Day 13 - Torres del Paine and El Califate (2/22/13)

Last day in Torres del Paine. We did a scenic drive around quite a few of the lakes. It is interesting that each lake's water is a different color. We were so fortunate yesterday to have a clear and sunny day, because today it is very overcast and the cloud cover is low. The mountains are only half visible and it looks like a window shade has been pulled down. Yerko talked about the forest fire that occurred in 2009. Most of the beech trees were destroyed. It is a shame, to lose these trees, but it also gives the area a very distinct look with the burned out tree trunks. The fire was started by careless campers. There is no evidence of a fire ever starting with lightening here. The camper who started the fire, even though it was an accident, was fined and had to lead a campaign back in his home to raise funds to buy and replace a huge number of trees (I think it was 50,000). We saw some areas that have been reforested, but it will take over a hundred years for them to get to full growth. Because of this accident, campers are no longer permitted to camp anywhere but in park-sanctioned campgrounds. They must be in the campground by 6:30 p.m. The park is patrolled by helicopter and if a camper is found out of the camping area, they are arrested and expelled from the park. They take this very seriously.

There is a very exclusive hotel in the park and it is another controversy. The hotel is on an island in the middle of a lake. The minimum stay is 4 nights; the cost is $4,000 for those four nights. If you want to stay longer, you must commit to another 4 nights. The controversy is that there is a beautiful waterfall on this property, which used to be open to the public, but when they built the hotel, the waterfall rights belong to the hotel and no one other than guests can visit it.

Chile and Argentina share the border at this point in Patagonia. Park rangers not only act as rangers for the park, but also as border patrol.

The roads throughout the park are gravel and not quite 2-lane. Our bus must stop if a car is coming from the opposite direction. The winds are so strong here that a few months ago, two tour busses overturned.

We finally have seen our first guanaco. There was one lonely guanaco on a hill. Yerko told us that this was a dominant male, looking after his territory. A dominant male will have a harem of 20-25 females. Young males are kicked out of the group at around 2 years of age. There are about 8,000 guanaco in the park. They let us get fairly close to photograph.

Next we spotted some Andean Condor. They need wind to fly because they are so big; which is why you usually find them in mountainous areas over a river, to catch the wind currents. They look like airplanes flying! We were lucky to see quite a few on ridges and did see a couple of them flying. Hard to get a close photograph though.

We stopped to see another beautiful waterfall called Cascade Paine.

Then we pulled over at a gorgeous lake with a perfect reflection of the mountain behind. The lake was absolutely still and the sight was breathtaking. We were told that this can be seen only 20-25 days out of the year. We have been so fortunate to be able to see this.



We spotted two gray fox hunting in the brush. One of them saw something good to eat and took off -- they are really fast.

We came across an overturned truck on the side of the road. We stopped and Yerko got out to check to see if anyone was in the truck. These roads are so desolate and untraveled, that you cannot assume someone else has taken care of a rescue. Thankfully, the truck was empty. It was a very sobering sight.
The terrain is so different here from Torres del Paine -- there are rolling hills here and the terrain looks like the velvet on a deer's antlers.

Now we have reached the Chile/Argentina border and must leave Yerko and Roberto behind. We have lunch in one building and then walk to the customs office, which is next door. Climb back on the bus and travel in no-man's land again for a few miles and see our next bus waiting for us in an open field.
We meet Alisa and Juan, our El Calafate guide and driver.

Now for a five-hour ride to El Calafate. This is probably the most desolate land we have traveled yet. We stop for a banos break and a coffee at another oasis. It is two hours away -- and then it will be another two hours before we come to civilization again. Only 0.5% of Argentinans live in Patagonia. There are 23 provinces (states) in Argentina. El Califate is a city in the Province of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is the 2nd largest and only has 230,000 inhabitants. There is 3 sq. miles per person.

The ranches here support cattle and sheep. The smallest ranch is 25,000 acres; average ranch is 40-50,000 acres. Gauchos still move cattle and sheep from field to field and mend fences, etc. The sheep form circles in winter, but unlike penguins, those on the outside do not rotate to the middle, so the gauchos have to move them or they will freeze. The life of a gaucho is not easy.

We stop at a roadside shrine. It is covered in red flags and the shrine is painted red. It is a shrine to Gaucho Antonio Gil. This is a rather long story and so you will have to come to our house to hear the story over a Pisco Sour.

This week is a festival week in El Califate. How fortunate for us that we have hit many festivals in Chile and Argentina. This is the "Week of the Lake." Because of the festival our hotel has been sold out and we are being upgraded to another hotel. We are met with a glass of wine and small bouquets of fresh flowers.
There are music concerts in the evening, food and handicraft booths. Santi offered to accompany those who were interested to go to the festival. He helped us to order the local treat called a lomito. It is a steak sandwich, grilled on an open fire and then covered with onions. We then headed to the gelato shop for some califate gelato. They say if you eat califate (which is a berry from the califate bush), you will return to El Califate some day.

The concert started in earnest at about 11:00 p.m. Not much sleep tonight.