We just spent 9 days in El Chalten and hiked most of the trails around Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. The weather is highly variable, switching from sun to rain fairly fast. The wind has been pretty bad also. We are in Calafate today and take the 8 am bus tomorrow to cross into Chile and will hopefully be in Torres del Paine National Park soon. We are doing a 10 day backpack around the mountains and then have some extra time before we head back to Buenos Aires where all our mountaineering stuff is. Then it is to Mendoza. Hopefully we will start up the mountain around Feb. 21 which is when the low season starts. We have been seeing wild parrots everywhere from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, as well as magellanic woodpeckers, kingfishers, peruvian meadowlarks (bright red), llamas (domestic and wild), stray dogs, the sunrise on Fitz Roy, a nice Irish couple, and lots of sweet pastries...but still no penguins.

to the ends of the earth

We have been enjoying our time down here in Ushuaia at the end of the world. Only 1000 km from Antarctica, the cool weather has been a relief from the heat of Buenos Aires and Puerto Madryn. Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego was nice, but the 50 km backpack we just did was even better. Saw some real wild landscapes as we hiked with no real trail. Had good weather with only one day of rain. Today is a rest day to fill up on empanadas, pastries from the panderias, and chopps (pints) of microbrews from the Cape Horn and Beagle Channel breweries. Tomorrow we fly to El Calafate to experience Parque Nacionale Los Glaciares and the Fitz Roy range. The penguins ornaments are everywhere in the tourist shops, but actual birds have been difficult to find as you have to hire a private tour. More to come as we begin to head back north again...