Week 3: A penguin Full Of Wine

Every month in Runner's World magazine, in the first few pages there is a double page spread, a "rave run" somewhere scenic and beautiful in the world. Many months ago this was of Patagonia. I tore the page out and (much to the anguish of my landlord, I am sure) stuck it to my wall. On Thursday, as I slogged up a hill (mountain?) that was like a time loop of the top of Pen-Y-Fan, with a blister bigger than a 50p coin on the heel of each of my feet, and as I fell smack on my bottom on the way back down, I smiled and realised that it didn´t matter and I didn't care one bit because I had finally reached the Patagonia I had been waiting months for.

Glacier Perito Moreno, Argentina

For the last week I have been travelling with a girl called Jen, who is "from Glasgow" in the same way that I am "from London" if anyone who isn´t from the South East asks. It has been really nice to talk to someone and have an actual conversation rather than the continual "Where are you from?" (London, I say to make life easier) "How long are you here for?" (Err... I haven't quite decided yet) and "Where are you going next?" (You tell me.)

El Chaltén is an extremely small town, some 200 or so kilometers or so north of El Calafate, Argentina's answer to Ice Age 3, where one of the world's only remaining advancing glaciers is.

On our last day in El Chaltén there we decided to get up early for the big hike to "Laguna de los Tres" a 25km out and back walk with a pretty serious climb to reach the viewpoint. We stayed at the top, at a height of around 1100m for 45 minutes, with the place totally to ourselves and completely wind free. I don't think there was a better day in all of history for us to have chosen.

Jen and I at the top of the "Laguna de los Tres" hike

 As it is still low season we didn't see another person until 3 hours into the hike, and then as we were coming down everyone else seemed to be on their way up. "I think someone is looking down on us today" Jen said to me as we ate lunch next to the river totally undisturbed. However there was a price to pay. On arriving back in El Calafate before our next leg, we came to a hostel near the bus station, ended up paying 120 Argentinian Pesos - the most I have paid for a hostel so far - for the worst hostel I have stayed in so far. There was no hot water, the only plugs were either right next to the bathroom sink or 2 metres up the wall and there were a seriously noisy bunch of schoolchildren. (Who, after I very politely expressed my desire to bed down for the night, did quieten down a little.)

The day after I published last week's blog, I went scuba diving with sea lion puppies. Oh my goodness. It was amazing.

I'm 99% sure that this is me

Although in my last blog you may have sensed my greif at having my camera stolen, the extent of my annoyance reached even further than I originally expected. I have been 2 weeks without my kindle and it is killing me. The problem is that as so many people now have e-reading devices, there are absolutely no decent bookswaps. I severely hope this situation will change when I return to the north of Argentina. So far I have started a German book called "Am Anfang war der Seitensprung." I got as far as page 20 and realised it was just a very long Mills&Boon type book. On arriving in El Calafate for the second time my hopes were raised as I saw a copy of War and Peace...

..."The Abridged Version"

Finally for those of you thinking "darn it, I only got this far on the promise of a drunk penguin video" I am afraid you may be disappointed. All I have to offer you is a picture of a large caraffe of wine.

This is apparently ("apparently") a traditional wine pouring jug of Patagonia.

This week has been the best so far without a doubt, although time just seems to be flying by with no consideration for my schedule.

A big shout out to Jen's mum Alison for reading my blog! Tune in next week for some adventures in Chile and a guest appearance from David Attenborough.