More magnificent mountains, lakes & glaciers

Off to Argentinian Patagonia I went...

...to El Calafate where I tried the calafate berry (with ice cream & waffles!) because legend says that if you eat it, you shall return to Patagonia one day

Tried a spot of horseriding up Cerro Frias, a big hill with great views

Lago Argentino, near El Calafate

Got a bit arty with the sunset...

...and a wheel

Nice colour contrast hey

The mighty, advancing Perito Moreno glacier

We hoped this big chunk might crack off while we where there! No chance actually, but I managed to capture a small splash on movie

Its 60m face was pretty impressive from a boat

Road to El Chalten - lucky to see the full mountain range of Los Glaciares National Park

Mt Fitz Roy up close

Crossing the Fitz Roy river

Another great day of trekking, lucky to see the mountains free of cloud cover

Ice trekking on glacier

Ice climbing - I loved those ice picks

Shame that broken boot affected my performance with crampons!

El Chalten

My boot after returning from supertrekking, and just before being thrown in bin

Kayaking in the Straights of Magellanes

Bye bye Chile

Patagonian channels & challenges

My home for 3 days, sailing through the Chilean fjords from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales

Puerto Eden, tiny isolated town we visited on the way south

Ferry passengers huddling around to see the massive Pio XI glacier

Our first campsite in Torres del Paine National Park

Funky UFO-like cloud

My trekking crew (Ben from England & Victoria from Victoria!) at Los Torres, literally the jaw-dropping highlight of our trek - we didn´t realise there was going to be a lake up there so after difficult scrambling over rocks for the last hour, it was an amazing reward

On an easy part of the trail

We saw and heard an avalanche of snow on this part of the mountain - very cool

Not so cool! Had an awesome 360 degree view of the French valley, but a good-looking Indian/English man struck this pose when I took a photo of him...and somehow I managed to look ridiculous!??!

Couldn´t get enough of this beautiful lake

First view of the two parts of Glacier Grey

Glacier Grey up close

Camping next to ice chunks from Glacier Grey was fun, but suprisingly not too chilly!

Time to hang up my hiking boots I think - walked for 4 days with the sole tied up by the laces!

The Lake District

Panoramic point on the Circuito Chico, a 60km bike ride around the lakes near Bariloche, Argentina - actually, it was 55km for me because I was so sore and tired that I hitched the last 5km!!

Nice outfit for visiting the penguin colony on Chiloe Island

Cool German-style church in Puerto Varas

Petrohue rapids with Osorno volcano in the background - yeah I know you can´t see it...I paid US$50 for a boat tour on Lago Todos Los Santos (All Saints´ Lake) and it was rainy and cloudy all day!

And then I resorted to taking digital macro close-ups of flowers because there was nothing to do for 3 hours at Puella

But the colour of Lago Todos Los Santos was very beautiful :)

And I did get to see the volcano from the bus window

Peeks & peaks of Peru

Reed boats at the Uros islands (Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca)

Grinding oats on the floating reed islands

On Taquile island, the marital status of men can be distinguished by their hat colour - I picked a single one!

Tried on an alpaca hat for size at tourist stop in middle of nowhere on Puno-Cusco train!

The impressive plaza of Cusco

Sexywoman - no, not me! Thats the name of these Inca ruins if you say Sacsayhuaman really fast.

Our brilliant Inca Trail guide Bobby explaining the ruins in the valley below

All set to start climbing the steps on day 2

Trekkers and porters winding up the trail to the top of Dead Woman´s Pass (4,200m)

Pretending to be a VIP buried in fetal position in Inca ruins

Pretending to look like I haven´t walked for 4 days, and that its not raining/cloudy, at the top of Machu Picchu!

That rock next to me is carved in the same shape as the mountain - cool hey?

Llamas and tourists enjoying the site of Machu Picchu

I loved this view from MP

Santa Catalina convent in Arequipa, opened to the public in 1970 after 400 years of mystery

One of the many paintings found in Santa Catalina