| Home | Photography | Diary | Travels | Treks |

 
PreviousNext

Escaping the storm and finding a very nice canyon

Home > Diaries > 2019 > 806
   
   
   
   

 

About this Page

Date:

 

Location:

Country:

 

Latitude:

Longitude:

Altitude:

29 March 2019

 

Bajo Caracoles

Argentina

 

47°13'01"S
70°47'07"W

230m ASL

 

Google Maps Link

 

   

WELL WHAT a difference one day makes. Yesterday was perfectly calm with a beautiful morning up in the mountains. It’s now about 6:30 in the morning and we’re packing up ready to go out to our next destination wherever that is and it is a good thing we are just driving today because – come out and have a look at this. You see it’s just about blowing a hurricane up here and quite heavy rain falling. I normally wait outside for the truck when I’m ready, but it’s really very rough out here. I’m glad we’re not walking today. So, I think today’s diary will largely be on the bus.

Well we’ve successfully managed to escape the rain but it’s still very windy out there. We’re currently tracking northwards along a pretty rough gravel road. We’re driving for about eleven hours today in the truck which I’ll (hopefully be) showing you through today. Occasionally the wind is just about blowing us right over, it’s very strong. It’s pretty sheltered in these valleys at the moment.

We’re just trekking northwards so we now getting out of the ferocious 50s into the roaring 40s. Probably about here we’re crossing the 50-degree latitude line heading into the 40s. We’re making good progress up through the Andes now as we are heading further northward. It’s just a matter of keeping on going. Some parts of the road are sealed, but a lot of it is gravel road. This is quite a remote area. There’s only a couple of million people living throughout the whole of Patagonia, stretching all the way from the Strait of Magellan right up to fairly close to Santiago and Buenos Aires. It’s a huge area but sparsely populated. We’ve only seen a couple of very small towns and the occasional farm, so it’s quite remote here.

We’re now about nine hours into our 11-hour Patagonian massage. We’re back on sealed road now but there are quite a few potholes and the wind is really buffeting us like it had been earlier. For a while it sounded like the tents were blowing off the top of the truck (that’s where they are stored) but they still seem to be there. There’s still about another 120 kilometres and close to two hours to go before we reach our campsite.

Well we’ve now made it to our camping ground, a really beautiful gorge out in the middle of nowhere. It’s probably a good 500 kilometres from where we left this morning. Now there’s hardly a cloud in the sky. It’s quite windy, but we’ve now set up. A couple of people are still finishing up putting up their tents. Then we have a kitchen area over here. So, we’re just setting up camp for the night. Being in the valley here it’s relatively sheltered. It’s still a bit windy but nowhere near as windy as it had been this morning. It’s a beautiful spot here. It’s also quite a lot warmer than it has been as well. Obviously, we are moving north and up into the roaring 40s which is definitely living up to its name. It is a lot warmer than it has been in previous days.

Obviously as we continue heading up north towards Santiago it’s going to get warmer as we get further and further away from the Antarctic Circle. I’m guessing here we’re at latitude 46- or 47-degrees south which is about the same as in Stewart Island in New Zealand. So, we’re starting to get level with a few other parts of the world now. Anyway, I’d better go and finish setting everything up and we’re going to have dinner soon while it’s still light. The days are getting shorter. We’ve passed the autumn equinox here, heading towards winter so obviously the days are getting shorter. Fortunately, the sun does set late as it rises quite late as well. Okay, over and out.

I have one last note for today. This is why I travel in a tour rather than renting cars. Obviously, someone has rented this car and didn’t get very far. They left all their gear here. Goodness knows how they are going to get on because this is a very remote place here in the middle of nowhere. Very interesting. Over and out for today.

 
PreviousNext
 
 

| Home | Photography | Diary | Travels | Treks |

 
© 2001-2020 walkaboutjeff.com - Copyright - Disclaimer - Who is Walkabout Jeff?