Tierra del Fuego

After visiting Torres del Paine, our curiosity went even further and we really wanted to get our feet on the ground at the very end of the world, on the southernmost place on earth. We took a trip to see a king penguin colony in Tierra del Fuego. It is also true that we were very excited to cross the Magellan Strait. In the same month, but 495 years later, we took the route chosen by Magellan, between South America (Chile and Argentina) and Tierra del Fuego archipelago and proven to be the fastest connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. During the boat trip I kept thinking how the world would be today without the discovery of the largest ocean on earth that Magellan named it Mar Pacifico (peaceful sea) or without knowing that the earth is round, well, almost round... Even if the idea of a spherical shape of earth was supported by several scholars of those times, Magellan's circumnavigation was the proof of what they had the courage to claim in theory. It is well known that back then the earth was considered to be flat, and saying that the earth is round was a heresy. After all those thoughts, I was very grateful to be able to get to the "Fin del Mundo".

After a long ride we arrived at the Parque Pinguino Rey, on a private farm land. Almost 10 years ago, a couple of King Penguins (the second largest species of penguins in the world after the Emperor Penguins) came to occupy the area after so many years of absence. Year after year, the number of penguins is increasing and today the colony has about one hundred cute penguins. Lucky farmer to have such special guests in his yard! In my country, only the cats take shelter on people's properties :)

We remained silent observing the march of the elegant penguins with colorful feathers around their necks. Oh yes, they are elegant! I've never seen any other birds as handsome as penguins. I was also amazed by the elasticity of their neck and by the way they communicate between them uttering distinct sounds. 

Did you know that 40 million years ago lived the biggest penguin ever called Palaeeudyptes Klekowskii, who weighed up to 115 kg and measured from toes to the tip of the beak up to 2 meters? I bet Miki already knew about that... :) 

The Forbidden Forest, Mircea Eliade

"- All kinds of miracles might happen, he went on without looking at her. But someone has to teach you how to look at them, so you know that they are miracles. Otherwise, you don't even see them...You pass them by and you don't know they are miracles. You do not see them..."

"- Some say that on this night, exactly at midnight, the heavens open. I do not quite understand how they could open, but this is what is being said: that the heavens open on Midsummer night. But perhaps they are open only to those who know how to look..."

"He spoke occasionally to her about Time and about the open possibilities, but he never dared to tell her that his secret wish was to become a saint, to love all the people with the same intensity.

- I will confess something to you, he told Ileana then, in the woods. I don't know you, I don't know who you are, I don't know what you do. I can't keep secrets from you. I didn't tell this to anyone, but I can tell this to you: all depends on Time. If you don't solve this problem while you are young, life gets you and grinds you on the inside, and one day you wake up old, and the next day you wake up on the death bed, and then it is too late to try something. You have to search for this now, while you are young. This is a youth problem...

- What should I looking for?! asked Ileana.

- To get rid of Time. To get out of Time. Search well around you: you get signs from everywhere. Trust the signs. Follow them..." 

"My bride, Stefan continued quickly, as if he did not hear her any longer, I loved you the way you loved me, like a fool, like a ghost, without knowing what I was doing, without understanding what was happening to us, why we were predestined to love each other without loving each other, why we were predestined to search for each other without meeting..."

"We are all immortal. But we have to die first."

Piersici si biciclete

Esti atat de frumoasa...
ca mireasma de tei
care nu-mi incape in nari primavara,
ca zambetul unui copil
abia trezit in zori,
ca zborul liber al pescarusului
care se avanta pentru prima oara spre mare;
Ca piersicile zemoase
care iti umplu gura de senzatii de fericire,
ca stelele cerului
si florile campului,
ca mirosul merelor coapte
si sunetul ce vine de la harpe,
ca mersul pe bicicleta
si vata pe bat;
Ca mii de baloane-n vazduh!
Ca primul sarut,
prima privire
si primul tacut
intre doi oameni care nu-si mai vorbesc in cuvinte.
Au piersici si biciclete
si o lume-ntreaga care este numai despre ei.
Esti atat de frumoasa...

Guanaco

When I saw them for the first time, I was a little perplexed and I had the impulse to shout at the driver of the bus "please stop for a while, I really want to see those beautiful creatures with long legs and long necks that gracefully jump all over the steppe! What are those animals ... camels without humps or athletic llamas?", I joked with my travel companions.

I haven't finished my thought and the driver told us to look at the window to admire the GUANACOS, the wild animals that are believed to be the ancestors of the domesticated llamas and alpacas. They live in South America from south of Chile to the south of Peru and they are the largest native herbivore in Patagonia, grazing freely on the arid steep and in the Andean forests. Their main predators are mountain lions, but guanacos are good runners - they can reach 50km per hour - and they are good swimmers too. As an adaptation to life at high altitude, they have four times more red blood cells than humans.

Charles Darwin referred to guanaco as "an elegant animal in a state of nature, with a long slender neck and fine legs". They absolutely deserve this compliment!
But... as elegant as they are, I heard that if you get them angry, guanacos forget their good manners and start spitting and the locals said that they can spit up to 2 meters away and they rarely miss their target, so watch out! :)

Now, can you tell me which one is your favorite ... llama, alpaca or guanaco?

                                 P.S.

Patagonia, Torres del Paine, Chile

In the southern part of South America, bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the western part and by the Atlantic Ocean at the eastern part, Patagonia is a region shared between Chile and Argentina. I've visited a part of the Chilean side and a small part of the Argentinian side. 

In the Chilean part, I've proudly finished the Patagonia's famous hiking route called "W Circuit" after the shape of the route. I say "proudly" because it was my first real hike in my life (except the short hikes my grandfather took me on when I was a child in Ceahlau Mountains, Romania and a couple of other failed tentatives when I was a teenager).

We hiked 70 kilometers in 4 days to see beautiful views of the mountains, valleys, steppe with red blossom vegetation, giant granite towers, azure lakes, lagoons, glaciers, waterfalls and forests. But at the end of this trekking, what I have gained beyond all of this, was the feeling of a personal growth, in so many ways...

To do this trek you don't necessary need a guide and you can enjoy this experience by yourself, at your own pace. You just have to book the lodges (refugios) in advance since there are only a few in the whole park, operated by two companies - Fantastico Sur and Vertice Patagonia - or, there is another option to accommodate yourself at one of the campsites along the W Circuit (they offer tents, sleeping bags and mats to rent, but you must reserve them in advance or, you can carry your own if you are an experienced trekker). There is only one hotel in the national park, on the east side of the circuit, Hotel Las Torres. You can also alternate if you want to mix and match your stay at the hotel, refugios, and campsites as well.

We did the bookings through Fantastico Sur. We met them a day before our trip at their office in Puerto Natales to give us all the reservations, maps and info we needed to know for the trek. 

Here we had the feeling that the time stopped for a while in this forgotten city. And for us, it really stopped for almost two hours :). We were supposed to meet the agent of Fantastico Sur in front of their travel agency. We arrived on time at our appointment but nobody was there. We tried to call the agent, but somehow our cell phones didn't work even if we tried to dial with or without the country code, they simply refused to dial. And we waited. Another disoriented tourist arrived 15 minutes later and he couldn't dial the number either. We tried to find a shop or a restaurant nearby from where we could have called the agent, but everything was closed. They only open the stores around noon. We finally saw a lady passing by in the distance and we all ran after her as she was our only hope. We reached the agent who was actually sleeping and she tried unsuccessfully to convince us that she still has 15 minutes till our appointment. Apart from this "time hole" experience, all went great with the travel agency.

The next day we were in a bus to Torres del Paine National Park. Puerto Natales is 112 km away from one of the entrances to the national park. You can do the W Circuit from west to east, or as we did it, starting from the east side.

Day 1, Torres del Paine

After a moderately difficult trek of 9,5 km through forests, along the rivers and lakes or on the meandering paths, we climbed a huge moraine and then, a beautiful, real, life size postcard was showing in front of us: the base of Torres del Paine: a beautiful turquoise glacial lake and the three marvelous granite towers pointing to the sky. We were very lucky to see the towers since we met on the way a couple of tourists who said it was too cloudy to notice the towers. 

   

Day 2 and 3, French Valley

The middle part of the W Circuit is called French Valley. The first part of the trail was a beautiful painting that laid in front of us as we were walking: wonderful shades of emerald from the Nordenskjöld lake, clear crystal blue and the vivid red of the blossoming flowers. The second day of trek and the first part of the third day were like the calmness before the storm and we enjoyed every single minute of it. As in a lot of "paintings" of nature, the pictures below do not do justice to the surreal beauty that we saw around us, but can give you a preview of this national park.

The third day of the trek (the second part) was the most difficult part of the W because we had to climb big rocks and, even worse, to descend on them. The trails were very steep on some sections and at some point I felt like I was punishing myself doing that trek. My right knee started to hurt badly and at any break we took I kept telling myself that I could do it, it is just a game of endurance... as much as I wanted to quit the trail, my will was becoming stronger and stronger. 

At the end of the day, with my trembling feet and without breath, I still could say that it was totally worth it. French Valley was the place where I heard for the first time in my life the sound of a glacier calving. French Valley was the place where I proved to myself that the will is much stronger then any physical weakness.

 

Day 4, The Gray Glacier

The last day was the longest trek. 11 km to the glacier and 11 km back to get in time for the last boat at 5PM. From the viewpoint you can spot in the distance the great Gray Glacier that flows into the lake that has the same name, the Grey Lake . The glacier is 14km long and I still don't know why they call it The Gray Glacier since I could only see a stunning intense blue color of the huge icebergs floating on the lake. Here you can do ice hiking trips on the glacier (I've heard they serve whiskey on the rocks and guess where they get the ice from ;) or you can do boat trips on the lake. 

   

After finishing the W Circuit I can only recommend two things: travel light, with a small backpack, and pack smartly your clothes and accessories. You will need a pair of hiking boots, waterproof pants, rain jacket, sunglasses (especially for the wind!), gloves and trekking poles (we didn't have them, but they would have helped).

Torres del Paine is the place where you can have four seasons all in a day. It could be sunny in the morning and then it could rain, could be extremely windy and could even snow. I experienced this on my own skin. Sometimes it was very cold, I was very tired and my right knee bothered me from so many ups and downs on the rocks, but every single time I somehow get back my strength to go on. 

I don't know if it was the sound of nature, the beautiful colors that mesmerized me or just an extraordinary power to push my physical limits forward and forward. It was like I was part of nature and I had to deal with all the bad weather and, in addition, with the tiredness and sometimes physical pain. But none of these matters now, because after this hike I gained something more important: the courage to challenge myself.

And the Oscar goes to....

We would like to thank our families for finally understanding why we wanted to go "at the end of the world", our friends for encouraging us and many thanks to our gym instructor, Bogdan Geangos, who trained us for this trip one month in advance, four to five days a week. Without them, we wouldn't have made it! :)