my Spanish with the guides, who became fast friends with Rob and I. At 7:30 we rrived back at the hostel - hobbling – we just finished a 18 mile hike. As we discussed dinner plans we fell fast asleep.