From El Chalten to Bariloche it is 24hrs on a bus. We actually stopped half way in a town called Perito Moreno and yet this is not where near the actual "Perito Moreno" Glacier is...gotta love it. People actually go here thinking they will see this glacier and are obviously disappointed. To get to Bariloche you can take Ruta 40. For some reason this ruta is famous and I am still not sure why. There is NOTHING on this road. Even the scenery said, "what the hell are you looking at?" However there was the occasional armadillo (which i did not see becasue they were so tiny) So often I used my wonderful imagination to change a rock on the side of the road into one. I got a couple of ppl on the bus that way (he he).
I sat next to this guy named Dan. Dan the dud as I grew to call him (and then later the paper stealer). I thought we would hit it off becasue I asked where he was from and he said San Fran and I said where and he said San Carlos and I said my sister used to live there. That was the end of it, no more talk from him. I asked Dan if I could read his paper and he said yes but, "I need it back because I made some notes" Okay dud(e). He underlined words like Beer, and cool and crazy, and young (he was 42). Okay those are some crazy notes, dud. I kind of made fun of him which is maybe why he did not really want to talk with me...hmmmm. I think Dan wanted to be mysterious on the bus...whatever.
What was great about this boring bus ride was the music being played. One of our bus drivers looked really rough and mean (could have not been farther from the truth) but he popped in his favorite CD. First song I sh&t you not was "I had the time of my life" yes Dirty dancing. Gets better, Like a prayer, girls just want to have fun, and then later a lil G&R, (I can´t think of anymore but they were good - Esther help me out!). Esther is the woman who was sitting in front of me and we we were laughing so hard and everytime we got off the bus for a break a new song would come on Esther would start dancing. It broke up the very boring bus ride.
I decided to get off at a town not far from Bariloche called El Bolsen. It is supposed to be this hippy town where they make jams and granola and crafts etc...why not. Esther who was now my bus mate got off as well. Ester picked a great hostal. El Pueblo (the girl who worked here=Sky (of course) worked in a Hostel in San fran). So as we are deciding what we will do the next day Ester reads about parachuting off a mountain...."yes we will do this I think" - She is from the Netherlands so you must say this in a Dutch/English accent. I said why not. I believe fate brings ppl in and out of your lives for a reason, not sure this is a good thing but you only live once! Sign me up.
IT WAS AWESOME. I honestly thought the ride up in the taxi was more dangerous. The jump was great. We were up there for about 25min and I was actually getting a little bored (yes those who know me are not surprised) and I told my guide this with a fake yawn. Should not have done that...he said "Listo" (ready). For what don´t know so I said Si. We do several spirals descending and I nearly lost my stomach. That was the BEST rollercoaster ride I have ever been on. Then he said are you still tired. Ahh No sir, check please. Esther...Thank you!
Next day we have a jam packed day. There is an open air market that begins at 10am and then we are going on a bike ride to see some waterfalls. We get our bikes and are out the door on time. What were we thinking. It is South America AND they are hippies. The market did not really get started until 11:30am. Whatever we had some coffee. After the market we set off on our bike trip. We got the map from our hostal. "sure, sure you can do a loop, pick up the trail here, yep bikes are no problem on this." Please remeber this sentence. First part was the Indian head. Looked more like a baby crying. Hopefully this was not sacred ground becasue of the picture to your left. Somehow with the way the day ended up I think it may have been (foreshadowing). Then there was a big sign that said Waterfalls this way, so natually we take this route. Somewhere we made a wrong turn. I am going to blame Ester on this becasue I was holding on for dear life. Bikes and I really do not get along especially on a really rocky road. We end up on a horse trail. How do I know this becasue as we are riding down a very narrow path I hear Esther yell "S#$T" and then I say "WHAT?" as I feel a warm sensation all over my leg..yes I just rode through horse pooh. You ask why I did not see it well perhaps it was becasue of the rose bushes scratching my face and arms and me holding on for dear life as we rode down a very small path where a small swerve would end your life. Suddenly a guacho shows up out of nowhere and tells us, "les pierden" (You are lost). So now that we have just takin these F&%$ing bikes up a mountain we have to back track. Ah yes we did miss the TINYEST arrow telling us which way to go which in the end was also NOT for bikes. When we finally did reach the waterfall we both gave a sigh that said...so thats it. Huh. We practically laid down on the ROCKY road home for this pick up truck to give us a ride to our Hostal. Whoever you are I thank you!
Off to Bariloche.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
El Chalten
As you come into El Chaten (on a clear day) you see the famous Fitz Roy Mountain. The town is nothing to speak of...but the mountains were awesome. The park Ranger said that this had never happened before, they were on their 4th straight day of sunshine and clear visibilty of the mountains that are normally clouded over. So he said def. do the Fitzoy hike today (it was 2PM but they have sunlight until 10PM). You can enter all trails from the town...it was great. No park fees, just you and the mountains.
1st day 5 hr hike. Clear skies.
2nd day 8 hr hike. The last part of this hike was straight up for 45 min and on loose rock, oh my knees ont he way down. It was a tough hike but the view was...
3rd day I had booked a glacier walk, hopefully the weather would hold for tomorrow. It did not. However it was pretty cool walking on the glacier ( Glacier Viedma). I would have liked a clear shot of the mountain but the hike was incredible. This was a 12 hour hike. We had to canopy over the water. That was a lot of fun. Everone was so serious becasue I guess if you dropped into the water you would die of hypothermia, but it was just so much fun. Then on the ice we displayed our ice climbing abilites. Which mine were none. Thank god my guide had muscles becasue he was def. doing all the work, it was tough hike but well worth it. The weather we were told was very normal. On the glacier we repeatedly had sun, rain, wind and snow (ice rain), at least now I really can understand what they mean when they say, "This weather is so unpredictable"
Next stop....Bariloche.
1st day 5 hr hike. Clear skies.
2nd day 8 hr hike. The last part of this hike was straight up for 45 min and on loose rock, oh my knees ont he way down. It was a tough hike but the view was...
3rd day I had booked a glacier walk, hopefully the weather would hold for tomorrow. It did not. However it was pretty cool walking on the glacier ( Glacier Viedma). I would have liked a clear shot of the mountain but the hike was incredible. This was a 12 hour hike. We had to canopy over the water. That was a lot of fun. Everone was so serious becasue I guess if you dropped into the water you would die of hypothermia, but it was just so much fun. Then on the ice we displayed our ice climbing abilites. Which mine were none. Thank god my guide had muscles becasue he was def. doing all the work, it was tough hike but well worth it. The weather we were told was very normal. On the glacier we repeatedly had sun, rain, wind and snow (ice rain), at least now I really can understand what they mean when they say, "This weather is so unpredictable"
Next stop....Bariloche.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
El Calafate
A Hiking I will go...Stayed at a wonderful hostal in El Clafata. Every staff member remembered everyones name. I became friendly with the morning guy Juan because when I said my name was Mo he said (say in a very think SA accent), "well what do you know my name isa Lari (Larry)" he is the only South American who has done that thus far so we got along great.
Okay Hostal living 101. Yes you can sleep in your underwear but I repeat you should NOT, NOT walk around your SHARED dorm room in your underwear! I don´t know why but it only seems to be the Australian & German men who seem to do this. If it was boxers (and good looking men) I would not mind so much but these guys I have been fortunate (unfortunate) to share rooms with always seem to be older, not so good looking and ALWAYS wear the little bikini briefs. Now there is not much room in a 4 person dorm so when you all are getting ready for your day and there is this guy in his small blue underwear combing his hair in front of the only mirror...jeez get some pants on! I felt like Father Harry was right there in the room! (those who know my father harry stores will get this others will have to wait for the book).
Okay let me get back to El Calafate. The only thing really near here are the glaciers. They were incredible. My first tour was on a big boat with about 50 other ppl. Side note: If you ever go there try to get on a small boat. They seem to have more leverage getting up close to the smaller glaciers). It was a rather comincal ride. So when we would come upon a small glacier everyone would rush over to get a picture so if you were not on the "right" side of the boat the chances of you getting a good shot of yourself in front were slim...and I got frustrated the first few times and then I started to laugh at the ppl. This is ice we are taking a pictures of...froen water. Then I got the hang of the boat. The captain would hang around some of the big ones a while so you just had to be patient until ppl got cold or bored and then you had a great shot. I met a man from Germany and we formed a picture taking bond. He would take my camera, I his and take pics of each other. It worked great. The first glacier (it was an all day boat trip where we went to 3 huge glaciers) was great I got some great photos...then I reformatted my camera to get better quality pics and erased everything I had on the camera...yep that would be something I would do. Luckily my German friend said he would send me his. So lets hope he remembers!. I still had two more Glaciers to go...
Sitting behind me were two women from Ireland. Susan and Mary. Can´t get any more irish than that. They were great and we hit it off. On the boat trip there was a lot of down time traveling to each glacier so we got to talking. very funny they kept saying they needed a glacier romance. Our chances on this boat were slim.
The last and most famous of the three was Petito Morano. It is famous because it is the most vocal, meaning that you can hear and see big chunks of ice fall into the the water and the site sounds are amazing! Loud booms and gun shots. Okay so the boat is just kind of hanging out in one spot. I have a great spot that I am NOT about to give up so I wait patiently becasue it seems we are waiting for something. So a lilttle piece of ice falls into the lake and everyones camera goes up to that spot and waits...camera´s aimed and ready. Looking around I see a lot of NICE cameras with huge lenses that can get 100 shots in 5 seconds...I feel so inadequate with mine and the small lense and I get about 1 shot every min (as soon as I get back I am getting a better camera!!!). So I flip mine to the movie setting and waited. You kind of feel foolish waiting, so I started taking bets with the people around me where the next big piece was going to fall. The woman next to me said right in front of us will drop next. So I told her we had to "Be the glacier, imagine it falling in..." Right then a small piece dropped I switched on my camera and then a HUGE chunk of ice fell into the water. I am not sure you can hear it on my camera becasue of my "holy shit" right next to the mic but it was amazing. Then the boat gunned his engine because a massive wave was headed our way. It was amazing and well worth the wait. Then we all had our camera up and ready to go for the next one but alas no.
After our glacier dventure we went out for drinks. Along the way to the bar I met my blue bikined roommate Alex (again late 50´s in age - picture it blue bikini underwear...yep my roommate). They invited him along...I could not say NO HE is the one who WEARS BLUE BAKINI UNDERWEAR. I had mentioned it to them nd then they figured it out. However he SEEMED like an okay guy so we all went out for drinks. It was agood night and then we decided to meet up for Dinner the next night. It was an awesome dinner (La Tablitha). Good conversation UNTIL Alex started down a conversation path one should not take with 3 women. It was rather a bizarre conversation and I am not sure I want to put it down. So ask me about it when you see me...
Okay Hostal living 101. Yes you can sleep in your underwear but I repeat you should NOT, NOT walk around your SHARED dorm room in your underwear! I don´t know why but it only seems to be the Australian & German men who seem to do this. If it was boxers (and good looking men) I would not mind so much but these guys I have been fortunate (unfortunate) to share rooms with always seem to be older, not so good looking and ALWAYS wear the little bikini briefs. Now there is not much room in a 4 person dorm so when you all are getting ready for your day and there is this guy in his small blue underwear combing his hair in front of the only mirror...jeez get some pants on! I felt like Father Harry was right there in the room! (those who know my father harry stores will get this others will have to wait for the book).
Okay let me get back to El Calafate. The only thing really near here are the glaciers. They were incredible. My first tour was on a big boat with about 50 other ppl. Side note: If you ever go there try to get on a small boat. They seem to have more leverage getting up close to the smaller glaciers). It was a rather comincal ride. So when we would come upon a small glacier everyone would rush over to get a picture so if you were not on the "right" side of the boat the chances of you getting a good shot of yourself in front were slim...and I got frustrated the first few times and then I started to laugh at the ppl. This is ice we are taking a pictures of...froen water. Then I got the hang of the boat. The captain would hang around some of the big ones a while so you just had to be patient until ppl got cold or bored and then you had a great shot. I met a man from Germany and we formed a picture taking bond. He would take my camera, I his and take pics of each other. It worked great. The first glacier (it was an all day boat trip where we went to 3 huge glaciers) was great I got some great photos...then I reformatted my camera to get better quality pics and erased everything I had on the camera...yep that would be something I would do. Luckily my German friend said he would send me his. So lets hope he remembers!. I still had two more Glaciers to go...
Sitting behind me were two women from Ireland. Susan and Mary. Can´t get any more irish than that. They were great and we hit it off. On the boat trip there was a lot of down time traveling to each glacier so we got to talking. very funny they kept saying they needed a glacier romance. Our chances on this boat were slim.
The last and most famous of the three was Petito Morano. It is famous because it is the most vocal, meaning that you can hear and see big chunks of ice fall into the the water and the site sounds are amazing! Loud booms and gun shots. Okay so the boat is just kind of hanging out in one spot. I have a great spot that I am NOT about to give up so I wait patiently becasue it seems we are waiting for something. So a lilttle piece of ice falls into the lake and everyones camera goes up to that spot and waits...camera´s aimed and ready. Looking around I see a lot of NICE cameras with huge lenses that can get 100 shots in 5 seconds...I feel so inadequate with mine and the small lense and I get about 1 shot every min (as soon as I get back I am getting a better camera!!!). So I flip mine to the movie setting and waited. You kind of feel foolish waiting, so I started taking bets with the people around me where the next big piece was going to fall. The woman next to me said right in front of us will drop next. So I told her we had to "Be the glacier, imagine it falling in..." Right then a small piece dropped I switched on my camera and then a HUGE chunk of ice fell into the water. I am not sure you can hear it on my camera becasue of my "holy shit" right next to the mic but it was amazing. Then the boat gunned his engine because a massive wave was headed our way. It was amazing and well worth the wait. Then we all had our camera up and ready to go for the next one but alas no.
After our glacier dventure we went out for drinks. Along the way to the bar I met my blue bikined roommate Alex (again late 50´s in age - picture it blue bikini underwear...yep my roommate). They invited him along...I could not say NO HE is the one who WEARS BLUE BAKINI UNDERWEAR. I had mentioned it to them nd then they figured it out. However he SEEMED like an okay guy so we all went out for drinks. It was agood night and then we decided to meet up for Dinner the next night. It was an awesome dinner (La Tablitha). Good conversation UNTIL Alex started down a conversation path one should not take with 3 women. It was rather a bizarre conversation and I am not sure I want to put it down. So ask me about it when you see me...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Ushuaia - Fin del Mundo
Ushuaia is the southernmost city in Argentina hence the name...end of the world. It sits on the Beagle Channel and Chile is a stone throw away. Anartica is a couple hours away. I spent two weeks here learning Spanish. I am really not sure I learned too much more however it is so beautiful I really did not mind. My housemates were a guy from France, Gerard, who spoke little Spanish (with a very thick French accent and no English) and Tia (aunt) Maria who lives in the casa and makes my desayuno (breakfast) which consists of the typical south american breakfast of Pan(bread), jelly and coffee (Nescafe -however she makes REAL coffee for me ;) con leche (hot milk). God I would kill for an egg mcmuffin.
Gerard and I actually went out to dinner. Because he speaks very little Spanish (w/a thick French accent) and no English and I speak very little Spanish and French for that matter, it was a comical conversation. The waitress, who spoke English and Spanish translated half of our conversation and was laughing at us the whole time. She ended up having some wine with us.
Ushaia sits at the bottom of Glacier Martial. I hiked up there one day, had some glacier water which was very nice and then a nice bowl of pumkin soup! Yum. Ushuaia also is near of Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was awesome. There are so many trails and long hikes (my knees do not like me) and it is where the end of Ruta 3 ends which runs the whole of Argentina. I actually could spend another week here.
I was here for Thanksgiving. No one here has or had been to a "USA" thanksgiving (I can no longer say American because we are ALL Americano here) dinner.
I HAD to remedy this. One problem I have NEVER done this before by myself. Who am I kidding I never have. Of course I have helped with a wonderful side dish or two. Normally I am in charge of decor. Bless Google and my family who helped me through this.
They actually do have Pavo (Turkey) here, albeit only one size, but it did the job. I was making dinner for 8ppl. Thank god patatas (potatoes) are big here. Herbs and spices another matter. They do not seem to add anything to anything. The mashed potatoes (patatas trituradas) are pretty bland here, so of course everyone was in for a surprise with what I was going to make.
I did a very basic "USA" Thanksgiving. Normally in my family we have very extravagant dishes but since this was their first...Igiv`em a good ole meat and potatoes dinner with some stuffing. (Never heard or had cranberries here so none of that).
Menu: Butternut Squash Soup to start (IT was OUTSTANDING if I do say so myself), Turkey, Stuffing (two kinds one with meat one without -we had one vegetarian which is rare in these parts), TWO kinds of patats triturdas; garlic and sweet potatoes w honey, grilled asparagus with a light balsamic reduction and of course pan(bread). ALL this was made with 3 pots, and one pan for the turkey). The turkey was cooked in an oven that had NO temperatures only two icons a big and little flame. Everywhere on Google: "it is very important when cooking a turkey to keep it at a certain temperature". Whatever...I stuck it in there and hoped for the best. The dessert was made by Ana the woman who owns the school (and the house I lived in for two weeks and who drank wine with me practically every night...no I am not losing any weight on this trip...I wonder why?): Choco torte, it is made with the staple "Dulce de leche". It is sold in the stores here and it is sooo good (hmmmm stocking stuffer?). The Frenchie of course brought the Champagne and everyone else vino.
By 9pm everything was ready to go...9 PM you say? Yep. Actually the normal time to eat dinner is 10pm, they made an exception for this special night.
They had many questions about what I did, what was normal etc...and how Thanksgiving came to be. Why ask me? I am an "American".
Do we all know the story of Thanksgiving and how it came to be? No...GOOGLE IT. That is what I did and then I Babel fished it for the Spanish translation...oh yeah I looked really good. It is actually not what I thought. Especially on how it came to be on the last Thursday in November, politicians, gotta love em.
Then I told them that my family normally holds hands and goes around the table and says what they are most thankful for...I should have explained that this is normally just a few things and what you are MOST thankful for. 30min later, the soup is cold and needs to be reheated. I am not really sure what they said or what they were thankful for because it was all in Spanish. However, I think they really got into it and were very happy to share.
Dinner actually went off without a hitch. Turkey was muy perfecto. Finally at 12AM we were ready to have dessert and Champagne. By 2:30 am the wine was all gone and I had to get up for school at 8am, luckily my professor was drinking as much as I was so I told him I did not do my homework (tarear) and I would be late for class the next day. No problema.
Next stop is El Calafate and El Cheltan for some more hiking.
Gerard and I actually went out to dinner. Because he speaks very little Spanish (w/a thick French accent) and no English and I speak very little Spanish and French for that matter, it was a comical conversation. The waitress, who spoke English and Spanish translated half of our conversation and was laughing at us the whole time. She ended up having some wine with us.
Ushaia sits at the bottom of Glacier Martial. I hiked up there one day, had some glacier water which was very nice and then a nice bowl of pumkin soup! Yum. Ushuaia also is near of Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was awesome. There are so many trails and long hikes (my knees do not like me) and it is where the end of Ruta 3 ends which runs the whole of Argentina. I actually could spend another week here.
I was here for Thanksgiving. No one here has or had been to a "USA" thanksgiving (I can no longer say American because we are ALL Americano here) dinner.
I HAD to remedy this. One problem I have NEVER done this before by myself. Who am I kidding I never have. Of course I have helped with a wonderful side dish or two. Normally I am in charge of decor. Bless Google and my family who helped me through this.
They actually do have Pavo (Turkey) here, albeit only one size, but it did the job. I was making dinner for 8ppl. Thank god patatas (potatoes) are big here. Herbs and spices another matter. They do not seem to add anything to anything. The mashed potatoes (patatas trituradas) are pretty bland here, so of course everyone was in for a surprise with what I was going to make.
I did a very basic "USA" Thanksgiving. Normally in my family we have very extravagant dishes but since this was their first...Igiv`em a good ole meat and potatoes dinner with some stuffing. (Never heard or had cranberries here so none of that).
Menu: Butternut Squash Soup to start (IT was OUTSTANDING if I do say so myself), Turkey, Stuffing (two kinds one with meat one without -we had one vegetarian which is rare in these parts), TWO kinds of patats triturdas; garlic and sweet potatoes w honey, grilled asparagus with a light balsamic reduction and of course pan(bread). ALL this was made with 3 pots, and one pan for the turkey). The turkey was cooked in an oven that had NO temperatures only two icons a big and little flame. Everywhere on Google: "it is very important when cooking a turkey to keep it at a certain temperature". Whatever...I stuck it in there and hoped for the best. The dessert was made by Ana the woman who owns the school (and the house I lived in for two weeks and who drank wine with me practically every night...no I am not losing any weight on this trip...I wonder why?): Choco torte, it is made with the staple "Dulce de leche". It is sold in the stores here and it is sooo good (hmmmm stocking stuffer?). The Frenchie of course brought the Champagne and everyone else vino.
By 9pm everything was ready to go...9 PM you say? Yep. Actually the normal time to eat dinner is 10pm, they made an exception for this special night.
They had many questions about what I did, what was normal etc...and how Thanksgiving came to be. Why ask me? I am an "American".
Do we all know the story of Thanksgiving and how it came to be? No...GOOGLE IT. That is what I did and then I Babel fished it for the Spanish translation...oh yeah I looked really good. It is actually not what I thought. Especially on how it came to be on the last Thursday in November, politicians, gotta love em.
Then I told them that my family normally holds hands and goes around the table and says what they are most thankful for...I should have explained that this is normally just a few things and what you are MOST thankful for. 30min later, the soup is cold and needs to be reheated. I am not really sure what they said or what they were thankful for because it was all in Spanish. However, I think they really got into it and were very happy to share.
Dinner actually went off without a hitch. Turkey was muy perfecto. Finally at 12AM we were ready to have dessert and Champagne. By 2:30 am the wine was all gone and I had to get up for school at 8am, luckily my professor was drinking as much as I was so I told him I did not do my homework (tarear) and I would be late for class the next day. No problema.
Next stop is El Calafate and El Cheltan for some more hiking.
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