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...