Hola from El Calafate!

It´s been my dream for a while now to spend time in Patagonia and now here I am and I´m falling in love with this part of the world. For those who don´t know Patagonia... it´s the region covering the mountains, lakes, glaciers, lenga forests, flat farm lands, dusty dirt roads, and small laid-back towns of southern Argentina and Chile. The landscape is stunning, and I have a feeling that each town and natural wonder that I visit in Patagonia will deliver its own beauty incomparable to the others. For example, I am now in El Calafate, a small town on the shores of Lago Argentino, the largest lake in Argentina. It´s very dry, windy, and desert-like here with the snow-capped mountains far off in the distance and the glorious blue lake providing a stark contrast to the brown-ish dusty hue of town. It reminds me a bit of the Eastern Sierras in California. It is a completely different landscape from Ushuaia where I was last week.

My week at the end of the world (AKA Ushuaia) was nothing short of awesome. Wow, what an introduction to the Andes mountains. After the heat, humidity, and craziness of Buenos Aires, I felt at home in this small mountain town. The town is right on the Beagle channel and is completely surrounded by snow-capped mountains and quickly receding glaciers. Its claim to fame is that it´s the southernmost city in the world... well, this is mostly true... technically Puerto Williams in Chile is, but since it´s such a tiny village, Ushuaia gets the credit as the southernmost ¨city¨. I had a full week there and I did nearly everything there is to do there, except for jumping on a last-minute cruise to Antarctica. Boy, was I tempted though! Lots of travelers in my hostel were coming and going from Antarctica, some were quite literally hitting every continent in their world travels. Lots of cool stories shared by fellow travelers... that is becoming one of my favorite parts of my trip... the traveler camaraderie. 

Ushuaia´s other claim to fame is the extremely variable weather. The saying goes that there are 4 seasons in one day. This is so true. It was hard to plan what to do... just had to be prepared for anything! I seriously wore a t-shirt one morning and my down jacket that same evening. In the span of 5 days, it snowed on us while climbing up to the Martial glacier, it felt like the wind would blow me over while climbing Cerro Guanoco in Tierra del Fuego national park, several rainbows were seen during periods of similtaneous sun and rain, and I watched a most amazing sunset over the bay, made possible by the fast-moving clouds. You get the point. 

So what did I actually do while in Ushuaia? Pictures describe it best:

climbing to the Martial glacier

at the foot of the Martial glacier

on my boat tour of the Beagle channel, looking back towards Ushuaia

Our docked boat on Bridges island, we hiked around the island

viewpoint on Bridges island

along the boardwalk in town

first viewpoint of my hike in Tierra del Fuego national park

made it to the top of Cerro Guanoco! It was quite a climb!

sunny moment in town

stunning sunset

I visited the penguin colony too!

so cute!



I have given up on getting pictures onto Picasa albums. Instead, I´ll back them up on Shutterfly. Link coming soon. In the meantime, I´ll keep posting albums on Facebook.

I am excited to meet Sean, my friend from San Francisco, here in El Calafate this evening. It´ll be great to see a familiar face and have a hiking buddy for the next 10 days as we explore the more famous parts of Patagonia. From here, we have an early bus tomorrow morning to the famed Torres del Paine national park in Chile where we will trek til Friday. Then we head back to El Calafate to see what everyone comes here to see, the immense glaciers, that are 80 km outside of town. After that, we have another bus ride to the town of El Chalten, where we´ll hike the Fitz Roy sector of the ¨Glaciers¨ national park. I hope to update the blog soon after that. Til then...

Cheers! 

Hola from Argentina!

Ah... my first blog entry from South America... where to start? I´ve been on the continent for 12 days now, and I just flew into Ushuaia (at the very southern tip of Argentina) from Buenos Aires yesterday. I´m super happy to be in the mountains now after 10 days in the ¨city¨. Buenos Aires is indeed a world-class, easily walkable, entertaining city. I simply spent most of my time walking around the different barrios (neighborhoods), and eating and drinking with new friends. And yes, I ate steak, and yes, it was delicious! Many of the reasons why I don´t eat meat in the States don´t apply here in Argentina. I decided awhile ago to be open to eating nearly everything while traveling. My hostel was an easy place to meet fellow travelers to explore with, in a great location of the city, and had excellent shower pressure (apparently a luxury in most hostels).

I took two side trips out of the city, well-worth the effort in getting there. My first trip to Iguazu Falls was a whirlwind of 18 hr bus rides, rainbows, stunning waterfalls, jungle, butterflies, and hot ´n sticky (as in humidity). The waterfalls were amazing and I´ll let the pictures describe the rest. The boat ride under the falls was definitely a highlight and a much-needed refreshing cold shower from the heat.

My other side trip was to Colonia, Uruguay which is just across the river from Buenos Aires. A new friend from the hostel and I took the ferry and it was a nice, relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of  the city. The town of Colonia is super quaint with cobblestone streets, sidewalk cafes, and a lighthouse which we climbed up. It was an awesome 5 hours in Uruguay!

Yesterday was a travel day and that´s pretty much what I´ve been up to for the first 12 days of my trip. Already seems like I´ve been gone for much longer, and I feel a world away from the States and my former San Francisco life. Traveling is my life now! Slowly getting into the grove of it... I´m not simply on vacation. This is a new lifestyle that I have gladly choosen, and it´s treating me well so far.

Yup, been taking hundreds of pictures, but having technical difficulties getting all of them onto Picasa albums which are linked to this blog. So far, most of my BA pics are up. Check right side of blog post. In the meantime, I´ll post a few below, and select 20 or so favorites from each destination to put on facebook. Look for them there soon, or friend request me to see them. Enjoy!

So now for a few random observations and funny stories:
1. I´ve fallen in love with dulce de leche. Creamy deliciousness.
2. Funny story number 1: I ordered 12 croissants by mistake. My pronounciation of ¨dulce¨ for sweet was apparently way too close to ¨doce¨ for 12. Ha, big difference after all.
3. Argentineans are serious about their mate tea. They carry a thermos of hot water everywhere, even in the heat of the jungle, they were sipping their hot mate.
4. It´s been easier than expected to meet fellow travelers also eager to explore together, and especially drink together. Most being from Europe and Australia. I´ve seen just a few Americans. Most are also traveling for several months like me or even longer. Several have also quit their jobs like me, yay fun-employment (as a good friend once told me).
5. Funny story number 2: While on my first long-distance night bus ride, I was the only non-Argentinean. When the driver-helper came around and asked us passengers if we wanted ¨wiki¨, I had no idea what he was talking about. I asked him in my poor Spanish if it was food or drink, he replied with alcohol and of course, I said si, si! Everyone around me laughed. I got my drink and quickly realized that wiki is whiskey! Yup, cama con servico is the way to go on long bus rides... drinks and full meals are served!

So here I am at the end of the world for the next 5 full days. The scenery is stunning, and the plan is to spend a few days seeing penguins, touring the Beagle channel, and hiking around Tierra del Fuego national park. Love this small mountain town!

Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires

When in Rome... Argentine steak and malbec... it was delicious!

Colorful houses of La Boca barrio

Devil´s Throat, Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls

Rainbow at Iguazu

All packed and ready to go!

Here I am, only 12 hours away from being on my way to Buenos Aires, and I am excited! I just finished packing and I'm now enjoying a nice glass of wine with my sister and my mom who is here to help send me off tomorrow. The results of my packing are below with only a few last essential items (notice the dark chocolate!) to pack into my small black shoulder bag and the rest of my possessions for the next 5 months mostly fitting into my 55 liter travel pack. 

I don't think I'll sleep much tonight! Too excited and yes, a little nervous... but once I get on that plane tomorrow, there's no turning back! I know I'm doing the right thing. 

Stay tuned...