Taith Patagonia Siôn Brynach's Patagonia Trek
Hydref 2008 October

Please click here to read chapter 2, an account of the journey in Chubut and here to read chapter 3, an account of the final 24 hours of the trip in Buenos Aires. Photos of the trip can be seen by clicking here

23:30 – Arrived at El Chalten and the hostel. A wonderful shower and change of clothes before going for dinner in a nearby restaurant. The dinner was very jolly with Rhobert ap Steffan in good spirits. Tomorrow – the mountains, but tonight we’re staying in El Chalten which has the feel of a frontier town to it. Tin houses and new buildings everywhere. Big hairy dogs outside every house. The wind is howling outside the windows so heaven knows what it will be like when we’re camping tomorrow night!

17:22 18-10-2008

18:47 – We’ve now reached the camp and had a cup of coffee. My face feels like its had windburn in spite of the sun cream.
I’m looking forward to dinner – not looking forward so much to the first night under canvas – particularly if the rain continues.

21:44 – in the tent – it’s not too cold yet, but we’ll see how it is later. Dinner was very good considering we’re miles from anywhere. Quote of the day – Louise to Debs “Can I put my hand in your armpit?”

11:12 – 19/10/2008

17:11 – We’ve arrived at the next camp, which is near Lago Capri, after a tough afternoon. The snow fell heavily this afternoon and everyone got chilled at lunch-time even though we’d stopped in a sheltered spot under trees.

Once the snow – and wind – had started in earnest the view entirely disappeared. Everyone’s horizons were limited to what they could see out of the openings in their hood – which was essentially the rucksack of the person walking in front of them.

I was glad to get to camp therefore – and to have a hot cup of coffee. The staff work very hard to feed us and to get the camps ready.
After the coffee a group of us went back to the shores of Lago Capri for a stroll and I overheard the tongue in cheek quote of the day from John – “I suppose they called it Lago Capri because it’s the same temperature as the other Capri”” The snow was falling heavily at the time.
Dinner at seven. Lleucu has gone back to El Chalten after being sick yesterday. She hopes to re-join the group after a night in a hostel bed.
In the tent next door tonight we’ve got Pat and Mair – who have managed to carry on despite being 70+ and 60+ respectively. The story goes that Mair got to last night’s camp and asked where the toilet block and restaurant were! Needless to say the toilet is a hole in the ground and the food is served in the canteen tent. Despite her disappointment last night, she’s carried on in earnest today.
Iolo showed us some Puma poo this morning, so they are around! Saw an austral finch this afternoon – though no Condors today (we saw two yesterday). To be honest it was difficult to see anything today because of the snow blizzard. Preparing therefore for a second night of snow camping.

18:36 – just been out to photograph the Crested Cara Cara – according to Iolo a member of the crow family – it is a stocky, colourful and inquisitive bird which is why we managed to get close to it.

11:52 – 20/10/2008 – Glacier Piedras Blancas.

Its serax field is very obvious – we’ve been walking for over three hours and have arrived at this awesome glacier. The glacier is on the slopes of Mount Fitzroy / Chalten which has been a constant today. We started from camp along the same path as yesterday – but we could actually see something today. We saw more Puma poo as well as the footprints of a fox in the snow.
Last night was horrendously cold and down to -10°C apparently and with -3°C measured inside one of the tents.

13:20 – lunch and we’ve just left the formal boundary of the Los Glaciares National Park. It feels a bit warmer today than it was yesterday though still colder than the first day.
There was quite a lot of snow in camp this morning – both on top of the tents and on the ground. As soon as woke up Paul (with whom I’m sharing a tent) and I went for a walk in the hills around the tent to see the sunrise.
Later, I went with Mair to collect drinking water from the lake (Lago Capri) and discovered that her drinking bottle is a souvenir from a Cruise she once went on – talk about two extremes – a cruise and trekking!
Collective name for trekkers – “A compeed of trekkers”

17:50 – Have now reached the camp at Piedra Del Fraile and this is the best camp by far – no snow, a hut rather than a tent for eating and a tent that’s slightly bigger than the ones we’ve had previously to sleep in. It is also around 1,000 feet lower than the previous camps – so likely to be a bit warmer overnight – thank heavens.
We’ve seen lots of things today including wood-peckers and puma poo – we saw that soon after leaving camp and it was still warm. I also saw a hare quite close to this camp. Today was a long walk though – around 10 miles and a fair bit of climbing but the views were wonderful. We were really lucky to see Mount Fitzroy / Chalten today and striking that we walked along the same path as yesterday for some time, but saw so much more. Yesterday the only thing to be seen was the back of the person in front.
I’ve been talking to Sergio, one of the guides and he gave the stories of how Monte Electrico got its name – one story is that the local priest, (Maria de Agostini) gave it the name because the sound of the wind swirling around was similar to the sound of an electrical storn – an unusual occurrence in this area. Another story is that the mountain (which we can see from the camp) got the name because one side of the peak is red and the other black – and so looks like a battery terminal.

22:04 – In the tent and in my sleeping bag – its so nice to be able to start the night wearing only thermals (i.e. not the down jacket or the Rab wind shirt – or even both as it was last night).
The cabin has been full of fun and singing tonight – and warm too with the wood burner. Unquestionably today has been the day for views thus far. Mount Fitzroy / Chalten was clearly visible for much of the morning (i.e. without clouds obscuring the summit) and snow on all the surrounding peaks. It was wonderful to see so much wildlife too such as the hare and the woodpeckers. The views of the glaciers have also been most striking.
Tomorrow the time-table is up at seven, breakfast at half past and then on past Lago Electrico to see the Pollone glacier. I’m looking forward to it! It’ll also be nice not to have to carry a full load tomorrow since we’re camping here again tomorrow night. My legs are stiff today so it’ll be good to have a lighter load tomorrow.

10:27 – 21/10/2008

We started before 09:00 and now we’re having a breather just above Lago Electrico. Just taken a photo of a Club Moss – which Ieuan tells me created coal in ages past. Today we’re on our way up to see the Gendarme Pollone glacier which is located on the north face of Mount Fitzroy / Chalten. This morning the sky was blue from first thing and so I got up early to go and photograph the shores of rio Electrico. The mountains were glorious in the morning sunshine.

17:58 – Had a wonderful day – climbing up to see the Pollone Glacier, which was quite incredible. The glacier was located on the flanks of mount Chalten / Fitzroy. At the bottom of the glacier was a lake (Laguna Pollone) with that water in turn tumbling down the slopes and into Lago Electrico and in turn flowing down the valley as the Rio Electrico. The sun was shining all morning although the wind was swrling around a fair bit. Lunch was eaten on the shores of Laguna Pollone. We were back at camp by half past one so this afternoon a group of us went for a walk in the woods with Iolo to see whether we could spot any birds, but we didn’t have much luck.

18:10 – Just been looking at the map with trek leader Pepe and realised how close we are to the border with Chile – literally within around 5 or 6 Km of the border. He also mentioned that the lama originates in northern Argentina and that the guanaco is the family member which is indigenous to this area, but in the wild is seen only on the pampas and not in the mountains.
Quote of the day – on of the group was described thus - “She’s got the face of a bulldog licking piss off a nettle”

20:52 – Dinner is over and since this is the last night in camp there is much merriment. Pepe and his band of guides have received their tip from us and fully deserve it – they’ve been fantastic.
Wind and rain outside so no-one is very keen to leave the cosy food cabin. Today – with its sunshine – has been a fantastic highlight but without the snow the mountains wouldn’t look so good. It’ll be strange tomorrow to start travelling on a coach and on planes again. Nevertheless, it’ll be interesting to visit Trelew, Porth Madryn and the Gaiman.

16:00 – 22/10/2008

On the bus travelling towards El Calafate airport. The routine this morning was the same as usual – up at 07:00, breakfast at 07:30 and departing the camp at 8:40 after warm up exercises at 08:30. Three hours later we’d reached the road near the bridge crossing the Rio Electrico. We were all then put on mini-buses back to El Chalten. We collected the bags which had been left behind in the hostel at El Chalten before returning to the same restaurant as Friday night for lunch. After lunch Melfyn and Elfed and I went for a quick walk to see if we could find a shop selling things suitable as gifts and I bought a map of the area and t-shirts for Pwyll and Mali. There wasn’t one small enough for Amig.
Its been a big change between being out in the wild and coming back into ‘civilization’, and a swift and rather painful change too. Its hard to cope with all the noise for one thing. It has been a wonderful experience to be in the mountains these past five days.
Its difficult to write much – this road isn’t metalled so a bit rough.

21:02 – On the plane from El Calafate to Trelew. Even more difficult to be in the middle of all the bustle of the airport than it was to be back in El Chalten. Feel a great longing for the mountains!
After arriving at El Calafate the mobile phone was working again so phoned home (it was 22:00 back home) and had a word with Cath, Mam, Dad and Pwyll who had got up after hearing the phone ring.
I’m looking forward to getting to the hotel in Porth Madryn in due course. I’ll certainly need a shower before going to bed – I haven’t washed properly for 5 days so there will be a layer of dirt to wash off.
Preparing to land at Trelew so have to finish.

Account of the journey in Chubut Province

23:59 – In the El Cid hotel in Porth Madryn – had a shower for the first time since Saturday. Wonderful!

08:11 – 23/10/2008

12:12 – We’re back on the bus after having been to see the whales. It was a wonderful experience being so close to these wonder animals. There were a number of mothers and calves amongst those we saw, with some of them leaping out of the sea. Quite astounding!

12:36 – Just seen a Rhea – which looks like a small ostrich – walking along the pampas with several chicks in tow.

12:36 – Mara – a small animal the size of a hare but with an appearance closer to a guinea pig. Very pretty – just seen a family of them.

12:57 – Puerto Delgada. Lunch.

16:38 – Had lunch in a restaurant near the Delgada light-house – and we then had the wonderful experience of going down to the nearby beach to see the elephant seals. The Alpha male keeps a harem and attacks and fights with any other male that comes too close. Some of them can weigh up 3.5 metric tonnes and on the whole they manage to retain their primary position for 3 or 4 years before being toppled. The battles between the males can be fierce and bloody. It was fun to see the youngsters play-fighting in the shallows. Now back to Porth Madryn.

18:15 – seen several guanacos during today’s journey – they are very graceful creatures and smaller than the lama.

08:21 – 24/10/2008

On our way again from Porth Madryn to Trelew and the Gaiman. Last night we had the ‘gala’ dinner so there are lots of tired faces and blood-shot eyes this morning. Some of them were still on the beach at 04:00 this morning apparently.
Just seen a whale breaching as we travelled along the promenade in Porth Madryn. Porth Madryn’s beach looks much the same as it did when the first Welsh colonists arrived back in 1865 but the rest of Porth Madryn has changed beyond all recognition. Before leaving the town we’re going to see the caves when the Welsh lived (or possibly didn’t live) following the landing.

08:49 – Seeing the caves conveys the adventurousness of the settlers, particularly when considering how little they had compared to us. It must have been terribly hard for a long time after the landing, particularly since the pampas is not very fruitful.

09:28 – One of the funniest things last night at the ‘gala’ dinner was seeing Mair who is 60+ trying to persuade the restaurant’s waiter to swap shirts. The poor guy was clearly terrified of the determined little old lady! There was also much singing of ‘Oes gafr eto?’ (or ‘Wes gafr eto?’ if Eurfyl got his way) – so heaven knows what the restaurant keepers thought of us as a group. I managed to escape just after midnight when one of the Mencap staff asked me to escort Lleucu back to the hotel. I was very glad to have had an early night this morning when we had to get up before seven for breakfast.
We’re now on our way to the School in the Gaiman. We’re lucky to have sunshine and blue skies once again today, although it is a bit windier.
More whales to be seen in the sea as we travel back through Porth Madryn.

09:32 – Have now managed to find gifts for Amig and Cath yesterday afternoon. I had bought a t-shirt for Amig at the airport in El Calafate but left the bag on the plane in Trelew. One of the striking things about the airport in Trelew was seeing the word ‘Croeso’ above the entrance to the terminal building. I got Cath a suede bag. The shop assistant was training to be a translator, so when I told her that Cathrin was also a translator, she packed the bag in a brown paper parcel and put a red bow on it as well, fair play to her. Amig’s t-shirt has got Puerto Madryn on the front.

10:11 – Sid (the expedition leader for Across the Divide) has just told us that the flight to Buenos Aires with Aerolineas Argentians tonight has been cancelled – so it looks as if we’re not going to be able to get to the Eisteddfod in Trelew this afternoon – which is a big disappointment. We hope to get more information shortly – but Aerolineas Argentinas are unprincipled swine! Just seen some of the hydration canals which were so pivotal in the Welsh settlers’ success in getting the pampas to flourish and produce crops.

11:30 – just left the Camwy secondary school. We presented the books to the childen, Gavin presented a miner’s lamp to the town museum and Ieuan presented the love spoon he had carved himself to the school. The town mayor, Gabriel Restucha, was also there and spoke Welsh well.
It was an awesome experience to see these little Argentine children wearing their school shirts with “Gorau Arf, Arf Dysg” on them. Now, because of the unprincipled Aerolineas Argentians we’re on our way to the airport to fly on to Buenos Aires – and missing the Eisteddfod in Trelew – a severe disappointment!

Fred the guide who has been with us since we landed in Trelew the night before last has just said that we’ve travelled 600km in the bus since then.

13:53 – On the plane from Trelew to Buenos Aires – just trundling towards the runway at the moment. It was a huge disappointment to have had to leave the Gaiman so quickly to catch an earlier plane to Buenos Aires – and of course miss the Eisteddfod in Trelew. The plane’s just taking off …
The flight is around an hour and a half this time. The sea can be seen in the distance and the colour of the pampas contrasts with the blue of the sea.
The period in the Chubut area has been interesting, though short. I’ve managed to buy a map of the El Calafate and Valdes Peninsula/ Porth Madryn areas to take home to the children. In beginning the journey towards home today, I must confess to missing the family.

14:09 – Just flown over the Valdes Peninsula and have taken photos of it in the sun. Difficult to believe that it was only yesterday we were there.

Some of the group bid farewell to us in Trelew – they were staying on while the rest of us were heading for Buenos Aires. Rhobert ap Steffan stayed in the Gaiman, while Elfed and the others who were staying on returned with us to Trelew airport. I’ll miss Elfed in particular since he was such good company for much of the journey. He’s staying on for a few weeks (I think) in Argentina and staying in the Gaiman area for a little while and then travelling further north.

I’ve had a row of seats to myself on this flight. It’s nice to be able to see out of the window too – during the journey from El Calafate to Trelew I had the seat right next to the engine and all I could see was the engine cowling. It was noisy there too. Lunch is on its way – I bet it’ll be a ham and cheese sandwich – even for the vegetarians. Aerolineas Argentinas isn’t renowned for its culinary imagitiveness. One benefit of having flown now is that we can at least see out and will at have an opportunity for a good night’s sleep before departing Argentina tomorrow evening. If the arrangements hadn’t changed then it would have been 02:00 tomorrow morning before we had reached Buenos Aires. Some good comes out of everything bad therefore, but it is still a major disappointment to have missed the Eisteddfod in Trelew.

Account of the journey in Buenos Aires

18:46 –Buenos Aires is SO noisy and busy – even after the comparative busy-ness of Porth Madryn. Here the speed and noise is just incredible. The aircraft landed in the city airport which is located near the Plata river. That is so wide as to look like the sea.
There was a bus waiting for us which took us to the Waldorf Hotel, a stone’s throw from the main shopping street in Buenos Aires – Avenida Florida.
Tonight the guide has arranged for us to have dinner in a Tango restaurant – so that should be quite an experience.
Tomorrow I’ve arranged to go on a coach tour of the city in the morning which I’m sure will also be interesting. I hope to have a fairly quiet afternoon before we head for the international airport at 20:00 to catch the flight to Madrid.

Now that we’ve really started heading for home I’m missing the family more and more and looking forward to getting back to them.

21:15 – Café de los Angelitos, Buenos Aires.
Just had a very nice dinner. Bit of a strange place in that it feels as if we’re eating in a theatre. Looking forward now to seeing the Tango performance.

23:50 – Just left the Café de los Angelitos after a wonderful evening. The three course dinner was excellent, the wine and company pleasant and the dancing was truly sublime. Before leaving the hotel, Paul, with whom I’m sharing a room, described the tango as “The closest thing to sex in public” and I know what he means since the dancing was exceptionally sexy – but not somehow in a salacious way. The show was technically brilliant – though with more than a hint of sentimentalism, particularly in the singing - but yet was full of humour and the performance impacted upon the audience in a very deep way. The musicians were highly talented and technically brilliant with the violinist truly incredible. But the highlight was the dancing which was truly awesome, resulting in a standing ovation. The beauty of it was what struck me in the first instance. Secondly, I thought the dancing somehow emphasised why we humans were created male and female – fulfilling different roles but together creating a beautiful whole greater somehow than the sum of the parts. Thirdly, I also thought that the tango was somehow a parable of what a good marriage should be – moving and understanding in unison but without looking at each other constantly or even looking in the same direction. Different strings but contributing to the same song.

On the way back to the hotel on the coach, I was sitting next to John and mentioned this, and he in turn mentioned the death of his wife and the understanding between them in the period before she died. He had been shaken earlier since it was in the Waldorf hotel that the two of them had stayed when there were here together 3 years ago, and he could hardly believe that we were staying in the same hotel again. When I asked him whether this had caused him pain, he replied that he only had sweet memories and so it wasn’t painful to come back here – a reflection of John’s greatness in my opinion.

10:37 – 25/10/2008 – Coach tour around Buenos Aires.

Just been told that the population of Argentina is 38 million and the population of Buenos Aires is 3 million.

Eva Peron was 33 years old when she died.

11:43 – In the La Boca area around the Boca Juniors soccer stadium – for whom Maradona played at one time apparently. Can’t say I feel very safe here and Debbie has just had someone try to snatch her camera. My camera was hidden inside my bag. I’ve also put all the SD cards in my under-shirt wallet – I could buy another camera but the pictures I’ve taken on the trek are priceless.

12:35 – In the Caminito district and have bought a shawl for Mam in the market – the stall-holder was weaving the shawls there and then – so I took a photo of her weaving. Another lively area and a feeling of being slightly safer than La Boca but still not entirely comfortable here!

16:10 – In a café in the Avenida Florida eating a sandwich. After the tour around the city this morning I had a good walk around the city this afternoon. The advantage of having been on the tour this morning is that some of the sights were then familiar to me. I walked down once again to the British Tower and discovered that the memorial to those killed in the Malvinas war is located directly opposite the tower. The scars of the war are still apparent – in Trelew airport there was an exhibition about those who had been killed during the war who had been posted there, and here in Buenos Aires the war memorial is guarded by grenadiers in a smart uniform. Nevertheless, there was some protest this morning by veterans of the south Atlantic War outside the presidential palace this morning when we went past.

17:11 – Avenida 9 de Julio, Buenos Aires.
I’ve been sitting by the side of this road reading and watching the activity all around. This road has 16 lanes and so is busy as it runs through the city centre. However, sitting here is like being in a park with trees and flowers all around. The influence of Paris on the city is evident.

Have now finished my shopping and am completely Peso less. I gave my last handful of Pesos to two little children – a boy and a girl, neither of whom were older than Pwyll – who were playing the concertina on the street. There is evident poverty in Buenos Aires. On the way into the city yesterday, we went past a number of shanty buildings, in which people were obviously living. There is also quite a lot of begging going on, but I suppose in that respect it isn’t much different to any other large city.

23:02 – On the plane waiting to depart for Madrid. The day in Buenos Aires was quite unsettled for the group – Nicky had her bag stolen from the hotel lobby yesterday (and had to go through all the hassle of having to get a temporary passport), Katie had someone slit her bag, someone tried to steal Debbie’s camera in the Boco this morning and another person stole Siân’s necklace this afternoon. There was more than a little paranoia manifest amongst the group as we travelled towards the airport this evening.

We’re once again on a Boeing 747-400 and will be flying 6272 miles over 11 and a quarter hours to get to Madrid. Although the plane has over 400 seats not every seat is filled tonight.

14:14 – 26/10/2008

Almost in Madrid and the film Flawless has just finished, which was perfect viewing for this time of day – Madrid time of course – it is still very early in Buenos Aires. I did manage to sleep a bit overnight and the journey seemed somehow shorter than on the outward leg. The film’s key question was whether you were a person who takes, or a person who gives and one of the things made manifest during this trip has been the number of people who have given generously – themselves, their experience and their time.

15:26 – On the place and about to depart Madrid for London and am glad to be on the final plane at last. I had a bit of a panic in Madrid – after arriving at the departure gate I noticed that my wallet was missing! I knew it was with me when we went through the x-ray security check and so I ran back there to search. The security guards looked carefully around the security area but no luck. I then went to the information desk but no luck there either. I was convinced therefore that I had joined the 20% of the group who had things stolen or lost in Buenos Aires or on the way home. By then the plane was about to depart so I went back towards the departure gate – but on the way I saw Gareth coming towards me with the wallet in his hand. He had seen the wallet on the bench where I had been sitting, under Mair’s coat! I was so grateful to him. Anyway, here we are taxiing towards the runway for the last flight of the journey – the seventh in 10 days.

17:43 – on the coach travelling back to Cardiff from Gatwick
The group has already started dispersing with some of the group catching trains home or others like Catherine from Mencap in Northern Ireland flying on to Belfast.

Eurfyl’s bag is the latest thing to disappear on the trip – although there is a suggestion that it is in Madrid and it will be back with him within a a day or two.

I will really miss the group – everyone has contributed so much to the journey.