PUERTO NATALES TO PORTO MONTT, CHILE
SOMETHING IS BROKEN 12 – 20 March 2026. Leaving the park, we made our way back to Puerto Natales. The original plan had been to drive north via Argentina’s Ruta Nacional 40—long, remote, and legendary. But somewhere between the wind, the roads, and the growing sense that something wasn’t right, we knew we didn’t want to risk […]
O TREK: DAY 6 – 8, CHILE
DAY 6: CAMP GREY TO PAINE GRANDE ASCENT: 398m DESCENT: 275m DISTANCE: 11.5 km TIME: 3h 10 March. After yesterday’s effort, we gave ourselves permission to sleep in—finally crawling out of the tent around 8am. Even that felt optimistic. Feet, calves, quads… everything complained. My feet especially, at least for the first five minutes, until […]
O TREK – DAY 4 and 5
DICKSON TO LOS PERROS — Into the Forest ASCENT: 534m DESCENT: 115m DISTANCE: 15km. HOURS: 3:50 It’s always a good feeling waking up to dry weather when you’re living out of a tent. I didn’t want to say it out loud — no need to tempt fate — but here we were on day four… […]
THE O-TREK, DAY 1 and 2
WHAT IS THE O-TREK? The O Trek in Torres del Paine National Park is Patagonia’s full circuit—an 8-day loop that wraps completely around the Paine Massif, going far beyond the more popular W Trek. It takes you into the quieter, wilder side of the park, where the crowds thin, the wind picks up, and the landscape feels bigger, […]
TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK, CHILE
I felt it immediately coming over the rise above the Río Serrano Entrance. This was different. More beautiful than expected—dramatically so. After six months in the Andes, living among mountains, we’re not easily surprised by big landscapes anymore. But this… this landed somewhere deeper. I feel it in my chest, it actually took my breath away. […]
PUNTA ARENAS TO PUERTO NATALES – CHILE
February 21 – 1 March. The two-hour crossing into Punta Arenas passed quickly. We arrived with a simple plan: get what we needed and move on. Just a few items to prepare for the O. Two nights, a bit of shopping, then on to Puerto Natales. The duty-free zone in Punta Arenas is a strange and wonderful contradiction—vast, […]
TIERRA DEL FUEGO – CHILE
A REMOTE BORDER CROSSING After saying goodbye to Manuel who had 10 days to ride to Buenos Aires for his flight home to Switzerland, we crossed back into Chile. Rio Bella Vista is a tiny, relaxed border post miles from anywhere. Marked by these neat rusted steel markers I struggled to get a good photo […]
TIERRA DEL FUEGO – ARGENTINA
At the very edge of the continent, where land fractures into wind, water, and sky, lies Tierra del Fuego—the Land of Fire. When the ships of early explorers, including Ferdinand Magellan, passed through these cold, seemingly inhospitable southern channels in the 1500s, they saw something unexpected. Fires flickered along the dark shoreline—hundreds of them. They belonged to the […]
PERITO MORENO NATIONAL PARK, ARGENTINA
1-7 February 2026 We left Gobernador Gregores, a small, windswept Patagonian town that serves as a key resupply stop in an otherwise remote region. With a few supermarkets, fuel stations, and basic services, it’s one of the last practical places to stock up before heading back out into the wilderness. Taking advantage once more, we […]
BACK TO EL CHALTEN
28 Jan – 1 Feb. Can’t get enough of this great place. This time we found a slightly better spot at camp, up at the front where the wind carried a little less dust. Camped across from us was a French family from Réunion Island travelling with their four children. Introductions were easy. The kids bonded quickly, and ours were relieved to find others their age. Plans of hiking quickly disappeared. The kids now dictated the day, and it was all about them — hanging out with the other teens and not about schoolwork. So for the next couple of days we lingered — sharing stories, swapping travel tips, and learning about far-off French islands scattered around the world. The kids had fun during an indoor climbing session in town. Nicholas and Sandrine, both doctors, were travelling for seven months before moving to one of those small French islands off the coast of Newfoundland. RETRACING FURTHER NORTH We had actually missed Perito Moreno National Park entirely. We passed through the town of Perito Moreno and visited the Perito Moreno Glacier, but hadn’t realized there was also a Perito Moreno National Park. Confusingly, all three places share the same name yet are spread more than 600 kilometres apart. Huw and Sara were heading there for the hiking, as were Nicholas and Sandrine. The AllTrails app suggested an epic multi-day hike that seemed to have our name on it. The following morning we pointed the truck north to explore what many call one of the most beautiful parts of Argentina. Post Views: 133
EL CALAFATE & GLACIERS NATIONAL PARK
24-27 January 2026. With the wind finally at our back, we pointed the truck south toward El Calafate. Beyond El Chaltén, the mountains fell away, replaced by vast open grasslands stretching in every direction. Patagonia laid bare. Nothing but long wire fences, endless steppe, and roaming guanaco for miles. The road ran straight and exposed, the […]
EL CHALTÉN – Patagonia’s Trekking Capital
19-24 January. A little further on, half shrouded by cloud, we could see those iconic mountains begin to appear. We’d seen this view many times in other people’s photos, blogs, and Instagram feeds, but seeing it for ourselves was something special — another milestone reached on our Pan-Am adventure. Lone granite spires towered over the […]