Chile


Our last stop in South America was a few days in Chile before we headed home.

Gaucho Poon



The Andes outside Santiago

The Galapagos Islands


Sit out in the Pacific Ocean, 965km West of Ecuador.
A long way from anywhere else.
A Mecca for zoologists, environmentalists, conservationists, ecologists, evolutionary theorists ..... and fat American tourists.

When Charles Dawin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835 in the Beagle, he saw some weird and wonderful animals that would change his thinking, and change the world.

It is the remoteness and isolation of the islands that drives the evolutionary machinery. It was the isolation that made Darwin think about all these species, and their origin....


I admit that it was the part of my trip that I had looked forward to the most. It has been a dream for a long, long time.
And it was everything I dreamed it would be.


Sandra with Mum and Pup


Marine Iguanas


Penguins


Up close and personal


Local beauties...


Red Crab


Genovesa pinnacle


Galapagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis)


They just bubbled up out of the sea...

Blue Footed Booby


Masked Booby chick


Magnificent Frigate Bird

Giant Land Tortoises


On the Road...

Cute


Genovesa Straight

Ciao Ciao Argentina.
Hola Ecuador.


After spending 3 months in Patagonia counting condors the expedition finished.
I headed North, met Sandra in Chile and then flew to Quito in Ecuador.

Ecuador lies on the Equator (duh), and is warmer than Patagonia (lat. 41 degrees below). Quito sits at 2300m on a high plateau, surrounded by active volcanoes: The Ring of Fire.

It was nice to be warm again.






Quito is a hive of people. A bright and thriving mass of local folks doing their thing. Sometimes that thing is relieving stupid gringo tourists of their UDS. Or worse...


But not us.
We had a great time.
Check Quito out below.....

The Basillica above the Old Town.


Church of gold


Cotopaxi: The highest 'active' volcano in the world. 5897m



Extreme Poon.

The way to the top...

Is a steep and winding one.

"Whenever confronted by two paths, always take the hardest one."
(Tingwe: Himalaya)















Booyah!
Made it.

Crossing the Frozen Lake...


The refugio at Frey is built beside a lake.
In Winter it freezes solid.

We crossed the lake to get to the trail back down the mountain.
The thing about frozen lakes is that you just never know what´s going to happen...
(Note the distance between the trekkers....)

Happy Climbers...

Taken from the saddle just below "El Principal" at Frey.
Ade, "el Gaucho" Nick, and Nahuel the guide...





Trekking Hombres...





From Left to Right...

Maxi (the guide): cheats at dice.

Blake (the quiet American): loves a laugh, a drink and a fight.

Ade (the Pommie IT consultant): a sensitive new age type.

Gaucho Nick (behind) (a Pommie): avoid dice and/or drinking games with this man...

Nahuel (the guide): a hard, cold man who can run like a deer in crampons.

Jane (whiskey Jane): swears like a sailor.

Mark (a Muppet from Utah): Is from Utah and looks like a muppet.

Ice Climbing.


At Frey there is a frozen waterfall falling 40m from the side of a cliff.
To climb up you need ice axes and crampons, a good rope, and a good mate holding onto the other end of it.





It seems like a long way up.
It takes about 10 minutes to climb and my arms felt like lead at the end...

"Use your feet! Use your feet!"
Kept shouting the guide.

"Easy for you" I thought....

It was a tough climb....

Trekking to Frey...

After 6 days trekking and climbing in the mountains around El Bolson, we headed North to the hills around Bariloche, including the climbers Mecca at Frey.

We trekked for 6 hours up into a high valley bowl surrounded by jagged peaks.

Nice view...

Looking across the Rio Negro Valley.
We climbed above the clouds and got a view of the mountains we would be climbing tomorrow...

Refugio hopping...

The Argentines are very clever.
Instead of taking leaky tents up into the mountains, they build cozy huts, well stocked with firewood, comfy mattresses, tasty food .... and nourishing beverages....

There is nothing like a refugio after a hard days trekking in the moutains.

Ricketty Bridge....

Roll some Indiana Jones tunes....
This is a fine example of some back-country construction.
After several days of heavy rain and snow-melt the Rio Negro was raging.





Here are some very nervous trekkers crossing the river...
One at a time....
Slowly...

Snowshoeing to the top...


They may look stupid, but you´re not going anywhere without them.
Simon from Canberra here looks pretty darn cold.





PS: did I mention that it was pretty darn cold?

Mount Piltriquitron...

The final phase of this expedition involved 2 weeks of trekking in the Mountains to the South of San Carlos de Bariloche.

We picked up 4 Argentine mountain guides to take us up into the hills and teach us how to survive, how to walk with snowshoes and crampons, how to not fall off the side of the mountain, how to avoid getting caught in an avalanche, how to find your mate who does get caught in an avalanche, how to play ¨quispe¨ when it is too cold to go outside....

On the 2nd day of the trek we climbed Mt Piltriquitron.
This photo was taken at the top.
But there was a total white-out and we couldn´t see a thing.
Apparently I´m standing a couple of feet away from a precipice....
Such is life in the moutains.