yo amo costillas, vino tinto, y mate!!

After a few weeks here in Patagonia, I have discovered that Scott and I truly LOVE 3 things here!

1- Costillas... aka LAMB and not just lamb, but lamb ribs. Here in patagonia they grill the entire lamb over a wood fire for 1/2 the day and then you pick and choose which cuts you want. We have enjoyed many evenings of this tasty argentinian specialty. The ribs here and about 1,000 times better than anything I have had in the states... they are so tasty that I think well have to go get some more tonight!! Scott actually BBQed lamb the other night so this will be something for everyone to look forward to when we come back home!

2- Vino Tinto... aka red wine! It is cheap cheap cheap and very tasty! I dont know why malbec is so delicious but it just is... I dont question why it is $10 for a bottle of malbec at a nice restaurant... heaven I tell you.

3- Mate... Trini, we get it! Mate is awesome. For those of you who dont know what this is, it is a beverage that argentinians enjoy throughout the day. It tastes similar to green tea, but slightly more bitter. The thing about mate is though, is that it is not about the taste it is about the experience. It is shared with one cup and one straw amongst a group of friends... you just relax, enjoy each others company, and build friendships. Weve spent many hours enjoying mate and I see us enjoying much more on this trip.

So the question really is.. does one need more than lamb, red wine, and mate to survive??

--Lisa

We heart Patagonia

El Chalten is billed by Argentinians as the "hiking capital of Argentina", so of course we couldn´t resist checking it out. It´s also an internationally famous rock-climbing destination. There´s some crazy sheer cliffs around here! This city, the newest city in Argentina, is one of those no-stoplight towns, that you have to love (or at least when you want to get away from it all for awhile). The best part about it is that there are tons of awesome day hikes to the famous Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy mountains (again...more pics later when the internet is good). What does this mean? No hauling our heavy gear for 5-6 hour hikes each day!! This is huge.

So we bought camping gear in the last town and posted up in El Chalten at an awesome campsite in a beautiful valley, next to a glaciar river, overlooking the mountain range. (this might be when a picture tells a thousand words...hold out until our next stop...) Oh, did I mention that this campsite has barbecues?? That´s what I´m talking about. That´s what´s been missing from our lives, barbecue!

We´ve been here for a week camped out in our little house next to the river doing one day of hiking and then one day of relaxing (generally reading and sitting by the river, trying to solve the world´s problems...ha), trying to figure out our next steps.

Our first hike was a 5 hour out and back to Laguna Torres, the beautiful overlook to Cerro Torre. As we´ve noticed, both the Chileans and Argentinians are not so good about identifing the time and difficulty of their trails. First of all, they rate their trails almost all as "easy", but the times are off by huge amounts. ANYWAY. This hike was great, mostly flat and beautiful the whole way!





Our second hike was a 5 1/2 hour crazy uphill hike to this place called ¨Loma del Pliegue¨ what is the translation you might ask? Dunno...maybe "amazing view of the entire mountain range, glaciars, and lakes". This hike was a 3000 foot climb to this amazing peak overlook. Pics to come!

Some crazy flowers at the top, they´re called "Lady Slippers"

We made it!! Wind was about 40-50 mph up here...didn´t stay long! Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy in the background


Our last adventure here was a bit different you might say. We mixed it up with a boat tour of the Viedma glaciar, ice trekking, and ice climbing. FREAKING AWESOME! This was our first organized tour since we left Antarctica, good and bad as we all know (you can imagine the touristy nature of this trip, rather than the backpacker/independent traveling that we´ve been doing). Anyway. Let´s just say that ice climbing with crampons is freaking amazing. We walked around the glaciar (and even under it!) for a bit, then found a shear wall to climb. It was awesome, what a great day...and change of pace!

Ready for the adventure! Check out the crazy color of Lago Viedma...




Yep, she´s underneath the glacier!!

Whadya think of this hombres??!! Boo-ya!

That´s it for El Chalten, Argentina. The weather has turned a bit...we´ve been told that it´s generally windy, rainy, and sunny all in the same day...and it´s starting out...so it´s time for us to move on! (The weather has been unbelievable here - warm, sunny, and awesome for the past 6 days!).

Tomorrow we take off for another 12 hour bus ride north along the infamous Route 40 (Ruta 40). Hopefully we´ll find better internet for you to have some pictures!

Hope everyone is doing well back home.

Scott and Lisa

Back to Argentina

We sit here in an internet cafe that is so slow that you can´t even use skype! There´s also no cell phone service in this town...talk about off the beaten path! Oh, lastly...pictures are obviously going to have to wait.

After having a great time hiking and camping at Torres del Paine, it was finally time to move on to our next stop. We took a direct bus from Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina...5 hours and a border crossing. The town of El Calafate is the main town to access Argentina´s famous ¨Glaciar National Park¨in the south, so we headed on over. The town was pretty decent - we are finally starting to get to towns that have a little character! We arrived at the bus station and were greated by a nice main street full of tall trees and lots of cool cafes, restaurants, and a generally relaxed atmosphere. This is all overlooking Lago Argentina, a huge mountain glaciar-fed lake in what seems to be the middle of the desert.

We relaxed here for a few days last week, where we were just hanging out, recuperating after the ¨W¨ hike, and started to try and figure out a few things for volunteering. As you all know, one of the major reasons why we came down here is to volunteer for awhile and do some good in this continent. Of course, we need to find the right opportunity in the right place before we can really start down this path. SO, now that we´re starting to get to a few places that we like, we´ve started exploring opportunities.

A few interesting things have come across our path so far - both of them having to do with conservation in their national parks. The first one is a study on the effects of climate change in Glaciar National Park, which would start sometime in February. The second one is volunteering with their National Park service at Glaciar National Park, mostly doing trail maintenance and helping with tourists. Interesting...and VERY different than what we do at home! Lisa and I chatted about both of these opportunities and decided that we´re going to pass - there is a month long commitment, and to be honest, we don´t love this national park that much (it is beautiful however). So...we will continue to travel and look for good opportunities for now...

Random South America..and Tahoe this winter??

Anyone from San Francisco knows the "One less car" bicycle campaign. Turns out it made it down here...



And here´s a picture of Lisa skiing in Tahoe a few days ago:

A challenge...and we made it! ...The "W" of Torres Del Paine

Wherever you travel in the world there are always these backpacker circuits. If any of you have backpacked before, you know how it works. There is a route that people take - they basically follow each other and while you are going one way, others are going the opposite direction. The route here goes like this - Ushuaia, Puerto Natales, Torres Del Paine, El Calafate/El Chalten, Glaciar National Park, Route 40, Bariloche, Mendoza, and Buenos Aires. It´s basically a route through the middle of Patagonia.

We´re a bit stuck on this circuit right now, and given that it´s the middle of summer here it is completely packed. What does that mean? Lots of people doing the same thing, difficult to find a place to stay, and expensive. It is what it is for now, but we want to get out of this "rut" as soon as we can, to have a real local experience down here (if possible!). We´re having a great time and seeing/doing amazing things, but that´s not the only reason we took this time off...

Anyway, one of the "must see" things down here is a National Park equivalent to our Yosemite or Yellowstone, called "Torres Del Paine" (literally, the Towers of Pain!). There´s a famous 4 day hike here called the "W", and it is simply stunning (google it). There are all sorts of places to rent hiking and camping gear, and it is organized pretty well. If you´ve done the Inca Trail or Kilimanjaro, it´s the same idea, but you´re on your own rather than doing the hike with an organized tour. Unfortanately, some knuckle-headed tourist started a HUGE forest fire 2 weeks before we got here and burned down half the park. Literally. So here we are, at this amazing national park, and half of the park is closed. People travel from all over the world just to do this hike and A large portion of it is closed. Turns out, it was probably good that the entire thing wasn´t open...we aren´t quite yet back in good physical shape, so a few days less was okay with us!

Hiking Torres Del Paine



Day One
Hosteria Las Torres to Refugio Los Cuernos
5 hours, 7 miles

We took off and decided that we´d carry our own gear - packs, food, stove, etc. In hindsight...this may not have been the best idea! The first day we trekked for almost 5 hours for a distance of almost 7 miles (11km) to a campground called Los Cuernos. This place was awesome. Just imagine a crazy long day of hiking - up, down, fording rivers, all with a 30 pound pack on your back. We booked a cabin here, mostly because there was a hot tub, which was AMAZING! The view from here was just ridiculous. Imagine yourself surrounded by a glaciar, crazy granite towers, and a waterfall just outside your cabin. Stunning.

An amazing cabin...and view!


The rude awakening happened around 2am, when a blast of wind woke us up. The gust not only woke us up, but shook the ENTIRE CABIN...including the foundation. Scary, yes. Needless to say, this didn´t stop the rest of the night...or the next day...or the next night...or even when we left. At first I was like, this wind would be sweet for kitesurfing...but then realized the gusts were up to about 75 mph. No joke, someone measured it. Try hiking with a pack, at the apex of a mountain, unprotected by trees, trying not to fall down into the glacial lake. Yeah. I´ll try and upload the video another time...it is crazy!

Day Two
Refugio Los Cuernos

Day of rest and relaxation! We stayed at the Cuernos campsite - oh, and by the way, they have a really cool thing here called a "refugio". It´s basically a big cabin or hut that you can hike to and stay in so you don´t have to bring a tent or food! Pretty pricey though, so we haven´t stayed in one yet. Oh, the howling wind continued. We slept probably about 2 hours total this night because of the crazy wind.

It´s not windy at all...


Day Three
Cuernos to Refugio Chileno
9 miles, 5 hours, 45 minutes 2750 vertical feet at max

Yep. This was a tough day. After fighting the crazy winds from Cuernos, we made it to the base of the mountain to get to next night´s campsite. Turns out it was straight uphill. For hours and hours. We were more than worn out after this hike, but decided that since we are here, we might as well do the sunrise hike tomorrow to see the infamous Towers at sunrise. This is after two nights of basically no sleep.

Day Four
Refugio Chileno to the Torres at sunrise, return to Hosteria Torres and depart
3am start, 10 miles, 5 and a half hours (4 hours before 8am!)

Let´s just say that coffee was our friend at 3am. Especially after another night without a lot of sleep! We´re so glad we rallied though for the sunrise hike - a crazy uphill ascent of about 2000 feet on a winding, rocky, boulder-strewn one-person path - that was TOTALLY worth it. The sun rising and the crazy pre-dawn colors hitting the Towers in the morning was simply spectacular.
We went back and slept for a few more hours in the tent, then hiked down and made it back to Puerto Natales by sundown...exhausted, but glad we succeeded in our challenge!

3am Sunrise hike to the Towers!!




Heading "home" after the adventure


Oh yeah, to add to the fun, check out what happened to Lisa´s shoes in the pic below!
That was not fun...and it started the first day, 30 minutes into the hike!

Lisa´s new shoes

In search of a campervan...

So Lisa and I found ourselves in Punta Arenas, Chile. Why would someone go to this alleged southern-most town in Chile? Of course, to potentially buy some wheels!

One of our thoughts was that if we could get ourselves a campervan we could save some major money on our trip, have an AWESOME experience with as much flexibility as we want, and sell it back at the end for somewhere around the same price we bought it for. In theory, this is great, right?

One of the places that we thought we could do this was in Punta Arenas. It´s one of two "tax-free" zones in Chile, which is important because taxes in Chile are over 20% on purchases. The town itself basically sucks, not much here except for commerce and industry, a port, and a tribute to the explorer Magellan (and a few cool Spanish colonial buildings. We did stay at a nice(r) hotel, so it was a good home base.

So what do I know about buying a car in South America? I read a TON about it online, and it seems like the best place for a foreigner to do it is in Chile. Long story short...we spent a few days in Punta Arenas basically hunting for something that resembled a camper van, or a truck with a camper on it and found basically not a whole lot. We found a camper van from the early eighties, a motorhome from the seventies, and a camper, but not truck! SO, our hopes were dashed for now...and we will have to continue the search later in our travels (perhaps). FYI, renting is prohibitively expensive for them down here too. Anyway, that didn´t quite work out, so we hung out for a few days and enjoyed a few interesting sights from the city.

Our favorite coffee shop, with great chocolate...and character


Safety First here in Chile!


Who isn´t stoked about Sacramento, California?
Turns out that for $20 US you can have your town posted down here...



Scott, Magellan´s statue, and our new dog


Are we tourists or what?

One month traveling, so far so good!

Well, it´s officially been one month since we´ve been gone. CRAZY. Time has just flown by here, and we´ve been having a great time, of course. Here´s an update and a few comments, as usual internet is less than ideal here..so it´s hard to post all the pics. I´m sure we´ll figure out a better system, but we´re working out all the kinks.

So I´ve got to say that it´s been an interesting last few weeks. We started this adventure on a very EASY cruise ship in Antarctica. Everything included, we knew where we´d be staying every night. Ya know, the all-inclusive sort of thing. Then reality hit. We got off the ship in Ushuaia and BAMMMM. tons of people. No places to stay. Wind. Rain. Heavy Backpacks. Can you say rude awakening/tough transition??

Ushuaia, the southern-most city in Argentina was friggin expensive. The cheapest budget place that we could find was about $90/night. Yeah, not ideal since we're on a long trip, not this short "American" vacation sort of thing! The setting there was pretty awesome thought, a huge mountain range, glacier, and bay around the city...not too bad. We had another AMAZING lamb feast there. For some reason the lamb down here is just completely different than what we get at home. They barbecue it for like 8 hours, have a delicious chimichurri sauce (garlic and who know what else is in this delicious goodness), and make it some of the most amazing meat that you could ever have. I may be a convert from steak...weird I know...



After sitting on a cruise ship for 18 days, let´s just say that we weren´t exactly in the world´s best shape. If you´ve ever been on a cruise (I never had before this) you basically eat and drink until you pop. Oh, and for ours we got to get off twice a day - not every day - to check out cool penguins and stuff. Anyway, Lisa and I decided that we needed to get ourselves back into shape to start some of the infamous Patagonian hiking later...and decided to climb about 2000 feet straight up from sea level at the port to the glaciar. Yep. That´s how we roll. So this one day "trek" was 6 hours up and back. Ouch. Let´s just say sore was an understatement. It was just a precurser of what was to come...







The "end of the world" (fin del mundo) has a certain traveler cache. You can tell that people come down here just to say that they were at the southernmost point in the continent (it´s actually at Cape Horn, which we were lucky enough to visit!), but it makes no difference to most people.

As an aside - we did visit Tierra Del Fuego national park and the end of the highway that goes from Alaska to Ushuaia. Beautiful doesn´t describe it...





So we got sick of Ushuaia after 3 or 4 days (it was friggin cold and windy down there - one day we came in out of the sun to book a bus, then looked out the window to see it snowing outside. wtf. Needless to say, the weather is variable at best!), so we booked a bus up to Punta Arenas, Chile (there is no overland route directly north to the rest of Argentina!), which is a 12 hour bus-ferry-bus ordeal. Yep, good times sitting on a bus all day with NO stops. Are they insane? It´s like the opposite of the chicken buses in central america that stop on every corner! Luckily, the buses are incredibly comfortable..reclining seats...someone serving treats and coffee...but unfortunately not cheap.

A few takeaways for now...
1) it is NOT cheap down here. Basically US prices the entire way so far, which doesn´t fare well for a long trip
2) You MUST know spanish. Thanks Sra. Grigsby for all those vocabulary words in 9th grade!!
3) Traveling around is fun...but there has got to be more to it - we´re still looking for that great spot to volunteer, improve our spanish, and hang out for awhile
4) Cheap hotels are not that clean. Yep, big surprise.
5) LIFE IS GOOD. We´re excited about all this traveling and trying to figure it all out...next steps, etc.

Scott

More Antarctica...

Enjoy a few more from the trip...!