Around half the world in 180 days: Found: The only chilli sauce in Patagonia

In Bariloche, we consulted the local park rangers and Club Andino (like the NZ Alpine Club) and were told that we could do a walk to the Refugio Frey hut, but it might be icy near the top. We set off and planned to turn back if it got too icy, thinking that the advice would be overly conservative based on our experience with DOC rangers in New Zealand. We reached the start of the walk by bus at about 9am, at which time it was barely getting light (usual for Patagonia). It was a nice walk along the frozen mud, past frozen rivers and waterfalls with spectacular ice formations. About half way to the hut the promised icy conditions materialised, with the track turning into a skating rink. Time for lunch and the walk back! On the way back we looked upon the very green and brown coloured ski field at Cerro Catedral. The following days in Bariloche were spent doing half-day walks up Cerro Campanario and Cerrito Llao Llao, to the west the town. These gave great views of the lake and the surrounding mountains. Very Fiordland-like we thought.

Then it was time to head for Puerto Madryn, on the Atlantic Coast. We decided to go there as it is the height of the whale season, when Southern Right Whales come to Peninsula Valdes to mate and give birth. Instead of the two-day, two-leg bus trip, we decided to pay slightly more and fly. We booked a flight with regional airline LADE, and having seen pictures in their office were expecting a medium-sized modern plane. Half an hour after our flight was due to take off, we were ushered downstairs in the terminal at Bariloche airport to wait for the bus to our plane. The bus arrived and took the two of us, two pilots in air force uniforms, two LADE air crew and our bags to the plane, which turned out to be an Argentine air force Twin Otter, in orange and grey search and rescue colours. We were the only passengers on the plane, and one of the four crew was only onboard to serve us tea and coffee! On arriving at Puerto Madryn, instead of landing, the pilot flew straight over the runway and headed out to sea so we could see the whales offshore. We saw about 10 whales before we even got to Peninsula Valdes!

Every day in Puerto Madryn we saw whales near the beach and the pier. They were always close to shore and sometimes showing their tails or breaching and jumping out of the water, the thuds as the 17m-long whales hit the water could be heard from the town. On our first full day in Puerto Madryn we took a tour around the peninsula. This included a boat trip from nearby Puerto Pyramides. On this small boat, we got close to several huge female whales (like Bolivian women they are significantly larger than the males) with newborn babies. One of the mothers was slapping her tail on the water not far from the boat. It was an amazing experience, well worth braving the freezing wind and spray of the South Atlantic. In the afternoon we were driven around the peninsula, seeing guanacos (wild alpacas), ostriches, maras (like a cross between a rabbit and a wallaby), elephant seals and skunks. On the way back, we stopped at the beach at El Doradillo. We had been there before, but at low tide. This time it was high tide, and the whales were right next to the shore. Everywhere we looked there were whales, some less than 20m away from us. To top it off, the sun that had been hidden by gloomy cloud all day, came out for the sunset. Certainly one of the highlights of our time in South America so far.

In Puerto Madryn, we once again despaired at the quality of Argentine food. Everything is heavily processed and completely devoid of flavour. We expressed our frustration whilst trying to find any kind of flavouring in the supermarket, only to discover we were stood next to an English tourist also searching in vain for the elusive chilli sauce! Every Argentinian we have met says that their food is great, and that Peruvian food is terrible. With such poor judgement as that, is it any wonder that the nation is in political and economic strife?

Next stop was El Calafate, in Southern Patagonia - further south than Stewart Island. We again opted to fly to avoid a multi-day bus journey. This time we had an actual jet plane, but an air force one of course. We later learned that LADE is a state run airline that is just a booking service for the air force - it makes more sense now! On arriving in El Calafate we went to the supermarket to get food for dinner. To our surprise there was a bottle labelled salsa de aji picante (chilli sauce!!) - that was a good day.

The town of El Calafate itself has little appeal; the lake level is so low in winter that the lakefront esplanade overlooks a muddy swamp. But people don't come here to roam the streets, and we soon went to see the main attraction, the Perito Moreno Glacier. The glacier makes New Zealand's ones look like the lumps of ice in a freezer that needs defrosting. We stood on the viewing platforms and admired the blue and purple colours of the glacier that stretched over the horizon further than we could see. The morning was perfect as it was cloudy, giving better colour to the ice, and there were few other visitors. The ground and trees where we walked along the many metal boardwalks, and the surrounding mountains, were covered with a dusting of snow. In the afternoon, the sun shone and warmed the ice causing blocks to fall with loud bangs into the lake. We easily spent five hours looking at the glacier from various angles.

The next day we took a bus to the town of El Chalten, three hours north of El Calafate. From there we walked with a few others from our bus through the snow up to Laguna Capri. This gave us a great view of the spectacular Monte Fitzroy, with its vertical faces over 3000m above the frozen lake. It was a perfect blue sky day - apparently a rare occurance this time of year. After a well-needed rest day we boarded the 3am bus to Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city.

The journey was long (18 hours) but quite interesting. It included two border crossings as we passed through Chile and then back to Argentina, a ferry, and quite a lot of snow. A couple of Americans on our bus were not allowed into Chile which delayed the journey but we still arrived at a reasonable hour. Having seen the snow falling on the way to Ushuaia, we decided to go to Cerro Castor (you guessed it - the southemost ski resort in the world) the next day. That next day was yesterday, and it was a good day, with fresh powder, blue skies and great views of the surrounding valleys and mountains. And now today it has been snowing heavily in Ushuaia - the weather is definately on our side this month!