DECEMBER 2018: LIFE ON THE ROAD

I only have one word for my travels during the final month of 2018.

EPIC.

December took me everywhere from the thundering glaciers in Torres del Paine to trekking on ice in El Calafate, hiking over 300km, 24-hour bus rides through deserts, bouldering, climbing, sliding, running, jumping to the tops of mountains, drinking the purest water straight from glaciers, panoramic views over stunning mountain ranges, early mornings, sore muscles, battling winds and storms of Patagonia, and pure admiration and awe of everything I feel so lucky to have experienced.

I'll be writing more detailed blog posts of each part of my trip. In the meantime, here's an overview of the best parts.

BRAVING THE W CIRCUIT: TORRES DEL PAINE

The best part of travelling without an itinerary is being able to make the most of opportunities that head your way in the moment.

I had heard numerous times how amazing the Torres del Paine Circuits are and how it is absolutely necessary to book at least 3 months in advance. Arriving in Puerto Natales, as it turns out there just so happened to be a weeks worth of spots open for the W Circuit.

Unsure if it would really be worth the money, and spending a couple of days thinking about it, I took the plunge. Could I really hike Patagonia as a solo traveller and a novice hiker? I was about to find out.

With no guide and no team to cheer me on this time, I spent some of the most challenging days of my travels exploring and hiking through the trails of Torres del Paine.

From the base of the Towers, to Lago Nordenskjöld, Valle Frances, lookout Britanico and Grey Glacier, the scenery was stunning, nothing like I'd ever seen before. Oh, and did I mention I got lost a couple of times along the way...

W CIRCUIT PATAGONIA : IS IT WORTH $1000? — W Circuit | Torres del Paine

Arriving at the base of the three towers in Torres del Paine

TREKKING ON ICE: PERITO MORENO

Hands down... The highlight of my trip so far!!

Dancing, trekking, waddling and climbing over a glacier is something I never thought I'd do, let alone picture what it would be like.

I'm not one for tours unless they're necessary, this was hands down the best tour I'd ever done.

DANCING ON PERITO MORENO GLACIER: PATAGONIA — Perito Moreno Glacier | Patagonia

Hiking perito Moreno

HIKING IN EL CHALTEN

EL Chalten is one of those places that all too often people make the mistake of spending a couple of nights. If there's a place in Patagonia to be, this is it!

The best part of Patagonia is that most people do the same route in one direction or the other, so you're very likely to make hiking buddies along the way. El Chalten was one of those places, I met up with some very familiar faces.

Lucky enough to be blessed with mostly beautiful sunny days, I spent 5 days hiking the incredible mountains of Patagonia. Oh and one very stormy day huddled inside a chocolate shop.

The hiking highlight of my trip has got to be Laguna de los Tres.

That blue!

THE LITTLE TOWN OF EL HOYO

Hopping off a 22 hour bus, I wound up in the little town of El Hoyo.

Not really on the tourist trail, El Hoyo provided temporary and much needed physical relief from constant hiking. Resting in the hammock and staring out at the mountains of my 10/10 hostel, there's nothing like having these guys for company...

Oh... I did do a hike or two... I couldn't help it!!

The best part? You know when you book a dorm room and you get the whole room to yourself? It's so much better when you need some downtime and you get a whole hostel for yourself!

Chilling in Patagonia

FESTIVE CHRISTMAS IN BARILOCHE

If there's a place to be in Bariloche for Christmas, then it's the Penthouse Hostel. Overlooking the town and beautiful lake, the sunsets were absolutely stunning!

Not to mention Christmas dinner...

Perceto and Lomo steaks

Part of the reason for choosing a more sociable hostel was to not want to spend Christmas on my own. The Penthouse Hostel does a great job of organising Christmas dinner. Christmas is celebrated on the 24th December in Argentina and boy did we have a feast.

So what did I do on the 25th? After exploring Llao Llao, Sarah and I decided when in Argentina we'd do our own little asado Christmas dinner! Buying local meat and ingredients, we had one heck of a feast!!

Cerro Campanario Bariloche

NEW YEAR'S IN BUENOS AIRES

Wanting to meet up with a friend in Mar del Plata, I changed my plans of heading to Pucon and Santiago for New Years and instead bought a ticket to Buenos Aires.

Growing up in London, New Years is always over priced and over rated in my opinion. Not to mention complete chaos.

Buenos Aires couldn't have been further from this. Chilled, quiet and pretty empty, it turns out most people leave Buenos Aires for summer and New Years. With my Airbnb family, I toasted New Years and headed into 2019 celebrating with a few of my friends I had met in Patagonia.

And that was December! I ended 2018 on a high with my favourite travel month to date! Patagonia was more than I could have imagined. Patagonia is hiking heaven. Blessed with amazing weather and the chance to see some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen, it has been one of the most amazing experiences of this trip.

How much did I spend? Gulp...

Oops...

The W Circuit is the main culprit. A last minute reservation to do the trek put me back £800. Yup... I thought hard about it. But the opportunity was too good to pass up. Not to mention I had just spent 6 weeks hiking in Peru. If I was ever going to be prepared for this, it was now.

No regrets.

So there you have it.

I’ve been so lucky to experience Patagoina. It’s been out of this world and beyond what I could have imagined.

I previously mentioned my desire to spend more time in Buenos Aires learning to tango and I plan to take the opportunity to do just that in January.

I know I want to head to Colombia at some point... But for now, it's time to stay put and chill in city life for a while.

PIN IT FOR LATER...