the geographical highpoint of our trip thus far: scaling guanaco peak in parque nacional tierra del fuego. the park covers the stretch of land where the andes mountain chain finally dives into the ocean. fantastic. i would hesitate to say that this was the emotional highpoint, however...since the grueling trek was a bit more than we should have undertaken as our inaugural hike. it involved a steep and twisted uphill climb for four hours. the last third of it soared above the treeline, where biting cold winds howled across the sheer stone face where the trail wound. let us say, scary.

it was the three-hour downhill trek, however, that did a number on our joints. my entire left knee, for instance, is all sorts of lovely shades of red, purple, and blue as a result of a big skidding fall. our bodies are pretty much made of pain at the moment...but at least we have the following sights to show for it.



success!! stef and i finally claw our way to the top of cerro guanaco.


see that lake down there? yeah, the one 970m down. that's where we started our hike. ow.


even though the stunning lago roca is a simple crater lake, the winds are so fierce, they whip up tiers of whitecapped waves.


the midway point of the trail...where we probably should have stopped, it being a beautiful enough vista for us. don't blame stef. it was me. stupid curiosity.

after camping (i.e. passing out) at our base camp at lago roca, stef and i oozed back to town and took it easy for a couple days. today, for instance, we took a 4x4 out for a canoeing trip in the nearby lago escondido (instead of hiking up to the ice caves as we had originally planned). there, we picked wild rasberries, watched the waves and trees in the wind, and relaxed. in the few days since we've been on tierra del fuego, i've already noticed a change in the color of the forests as autumn nears: many leaves are now tinged with bright orange and yellow. i'm sure this place must be amazing once the season fully sets in.

sadly, however, our stay in ushuaia is coming to a close. tomorrow, stef and i are taking an early bus out to punta arenas to meet up with her boyfriend, alvaro. if the fires in torres del paine are still raging, we will have to switch around our schedule and head to the glacier parks at el calafate and el chalten, argentina, first, then hope that either rains or firemen will have brought the blaze under control by the time we swing back to chile. keeping our fingers crossed...