South America: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay

Southern Patagonia - Torres del Paine

While most of my time in South America was spent in Argentina, I started the trip on the Chilean side of the border, in Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine national park. Torres del Paine was my first introduction to Patagonia. It is a mountain area that sits in the middle of flat prairies, so getting there is quite dramatic - you see the mountain range you are going to a long way away. The park offers pleasant hiking and some very nice views, but overall I felt that it is a bit over-advertised - if there is one must see area in Patagonia, it is further north, near Bariloche.

Given that Torres del Paine is quite wild and the only attraction here is hiking, the number of people who have absolutely no clue about what they are doing is staggering - I saw people with hardly any gear, with three times more gear than they needed, with stuff in plastic shopping bags, people in flip-flops (must be fun in snow) - you name it, they have it.

Rangers recommend to hang food on the trees rather than to keep it in the tent in order to protect it from mice, which are active around campsites. A young German girl saw me hanging up my food, got concerned, and asked (it is a verbatim quote): "do you do it to save yourself from bears, tigers, and other elephants?". Persuading her that nobody bothered to relocate Berlin zoo to southern Chile was quite an effort.

I did not realize that the prairies were so desolate - it is essentially tundra-like environment; the wind is too strong and it is too cold for anything to grow. Trees, not being the smartest product of the evolution, still keep trying (they all grow at 30 degree angle) and keep dying, so some areas look like giant fields of strange, twisted wooden sculptures. In the States everyone wanted to photograph one poor Anzel Adams' pine; here they are dime a thousand.

Southern Patagonia - El Calafate and Mt Fitz Roy range

The second stop in southern Patagonia was in El Calafate, Argentina. El Calafate is a strange place - a very nice looking leafy touristy town built in the middle of desolate prairies for the sole purpose of shipping tourists to the nearby attractions. The attractions are wonderful though: glacier Perito Moreno which is one of the most beautiful glaciers I have ever seen, and Mt Fitz Roy range. Unfortunately, I was not able to fully appreciate what Mt Fitz Roy park has to offer - I was snowed in at my first camp and had to get out of the area as all mountain passes were closed.

Animals of Patagonia

This is a small collection of pictures of various creatures that I came across (or that came across me - wild animals do not seem to mind human presence, as long as you do not get too close).

Lake District - Bariloche area

Bariloche itself is a nice little resort town which has made an outstanding effort to make itself indistinguishable from any other mountain/lake resort (in fact if I was shown a few pictures of it and asked to guess what country it is in, I would have said Switzerland). However, it is comfortable, has great ice-cream, and is a good base for exploring Lake District.

Lake District was the highlight of my trip to Argentina, at least as far as the nature is concerned. It is a beautiful area full of lakes, mountains that were just becoming snow-capped, and generally wonderful little spots. It also has a pretty impressive variety of nature in a small area - from Arizona-like deserts to Karelia or Canada-like lakes to steep mountains and glaciers.

Deserts - Malargue, Laguna de Llancanelo and Reserva Payunia

Malargue is in the province of Mendoza, most of which (apart from the Andes) is covered by deserts and semi-deserts. Area near Malarque is a wild and desolate place, somewhat similar to Solar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It is dotted with volcanoes (there are around 800 volcanoes in the area the size of 1/4 of California). Geologically speaking, volcanoes are quite young, so in many places the soil did not have time to form. The ground is completely black and consists of small pebbles of lava; nothing grows there. It is very beautiful in its own way, but as desolate as it gets.

Deserts - San Juan, La Rioja, and San Luis Provinces

About 100 kilometres east of the Andes lays a stretch of eroded mountain ranges and deserts similar to the canyon-lands of the United States. I went to three parks: Valle de la Luna (a.k.a. Parque Provincial Ischigualasto), Talampaya Canyon, and Sierras de Quijadas. Unfortunately, the parks are remote and difficult to visit. The only way to do it in two of the three parks is on organised tours, which is not exactly best for quiet contemplation of the nature. The scenery is worth the hassle, though.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil

Iguazu falls must be quite close to the top of the 'best waterfall' list. It is mostly due to the natural setting around the falls. Iguazu falls are a big area full of waterfalls, big and small, lots of creeks, rivers, and islands - all covered by tropical jungles. I've never seen anything more deserving to be the setting of filming of Jurassic Park.

Cities

I am afraid that I may have given the impression that South America is nothing but wilderness. This is not quite true (although I prefer the wilderness to the cities), so here is a series of pictures taken in the cities of South America.

People

These are just random snapshots of people taken in different cities and towns of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.