Quick trip update

Here´s the breif view of the trip so far. Arrived in Buenos Aires and spent a day there before heading to San Martin de Los Andes. This was a cute little Alpinesque town. Got to know the group which was mostly composed of Brits. There is also one other American from Seattle, a German woman, a displaced and soon to be replaced Aussie living in London and a Swiss couple. All in all a great bunch.

In San Martin we took a day trip and hiked a Volcano. Here is the group early on in the hike.


The guy to my right is Robin, a 2:45 marathoner who pushed the front of the group with me and then we ran it down. We did stick around a bit before the run to enjoy the view, of course.


After San Martin, we headed to San Carlos de Bariloche. This was a much bigger town with lots more to do and lots more chocolate shops and steak restaurants. The Argentinians love their beef and I have eaten more in the past few days then I have in the past few months. At Bariloche, the group all split up and people did separate excursions according to their interests. Robin and I decided to do a hike that would allow us to put our runners fitness to good use. Before the hike, I ran with him in the morning where he had a nice easy run which gave me a really good tempo run. I paid him back on the trail by pushing it up the mountain. We hiked at the Catedral ski area up to the Frey Refuge. It is usually an 8 hour hike, but we knocked it off in less than 4 1/2. I think that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.


After Bariloche we took a combination of 4 buses and 3 ferrys to cross the lakes and peeks of the Andes to go from Argentina into Chile.


The lakes were quite amazing and varied both in size and features. From small lakes such as the second one that took only 20 minutes to cross, to the final that took almost two hours and is bordered by three different volcanoes.




After the Cruce de Lagos, we drove to Peurto Montt with a short stop at an amazing waterfall along the way. You can see, I am already starting to sport my "Mountain Man" scrub.


Puerto Montt is a big city without really much exciting except the Port. Tonight we are on Chiloe Island which is a very cute little island resort area off the coast. We may head to the National Parque which is a "mild" rain forest before heading back to Puerto Montt. From Puerto Montt we will catch the Navimag cruise south through the fjords and down to Puerto Natales. From there it is on to Torres del Paine!!!