Christmas Break Patagonia Style: Mirador Condor & Glacier Grey (Part I of Our Chile Visit)

Let me start by apologizing for not apologizing about the sheer number of photos that are included in my next few posts.  I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that Javier and I took over 1,300 photos on our Christmas break trip to Chile.  Most of those were taken during the 4-5 days that we spent in Torres del Paine.  Patagonia was high on my list of desired destinations during our residence in South America, but as our trip grew closer I became worried that the place could not possibly live up to my sky-high expectations.  Luckily, it did not disappoint.  Not.  At.  All.

It takes a long time to travel to the end of the world.  We left Quito at 6:30 pm on Dec 23rd and arrived in Patagonia bright and early at 9:30 am on Dec 24th.  We were the first flight in on this Christmas Eve and had a slight debacle with our car rental company.  I'll save you the long story, but it involved our confirmation email, a man who told us they had no cars, some stern words from me, and then a take over of communication by my ever-so-calm husband.  But the story ends well, with us in this little car that had no radio (and forced us to talk or sing to each other for the rest of our trip).

We landed in Punta Arenas and had about a 4 hour drive to Torres del Paine.  We were staying in a hotel just outside of the park to make trips in for hiking a bit easier.  Most of our drive looked like this: blue sky, flat land, no people, and high winds.

Although at one point we did hit some traffic....this herd of sheep that was crossing the road.  We approximated over 1,000 sheep being herded by some dogs and a huaso on horseback.  We saw LOTS of sheep on the drive (and ate a lot of lamb while we were there).

The sides of the road were also littered with patches of these beautiful flowers.  Hiking provides a lot of time to think.  We talk sometimes and think out loud, but other times we just walk lost in our own thoughts.  Often on hikes my mind wanders to my friends and family.  In truth I think about my two grandmothers a lot on these hikes.  Since our move, I've started wearing an inherited Mary medal from my Grandmother when we travel.  I think it keeps me safe, but it also makes me think of her.  My Nana's favorite color was purple and since she died last year I feel like I see purple all the time.  These were two women that I loved very deeply and while neither made it as far as Patagonia, they taught me life lessons that I hope to hold onto and pass to my kids and grandkids.  In my opinion, (or at least I like to hope) by thinking about them in these places we travel to I like to think I'm bringing them there.  I like to think I'm showing them places in the world they didn't get to see in their life that they would have found beautiful.  In a somewhat juvenile way I wonder if there is a little bell or alarm in heaven that sounds when someone on Earth is thinking about someone up there to let them know so they can pay attention.

We had been warned that it would be very windy, and on the day we drove to Torres del Paine it was.  I took this picture from the window to show you how the wind was bending the trees. 

We stopped in Puerto Natales on the way to the park to see if we could book a tour of Glacier Grey.  We had mixed success, finding a company that did take tourists out on the glacier, but not confirming our booking with them.  We had some frustrations trying to do this and then were a bit unhappy with the hotel we booked for our first couple nights.  These frustrations combined with poor wifi and a brief call to my family led to some Christmas tears on my part.  I really do love all of this travel, but I think most would understand that it is hard to be away from family at Christmas.  But with a refreshing shower and attitude adjustment we decided to enjoy the Christmas Eve dinner we were sitting down to together.

We woke up to a rainy Christmas day, but decided it was worth braving the weather to check out the park.  I was shocked by the colors we saw: bright lime greens and teal blue lakes.  We were able to book our Glacier Grey hike for the following day, but thought we should do some walking in preparation (even with the bad weather).

Our first stop was a little walk to some waterfalls.  It was a grey day, but the falls dropped into beautiful teal water.

Our goal for the day was a hike to Mirador Condor.  It was a very wet hike and we walked through some tall grass that soaked our pants pretty much through.  But even with the wet and grey clouds the views were beautiful.

Here we are at the top, looking out over the crazy bright teal lake.  (While I thought these views were gorgeous, I didn't even know then that if the clouds had cleared, I would have been surrounded by jagged, snow-covered mountains.)

I was just amazed that the water was so clear, you could see parts of the land masses in the water under the water.  Can you see the submerged rocks/land?

As usual, the picture doesn't capture the eerie quality of the trees that surrounded us along the walk.

We made it to the top of that hill to see well across the lake.

After the wet hike (and soaking wet pants) we decided we'd hiked enough for one wet Christmas day.  We drove to one more waterfall to have a quick look.  This one was larger and just as teal and beautiful.  (You can see how large it is compared to the daring spectators that are perched too close on the rocks).

Its hard to read at this distance, but Javier thought this was a hilarious picture since that sign says 'Do not go past this point.'  After two waterfalls and a beautiful view we returned to our hotel to shower and warm up.  We spent the rest of our Christmas day playing games and enjoying a bottle of champagne we had purchased in Puerto Natales.  The rain turned to snow sometime in the evening, so we had a bit of a white Christmas (I think the first in my history, with the exception of an icy Christmas I can remember from my childhood.)

The next morning was a little bit clearer, although still quite cloudy.  This is one of the views we had from our hotel just outside of the park.  We were mostly happy to see that it wasn't raining because we had our tour of Glacier Grey planned for today.

We drove to Hotel Lago Grey within the park.  From the panoramic windows that cover the entire back wall of the hotel, you could see the lake, scattered with icebergs leading to Glacier Grey.

We had to take a short walk to meet the boat that would take us to the glacier.  There was still some snow on the ground from the Christmas Day shower.  (And more purple flowers; Nana saying hello and me thinking of her to join us on our adventure.)

Here is our boat.  Many tourists book the boat tour alone (it was roughly $60 a person) as it travels Lago Grey (through the icebergs) and takes passengers up close to the glacier (where it runs into the lake).

Here we are on the boat!  We couldn't help, again, calling to mind the last snow covered hike we had planned (our honeymoon hike of volcano Villarrica) and how naive we were going into that hike.  The day didn't seem too windy, but I was worried about the weather and difficulty we'd find on the glacier.

We braved the windy deck of the boat to take some pictures of the icebergs.  Some were HUGE, but all were BLUE.  So starkly blue, I had trouble believing they were real.

Javier says I rarely get solo pictures on the blog, so here I am on the windy deck passing close to a gargantuan blue iceberg. 

The Glacier Grey flows into the lake in several places.  Here you can see it dropping into the lake underneath hovering clouds.

This was our second trip with the new GoPro and its wide views captured some of the grandeur of these sights.  Here, you can  see the deck of our boat as it approached the glacier with the impending mountains peaking from the clouds on the right.  We got off the boat where it landed on a small beach to meet our guides for the trek on the glacier.

We met our guide from BigFoot Adventure Patagonia outside of the refugio just up the beach.  After signing several liability release forms and packing our bags (complete with crampons and a hiking harness) we boarded a small motorboat that would drop us off on the rocks to hike to the glacier.  Here we are on the boat, approaching the left side where the glacier flowed into the lake.

The glacier was chunky and flowed right into the rocks of the mountains and water of the lake.  Although the glacier is the same stark blue of the floating icebergs, the previous day's snow left it looking white in many places.

This is our guide Pedro.  He is in shorts claiming, 'It's summer,' which is true but still seemed extreme for our jaunt atop a glacier.  He was awesome, born in Punta Arenas and has worked in the park for over 8 years.

It took a while to drop us off because of the sheer number of icebergs in the water.  We were dropped off on the rocks and told we'd hike about an hour before arriving at the glacier.  Here is a view of our boat departing after dropping us off.

We had two other tourists on our trek, two women from Maryland funnily enough.  The first part of our hike was a somewhat steep trek up the rocky terrain (from the boat I thought the rocky hill looked suspiciously like the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride).  But every break offered breathtaking views of the lake, glacier, and surrounding mountains.

As we walked, more and more mountains appeared beneath the clouds.  In addition, water melting from the glacier created waterfalls and small teal ponds among the rocks.

The stark white glacier blends in a bit with the white clouds peppering the sky.

The glacier is massive and full of jagged blocks of ice.

As we reached the top, we began seeing the glacier laying out below the mountains.

Here is another GoPro capture, trying to give you a feel for the hike.

The mountains were showing more and more as we walked.

Here we are, just before entering the top of the glacier.  These mountains (along with the lake and glacier) mark the west line of the famous W hike.  Despite the snowy scene, we lucked out with the weather and were never cold. (Also this is maybe one of my favorite pictures of the two of us from the trip.)

We brandished our crampons (supposed to be worn with hiking boots, but still wearable with our meager sneakers...for as much hiking as we do these days we are shockingly under-equipped) and walked out on the ice.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't difficult at all and the wind (thankfully) was mild. 

We'll both admit that our knowledge of glaciers pre-hike was minimal.  (Even though Javier had visited Patagonia and taken the boat tour to Glacier Grey with his family roughly 10 years ago, he had not ventured onto the glacier in his previous trip.)  As glaciers are basically frozen rivers, it shouldn't have been surprising to see the vast amount of running water all over the glacier, but I was surprised nonetheless.  Sometimes the water appeared in shallow streams like this one, other times running water cut deep holes in the glacier (that explained why we all wore harnesses and why Pedro was carrying rope...yikes!).

The glacier was roughly four kilometers wide and much, much longer.  We were heading across the width of the glacier heading towards the mountains.   Again, the GoPro does a better job of capturing the scene as we walked across the glacier.

Here is Javier (GoPro mounted on his helmet) looking up the length of the glacier.  By this time, the sky was bright and blue and the mountains out for all to see.

Here is one of the deep crevices I spoke of earlier.  Where the water has cut deep into the ice, you can see the true blue that lies just beneath the white, snow covered glacier. 

This picture doesn't do the scene justice, but to our right is another example of the rushing water that travels along the glacier.  From the sound of the water, this river cut deep into the ice, traveling down, down, down....

We stopped at this little pond to have some hot tea that Pedro had brought along.

This is Javier leaning over the teal water to try to snap a picture of the deep, blue water.  Apparently divers have traveled at least 20 meters down into this water to investigate the ice caves below.

Sipping our hot tea.  Hanging out on a glacier.

Traveling down into a little cave to check out the nooks and crevices of the ice.

When I peaked in, the stark blue was still shocking.  Javier and I have joked since that I finally understand why Gatorade chose the name 'Glacier' for their bright blue drink.

Here we are with the mountains of the W in the back.

This is another favorite of mine from our visit.  Here we are with the glacier and lake laid out behind us.

Flying high on our glacier adventure.

Unfortunately we couldn't spend all day on the glacier because we had to catch the boat back.  If we missed our boat, the only way to get back to the land where our car was parked would have required an 11 km hike (roughly 4.5 hours).  But back on the boat, we were able to join the other tourists in a close up view of the glaciers from the lake.

And more sunny skies with the mountains in the background.

The glacier was high and jagged, exploding up from the water of the lake.

And from this angle, with the sunshine, it was easier to see the bright blue of the ice.

It was too perfect not to capture this shot: Chilean flag blowing, mountains and glacier in the background, with one proud Chilean in the foreground.

Okay, last one, but look how BLUE!

Our boat trip included a complimentary pisco sour on the trip home (probably to help warm us up after snapping photos on the windy deck).  We had survived our glacier trek with relative ease and documented the journey with some sensational pictures.

A shot of the glacier and surrounding mountains as we head back to the hotel.

When we returned to the hotel, the mountain was out in full view, complete with floating icebergs in the lake below.

View from the deck of the hotel.  Hotel Lago Grey seemed very nice and, with this view, would be a spot to consider staying for our next trip to the park.

In fact, the view and hotel were so nice that we decided to stay for a beverage and then dinner.  It was a day late, but since our Christmas present to each other was this trip, this day and these views seemed to confirm that our Christmas gift was a good one!

Tom and Gail came to visit!!

I am always sad to leave the beach, but departing from Canoa was a bit easier because I knew we had planned to be back on the coast the following weekend.  While we were home this summer our family friends, Tom and Gail, let us know that a cruise they were taking would be stopping in Manta for a day in December.  Lucky for us, the day was a Saturday, so we were able to hop on the quick flight to Manta to meet them.  It was a bit odd to us that the cruise stopped in Manta since it is not one of Ecuador's nicest cities.  It is a bit of an industrial town, known for its tuna industry (a smell that greets you as you enter and walk the streets of the city).  Therefore, Javier and I proposed a little trip down the Ruta del Sol to show Tom and Gail what we thought were prettier beaches!

We stopped at San Lorenzo, a beach Javier and I had never been to that turned out to be gorgeous.  I can't believe I didn't take a picture (but apparently I didn't), but the taped off area behind mine and Tom's head marks the sea turtle nests that are protected on the beach.  Much to my chagrin no turtles hatched while we were walking the beach. 

We found a little cave at the end of the beach.

... that Tom and Javier were willing to investigate a bit more than me.

The rock formations really gave the beach some character and options for exploring.  I was super happy that we took the time to stop and learn about another beautiful beach in Ecuador.

Mostly our day was filled with fun conversation and catching up.  I grew up vacationing with Tom and Gail's family every summer.  We mostly went to the beach, but also saw some other gems of the US (like a town called Ellijay in Georgia that we still joke about when we are all together).  They have two daughters right around my age and a young son that we got caught up on while we walked and drove.  Tom and Gail are also travel adventurers like we hope to be, so we traded some travel stories as well.

And like any good tourists...attempted to befriends some locals...

We found a nice balance of driving and stopping.  Here we are at a little lookout that offered an amazing view of the coast to the north.  The little tienda at the lookout offered $1 coconuts.  The owner (who chatted animatedly with Javier and Tom) first hacked off the top and stuck a straw inside so that we could drink the coconut milk.

After we drank our fill, the owner used his rather large machete (is there any other kind?) to cut the meat of the coconut from the dense shell.  He bagged it up for us as a little snack for the road.  Gail wisely noted that he was missing the blender needed to turn this fresh coconut into a delicious pina colada (a typical refreshment on our beach vacations in the US), but we managed to suffer through its fresh taste regardless.

We made it to Los Frailes, the beach named the most beautiful in Ecuador and walked a bit up the hill for this view.

Tom and Gail enjoying the sights of the lookout.  Doesn't the water look teal and gorgeous?

Beautiful view looking north up the coast

A fellow hiker said the water was clear enough to see fish in the water if you leaned out over the edge and looked down, but none in our group decided to attempt this.

It was a quick day.  We had to have Tom and Gail back in Manta by 5pm to board their ship and head out to sea, so after lunch in Puerto Lopez we headed back.  After we dropped them off, Javier and I enjoyed a sunset on the beach before heading to the airport.  As I've said before, it is so special to see friends and family and share this country with them.  We were so happy that Tom and Gail enjoyed the day and found Ecuador to be as beautiful as we had described.

Fiestas de Quito....in Canoa!!

Last year for Fiestas de Quito, Javier and I joined in on celebrations at school and attended our first (and as I said last year...likely last) bullfight.  It was super fun to embrace this new holiday and join the Quitenos in their excitement, but this year we decided to head out of town and avoid the crowds a bit.  We had a half-day of school on Friday and thought we should take advantage of whatever time we had off to try to travel.  We invited any other teachers from school join us in a beach adventure.  Scheduling was not in our favor because school decided to throw a party on that Friday evening, so the only teacher who asked to join us was our friend Ashley.

While Ecuador is tiny (roughly the size of Nevada), the intense Andes mountains make it very difficult to get out of Quito.  The distance between Quito and Canoa is only 370 km on roads averaging 90 km per hr speed limits so the trip should take only about 4 hours. But in reality it takes closer to 6 hours.  Regardless, we decided to rent a car and attempt the drive to the beach.  Since we had a half day Friday we were able to start the drive early and had made it to the Ruta del Sol for sunset.  We didn't want to stop, but I took some pretty cool pictures of the sunset and colors from the car!

the colors were just amazing

luckily the Ruta del Sol hugs the coast for part of the trip

While Ecuador is beautiful, I don't love a lot of the traditional cuisine.....with the exception of TIGRILLO!!  Tigrillo is a breakfast dish made on the coast consisting of smashed green plantains (the savory ones) mixed into a kind of hash with onions and herbs and usually a bit of cheese.  It.  Is.  Delicious.  And we had heaping helpings of it for breakfast each morning we were on the coast!

breakfast right on the beach

Here was my view for much of the trip (I'm hunkered down under the protection of our rented tent for the day.

I think Canoa is one of Ecuador's most beautiful beaches.  You can see how the vendors come and set up the little canvaed awnings to rent to beach-goers throughout the day.  We were at the beach early and had our pick!

Our last visit to Canoa was lovely but a bit cloudy, so I was super happy to see the sun shining down brightly!

In the afternoon, Javier and I went on a walk to the end of the beach that is cut off during high tide.  I had found my treasure trove of shells on this beach last time and wanted to go scouting again.  The tide was still a bit high so we traversed the rocks to make it to the little beach.  Many pools of water remained from high tide creating a really beautiful scene.

here is Javier traversing

The sea of shells that liter the beach is really quite breathtaking.

I felt less pressure to gather this time around and spent a lot of time just looking at the variety of shapes and colors.

but let's not be crazy.....obviously picked some up that were just too beautiful to leave behind.

We made it back to our little awning in time to watch a gorgeous sunset.

The sun was turning the rocks of the beach we had just visited a vibrant pink (it never shows up in pictures the way I want it to...)

As the sun was dropping a group of gentlemen started up a soccer game on the edge of the surf.  We haven't spent as much time as I would like on the coast, but in every beach town that we've been to this pickup game seems to be a common tradition...particularly at sunset.  And with views like this I can't blame them for the timing...

It truly was breathtaking

and our little group enjoyed watching it in the sand

We stayed at the same hotel from the summer, Amalur, and would recommend it for sleeping and for eating.  Our dinner there was the best we had in Canoa!

We had the morning on the beach on Sunday, but knew we had a 6 hour drive back so we didn't linger too long.  Just enough to soak up a bit more sun and watch the tourists take horseback rides down the beach.  I was a little sad to leave, thinking this would probably be my last time in Canoa, but was super grateful for the brief getaway.

and the fun people I spent it with!