What is the most colorful landmark you have visited?
Sintra was one of our favorite places to visit in Portugal. There we found Pena Palace, where we were blown away with the colors of this magical place. We only had a day to visit but made the most of it. This is a must-see if you end up in Lisbon. Could you imagine living here?
How often do you go off-trail with your hikes?
We found a reasonably dry day while staying in Ushuaia to check out the resident glacier: Martial Glacier. While we could have hiked directly from town, we didn’t see the need to add the extra miles, especially since they were all uphill. Instead, we took the relatively cheap taxi to the official trailhead.
What national park left you somewhat underwhelmed?
After incredible places like Torres Del Paine and Fitz Roy, we were excited to see what the Tierra Del Fuego National Park had to offer. After all, this is Patagonia!
But when we arrived, it just wasn’t as blow-your-socks-off beautiful as the rest. This park is more about the location than what it contains.
What is the most difficult hike you’ve ever done?
We thought we had seen our biggest hike when we scaled the ridge to the Torres Del Paine lookout. However, we had our work cut our for us at Fitz Roy!
How do you prepare for a major hike?
We entered a hiker’s paradise when we reached El Chalten. Trails abound – right from the edge of town! The town is right on the brink of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, and the best part: there’s no admission fee here!
We were excited to explore, and we knew we had lots of options. However, we were really there for the prime jewel: Fitz Roy. Knowing this would be a major undertaking, we elected a much gentler hike for our first day – something with which to warm up our legs for what was to come.
What is the most beautiful hike or trek you’ve done?
Nothing prepares you for the stunning beauty of a glacier. It’s unlike anything else in the world – wild and jagged, timeless and graceful.
And the color! Ice cubes are clear, and one always pictures Antarctica as white. But this thousand-year-old-ice is a sparkling blue. It truly is a photographer’s dream.
Continue reading “A Glimpse of the Perito Moreno Glacier Trek”
Perito Moreno Glacier was on our bucket list as it is one of the most amazing places on Earth. We were fortunate to find an opportunity to do a short trek on the glacier and we were blown away. The blue color of the thousand-year-old-ice and the lake below is awesome. The glacier is everything we had dreamed it to be and more. El Calafate was our home base where we enjoyed local Argentine foods and beers. From there we traveled about an hour and a half each day to visit Perito Moreno. When we first arrived at the glacier, we couldn’t believe how large it was. To be able to walk on it proved to be one of the most memorable moments of our lives.
Have you ever found a secret or lesser-known hike?
Following our major 11- to 14-mile (depending on which device you believe) hike the previous day, we wanted to go easy on our poor sore legs. Therefore, we opted for another quick hike within Torres Del Paine National Park, one that would take us 1.5hrs each way out and back, culminating in some ancient rock paintings. Continue reading “A Glimpse of the Fauna Trail”
What’s a place you were looking forward to for a long time before you finally visited?
The Torres Del Paine spires are arguably what originally drew us to the stunningly beautiful Patagonia region. When searching for pictures of this place, chances are one of the first images you’ll see is similar to the first one here: a turquoise blue pool in front of thick fingers jutting into the sky.
Continue reading “A Glimpse of the Mirador Torres Del Paine”
Are you a fair-weather hiker, or will you even go out in the rain?
For our second day in Torres Del Paine National Park, we were still breaking in our legs in preparation for the big hike we were there for. The rain only helped in our decision to do another warmup hike rather than tackle the park’s namesake trek.
