Patagonia

Patagonia is a vast unspoiled area spanning two countries at the bottom of the Americas.

A Columbian friend who recently visited Patagonia warned us to expect ever changing weather, but always windy. Whitecaps speckled the Magellan straits as we approached the Punta Arenas airport landing strip, and the front desk person clarified that it was 'unusually' windy that day. Imagine our surprise when a chimney pipe from a nearby roof hit the sidewalk just a few steps ahead of us. We kept away from the downwind side of the old buildings after that.

Fun fact: Ester Island is part of Chile, a detail we learned when connecting from Santiago (the capital city) to Puenta Arenas, the largest southern airpot and historical port on the Straits of Magellan.

We had the afternoon to explore Punta Arenas before meeting with our hiking group. We visited a small gifts and souvenirs store where we each picked up a sweater and learned something about Chile’s VAT (consumption) tax. The shown cost was $45,000 pesos. With an exchange rate of about US$1.19 - 1,000 Chilean pesos, we expected a charge of about US$54, but were pleasantly surprised at the $45 cost on the slip. Turns out, if you pay with dollars with a US issued card, they drop the VAT tax for an effective 1:1 exchange rate. Good to know.

We met a few other members on our trip in the hotel. Later, we decided to look for a favorite “pisco sour” in the quaint neighborhood and found the quaint and classy “Tierro del Fuego” bar. Having learned that the Califate sour is the local favorite in southern Patagonia, we savored this delicious version of the 'sour' in this comfortable little street-side place.

We met the other 9 travelers and our guide Cem, (pronounced Gem, like the stone), revealing his Turkish homeland the next day. He had a disarming approachable air about him, but little did we appreciate the breadth and depth of his competence and value at this first encounter.

Active Adventures subcontracts many of its guided day tours. Our first day bike tour out of Puerto Natales was led by a former trip guide who had started a family; to stay closer to home, he started his own bike touring company. Biking with cave exploring was a good trip warm-up, highlighted by a mid-day dinner at a private Estancia (ranch) on a fjord. This was a wondrous venue serving a panoply of meats (or vegetarian dish) prepared over a wood fired grill with breathtaking views looking south. What a start. This is why we like small private tours.

From Puerto Natales we drove into the El Paine area, northerly, and inland. El Paine is a range, and a single peak that revealed itself with occasional glimpses through the rainy moving clouds. Our group split between hikers into refugios - the W trip - and three of us who opted for a hotel overnights. The W group headed into the mountains and our van brought us to Kauai (tent) Rio Sorreno (on the banks of the Sorreno river).

Our first hike was a day-long affair which included a boat ride out to the “French Valley” trail head, an iconic Patagonia hike. On this trail where we got to know our five day companion, Joan, so well. Joan had been a professor of social work toward the end of her interesting career, and had, not surprisingly, uncanny insight into social dynamics, personality traits, emanating empathy and curiosity. Talk about a gem.

We leaned from our guide (now Filipe, or Pepe) how Chile and Argentina had competed for the land (and national boundaries) in early settlement days. Chile offered settlers massive tracts of land to raise sheep… provided they declared Chilean citizenship. Today’s remaining estancias (stations, or ranches) are huge tracts, although the multi-million sheep herds have declined with the rise in modern fabrics. Beef and lamb are still exported - and sold locally, mmmmm - but soft wool demand has decimated its financial value.

Our weather improved daily. Since we love to ride (horses) wherever we travel, we took a morning ride along the Rio Serrano, into woodlands with grazing cows, across a lake, and up onto a bluff with clear views of the broad alluvial plain looking toward La Paine and Los Cuernos (the horns). A Five Star ride.

The stark mountains of Patagonia are the result of a geological anomaly involving bulging magma. While the neighboring Andes range rose from the American and Nazca (Pacific) tectonic plates about 65 million years ago, the spires of Patagonia arose only about 5 million years ago. A huge pool of magma arose in a gap between the plates, thrusting ancient sedimentary rocks high into the sky. The visible line between the lighter sedimentary rock and darker igneous basalt and granite are easy to find on Los Cueros spires, pictured below.

Guides are fonts of knowledge of local flora and fauna. One afternoon, Filipe had us squeeze the paramella plant to reveal a savory aroma. He added quietly to me, 'it’s also great in gin.'

That evening, our barmaid Nicola, a trained mixologist, prepared a paramella martini with iceberg glacial ice where I learned the distinction between two replies to “Muchos Gracias”: 'De nada' is most common means, it’s nothing; con gusto on the other hand means it’s my pleasure. My genuine enthusiasm for a spectacular martini - did I mention, made with glacial ice and infused with paramella? - may have been a true pleasure for Nicola to prepare.

Our species count ran quickly into the high teens within our first few days, with Andean condors in the mountains, guanacos on the plains (and as sentinels on the hills), and upland geese near water; but did not include a puma, the only large predator in these parts.

After five days we met back up with the group that had made the “W-trek”, a series of hikes named for its shape, from an iceberg laden lake at a terminal glacier. They had been colder than we, but had a great hike-of-a-lifetime of some. There is another hike in the region known as the "O" hike, a loop, into more challenging territory, recommended on,y for hikers experienced with difficult terrain and cold temps.

From Puerto Natales we drove to El Califate, across the border into Argentina, a several hour trip across desolate plains reminiscent of West Texas and other hardscrabble land. El Caliphate was named after the same local berry as the “sour”, above. With about 5,000 inhabitants a decade ago, a new airport, nearby glacier viewing, fiber-optic connected internet and an asphalt road to Route 40, the place now boasts 30,000, most working in tourism and hospitality. The glaciers are nearby, visible by boat or walkway, attracting many iphones and androids. In Chile we had eaten sea bass, salmon, and hake ; in Argentina, it’s a beef and lamb show.

The proximity to glaciers from El Califate - less than an hour - is one of the draws for walking tourists. Below a massive calving as the warm sun does its work.

Because our trip was hiking-centric, we hiked into breathtaking country around the Argentinian version of La Paine and Los Cuernos to the up-thrusts (same magma event) of Mt Fitz Roy (locally and indigenously, el Chaltén) that make up the range of the Patagonia apparel logo. We saw those spires from every direction, along with sparking blue glacial waters, broad terminal moraines and giant erratics, and of course, summer snow.

Because there are no large mammals in these alpine fields, the water is perfectly safe to drink, naturally full of minerals and ice cold. Refills anyone?

Argentina had just elected Javier Millei, a libertarian, Austrian school economist who won the presidency with a mandate - 11% - to undo the socialist, extractive, modern day Peronistas, especially most recent President Alberto Fernandez, under whose economic stewardship Argentina topped out at 184% inflation.

Milei’s inaugural speech - we were in Buene Aires and heard it live - was a specific and broad condemnation of the previous government concluding with “We have no money”. He followed with a prediction that coming out of this mess will be painful - but no less painful than the past twelve years where per capita GDP has shrunk, wages have collapsed to 10% of where they would have been under previous trend lines, and all foreign reserves (US dollars and Euros) are gone. Argentina limps along on a $40 billion IMF loan that it cannot repay. Not only is there no money, there is no more credit and their spend rate exceeds revenues.

The jury is out on Milei’s exact political and economic plans, - inflation still exceeds 140% - but Argentinian sovereign debt had improved (reduced the risk premium) before his inauguration, so capital markets appear cautiously optimistic. Today, the official exchange rate is US$1 = 350 pesos; the street rate was 900 pesos when we arrived; we got 970 the day before we left. The highest bill in circulation is the 1,000 peso note, so cash transactions are made with stacks of one dollar bills. A bourbon in a nice bar costs 2,500 pesos (US$2.50), a bottle of Malbec in a restaurant less than twenty bucks, and hand knit woolen products too low to understand any of the economics. Wage labor is hardest hit by inflation, and labor appears sick of it all.

A few final thoughts on planning a trip to Patagonia. There are many ways to customize a trip. We used Active Adventures, a New Zealand based travel company with offices in Austin and trips all over the world. Good for the “Go-go years”, but as the name suggests, active. We hiked to the bleeding edge of our (mid-60’s) competencies. Quasar is another travel coordinator which allows more customized travel, a horseback ride here, a waterfall there, fishing, lay day, your call. Outfitter selection can make or break your experience. Overall, the guides at Active Adventure were so connected with specialists, the connection to the land and the people was well worth the price tag. Bottom line, do your homework for the best experience for you.