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April, 2014

  1. Santorini, Greece

    April 24, 2014 by Ford

    Adamant Suites

    Aquamarine Suite with indoor jacuzi

    Beaches

    Vlychada beach

     

    http://www.cycladia.com/best-beaches-greece/santorini/page/8/

    Category Europe, Uncategorized | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  2. Patagonia, Chile & Argentina

    April 23, 2014 by Ford

    Patagonia
    We flew in to Buenos Aires and spent a day there. Then we flew to Calafate which is the gateway town to Patagonia. Patagonia actually spans both Chile and Argentina and each country has its own national park. From Calafate in Argentina we took a bus to Torres del Paine national park which is in Chile. http://www.parquetorresdelpaine.cl/ Its absolutely gorgeous and I highly recommend it. We did the W trail with theecocamp people http://www.ecocamp.travel/.  This is one of the most popular trails in South America and it was a great experience. http://trekkinginpatagonia.com/patagonia-hiking-trails/. The ecocamp people set us up in “Refugios” which are like huts in the mountains so we didn’t have to camp every day and they carry most of the gear so we only had a daypack for each of the 5 days of hiking. They take care of food etc so you can just focus on the physical effort and the incredible views of Valle Asencio, Valle del Frances and Mirador Grey.

    After we finished the trail, we took a bus back to Calafate and from there another bus to a hiker’s town in Argentina’s Los Glaciers National Park  http://www.losglaciares.com/en/parque/index.html called Chalten. Our hotels in Buenos Aires and Calafate weren’t good enough for me to recommend. Calafate has many excellent hostels and small hotels so no need to splurge here. The “public” busses are supper nice so no need to waste money on private transfers. They are generaly large Greyhound style tour busses; clean and with supper comfy seats.

    In Chalten we stayed the first night at a lovely hotel Infinito Sur www.infinitosurelchalten.com/eng/inicio.php. Then we took a two day Ice Climbing trip with Mountaneering Patagonia http://www.mountaineeringpatagonia.com/EN_INDEX2011.ASP. We hiked for most of the first day from Chalten to Glacier Grande next to Laguna Torre. Spent later part of the day walking around the glacier (just two of us and our guide…noone else on the ice..was amazing). He taught us about crampons, basic ice skills and we climbed insider the glacier. Absolutely awesome. Unfortunately it also rained the ENTIRE day so we go soaked. Got back to camp in the evening, got our tent up and slept pretty much in a sliding puddle. I woke up in the middle of the night vibrating uncontrollably and the next morning it was raining worse so all three of us decided to cut our loses and hike back to Chalten so we never got to do any serious Ice Climbing. Very sad :(  but i would recommend the tour company and I loved Chalten. Any outdoorsy person would fall in love with that town.

    A lot of people do the Perito Moreno glacier tour in Calafte but we decided it was not for us. They take like 30 ppl on a bus in a huge group to the edge of the glacier and then take the whole 30 like geese on a very well walked trail on a glacier and at some point they give u alcohol. Not really exciting or special for a real hiker/climber but I’m assuming fun for normal tourist. Some people also do smth similar on the Grey Glacier in Chile. We wanted something more authentic and thus chose to go to Chalten and Glacier Grande which is more remote (take a day to walk there) and thus a lot less touristy.

    Overall, Patagonia is like no other place Ive ever been to on Earth. Even when we just got off the plane in Calafate which is the “big” town in Patagonia it felt like we landed on Mars or on some alien/futuristic sci fi landscape. The glaciers, mountains, insane wind and weather, the trees and the lakes of different colors are all gorgeous and unforgettable. I can’t wait to go back and do the full circuit trail in Torres del Paine and spend a week in Chalten!

    Category Americas, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,, | No Comments