Patagonian Adventures

Patagonia is SO amazing. Some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen (I need to come back to do Torres del Pine cause I have heard it is the best, next time).

In Ushuaia, we just hiked a lot. My last day there, we were all feeling pretty lazy, but at around 3pm we decided to hike up to the local, mini glacier. Once we got to the mountain, it was was straight up hill in snow up to our ankles. Our Captain, Lucas, made foot prints for us to step in so we didn´t sink, and we made it to the top and it was totally worth it. We couldnt see the glacier cause it was covered in snow, but the view was spectacular. We made coffee, haha, which was hilarious, took a picture and then started heading down. What took us 2 hours to hike up, took us ten minutes to go down because we sat on our butts and slid all the way down, it was definitely a high light!

Pic from top of glacier

From Ushuaia, Ms. Ines decided to join the 19 hour bus ride to El Calafate. El Calafate is known for the Perito Moreno glacier, which is cool, but thats about all you do there. We however, were lucky enough to make friends with the people from the hostel and spent our 2 days roaming around town and cooking fabulous dinners.

Me, Federico and Ines and our kick ass dinner.

To get to the glacier, you are supposed to take a bus, which is about $25, and then pay an entry fee of about $11, to go stand, and look at a glacier, take a few pics, and leave. Thank God for Israelis and their brilliant ideas, 5 of us decided to rent a car, get to the park before it opened so we didn't have to pay the entry fee and beat the crowds. It was only $15 a person. Bargain.

At the glacier

From El Calafate, I said my good-byes (or see you laters) and headed to El Chalten. El Chalten is a tiny, tiny town that was thrown together is 1985 to claim the land before Chile. It is known for the Fitz Roy range, which again, is stunning. I stayed at the coolest hostel where the guys loved their live concerts on DVD. When we watched Motley Crue, I thought of you Lindsay. Haha.

I was in El Chalten for 3 days, hiked the first day to Laguna de los Tres, which took about 8 hours round trip. At the top, there are glacier lagunas that are so clean and clear you can drink out of them. In fact, you could drink from all the water sources in the park, which was really cool, to stop and fill your water bottle from a creek. I haven´t gotten sick yet, so I think I am ok!

The bluest water!

Fitz Roy in the back at the Laguna



On the hike.

The next day, I decided I should try camping by myself. I rented a tent and headed out to Laguna Torre. At this point, my camera died, so I have no pictures, but I set up camp, hung out, cooked dinner and realized that camping alone is a little boring. It was nice, I got to read, write in my journal, enjoy the scenery, but it is light until 11pm here, so that is a lot of time to kill before bed time. Good experience, but I think next time I want a friend.

I left El Chalten on Thursday night and sat on a bus for 30 some hours to get to where I am now, El Bolson, hippie town Argentina. My ankles are still swollen from sitting so long and I am worried they may never get back to normal size. I have kankles!!! NOOOOO!!!!

Yesterday, we (me, Ben from France, Felix from Germany and Seth from Washington), went to outdoor markets, where I got a hippie shirt and necklace and a bag of cherries, and then we headed to the lake, which was awesome. We are going back today to spend the day walking around and swimming. My first swim since I left!

Tomorrow I will head north to Bariloche, where I will hopefully, have normal sized ankles, do my laundry, eat some chocolate (its known for chocolate), and do some more hiking.

I miss everyone, hope you are doing well! Love you!