My last week - Buenos Aires & the journey home!

All I will say about my 48-hour journey from just about the furthest point in South America all the way up to the capital city of Buenos Aires was that it was LONG! It wasn't that unusual for me to have a 20-hour journey, especially in Argentina, but 48 was definitely the longest straight bus ride I took on my whole trip. I spent 2 nights on the same bus, in the same seat. And of course, the TV didn't work, so there was a lot of time to either read or do a whole lot of nothing. The strangest thing was that my ankles swelled up SO much, I guess from all of those hours with my feet basically on the floor. Really it wasn't even just my ankles - it was from my toes to my knees! It went away at night in BA because I slept with them elevated and wrapped, but as the day went on, they would swell up again. Then I guess the long flights back to the US didn't help either because I was probably home for a week before they finally went back to their normal size. I know you are wondering if it was really that bad, so I will provide you with a picture to prove it!

When I finally arrived in BA at 7 a.m., I was exhausted, swollen (!), and ready for some real food and to meet up with my friend Birgit, who I would be staying with for the week. I had been nervous about trying to find the right bus that would take me to her apartment - she had given me minimal directions, and although it probably seemed so obvious and easy to her, I knew that it was a huge city and that, given the language barrier, it would actually not be as easy as she made it sound. I was right! After wandering around the bus station for awhile, I found the area where the local buses left from, and of course the bus number she had given me was not leaving from that area! So I went back inside and wandered around more, eventually asking at information (which, yes, I should have done in the first place!), and they pointed me in the right direction. I was so happy to find the correct bus, and when I got on, I told the driver the cross streets I needed to get off at, and he confirmed that was in the San Telmo neighborhood, to which I said yes, and so I sat down expecting that he would let me know when we got there - usually the big old backpack and broken Spanish was enough to alert someone that I needed a bit more help than the average person, but apparently I should have specifically asked him to tell me when we got there so that I could get off. Eventually I was the last person on the bus, and we arrived at the end of the route! Frustrated, I tried to explain to him once again where I had wanted to go, and he just kept pointing at a little kiosk on the corner and telling me to get off. So, even though I didn't know where I was, or what the person at the kiosk would be able to do for me, I did as he said and got off and went up to the girl and once again attempted to tell her where I wanted to go. She didn't speak any English, and things got even more frustrating from that point on! The best I could figure out  (after the fact) was that all I needed to do was buy another ticket from them to get back on the same bus. They started telling me something about 100 pesos, which was a lot of money, and really confused me. The combination of being exhausted and the language barrier frustrated me so much that I was near tears! I looked at all of the faces around me, and desperately asked if anyone spoke English - no one did! I thought, I am in BA, a big city, and not one of these people can help me?! One lady was especially sweet and tried to talk to me despite the language problem, and eventually we were able to figure out that yes, I did just need to get back on the same bus, and the girl at the kiosk was just trying to give me change so that I could buy the bus fare - they gave me change for my 100 pesos, 20 of them in coins! This exchange confirmed for me that after 5 months in South America, my Spanish was still remedial at best, and I need to learn it better! So I waited for the bus to come back, and of course it was the same driver! I almost didn't get back on because it was him, but he motioned to me to get on, and that time, he did tell me when to get off! From there, I could easily follow a map and it was a short walk to Birgit's apartment! All in all, it had taken me three hours to find her place, but I was SO happy to get there and see a familiar face!

Birgit's apartment was so cute, and it was awesome to be able to stay at a friend's for once instead of in a hostel! I took a nice hot shower and then we walked to the big San Telmo antiques market and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. That afternoon, we took the bus to American bar called Shoeless Joe's so that we (ok, so I could watch it, but Birgit was so great to accompany me) could watch the Packer's game! After an undefeated season thus far, what should have been an easy win for us against the Kansas City Chiefs, was our first loss! I couldn't believe that, after all of the trouble I had had attempting to watch the games over the past couple of months, the one I was finally able to really watch was a loss! Despite that sad fact, it was still so fun to walk into a bar in Argentina and see other people with Packer's jerseys on! Of course we sat with them, and it turned out that Birgit had played ultimate frisbee with one of them, who was from Colombia, and had become a Packer's fan by way of a video game that he played growing up in Medellin, Colombia - he had chosen the Packers as his team, and just decided to become a fan! He, his brother, and two of their friends would go together to watch the games at a bar in Medellin, and now he was going to school in Buenos Aires. There really are Packer's fans everywhere! There was also a white-haired couple that came in and they were a hoot! They are from the Madison area, had been high school sweethearts and had recently gotten back together after several decades. And so, despite the sad loss that day, it was a really fun afternoon!

That night, we walked to my first milonga, which had a live orchestra. The bad thing about tango is that, while it is definitely fun to watch, if you haven't taken any kind of lessons at all, you can't really even try it. It is a really specific dance, and you have to know what to do, even for the first step, and you need to know the little things, like how a man will ask you to dance, and how you will accept! It was fun for me to watch Birgit dance, but since I couldn't do it myself, I was falling asleep! The next morning, while I slept in, Birgit went out and came back with the makings for a delicious breakfast! We had medialunas (like croissants, but more dense and sweet - in Argentina everything is more sweet!), fruit, fresh-squeezed (by us) orange juice, and Colombian coffee made with the French press! That afternoon, we went to the famous (and VERY small) neighborhood called La Boca. In the evening, we went to a drum show, La Bomba de Tiempo, that had been highly recommended to me by other travelers - clearly it was a very touristy thing to do, since Birgit hadn't even heard of it, and since a lot of the audience seemed to be foreign as well. I did see my Swedish friends Johanna and Elin there, which was nice, and we watched the performance together and met out later for a beer.

La Boca

The next day, we went to Chinatown, where I was able to find ingredients for my guacamole that were surprisingly hard to find in all of Argentina - limes and cilantro! Back at her apartment, we made the guac and then walked over to a really nice loft of two British friends of hers for a Christmas party! All of the girls there spoke English as their first language, but had been living in BA for varying amounts of time and were fluent in Spanish - thankfully, they took pity on me and spoke in English. They had hot mulled wine, which was especially funny since it was like 90 degrees there and we were all sweating! For me, it was really nice to hear the Christmas music since it was only five days until Christmas! It's hard to believe, but other countries don't make such a big, commercialized deal about Christmas, and I had hardly known it was even coming up! Then we took the bus to La Catedral, another very touristy tango place, and then went to a disco until 4 in the morning. The next day, I met up with Anette again, and we saw some more of BA together, and then searched for an open seafood market late at night for sushi-grade salmon, so that we could make sushi back at Birgit's apartment. We never did find any salmon, but we made vegetarian sushi anyway, and a lot of it! It was a really fun night that included me running in the rain for several blocks to find an open wine store so that we could have some with our midnight sushi dinner!

It was hard to believe that the next day was my last full day in BA! Birgit and I wandered around a bit to find some gifts for me to bring to people, and then we went that night to her favorite parilla - I HAD to get some of that amazing Argentinian steak I kept hearing about! Unfortunately, even though we got there early and there were a lot of empty tables, they wouldn't seat us since we didn't have a reservation! While we waited for Anette to meet us, we tried to figure out what else to do, and ended up chatting with 3 American men who were eating there. They somehow convinced the staff that we should be able to fit at their table despite there not actually being room for 3 more people! Since it was the only way we would actually be able to eat there, we accepted and sat with them for the remainder of their time there, and then got to keep the table when they left. The meat and wine (Malbec, of course!) did not disappoint - it was delicious, and gave me a new appreciation for GOOD steak! Once again, the meat was very pink, but I ignored that and enjoyed it immensely! Then we went to Birgit's favorite bar and listened to her friend's band play Pearl Jam covers, which was funny. After that (hey, it was the last night of my around-the-world adventure - there was no time for sleeping!) we went to find a place where we could salsa dance, and once again stayed out until about 4 in the morning! Later that morning, I woke up not believing that my trip was actually ending! Thankfully, my flight didn't leave until that evening, so I had time to pack and get some other last-minute shopping done. Anette came over and went with me to find some souveniers and buy some delicious Malbecs to take back to the US with me. When I was all packed, Birgit and Anette walked with me to the bus stop for the airport bus, which was really nice.

Ready for the journey home!

At first, the number 8 buses kept coming, but the drivers all said no when asked whether they were going to the aeropuerto! It was frustrating, and eventually started to make me nervous due to the time, but I knew that I would be able to get a taxi for a lot more money, but that it would get me there in time to make my flight. After waiting for almost an hour, we finally saw the bus coming with the big red sign in the window saying that it was going to the airport, and so I hugged my friends goodbye for the third time and got on it! Even though I knew that the ride to the airport could take anywhere from one to two hours, the journey seemed excessively long, and I started to worry once again that I would miss my flight. The bus finally dropped me off at the airport at 9 p.m., and my flight was at 10:30 p.m. - yikes! I had to wander around just to find the international terminal, which was made more difficult by the huge box of wine bottles that I was carrying in addition to my two backpacks. When I found the right terminal, there was no one else in line at my airline (they had probably all checked in by then, of course), which I thought was really great luck. The guys at the counter checked me in, but then told me that I needed to have my box of wine wrapped in heavy-duty plastic, and in order to do this, I had to go back outside and pay one of several boys doing that job 70 pesos, which was ridiculously expensive, but at that point, I had no choice! Then I went back inside and made it through security, no problem, and thought I was going to make it. Then I saw the line for passport control, which was REALLY LONG! I proceeded to be very nervous while I waited in that line! I watched the screens that announced flight status for my flight go from "on time" to "boarding" and I am pretty sure that they said "last call" as I finally made it up to the counter! Thankfully, the passport check went quickly, and what was the most amazing was that my gate was actually right around the corner! I ran up to the door, and am sure that I was the last person on the plane since they closed the doors RIGHT after I walked through them! Note to self - allow more time!! That was way too stressful! I arrived in Mexico City at 5:30 a.m., and then waited several hours for the final flight of my trip, to Chicago! When I landed on U.S. soil, it felt so surreal to be home, and to have completed that amazing journey! When I went through immigration, the officer asked me to name all 28 countries that I had been to, which was a challenge, but fun! Then I went through customs, where the guy asked me what I had been doing in Argentina, to which I replied that I had taken an around-the-world trip, and then he simply replied "welcome home." Eventually, I exited, expecting my dad to be there waiting for me, but he wasn't! So I checked the board, and sure enough, it had the wrong door listed that I was supposed to come out of! So I looked down towards that door, and there he was, waiting!

Yup, he sure dressed up for the occasion! He brought me cheese curds, chocolates, and clean, warm clothes since it was winter in Chicago! The drive back to Appleton went smoothly, especially since it was Christmas Eve afternoon, and since there was no snow. The best thing about getting home in time for Christmas was that I got to see ALL of my family! Usually we can't all make it home at the same time, but I had requested that everyone really try to do so this time since I had missed them all during my year abroad. It was great just spending time with them and assimilating slowly back into the USA!

My nephews and niece

Dad, me, and my siblings

The whole family

Argentina (and a little trek in Chile) - Part 3

Cerro Torre

Before Anette and I left El Calafate, we had heard that we needed to stock up on groceries since there wouldn't be much available where we were heading next, and what was available would be expensive. So we spent the morning buying groceries that we would need for a couple of days of hiking, and when we arrived in the small town of El Chaltan, we had to run to our hostel in the rain - thankfully it was only about 2 blocks away from the bus station! We were disappointed that the weather was cold and rainy, but not for long, because about an hour after we got there, the sun came out, and so did the main attractions - the beautiful (and famous) mountain peaks of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy! We were even able to sit outside and have a beer, with a perfect view of Torre. Even in the summer, the weather this far South in Patagonia can be undependable, and the locals told us that we were very lucky while we were there - the forecast for the next two days during which we were going to be hiking was supposed to get better each day. The next day we did the Cerro Torre hike, which basically just took us nearer to it for some good views and photo ops. The whole hike took about 8 hours, and definitely made me realize that I was out of shape, especially when hiking with Anette, who seemed like that was all she ever did! The next day, we did the other main hike, the Cerro Fitz Roy, which was even more challenging for me! This hike was equally beautiful, and we had one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL views (a glacier dropping chunks of ice into a milky alpine lake with Fitz Roy towering over it all) while we literally inhaled our lunch - because then we had to high-tail it back down so that we didn't miss our bus back to El Calafate!

Cerro Fitz Roy

We spent another night in El Calafate because that was where we had to get our bus to the border and then on to the small Chilean town of Puerto Natales. Once again, there were no problems crossing the border (other than the cold weather and long lines). Since we got into town late, most of the hostels were full and we had to walk around for a long time to find a room - we ended up in a little mom-and-pop guest house that was still under construction, but we got a room to ourselves which was nice. The next morning we rushed around like crazy getting everything ready for our 4-night world-famous Patagonian trek called "The W."  We had to rent most of the equipment, which included a small 2-person tent, 2 sleeping mats, a sleeping bag for me, a smaller backpack for me, a fleece for me (I did NOT have warm enough clothes, and Patagonia was COLD!), a mess kit (2 plate/bowls, 2 cups, silverware, and a pot), a small gas burner and 2 small propane tanks. The place we rented from actually made us set up the tent in the park across the street to make sure that all the pieces were included, and I suppose to make sure we knew what we were doing (thank God Anette did, because I think if it had just been me, it would have taken me a lot longer to figure out)! While we were putting up the tent, we had a preview of what was to come as it got really windy and rainy just for that short amount of time! We also had to go grocery shopping to get ALL of our food for the 5 days, and we had to pack. There was not enough time before our bus left, and we were in the midst of finishing packing and boiling a dozen eggs when our ride came to pick us up (earlier than expected) to take us to our bus! Needless to say, that was a pretty stressful morning! We got to our bus, which took us to the entrance of the Torres del Paine National Park, where we paid our entrance fee of $15,000 Chilean Pesos (about $US31), and then got on a boat which took us across a bumpy but beautiful milky turquoise lake to our starting point.

Patagonian Mountains

There was a refugio (refuge/campground/hotel) there where we made sure we were good a ready for our first hike. Initially, it was a lovely walk through some meadows and between mountains, and as we started our first climb, the weather completely changed! The wind picked up and quickly turned into a steady gale-force, and it began sleeting, hailing, and raining, the combination of which was very painful on my face, and made it so I literally could not walk forward! I ended up being blown backwards and tried to take refuge under a small tree with another lady! Eventually the more hardy Anette realized I was not behind her and came back to find me - we were all soaking wet and cold, and I was grateful for my quick-drying pants and rain jacket! Thankfully, that would end up being the worst weather we encountered on our entire trek - good thing, since at that point (only about half an hour into our first hike) I was really wondering what I had gotten myself into! The rest of our 4-hour trek was beautiful and blessedly dry, and we got to our destination campsite at Grey Glacier at about 10:30 p.m. and still had some light to set up the tent by (being so far South, it stayed light really late). Unfortunately, another thing that came along with being so far South, and next to a lake with huge chunks of ice from the glacier floating by, was how cold it was, especially that late at night. The cold made our hands numb, which made it quite hard in general to put up the tent. By the time we were done, it was dark and we were exhausted! We ate a small dinner inside the tent and went to sleep. I woke up during the night shivering and could not get warm, despite wearing a lot of clothes, socks, and a hat. In the morning, Anette woke up to only my nose sticking out of my sleeping bag! We got up and made breakfast, and left our tent up with our packs in it, and hiked up to get a good view of the glacier. Then we packed up again and headed back to the refugio we started at, where we had lunch and then hiked about 2.5 more hours to our next destination, Campamento Italiano. Here we set up our tent in a beautiful area with high trees all around us and a rushing river about 100 feet away. Some of the cool things about the trek were that most of the camping was free, and our water source was the rivers! The downfall of the free aspect was that maybe they couldn't afford cleaning/maintenance people, because at this particular site, three of the four bathrooms were locked/out-of order when we arrived, and by the next morning, all four of them were locked! Let's just say that I got really good at squatting on this trip! That night, our dinner was instant potatoes (boring and tasteless), canned tuna, and nuts - yes, I started eating nuts more on this trip (an amazing fact for those of you who know me)!

The next morning we slept in, which was lovely and much-needed, and I am happy to report that I was not cold at all at night in that campground! We were going to stay there for two nights, so it was nice to be able to leave the tent up, and most of our stuff in it. We took only the small pack that I had rented, and took turns wearing it - it was really nice to get a break and hike with no pack, even for a little while! We hiked for about 3 hours up to the mirador (lookout), where we could see the mountains, the valley, and several lakes off in the distance - it was definitely amazing! That night, we made 2 kinds of pasta (due to Anette's celiac disease) and chatted with Paul from the U.S., who was on a 2-year bike trip from Alaska to Ushuaia (which he was almost to) ~ and some of you thought I was crazy!! We went to bed fairly early (for us, anyway) since we had the longest day of hiking ahead of us.

A glacier on top of a moutain!

We got up at 6 a.m. the next morning, had breakfast, packed up, and headed out. The weather that day was absolutely perfect, and we made sure to take some good breaks for lunch and chocolate (yes, we took "chocolate breaks" and I highly recommend them for any hike - dark chocolate really does make everything better!), and to enjoy the spectacular scenery. All together, we hiked for about 8 hours instead of the predicted 10. During that hike, we were crossing a river by stepping on boulders, and I had a hard time finding appropriate rocks to step on, and the river was very wide. A nice gentleman tried to help me by showing me where to step, and offered me his walking stick, but somehow I still ended up stepping right into the rushing water! I lasted for about 10 minutes after finally making it across before I had to stop and change my soaking wet socks. About an hour before our destination for the night, there was another refugio, which we were super excited to find out sold boxed wine and chocolate! We made it to our next campsite, Campamento Torres, around 8 p.m. and set up our tent in another beautiful area surrounded by trees. It was really nice to have a couple of hours to relax and chat and enjoy our wine together:)


Before sunrise on top of the world!


The next morning, we got up at 3:30 a.m. in order to hike up to the Base de las Torres (the base of the famous Torres del Paine mountains), which was supposed to be amazing at sunrise. It took about an hour of straight uphill climbing, and then when we got up there, we decided to go further up than most people, and hiked up a lot of large boulders to the highest point, which was definitely worth the extra sweating, since the view up there was breathtaking! Since the temperature was pretty cold that early, the sweat we had generated on the hike up froze pretty quickly as we waiting for the sun to come up - good thing we had thought ahead and brought a sleeping bag to wrap up in! Because we were so high, we were able to watch the sun come up, as well as see it slowly light up the three peaks of the Torres del Paine and the lagoon below them.

Torres del Paine

I wrote in my journal that this experience felt like the culmination of my entire trip, which was fitting since I had only just over a week left before I would be heading back home! It was really hard to leave the view up there, both because of it's beauty, and because it was hard to move due to how cold I had gotten by then! We hiked back down and made breakfast and packed up, once again dealing with a disgusting bathroom - at least it was unlocked, but I think I would have preferred squatting to what was probably the most disgusting bathroom I have seen in my life! The bathrooms and lack of sanitation is really the only complaint I have about the entire trek! Then we hiked our final 3-hours back to the place where we would catch the shuttle back to the entrance of the park. We arrived back in Puerto Natales and returned our rented equipment, and then found out that ALL of the buses to Ushuaia (where Anette was going) and Rio Gallegos (where I was going) were full for the next day! We were both disappointed because we really wanted to get to our respective destinations sooner, but since we had no choice, we made the most of our extra two nights in Puerto Natales by going to a couple of nice restaurants and walking around the town, which turned out to be quite cute.

Puerto Natales

It ended up being really hard for me to get to Rio Gallegos, which was strange considering the large number of tourists that need to go between two of the main cities in Southern Patagonia. It turned out that there was only a direct bus between them two days a week, and of course neither of those two days was close. I ended up booking a ticket to a town that was further South in Chile called Punto Arenas, where I was the only one to get dropped off at a random place that seemed like an office, but turned out to be the bus station where I caught my bus to Rio Gallegos. When I booked the ticket to Rio Gallegos while I was still in Puerto Natales, I was hoping that I would be able to go online at an internet cafe and book the onward ticket from Rio Gallegos ALL THE WAY to Buenos Aires. This was actually not an easy task at all! I realized that there was only one ticket left, and when I tried to book it, they wouldn't let me use my only credit card because it was MasterCard! Apparently they only took Visa! So, all I can say is Thank God for Anette! She had a Visa and was willing to let me charge the ticket on it with just my promise to pay her back in cash when we met up again in Buenos Aires in a few days! Once the site finally confirmed the purchase, I still wasn't confident that the whole thing had actually worked, which made me pretty nervous - I really didn't want to get stuck in Rio Gallegos, and from there it would still be a two day journey to Buenos Aires! When I arrived in Rio Gallegos, I still had an 8-hour wait until my bus to Buenos Aires was scheduled to leave. Since I was really worried about making sure I actually had successfully purchased the ticket, I went right away to the counter for that bus company, and tried to explain to the man that I needed to know if I had the ticket, and needed it printed out, but that attempt was to no avail because it turned out that the computer in his office was not working! He told me to come back in an hour, which I did, and it still wasn't working (yes, it seemed that all of the other computers at the other counters were working just fine!), and it wasn't working for several hours after that either! I kept checking back and getting more nervous as the departure time kept getting closer and closer! FINALLY, at 7:30 p.m. (the bus was scheduled to depart at 8 p.m.!), his computer was magically working, and after I stood in line, he was asking me for proof of purchase, and the confirmation email that I had printed out was apparently NOT what he wanted! Thankfully, he printed me the ticket anyway - what a relief!! I climbed on that bus never appreciating having a confirmed ticket/seat more than at that moment!

Argentina - Part 2

View from my hostel in Bariloche

I had an evening bus to catch from Mendoza to Bariloche, and initially I tried to catch the local bus to the terminal, but I couldn't figure out exactly where it left from. Since I was running low on time, I decided to walk to the terminal, not remembering how far away it was (because when we walked to our hostels from the station, we weren't in a hurry, of course) and actually not completely remembering where it was. I kept looking at the time and eventually started running with my heavy backpack on in the heat. I kept telling myself to just come to terms with the fact that I was going to miss the bus, and when I finally found the station and ran through the area where all of the buses park, I was amazed to see that my bus was still there and getting loaded up! Also, I ran into my Swedish friend Johanna (I met her in Tupiza, Bolivia) and her friend Elin, who were on the same bus as me! I was sweaty and smelly from running, and then got onto the nice bus - I hadn't realized at the time of booking that I actually got a cama (bed, sort-of - basically it just reclines more than the semi-cama seats that I usually booked) so that was a nice surprise. The bus was definitely one of the nicest of my whole trip - the seats were huge and comfy, and the attendant was funny. They played this awesome compilation of 80's music videos, and another one of classic movie clips! We played bingo, and I won (I never win!) a bottle of white wine! When we got off the bus in Bariloche, which is much further South, we were shocked at the cold tempurature and crazy wind there! We went to a hostel that I had been recommended to stay at by a few different people - it was not in any of the guide books, and was called Penthouse 1004. It definitely was a penthouse - it was on the top floor of one of the buildings in the center of town, and had an amazing view of the lake and mountains! Unfortunately, due to the high winds, we weren't able to do much for the first day, but the next day was better, so we did a 27-km bike loop. The girls were definitely in better shape than me, and they wanted to do some single tracks and then bike back to town, so we split up at one point. I headed to a local brewery called Gilbert, where I met a young Australian boy, and we did the last bit of the loop together, including a lookout with amazing views.

The next morning, Johanna, Elin, and I headed to the bus station to get a bus to the small town of El Bolson. We wanted to get there before the famous market was finished for the day, but when we got to the station, all of the buses were full until 2 p.m., which meant we would miss the market. So, for the first time in my life, we tried to hitch-hike! Argentina is known as a safe place to do this, and supposedly people are willing to pick you up fairly often. So we made a couple of signs to hold up to the passing cars - one said "El Bolson" and the other said "Suecas," which is "Swedish" in Spanish - the girls said we were more likely to get picked up if we said we were Swedish as opposed to American, which I didn't argue with. We figured we would get picked up pretty quickly, given what we had heard, but the drivers all merely waved and passed us by. After a while, we started to wonder if we were somehow on the wrong road, or facing the wrong direction. Eventually one of the girls asked a driver who pulled over, and they said there was a different road that went around town that we should have been on. We tried for about 45 minutes to get a ride to no avail, and then ended up just buying tickets for the 2 p.m. bus. The 2-hour drive to El Bolson was beautiful - like Colorado with the evergreen trees but even more beautiful with turquoise lakes and a lot of hills. When we arrived there, we were pleasantly surprised to find the weather warm and perfect. I initially went to a different hostel than Johanna and Elin, but wasn't too impressed so only stayed there for one night. The next morning, I walked to their hostel, and when I got there, a group of people including the two of them were heading out for a hike, and they nicely waited for me to get checked in. That is when I met Anette from Norway, who I would end up traveling with for quite a bit of the rest of my trip.

El Bolson

We had a nice about 4-hr hike, and then we all cooked together that night at the hostel, which was fun. My next couple of days in El Bolson were nice and relaxing - I caught up on my journal, took pictures, read in the park, and went to the market. At the market, I bought a couple of wooden cutting boards for my two friends that were getting married soon, since I figured I had only three weeks left of my trip and I could carry them for that long. My backpack still smells like wood to this day!
My next destination was on the opposite coast (the Eastern side) of Argentina. Most of the buses went that way anyway, and what I really wanted to see in Puerto Madryn was the whales, and it was nearing the end of their season. I got into town at 7 a.m. and walked to a hostel that was a block away. It was a really cute place with a nice owner, but I was only able to stay there for one night which was sad - I found I really enjoyed the smaller hostels as opposed to the bigger ones that are more like hotels. I was able to take a nap, and then headed for the ocean (I hadn't seen an ocean since Peru!) and wandered along the boardwalk, where I ran into my German friends Viola and Marthe! We hung out for the afternoon, and I heard from Anette that she would arrive the next morning and wanted to see the whales with me. We decided to do the whole day whale watching tour, which included seeing more of the animals that the Peninsula Valdes had to offer. Our bus stopped to see some penguins, elephant seals, and we were really lucky to get to see two Orca whales (a mom and baby) from far away. The best part of the day, of course, was the whales!

I had heard nothing but great things about the whale-watching experience here, and the whales did not disappoint! We got to see a mom and baby (no, the baby was not small!) really close to the boat! The type of whales here are southern right whales. Our boat followed them for a long time, and they seemed to enjoy "performing" for us. For my first-ever whale-watching experience, this was amazing! I spent the rest of my time in Puerto Madryn relaxing and hanging out with Viola, Marthe, and Anette. By then, Anette and I had decided to travel together to some hiking places, and our next destination of El Calafate was much further South and West. In order to get there, we had to travel to the biggest city in the South of Patagonia, Rio Gallegos. Our bus was scheduled to leave Puerto Mardryn at 1:30 in the afternoon, and when we first arrived to the bus terminal, we were worried that we had missed it because it wasn't waiting for us (buses for the most part were pretty much on time in Argentina). We were told several times that it hadn't arrived yet, so we just kept waiting, and watching the many other buses pull in, drop off people and pick others up, and leave again. Finally, our bus arrived at 3 p.m.! We think it was heading all the way South from Buenos Aires, so it had a long way to come before it got to us. We arrived in Rio Gallegos at around 8:30 the next morning, and then spent a long time waiting again for our bus to El Calafate which left at 2 p.m. When we finally arrived there that evening, it was really nice after such a LONG journey to have several people waiting at the bus station to offer us cheap hostel lodging. We had been recommended to stay at one place, and it turned out to be the cheapest, and the guy gave us a free ride there which was really nice. The funniest thing about that hostel was that when we went to cook in the kitchen, there was no silverware to be found! Confused, I went to the front desk to ask, and they had some but we had to put down a deposit for it! Who knew travelers are silverware thieves apparently?! We went to a cute restaurant in town that night, but we both had stomach troubles all night:( The next day was exciting - we were finally going to an amazing glacier that we had heard such great things about.

The Glaciar Perito Moreno is located in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, which is about 80 km away from El Calafate. Our bus ticket ended up being a tour package because first it dropped us off at a lake where we could then buy a boat ticket to get closer to the glacier, and it waited for us while we all went on the boat. The boat was cool because we got to see the glacier pretty close, but the other tourists were super annoying, pushing people so that they could get better pictures. After that, the bus took us to the area where the balconies/catwalks start, and we had several hours to walk around and see the glacier from different viewpoints. I have to quote myself here from my journal entry regarding how amazing the glacier was - "The way the light reflected on it - it was like nature's most beautiful masterpiece!" It really did feel like we should be in an art gallery somewhere, because it was so intricate, like a carving, and the different shades of blue depending on the sky or water reflection were like nothing I had ever seen! What makes this glacier even more exceptional is that while most of the world's glaciers are receding, the Perito Moreno is actually advancing - up to 2m per day - and it is therefore considered 'stable.' One of the most amazing things to witness was when huge chunks of ice would drop off into the water below, causing loud noise that sounded like huge explosions or earthquakes, and resulting in small tidal waves and large floating icebergs. It really was mesmerizing, and I could have just kept staring at it for days!