Argentina & Uruguay - Rat tails and mullets. Really?!?

Buenos Aires & Cordoba, Argentina and Punta del Este, Uruguay - January 15-28, 2011. These hairstyles didn't look good the first time around. So why would anybody ever decide to revive the rat tail and the mullet? Great question. I don't have the answer. But I do have the evidence to prove that these styles are all over Argentina and Uruguay.

The "new wave" multiple rat tail and the more "traditional" single rat tail.

The classic mullet: Business in the front, party in the back!

On the left: Shaking it up with the dreadlock mullet. On the right: Keeping it real with the single rat tail (and a little bit of mullet thrown in.)

There was no shortage of men willing to sport these monstrous hairstyles, if you can even call it that. Some of them even put their own, 21st century twist on it, with the dreadlock mullet, or the multiple rat tails. Classy!

I'm dreading (no pun intended) the idea that this 'style' could migrate north. Let's hope not!

Here are a couple more pics of colourful characters who also chose to wear their own unique styles.

On the left: Is that Uruguay Yanni?                                         On the right: Old sailor man with a tie or scarf on his head.

Cordoba, Argentina - Navigating caves and rushing waterways

Cordoba, Argentina - January 25, 2011. A daytrip outside of Cordoba to visit a cave some 2 hours away. "Cave trekking" was the name of the excursion. We were a small group: four guests from my hostel plus our guide, Max, who drove us to our destination in a beat-up old burgundy sedan. It began raining a few minutes after our arrival, and we spent the next two uneventful hours waiting for it to clear. When it finally did clear, we made a dash for the cave, donned our miner-type gear, and entered through a tiny slit in the rocks. It started raining hard again just as we reached the shelter of the cave. The water quickly entered the cave and a small stream ran down into its depths. I wondered, "If it keeps raining, is there a risk of the cave filling with water while we are down there?" I didn't really get a straight answer.

Click to watch video: Rain forming a stream into the cave entrance

We had to crawl through small holes and tunnels to go between 'rooms' of the cave. I've visited plenty of caves before, but none where I had to crawl. I was reminded of my visit to the Chuchi Tunnels in southern Vietnam, where I had been allowed to crawl through a short stretch of narrow tunnel. This was similar. I either had to drag my bum along to floor or do a type of squatted duck walk, depending on the size of the opening. Anybody the least bit clausterphobic would not have done well. And despite the name of the excursion, there certainly wasn't any 'trekking' involved. But it was an adventure. And I love a new experience, so I certainly wasn't complaining.

Left: Just behind me, one of our group has already headed down the tunnel.    Right: More small spaces.

The guide showed off the caves different formations. One of the strangest was the number 24, somehow naturally formed in the rock!

What are the looking at? It's this keyhole-shaped opening at the top of this dome. It was formed by rushing water, spiralling upwards through the cave. Notice that the keyhole is off-centre and to the left. If we were in the northern hemisphere, the keyhole would be on the right. Anybody know why?

There was one tunnel that sloped downwards like those tube slides you see at childrens parks. I had to slide down on my bum. (No wonder those overalls had so many patches!) To get back up that slide, I had to crawl on my hands and knees. Our last obstacle was an extremely low, but wide, tunnel (pictured below). Most people crawled through on their bellies. I discovered my own method. I laid down sideways, my arms tucked to my chest, and rolled down the opening (just like I rolled down grassy hills as a child.)

We emerged from the cave into bright sunshine. It had stopped raining while were were below ground and we were surprised at how hot it was, since the cave is constantly cool, irrespective of the weather outside.

The caving was over, but the adventure was not. The weather was great for much of the ride home, but then it suddenly began to rain hard. We were forced to stop at the side of the highway when the visibility fell drastically. There were many other cars like us, stopped along the side of the highway. There was also a number of cars that had unfortnately lost control and driven into water-filled ditches along either side of the highway. Then came the hail. We saw a number of cars that had purposefully driven off to the side of the highway to tuck their precious cars under trees and away from the damagin hail. We even saw one car that was lovingly covered by a blanket. (Funny!) Luckily, our guide was not driving his own car, so he wasn't worried about hail damage.

Click to watch video: Waiting out the worst of the storm, on the side of the highway.

Click to watch video: Back on the highway.

Eventually, the rain slowed enough for us to restart our journey home. As we reached the suburbs of Cordoba, the streets turned into rivers. The intersections were the most trecherous, as these street-rivers joined and compounded their effect. We saw many that had become stuck in the rushing water. Adding to the situation, the electricity was out and so there were no traffic lights. But the Argentinians didn't seem to let the lack of traffic signals stop them, and pushed through intersections agressively. Often, getting speed was necessary to get through a water-logged intersection. Any dips in the road were full of rushing water, and we all cheered Max on as he got through each one. More than once, the water breached the car floor, leaving us with wet feet. But the old beater car kept rolling.

 Click to watch video: Navigating the crazy river-streets of Cordoba

Well, it kept rolling as far as it could. We eventually found an obstacle we could not traverse. We didn't even try, for fear of becoming one of the many immobilized cars. Once again, we had to stop and wait, hoping the water level would fall enough to give us a fighting chance.

Click to watch video: We finally found an obstacle we could not traverse

The water finally receded a little. We were back on the road. After a very long day, we eventually made it back to Cordoba, safe and sound! It was quite an unexpected and unforgettable adventure.

Torres del Paine, Chile - Day Five, The end is near

Torres del Paine, Chile - January 8, 2011. On Day 5 we finish our trekking adventure and return to 'civilization'. But before we do that, we still need to hike out of the park for 4 hrs to catch the catamaran. (We are taking a different route out of the park than we took to get in.) The catamaran leaves three times daily: at 10:30, 12:30 and 18:30. If we take one at 18:30, we'll only be back in town after 22:00, making for a long day and rendering it impossible to plan our travel for the next day. So we must make it for the 12:30 catamaran. The refugio begins serving breakfast at 7:30. So we figure the earliest we can leave is 8:00. The same hike in the opposite direction took us 4.5 hrs the day before, so if you've done the math, you've figured out the pressure is on to make it in less than 4.5 hrs to avoid missing the boat! Literally!

We hike back on the same trail climbing up and down the same gruelling hills, passing alongside Lake Grey where pieces of glacier still float by. But we take less time to enjoy the views and book it to make the catamaran. After 3.5 hrs we catch glimpses of Lake Pehoe, our destination. We make excellent time and reach the dock after less than 4 hrs of hiking. We have plenty of time to catch the catamaran.

On the ride across the lake, I stare in awe at the valleys, peaks and glaciers that have been our home for the past 5 days. It was a truly amazing experience and I'm so lucky to have been to this truly spectacular part of the earth.

In between these mountains, in the middle of the photo, is the French Valley, which we hiked up and down on Day 3. Also known as "The Big Day".

A closer view of the entrance to the French Valley. We ate our lunch across from this glacier (just left of centre in this photo), watching pieces of the glacier calve off on Day 3.

It's hard to see in the photo where the glacier ends and the clouds begin. But the enormous mountain in the background, on the left of the photo, is almost entirely covered by an equally enormous glacier, Glacier Grey, which we saw on Day 4. Only the peak of the mountain is visible.

Just left of centre, you can see a small finger like shape rising between the other mountains. By my best guess, I believe this is the back side of the Torres del Paine that we visited on Day 1.

A closer view of the back side of the Towers (right smack in the centre of the photo).

Approximate distance travelled: 11 kms
Approximate hiking time: 3:45 hours

Approximate total distance hiked over 5 days: 82 kms!!

Torres del Paine, Chile - Day Four, Overlooking Glacier Grey

Torres del Paine, Chile - January 7, 2011. Day 4 of our hike. By now we are seasoned trekkers. We will hike up to Refugio Grey, overlooking Glacier Grey, where we will spend the night. It is 11 kms away. From there we will hike a little further (without-packs) to get a better view of the glacier, as we've been instructed by those well-informed.

We hit the trail at 8:45 a.m., my blistered feet well-bundled in mole-skin (a life saving tool for any hiker!) after yesterday's big trek. We were motivated to get to the refugio early to snatch up the good beds. The late-comers get the top bunks and we especially wanted to avoid the top of a triple-decker bunk. The trail had a lot of up and down and was not easy with a full pack. We were rewarded by awesome views of huge chunks of broken glacier floating past on the lake.

Yes, my pants are all puffy in this photo because it's very windy.

Seeing the glacier up ahead, we thought we were nearly there. But it looked closer than it actually was, and we still had a long way to go. We reached the refugio at 1:15 p.m., meaning it had taken us 4.5 hrs. Surprisingly, we appeared to be the first ones there, and we were rewarded with our own little room. A tiny room with just one bunk bed.

The refugio was smaller than all the others we had seen, but very cozy and wonderfully situated on the lake over-looking the glacier.

We ate our lunch at the refugio and set out with light packs for a closer view of the glacier. We started our with a trip to the nearby mirador. We clambered over craggly rocks to get a closer view of the glacier.

The views were good. But not good enough. We set out for Campamento Los Guardas, 4 kms away, which promised to overlook the glacier. It was 3:30.

The trail to Los Guardas was uphill and treacherously steep in places. I was amazed at those doing it with full packs.

We reached our destination after 1.5 hrs, and found a stunning viewpoint overlooking the glacier. We were right on top of it, staring into its cracks and crevasses.

I could have sat there for hours. But we had to get back to the refugio for supper. (It doesn't look like it, but it was already 5:30 when these photos were taken. The sun just set so late this far south in January.)

Approximate distance travelled: 19 kms
Approximate hiking time: 7 hours

Side note: The showers back at the refugio that night had only cold water. Or rather, not just cold water, but freezing, glacially cold water. So I waited before taking a shower, hoping the hot water would come back. I saw others emerge from the unimaginable figidness, and was not willing to bite the bullet myself. My dad went for a walk and observed the heating system outside, determining that it was not a matter of waiting for a tank to heat up, as the water was heated on demand, so they must have run out of gas to heat the water. I asked them to check if that was the case, and soon enough we had a new tank of gas and hot water galour! Props to my dad for that!

Torres del Paine, Chile - Day Three, This is the big one!

Torres del Paine, Chile. January 6, 2011. Day 3 is "The Big Day". This is the day we would hike 28 kms! Yes, 28 kms. Crazy! Why would we ever choose to do that!?! Well, there weren't many other options. The next refugio is 13 kms away, on the other side of the French Valley. But we can't just walk past the French Valley, without exploring more. A one-way trip up the French Valley is 7.5 kms. So if we want to see it all (and of course, we want to see it all!), we need to go all the way up and down the valley (15 kms roundtrip), then continue back on the 13 km trail to Refugio Paine Grande.

We started out from Refugio Los Cuernos bright and early at 8:00 a.m. The trail was constantly going up and down and it was a hot day. After a difficult 2.5 hours, we arrive at the entrance to the French Valley. Here we dropped our heavy packs in the bushes, taking just our lunches and rain jackets and continued up the French Valley, feeling much lighter. The route was rocky and steep, but the views were extremely rewarding.



The trail led us along side a large glacier 'flowing' down the mountain. Even before we saw it we heard pieces of the glacier breaking off. It sounded like thunder; but there was not one cloud in the sky. A river of glacial run-off was rushing between us and the glacier. I craved to witness a calving of the glacier with my own eyes! We found a nice shady spot for lunch, beside the river. From there we sat and watched the glacier. We were lucky enough to see some small pieces break off. Well, although they looked small from our perspective, those pieces were probably the size of an apartment building. But compared to the size of the glacier itself, they were minuscule. (The attached video shows our lunch spot, but it was impossible to catch the glacier breaking on camera!) Click to watch video of our views during lunch.

We continued up the French Valley, eventually reaching the end of the trail and the lookout. From here we had a view down the entire valley. It was pretty impressive. And it was clear why you could not go farther as the end of the valley was blocked by a wall of mountains.




Left: A dead part of the forest, near the end of the valley.      Right: The view look back towards the opening of the valley



It was 3:00 p.m., we had started in the morning at 8:00 a.m. and we were still only half way done our day! No time for lolligagging, so we promptly turned on our heels and headed back down the valley, passing by that amazing glacier again on the way back. 


"Only two people at a time on the bridge"

Back at the main trail, we picked up our bags, which we still safely stored under a tree, and continued our trek now with full packs, vowing to get to Refugio Paine Grande in time for supper. It was 6:00 p.m. when we set out. And we had 7.5 kms to go. But we had also heard this part of the trail would be relatively flat and easy. Along the trail, most people we passed going the other way asked how much further it was. This was the first time this had happened, but it was also the first time we were on the trail so late. We also asked along the way, gauging our progress. My feet were complaining, and then throbbing. But I was motivated by food and pushed through. We finally arrived at about 8:15 a.m. The staff at the refugio said we were the last guests to arrive. Yikes! But supper was served until 9:00 p.m. so we had made it in time. Our 12 hour day was finally over. And I had a few blisters to show for it.

Approximae distance travelled: 28 kms
Approximate hiking time: 12 hours

Torres del Paine, Chile - Day Two, Raging rivers and broken boots

Torres del Paine, Chile. January 5, 2011. Day 2 of our hike would not be especially arduous, but we would be carrying full packs all day. We were heading from Refugio Chileno to Refugio Los Cuernos, approximately 14 kilometers away. The route was pretty, with views of valleys, rivers and glaciers above us. We even made contact with more local fauna, a small flock of the strange-looking ibis birds.





The one difficult part of this day was the river crossing. Up to that point, small creeks were crossed by skipping along large stones , and bridges had been built to cross larger rivers. But here we came upon a fast moving river with no bridge! What do to? Many other hikers were in the same dilemma, walking up and down the river bed, evaluating the best position from which to make their crossing. Most people were crossing in the hiking boots, navigating from rock to rock. But such balancing is difficult while carrying a large pack. And a good way to ruin a trip is to fall off a wet slippery rock, crashing face first into another rock, or twisting an ankle. So I decided not to take such risks and changed into my teva sandals, finding a knee-deep place to wade through. The water was ice cold (it's glacial water after all) and rushing fast. I had to keep telling myself to carefully check my footing with every step, because my instinctive reaction was to rush across and get out of the cold! Phew! Done. No? No, just 10 meters away was a second crossing. Here I could not find a shallow spot to wade though. I had no choice but to navigate across large boulders, some of which were below the water but still visible. And these rocks were not so close together. My hiking poles helped me hold my balance and I made it (but barely). It was very scary. Scarier than it looks in the pictures. Trust me.



After a safe crossing, we continued hiking through this landscape, a green-coloured glacial lake to the left, and towering mountains to the right.




We reached our destination after 7 hours of hiking, around 4pm. So we still had many daylight hours to relax in the sun at the refugio and chat with other hikers. We met a young German couple. She had lost the sole off her hiking book the previous day at the top of the Torres del Paine. Somehow she managed to scramble down the steep slope in a shoe without a sole. I don't imagine it was easy. Unfortunately, they found no way of fixing the shoe, and tossed them both into the garbage. She would finish the remaining 4 days of the hike in her running shoes. The terrain is not made for running shoes, but what else could she do.

Coincidentally (or maybe this happens all the time here?), after supper that same day, we saw an older gentleman testing out his new footwear. Apparently, this older man, who was hiking with his adult son, also lost the sole of his shoe that day. The ingenious son came up with a solution by strapping his size 13 teva sandal onto his dad's size 8 sole-less hiking boot. It looked like a perfect fit! Brilliant! But we never did see them again in following days to find out how it faired on the trail...

Approximate distance travelled: 14 kms
Approximate hiking time: 7 hours

Torres del Paine, Chile - Day One! Visiting the famous towers

Torres del Paine, Chile. January 4, 2011. A hike like no other. In an absolutely amazing place near the end of the earth. With the promise of amazing scenery, we set out for five days. I'm hiking with my dad. We've always been a very outdoorsy family, so this should be just up our alley. We've decided to take 'easy way out'; meaning we will be staying in huts, called refugios, and would have our meals prepared for us there. So we do not have to worry about carrying a tent, sleeping bags, food, cooking necessities, etc. That does sound easy right? Well, we still have to carry all our clothing and other personal necessities. It adds up quickly when you have to be prepared for absolutely every kind of weather. We are warned that it is extremely windy and that these winds can turn sunshine into a torrential downpour in a minute. It can even snow in January (i.e. summer)! So we must expect to be wet when trekking and need a dry set of clothes. We also need warm clothes so pack up the hat, gloves, scarf and warm sweater (or two? what if one gets wet?) It's going to rain so rain jacket and rain pants are a must. An extra pair of dry shoes to wear at the hut. And a pair of teva sandals for the dreaded river crossings we've heard about. It all adds up. When I climbed Kili last year, we had porters. So this would be the first time I carry all my stuff on a mutli-day hike. All goes into waterproof sacks and then into my sturdy backpack. I'm ready for the challenge.



Day 1 started with a two hour bus ride to the park. The weather looked clear and sunny. We drove through dry and flat plains. Then in the distance you could see a circular formation of mountains rising up like an immense fortress. From that point of view, this 'castle' appeared to stand alone on this tundra-like landscape, making for an impressive sight. The castle is watched over by the roaming guanaco, a llama-like animal, native to southern Patagonia and nearly hunted to extinction not that long ago, but seemingly thriving now. The moat is a small river, and crossing it means crossing the narrowest of bridges. The van we are riding does not even have rear-view mirrors, as there is literally less than an inch of space on either side. A sign reads: "In bad weather, passengers must exit vehicle before crossing." We have made the journey and arrived inside the fortress...





After checking in at the park, we were ready to start hiking at 11:00, heading towards our first refugio, Refugio Chileno, 5 kms away.



The climb was uphill, as we make our way along green rolling hills. Coming around a bend we faced a strong wind and I hoped I would not loose my hat, or, even more importantly my footing, as we were trekking along a narrow path with a steep drop-off. We reached Chileno at 13:00, got our beds and left our heavy bags, packing only water and a jacket.





After a quick lunch we were off to see the towers for which this park is named: Los Torres del Paine. The towers were 4.2 kms away. The first part of the hike was pretty easy, especially with our now very light packs. The second part was over very steep and rocky terrain. But we made it. The view was jaw dropping. Three huge rock towers pointing at the sky, and below them a lake. We were very lucky that they were not obscured by clouds, as this is often the case, and we took many, many photos.





It was hard to leave such a magnificent place. But eventually, we hiked back down the steep slope and through the forest to have supper and a well deserved sleep at our refugio. It was hard to imagine what could top this first day. We had four more days in this park, after all. Would it be downhill from here? (No pun intended. - And no, it would not be downhill, literally or figuratively! There was still plenty of uphill to go!)

Approximate distance travelled: 10 km
Approximate hiking time: 5.5 hrs