patagonia

El Chalten or Torres del Paine? – Nomadic Boys

September 2, 2017 by J. Scott Coatsworth

Patagonia is synonymous with adventure, mountaineering and wallpaper-like landscapes. If you love trekking, this should be high up on your bucket list of places to visit.

We love our trekking adventures, having spent ample time discovering the Himalayas during our Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, trekking to the Rinjani volcano crater, the 4 days Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and trekking to Ella Rock in Sri Lanka.

Patagonia has two trekking highlights to add to our list: Torres del Paine in Chile and El Chaltén in Argentina. Both offer stunning vistas, images to decorate your Instagram gallery and satisfying trekking adventures you’ll never forget. If however your time is limited, we compare the two to give you an idea of which is best to choose.

Trekking in Torres del Paine: Chile

Torres del Paine is one of the highlights of anyone’s Patagonia itinerary. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was voted one of the 8 Wonders of the World by VirtualTourist.com in 2013 beating off 300 entries from 50 countries.

The trails
The most popular trail is the famous W Circuit, so named because the trail on the map is in the shape of a W. This is normally done in 5-7 days. The climax is reaching the base of the famous Paine towers.

If you don’t like camping, you can instead stay in a nearby hotel and still visit the highlights of the W Circuit as part of day trips. Popular day trip treks include Glacier Gray, the French Valley (Valle del Frances), Mirador Los Cuernos, Mirador Condor, trails around the picturesque Pehoe Lake and the big one, the Base Torres trek.

Gay Patagonia: Top Ten Highlights – Nomadic Boys

August 3, 2017 by J. Scott Coatsworth

Planning a trip to gay Patagonia is overwhelming. It’s a massive chunk of land: some 1.043 million km² to be exact. This sparsely populated region lies across Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America, with a mix of Andes mountain landscapes, desert, grasslands and ocean. We spent a month travelling across Chubut, Santa Cruz in Argentina and Torres del Paine in Chile. To help inspire your trip, we’ve put together our 10 favourite experiences and things to do in Patagonia.

Stay in a yurt in Torres del Paine

Since our travels in the Gobi desert in Mongolia where we got to stay with nomadic families in their yurts, we really wanted to do this again, but in a luxurious way. Staying in a yurt at the Chile Patagonia Camp is a unique and memorable way to experience the Torres del Paine National Park. Located near the entrance of the Torres del Paine National Park by the shores of Lake Toro, the camp is surrounded by spectacular landscapes. The yurts are absolutely lush. They have a private bathroom, comfy king sized beds and even central heating. You can read more about our yurt glamping experience in our 5 gay friendly hotels to stay in Chile.

Have a conversation with a penguin

Punta Tombo on the coast of the Chubut province in Argentina is home to the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in Latin America. They are around half a meter tall and absolutely adorable! Around 1 million Magellanic penguins gather in Punta Tombo between mid September and mid April where they come to nest, mate, breed and molt (shed their feathers). Interestingly, between April-September they migrate to the warmer climates in South Brazil, where they stay in the water the entire time, even when sleeping. When you meet them, they study you in a way where they turn their head from side to side. This is because their eyes are located on the sides of their face so they need to do this to maximise their field of vision.

Ten Facts About Gay Patagonia – The Nomadic Boys

July 20, 2017 by J. Scott Coatsworth

Patagonia! That massive chunk of land on the tip of the American continent, split between Chile and Argentina. This is the place for adventure travellers, home to some of the most incredible landscapes we’ve seen, exciting treks as well as a wide variety of wildlife. After a month travelling across this vast region, here are our 10 interesting facts about gay Patagonia we learnt on this stunning journey.

#1 Patagonia means ‘Land of the Big Feet’

The story goes that when Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, first set foot here in 1520, he found large footprints of the natives. Later when he met them, he alleged they were almost twice the size of normal human size, measuring around 4 metres (13ft)! Future explorers also wrote about meeting Patagonian giants, but later criticised for being exaggerations. Fantasy or not, the myth of the giant natives inspired the name for the area, which has been used ever since.

#2 It has the second longest living species on Earth

At 2,600 years old, the Alerces Tree is an interesting fact about Patagonia because it is the second longest living species on our planet. The oldest is the Methuselah (White Mountains in California, USA), which is almost 5,000 yrs old. This famous tree is located in the UNESCO listed Alerces National Park on the Western side of Chubut, Argentina Patagonia, near the Chilean border. The National Park was created in 1937 to protect this family of ancient trees. Can you believe this tree is older than Jesus Christ?

Gay Patagonia – Chile Gay Travel Resources

Gay Patagonia – Argentina Gay Travel Resources

Killer Whales in Patagonia – Nomadic Boys

June 8, 2017 by J. Scott Coatsworth

Peninsula Valdes is one the best spots in the world to see killer whales (orcas) in the wild. This is the place they come to hunt and entertain their enthusiastic audience watching on.

Orcas love this particular part of Argentina because of the large abundance of one of their favourite food prey: seal pups. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the orcas close up when they come right up to the beach to catch their supper.

Despite their name, killer whales are not dangerous and there is no evidence of them ever having attacked humans in the wild. Killer whales is the nickname given by the Spanish whalers in the 1700s when they noticed that orcas were hunting whales for food. They have no known predators, so they freely hunt without fear of being attacked by another marine animal. They feed on seals, sea lions, penguins, fish, dolphins, sharks and even whales.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Gay Puerto Madryn, Argentina

May 28, 2017 by J. Scott Coatsworth

Puerto Madryn is THE super gay friendly destination of Patagonia. We absolutely loved this city in the Chubut region of Argentina and had to feature it on our blog.

Why?

Ring deprived Stefan was quick to point out to Sebastien that gay Puerto Madryn was one of the first cities in Argentina to introduce a Casamiento Express (Express Marriage) package for gay couples in which anyone can get married, with all the formalities in place in just 5 days.

On top of this, there’s so much to do here: you can swim with sea lion pups, have a few conversations with the cute Magellanic penguins, watch orcas, whales, get up close to Commerson’s dolphins and relaxing on the beach. This is our gay travel guide to Puerto Madryn featuring the gay hangouts, places to stay and activities to do.

Map of Gay Puerto Madryn

Argentina has inverted seasons to the US and Europe, so the summer months are between December to February and winter is from June to August. During the summer months you’ll have the warmest weather and optimal beach time. Despite this, Puerto Madryn is a destination you can visit all year round, depending on the wildlife you want to see:

The life and soul of Puerto Madryn is centered around the city’s beautiful promenade, extending from one end of the city to the other.