Thanks for Walking with Me!

I can’t say that I have been too busy to write my final blog as I am currently “retired”, living with my parents in America’s largest community for active seniors, The Villages. I guess the reason I haven’t written is because I am reluctant to admit my year-long travel trip is over. OVER. The word resonates so heavy with me, like the day you graduate college and know you will never be back there, with your friends, enjoying the good times of youth. And young and free is how I felt, traveling in a circle of people living my same gypsy lifestyle, of openness, warm-welcomes and complete lack of responsibility. I will forever cherish the memories I have made and the people I have met, but more than anything, I know I have returned a changed woman, now seeing myself as just a small part of a very big world.

On my trip I learned so much about myself and the world around me, but the most important thing I learned came from a very simple realization. In Asian countries one of the most popular sayings is “same, same, but different”, which street sellers say to get you to buy their products, even though they are the exact same as the items in the next stall. This simple phrase describes the people of this world. Although we speak differently, look differently and live in completely different cultures, we are all the same at heart. In every country I saw children playing together, families embracing after not seeing each other for long periods of time, people taking care of one another, parents doing all they could to make money for their families. The words of John F. Kennedy sum up my thoughts: “For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal.” Despite our differences, we need not be afraid of the world around us. It is a beautiful place.

I figured I would use my final post to answer all of the questions people have about my trip, that way, I can refer them to my blog instead of answering the same questions a million times. So here goes:

How many countries did I visit in total?
14 countries!
They are New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

What was my favorite place?
Each country I visited was amazing in it’s own way, but some places I did enjoy more than others, depending on who I was with and the activities I did. Here are the places I liked the best, and the reasons:
New Zealand: NZ is an ecologically diverse country packed into two small islands, which you can see in a short trip. Friendly people. Lots of extreme sports. Beautiful scenery.
Laos: Although all of Southeast Asia was breathtaking, Loas was less touristy than the other countries. Laid-back people. Avatar-like scenery, with jutting green mountains. Very inexpensive.
Bolivia: The second I drove over the border from Chile to Bolivia, I could see the drastic change in scenery, and it was beautiful. Lots of culture. Beautiful sites to see (salt flats, Lake Titicaca, silver mines, etc.) Very inexpensive.

What was my least favorite place?
Unfortunately Buenos Aires takes the cake for worst place. The bedbugs didn’t help the experience, but I felt the city was overcrowded, busy and lacked uniqueness.

How did I travel around the world without a plan?
Well I did have a plan; the no-plan plan!!!! Still, everyone who intends to backpack the world should invest in a Lonely Planet Guidebook for their specific destination, which gives names of hostels, tourist information sites, and all the important places to visit in each area. I started with a one-way ticket to New Zealand and went from there! There are TONS of travelers doing the same thing, so meeting friends to move throughout a country with is easy. I swear it is!! You can work in Australia for a year until the age of 31, and many Asian countries will offer extended visas to stay there and work (at hostels, restaurants, pub crawls, etc) so if you need extra money along the way, it isn’t difficult to find. Anyone who is interested in traveling the world, should not be afraid (even though I was when I first embarked) because it is the best experience imaginable!!

What was the hardest part about traveling the world?
There were maybe 5 to 10 nights on my trip where I was alone - hadn’t met anyone to travel with or just didn’t feel like making the extra effort to meet someone. Those nights were a little lonely, but tolerable.
The other most difficult part was coming home. I know it sounds strange, but I had more culture shock coming back, then I ever had arriving in a foreign country. I guess seeing the world changes you so much that when you come home and see how good we have it here in the USA, you just cannot feel the same about the American culture. We spend $4 on a coffee, which is a fortune to a family in Cambodia. As I flew in to Orlando from Peru, leaving behind the garbage littered streets and crumbling villages, I was awed by the perfectly pruned gardens and beautiful homes I saw out my window. Most Americans have no idea how lucky they are, and I was filled with gratitude for my life, but sadness for people's lives around the world.

Who were my most memorable people?
Mick from Australia - Duh!! He was my boyfriend for 6 months! I miss my Ozzie!
Rego from England - Even though Rego sleeps late, drinks a lot, and rarely eats regularly, we made great traveling companions!! I miss me ol’ English fruit!
Julie and Lasse from Denmark - When they first met me in Australia, they swore I was drunk. They later learned that I am just crazy. I am actually seeing Julie in NYC in a couple of weeks, which is really exciting!!
Jessie from Australia - She was my roommate through Bolivia and Peru, and I just LOVE this girl!
Metro the Busdriver from New Zealand - He made my 4 weeks in NZ the best!!

Not that any of these people read my blog, but I also loved meeting John from Miami, Karin from Germany, Jodie from Australia, Paulette, Anita and Kate from Tasikoki animal rescue, Stevie from New Zealand, Mel from Canada, Brian from Denmark, Toby from Germany, Mike & Emma from England, Nicki from Holland, Jasper & family from Holland, Don, Derrick and Richard from America, Matt E. from England, Craig from England, and soooooo many more. I now have friends I can visit all over the world!!

What was the price of my trip?
Vaccinations $300
Clothing/Gear $800
Flights $4,000
Other $24,900
TOTAL APPROXIMATE COST FOR TRIP: $30,000 (about $75 per day)

What was the cost?
More wrinkles
A new oval shaped motorbike burn on my right calve
A gap on my resume!

Would I do it again?
In a heartbeat!!!!

What’s next?
I have decided that the last thing I want to do is let the travel bug fly out of my system just because it’s “time” to settle down, so I have decided to save up for another big travel trip. This time it will be to Africa for a 71-day Safari from Nairobi to Capetown with an extra week to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and an extra month to volunteer at an African school. I am planning on leaving in January 2012, exactly 2 years after my initial departure, and returning home in May 2012. In between now and then I will be working my butt off to save up enough money to fund this African Adventure!!!!!


THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR KEEPING UP WITH MY TRAVELS. I HOPE YOU TUNE IN FOR MY NEXT ADVENTURE. AFRICA 2012!!!!

Speed Vacationing in Peru

Gap Tours doesn't mess around when it comes to jamming entire countries into small amounts of time. I have been so non-stop for the last 2 weeks, that most mornings I wake up having no idea where I am. Albeit I wanted this fast pace trip, because I finally come home in just 7 short days and, of course, I wanted someone else to do all the work (that someone is Alim, our Peruvian tour guide.) Gap has also introduced me to some amazing people, including Jesse my Australia roommate and John, my fellow American who reminds me an awful lot of my cousin Robbie (we are always getting into trouble.) Although most days I feel more like a tourist than a traveller, for anyone who wants to see the world with the typical America's two-week vacation, a tour is the way to go.

Peru is the land of plenty. Although rich in natural resources and major tourist attractions, they still struggle economically, falling victim to governmental corruption. One town in Peru, Arricipa, is so rich in copper that they desperately want their independence, and have gone so far as to create their own currency and legal system, but of course it has never been formally granted. To hike Machu Picchu 4,000 - 5,000 tourists a day pay $50 USD each, but only 2% of that $200,000 a day comes back to preserve the site (after both Lima and Cusco take their cut.) While Peru sells low-cost gallons of natural gas to Canada and the US, they charge their own citizens about 10times that amount. From what I hear, unfortunately, there aren't many Peruvians that actually want to be from Peru. Needless to say, I have loved it so far; it is truly an amazing country.

Our first stop in Peru was to Lake Titicaca. Besides it having a very funny name, it is the largest navigatable lake in the world, with impressively large islands and rich in ancient history. Our first stop was to stay the night with a local family on one of the islands.
We hopped off the boat and walked to the center of the "town", first playing a game of football with the locals (where I nearly died from overexertion in the altitude), and then met our new "mama's and papa's". My new daddy happened to be a 16 year old boy, who brought us back to his small clay hut, where Jessie and I played spoons (a fun card game) with him and his siblings all afternoon. That night we all dressed up like the local people (4 layers of colorful skirts, a cumberbun/corset, black jacket, and a hat your grandpa would wear) and went to the dance hall, where I was aptly nicknamed "payasita" by the locals, which means little clown.

From there we travelled back to Puno, where that night we ate Guinea Pig (its little cooked head and teeth were pretty gross, but it basically tasted like deep fried skin), and then early the next morning headed to Cuzco.
Cuzco is the historical capital of Peru, described as the "Rome of America", and hundreds of years ago was the heart of the Incan empire. With cobblestone streets and a duomo cathedral in the center of town it was an amazing place to spend a couple of days. After a cancelled plane ride to the Amazon Rainforrest I did an afternoon ATV ride through the Peruvian mountains, which ended up feeling more like a game of Mario Kart, as we raced through patches of mud and I nearly got driven off a cliff .


The next day we finally got a cleared flight to the Amazon, and after a bus ride, boat ride, and long walk through the forrest, we arrived at our resort. Despite having no outside walls, no ceilings between rooms and no hot water, the place was high class. The highlights of our two day adventure included pirrahana fishing, a hike through the jungle at night (seeing a massive tarantula, lots of frogs and other bugs), and having spider monkeys right outside my window.


The Lares trek is the "alternative" mountaneous hike to the Inca Trail since unfortunately, the Inca trail is closed for the entire month of February. Almost instantaneously I realized our guide was angry at the world (he kept telling me I asked stupid questions and yelled at me like an angry grade school teacher when I made noise during his 20 hour speeches), but that our porters were amazing; they would set up our camp and tents, then break it down quickly and run ahead of us to have our next spot set up, and in the mornings serve us hot tea in our tents!!
Here is my summation of the Lares Trek: knee-deep mud, rain ponchos, mountains, high altitude, lots of llamas, amazing food, and lots of laughs. After the trek I even had to throw out my 3 month old sneakers, and a pair of socks. Disastrous!


Last, but cetainly not least, was my visit to Machu Picchu. After a night in the town of Aquas Calientes (which literally means hot water), where there ironically was no hot water in the showers at our hotel, we took our 4am bus (with thousands of other people) up to the top of the mountain where the Incas built their civilization 600 years ago. We luckily had the best weather EVER and since it is actually quite big, it never felt overcrowded. Hands down the most amazing sight I have ever seen!! I cannot believe I will be home in less than a week!!

3rd World Country, 1st World Experience

I can just picture the look of dissapointment on the face of a Miss World contestant when she is told she is the second runner up, which is a fluffy phrase they use so they don't have to let her know that she is actually 3rd place; not first, not second, but dream-breaking 3rd. When it comes to countries, the western world decided to give these same rankings, based on economic development and quality of life, but inadvertantly put into the publics mind that certain countries are just not good enough; the world's second runner up. If I were a judge, I would change the criteria adding culture, character and charisma. It seems the more "economically developed" a country becomes, the more they lose their own culture; the "better" the quality of life becomes, the more they end up just like any other Western world. I was only in Bolivia for 10 days, but it didn't take long for me to realize how spectacular and different a 3rd world country can be. I never felt I was getting the real "South American" experience in Argentina or Chile - they were expensive, people dressed in western style clothes, and you could find a MacDonalds in most cities. Bolivia is culturally different, the local people wear very traditional clothing (top hats, large skirts and multiple layers of colorful wool), the houses are made of mud and straw, and exotic foods and spices are sold on every corner. It may be considered a 3rd world to western cultures, but it is first world in my book.


It is hard to imagine a city that covers an entire valley, with houses perched from the highest peaks to sky scrapers lining the bottom, all of this at a staggering 3,630 meters above sea level - but this is La Paz. It has the feel of a chaotic Asian city with pushy street sellers (selling everything from trinkets to help you find a husband to baby Llama fetuses), a constant stream of beeping vehicles and people everywhere. The rich people live in the valley's center (because they pay more for their oxygen) whilst the poorer people live at the highest altitudes. For the first two days in La Paz I swore I had a brain tumor, as I would wake up in the middle of the night with excruciating headaches, but this is unfortunately just a side affect of altitude sickness. While in La Paz I visited the town center (and stumbled onto a speech being given by the President), took a tourist bus, went to the valley of the moon (not to be confused with the one in Chile - this one is basically large sand spires that you walk through), and haggled with the street sellers for some Alpaca clothing.

After meeting the members of my gap tour (three Ozzie girls, two Scottish guys and one Dutch guy), we flew to Sucre, "the white city" and historical capital of Bolivia, which hundred of years ago was so wealthy from the nearby silver mines, it economically outranked London and France.
After a quick city tour we headed to the markets where we bought up large quantities of toothbrushes, diapers and other miscellaneous items, and spent the afternoon at a local orphanage. The following day I subjected myself to a full 4 hours of mountain biking, which offered beautiful views, but really just left me itchy from the constant vibration, and tired from the 1km uphill bike.

From Sucre we headed to Potosi, with a staggering altitude of 4,070m, where locals still work in silver mines dating back to the Spanish colonial era. Unfortunately it is quite a sad lifestyle, as I saw in the amazing documentary "The Devil's Miner", and witnessed first-hand on a mine tour, where you will see children as young as 11 working in the dark and dust filled caves.
The Bolivian people are very religious and although they believe in Jesus Christ outside of the mines, while underground they worship the devil, making offerings and sacrifices to devil statues found in every mine. The best part of the mine tour was that I got to hold dynamite and amonia nitrate which we gave as a gift to the miners in addition to cigarettes, alcohol and coca leaves (the starting product of cocaine, which the miners chew ALL day long for extra energy.)


Our next stop was to Uyuni, a small, dusty town, which is the jump-off point for the famous Bolivian Salt Flats. The following day we headed out in our convoy of 4x4 vehicles stopping first at another train cemetary and eventually ending up at breathtaking salt flats. White salt and perfectly reflected sky on the flat water (since much of the flats were flooded) stretched out as far as the eye could see. Traditionally people use this scenery to take depth manipulated (and ridiculous) pictures, which of course I did too!
That night we slept in a guest house made entirely of salt; the walls, the floors, the tables and even the beds. We spent the next two days touring the 5,000m scenery including spectacular lagoons, snow-capped volcanoes, desert flats and even some geysers. After a long exhausting trip we hopped on a night bus back to La Paz. Although the trip was only supposed to take 9 hours, in traditional Bolivian style, the trip took about 20 hours, as we had to sleep overnight next to a river that we weren't able to cross in the dark.

I have been in Peru for the last 2 days with a new gap group, (and a 1 day rendevous with Mick!!) and it has been amazing so far. I will post about my Peruvian adventures in a week or so!!

Adios Chile

Chile stretches 4300KM long, over half the continent of South America, longer than the length from Canada to Mexico, but in most places is only 175KM on average in width. It ranges from glacier fields to the driest desert on the earth, with volcanoes, lakes, valleys, geysers and islands in between. We started off our time in Chile hiking mountains in the freezing area of Patagonia, and finished in the Atacama Desert. It was an amazingly diverse country with very religious people (70% of the country is Catholic) which means lots of churches, confusing road signs, amazing food, and some hysterical images I cannot forget - like the 3 story children's slide at the playground, a telephone pole in a quarry where instead of readjusting the direction of the wires they just dug around the pole, huge christmas trees made out of plastic bottles, a skyscraper that looks exactly like an old Zach Morris cell phone, and llamas walking on the beach. Since I pretty much saw everything there is to see in Chile, I don't think I will be returning in my life, but it certainly was a memorable adventure - it will be missed.

Santiago Chile, is a city I could live in, and a great place to spend 4 days. The architecture is beautiful, the streets are clean, there are several amazingly cute suburbs and the people are friendly. Our hostel, Casa Roja, had a pool, hot tub, and my favorite, a ping pong table where I was able to showcase my talents (and whip Mick's butt each and every time.) We spent the first day cleaning out the van and giving it back (yipee) and hanging around the hostel. The next day we did a "free" walking tour (which after tipping turned into a not-so-free tour) and that night we ate Mote Con Huesillos - a liquid meal the Argentinians love, consisting of peach juice, a half of peach and whole grains of wheat (which was surpringsly tasty.) We took a tour of one of Pablo Neruda's eccentric homes and took a ride to the top of the mountain overlooking santiago for sunset.

The following day we took a bus out to Valparaiso, described as the cultural center of Chile, I would have called it the sketchy center of Chile, or at least most of it.
Since it used to be the main port down the Pacific coast (before they built the panama canal) the "old section" is amazing, and not surprisingly a UNESCO protected site. It is littered with Ascensors (outdoor elevators people used to use to climb up the huge hill which overlooks the bay, and is now ussually used by tourists), clock towers, markets and in the center of town a lot of people looking like they wanted to steal my purse.

We signed up for a 6 day tour to Chile's Atacama Desert, which started the following day, in a white minivan with 6 other international passengers. I was of course, the only American, to which someone said after they heard I have been travelling for a whole year, "how unAmerican of you!." Our first destination was the beachtown of La Serena, Chile's second oldest city, where we ate Empanadas and Mick took a quick dip. That night we headed to the local observatories, where stargazing is at its best, and where you will find the RLT and SLT ("creative" acronyms for Really Large Telescope and Super Large Telescope.) We got to take some amazing pictures of the moon through one of the telescopes and learn about a website where you can stargaze without ever leaving your computer screen - www.stellarium.org.

The next day we travelled hours through the bleak sandy landscape, stopping to see a 4 story ceramic hand planted in the desert by a famous artist (whose name I can't remember), an old cemetary located next to an abandoned nitrate mine (where you can still see flesh on the 70 year old remains because of the lack of humidity), and a "train cemetary" where people left perfectly good trains because the Germans discovered an artifical way to make nitrate. After two nights in the beautiful beach town of Bahia Inglesia, we headed to San Pedro de Atacama, A "brown town" (all the buildings seem to be square and brown) in the heart of the desert. We toured the "valley de luna" (an area which is said to look like the moon), a lagoon where flamingos hang out, and swam in a salt lake which causes you to have such boyances that its like having a life preserver attached all over your body when you jump in.

Mick and I are currently in La Paz, Bolivia. Tomorrow I head off on a 30 day Gap tour through Bolivia and Peru, while he is heading north directly. We hope to meet up again in Lima for a couple of days before I head back home, but in the mean time, I will miss my favorite travel companion!!

A Mobile Home for the Holidays

Having spent the last 27 Christmases of my life, toasty warm in a family member's home, surrounded by colorful decorations, festive music, and a winter wonderland outside, the view of a trailer park from the window of my van was definitely a change. Luckily I had skype so my electronic floating head could still speak to my nephew Pierce while he opened his gifts, back in his warm living room in Washington CT. I had a love/hate relationship with our Wicked two-seater camper van. The van allowed Mick and I to tour southern Chile and Argentina, and cruise with true freedom through Chile's lake district, the island of Chiloe, and to the coast, before heading to Santiago. We could stop when we wanted to take a picture, leave cities whenever we wanted, and never had any roommates. On the down side, everything we owned was under where we slept so you had to rubix-cube everything to find what you were looking for (which resulted in one blood blister and a lot of cursing), we spent a lot of money on gasoline and food to stock up the van, and let's be honest here, I drove Mick crazy with my horrible front seat driving. But it was an experience of a lifetime, doing things I have never done before, like driving in South America (3 times down one way roads), picking up hitchhikers (6 total!), pulling up to the house of a native Chilean family and living with them for two days, and getting honked at all the time (because apparently the spanish writing on the back of our car said "honk if you like my driving", which until I figured it out, gave me severe road rage.) In the end, I think the freedom was worth the price, but I will be sure to be stationary for Christmas next year!

After 4 days in Ushuaia, the "fin del mundo" (end of the world), which included a boat trip into the Beagle Channel (where while there weren't any canines, there were lots of other wildlife), a day hike to the national park and a day spent touring the Maritime museum (because Mick loves boats as much as my father), we headed to Punta Arenas, Chile to pick up the van.
From there we did a solid two days of driving, taking three hour shifts, arriving in Barlioche, Argentina on Christmas Eve. The central region of Argentina and Chile (not coincidentally known as The Lakes Distrcit on the Chilean side) is picturesque, with beautiful blue lakes, surrounded by snow capped mountains (but most are actually volcanoes!) Each town emminates the feeling of a Swiss ski village, with quaint shops and log cabin bungalows and hotels. In Bariloche we had our Christmas dinner at a fondue restaurant, watched a movie on my laptop, and went to bed.


From Bariloche we headed a couple of hours west to Villa la Angostera, which had a similar feel to Bariloche but was all encompassed in a one street town. Here we did a 24KM hike into the Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes to see the forest of arrayane trees, which basically look like trees in camoflague, and we sat on the shores of the beautiful Lago Nahuel Huapi. Entre Lagos was just over the border into Chile, and at this point huge volcanoes were so common, they nearly faded into the background.
We spent two days here, camping by a lake and one day at the thermal pools. Much to my dismay, we spent an afternoon fishing, and even though I didn't want to go in the first place, I was the only one who brought home a Salmon to eat for dinner (much to Mick's dismay.)

After a full day drive through the mountains, and some large cities (for Chile) like Puerto Varas and Puerto Mott, we pulled onto our ferry heading to the Island of Chiloe. The humble Chilote people were never an ally of the mainlanders, so their culture is unique. The island is well known for its numerous inglesias (churches) made completely of wood (some of which are over 200 years old), fishing villages and curanto (a dish of poultry and shell fish vapor-smoked in giant leaves and moss.)
We decided to immerse ourselves in the culture by staying the night with a local family through Chiloe's agrotourism program. At 9:30 in the morning we pulled up to one of the homes on our list, and were greeted by Jardi, who we later referred to as Papa. He brought us into his home, sat us down, and woke up Mama. They chatted in Spanish to us at light speed, and we did the best we could to make conversation. Mick, who knows zero spanish, became the family joke because he would always smile and say "no entiendo", which means "I don't understand." Jardi took Mick into town to buy a sheep, while I stayed with Mama and their daughter Carol to cook lunch for 5 other tourists coming later that day. We couldn't have felt more at home after two full days with our new Chilean family, where we helped them cook a curanto, move the cows to different paddocks, and even spent New years Eve with their family being kissed by more people than at my own family events!! The highlight of the stay was when Mama Maria told Mick that when he had been saying what he thought meant "I want a little" he had actually been saying "I want a little penis." Probably one of the funniest (and finally clear) moments between 4 people who has so previously struggled to understand eachother!!

After 4 nights in Chiloe, we headed northwest to Baldivia, a college town, right on a lake where we took a boat ride to an old spanish fortress and watched the sea lions prowl at the fish market. From there we went directly to Pucon, an amazingly fun town located directly next to the 2,847 meter Volcan Villarrica.
When I looked up at this snow covered volcano, spitting hot hair into the sky, looming in the background of every photo, I never would have imagined I would be climbing it the next day, but I was. Although we received severe wind warnings that morning, I encouraged the other people in our group to climb anyway (because we needed 7 people to make the trek), and after some arm-twisting they conceded. The first hour was a tough hike up dirt and loose gravel (because the chair lift was closed due to the wind), and the remaining 4 hours required an ice pick to hike up the nearly vertical snow covered face, until we finally reached the summit. Being at the top of a volcano is kind of like being on the moon, minus the lack of gravity; the sulfur smelling air burns your lungs, smoke fills the air, and the rocks and molten lava are strange colors and shapes.
The views out were amazing of the neighboring lake and yet another volcano. The best part of the entire hike was the way down, where we got to slide down ice luge paths with plastic seats we had carried with us the entire way. 5 hours up, 1 hour down, and the new best way to travel. Also in Pucon I did a white water rafting trip, while Mick spent the morning fly fishing.


Our last stop before heading to Santiago (where we are now), was the coastal town of Pichilemu. Known worldwide for its left break it is a popular beach town and serious surf spot. Mick spent one day surfing while I played the role of the surfer's "beach babe", and the next day we just walked around the town. So far we are loving Chile. From here we head north to Atacama Desert and then onto Bolivia!!

Patagonia; Not Just the Name of my Fleece

If you had asked me a year ago what "Patagonia" was, I would have said a pretty typical American answer, "a high-end outdoor clothing company?" Well today I know better. After having spent the last 3 weeks in Southern Argentina and Chile, in the actual Patagonia (and I imagine what the clothing company named their brand after) I have a whole different perspective on the word. Even though it is summer here, the temperatures are cold, the winds are brutal, and the snow is prevalent. The sun sets each day between 10:30 and 11:00pm, and rises around 4:00am. Sometimes we felt we were in the most plush ski town of Switzerland, and sometimes we would comment that we must be in Bahgdad with the barren, desert-like landscapes (minus the heat.) Despite all these things, Patagonia has been by far the best place I have seen so far in South America; with tons of wildlife like whales, sea lions, penguins, condors, guanacos (they look like llamas, and spit like them too), amazingly beautiful snow capped mountains, glaciers and ice fields, aqua colored lakes in every valley, and the most amazing hikes I have ever been on. If you can brave the weather, Patagonia is definitely a place to visit!


Three days in the coastal town of Puerto Madryn was too many. A city surrounded by sandy and barren landscapes, is the gateway to the Valdes Penninsula, where for 400 Pesos ($100USD) we went on a day trip, whale watching and to see penguin and sea lion colonies. On the second day we tried to take a 17km bike ride, but once we left the city and entered "Baghdad", we had more sandstorms than my eyes could handle. Mick wanted to press on for the adventure factor (as always), but I insisted we turn around, and still ended up pulling sand out of my hair for the next week.


We then took a bus to Gaiman, a Welsh colonized town thats claim to fame is serving Welsh teas and biscuits, and since we arrived during the Siesta hours (1pm-4pm) the only thing left to do was sleep in the park, until a places opened up, and then food was definitely eaten! We then headed to Rio Gallegos, where no pictures at all were taken, because there was nothing eventful to see. Apparently Butch Cassidy robbed a bank here back in the day, probbaly because no one would have noticed him.

After a night in Rio Gallegos, our next stop was El Calafate. This touristy town, by all apearrances, should have several ski resorts nearby, but it doesn't. The main street is lined with souvenier shops, restaurants, and disneyesque log cabin buildings. At the edge of town is the beautiful Laguna Nimez, a wetlands sanctuary surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and attached to an inlet lake with a beach. This was worth the 20 pesos. The following day we took a day trip to the Glaciar Perito Moreno, located 80km away in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. What a strange experience to come over a hill and see the biggest chunk of ice you'll ever see, resting on a lake. Floating in the water nearby are massive blue ice cubes that break off while you watch, and take only a few days to melt away; so each day the glacier is different. We took an up close boat ride, and then walked around the viewing platforms, waiting anxiously to catch a break (literally, waiting to watch ice break off the Glacier) which only happend a few times during the day.


We spent three days in El Chalten, a remote town 2 hours north of El Calafate, described as the trekking capital of Patagonia. Fortunately we had the BEST weather, and set out for a 6 hour hike the first afternoon we arrived. After several hiking games ("movies starring Bruce Willis", the Name game, the shopping list memory game, etc.) and lots of beautiful scenery, we came to the base of a mountain, with a massive glacier resting on a lake. The wind was so strong that I could barely stand, and birds were getting thrown around in the wind, but it was breathtaking (literally, it was hard to breathe.)


The next day we did an 8 hour hike to the Fitz Roy range, where after a long 3 hours, the trail went completely uphill for the last hour. It was exhausting, but as we climbed into the center of these two mountains, below was the most beautiful glacier pools - hands down one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The third day was spent resting, and since it was snowy and cold, we didn't mind!





THE W TREK
After talking to some girl at a hostel weeks ago about it, Mick decided he wanted to do the W trek in the Torres del Paine national park in Chile.
When I agreed I didn't know exactly what I had gotten myself into, but after a scarily blunt introduction lecture from a local guy in Puerto Natales (the jump-off point for all hikers) I realized I was in for 5 days of pain (pun intended.) He said to expect 160kmh winds, torrential snow and rain, and hours of tiresome hikes. We packed up our backpacks with 5 days worth of food, cooking gear, sleeping bags, a tent, and limited clothing all packed up tight in trash bags, and even got lame hiking poles (which turned out to be amazingly helpful) and set out for the mountains. Luckily we had amazing weather, and met some really great people along the way. This was by far the most amazing experience of my life.



Here is a run-down of our 5 days:
Number of miles hiked: 62
Number of times I fell down: 8
Number of times I got blown over by the wind: 2
Number of granola bars consumed: 38
Number of showers taken: 0
Number of times we used a whole salami stick as a substitue for butter in our dinner: 1

After arriving back at the main lodge on the 5th day, we ate our moneys worth at a buffet breakfast, and vegged out for the rest of the day.

Now we are currently in the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia Argentina for 4 days!!

Get back in the Saddle

Some people will tell you that when you fall off a horse, you need to get back on. Most use it as a metaphoric rally for encouragment, a way to say "no matter what, never give up". Well I am pretty sure most of the people who say this have never ACTUALLY fallen off a horse, because if they have, they would know that it's not that easy to get back on, especially if the horse is bleeding, missing a horseshoe and kind of pissed off. A Thanksgiving day horseback riding adventure through a small town just outside Cordoba, was an amazing experience. We began by drinking the traditional Argentinian drink, Mate, which according to history was created by the Gaucho (an Argentinian Cowboy) who, having very little money, picked the leaves and shared this new drink, and long conversations, with the travellers he'd meet on the "road". Then after some cheeky conversations with our guide, Marcello, he said "I know which horse I am going to give you", with a laugh (although I'd like to think the crash was just coincidence.) All my years of owning our childhood horse, April Fools my Pepsi Pony, and taking riding lessons came flooding back to me; it was a breeze (and besides these horses are trained to just follow one another anyway, lets be honest here.) We went through the barren hills, waving to homes as we passed, through the rocky terrain and even forged through the river twice. On a fairly routine climb up a rock path, my horse went to follow Marcello's, but instead put its foot directly into a rock crevice, got stuck, went to put its other leg up, and began to lose its balance. At this point as the horse begins to roll to the left, I did what Mick (who was behind me) called "a ninja roll" off the front - abonding ship before my little pony took a pretty nasty spill down the rocks. After watching in what I could only describe later as a big tree, falling hard, and of course realizing that I was unscratched, I cried out "oh no, the poor horse. In the end, she has a lot of bleeding on her legs, and over her eye, but I got back on the horse (because I knew they wouldn't have created that saying for nothing), and finished my amazing journey. When we got back, instead of turkey we had a gluttonous Argentinian BBQ, where I ate so much steak and bread from the grill, that I felt at one with my fellow stuffed American people.



After Port Iguazu, and a 20 hour bus ride, where I had more bad luck of a shockingly soaked bag, which stunk for almost a week after arrival, we got into Cordoba. Our first day we thought it was a ghost town, but turns out it was just a national holiday.On our second day we took a 1/2 hour bus ride to Alta Gracia, the hometown of the well-known freedom fighter Che Gueverra. By the time we got off the bus, it was around lunchtime, and we couldn't believe the ghost town we found, again! Through my broken spanish I figured out that Siestas (afternoon rests) are not a myth; this entire town shuts down from 1-4.Apparently it is quite common all over South America, so now there is actually an excuse for my overhwhelming find food NOW sense of urgency, so we get something to eat before everyone retreats to their homes. Another thing that is funny about South America is that it is filled with what I call "classics" - really old cars, some I remember from back in the 80's and some that I have never seen, but it does make for a great game of punchbuggy. While in Alta Gracia we also visited a beautiful old Jesuit building that had been turned into a museum about Alta Gracia, which was possibly the most boring museum ever, even more so since we couldn't understand any of what they were saying.


On our third day in Cordoba we checked out a couple of museums, and took a walking tour to see all the other sites. The city population is made up of mostly college students which makes for a great vibe - lots of hopping bars, restaurants and shops on every corner. In between the modern architecutre are the most beautiful spanish churches, some made of stucco and some of stone, but enough to finally make me feel like I am really in "South America." That night we followed the young guy who works at our hostel, Phillippe, to his college to watch a final presentation him and his classmates were performing on traditional Argentinian practices. They fed us free empanadas (delicious dough filled with different kinds of meat) and danced the Folklore. They loved our attempts at speaking spanish and laughed at our dancing skills, when we tried to partake.
After a day on the horses, the next day we decided to go on a trek to the Parque Nacional Quebrada Del Condorito, where we hoped to catch a glimpse of some Condors (as you might has deduced from the name.) We picked up a new dutch friend, Jasper, and boarded a local bus. Before we got on we asked the bus driver if this would take us to the park, and he said yes. As we climbed steadily into the Argentinan hills, going further and further into the middle of nowhere, the bus abruptly pulled over, the driver waved at us, told us to get off, and we couldn't help but think that this must be the wrong place. We literally were at the end of a dirt rode going into the middle of nowhere, thinking that all the locals were having a good laugh as they peeled away. In the end we hiked for 2 1/2 hours into the national park and got to see amazing landscape and lots of Condors, and a bus actually picked us up on its way back into the city.

After another 20 hours bus trip we are currently in Port Madryn, Argentina, in the area known as Patagonia. It's barren, cold, expensive and filled with lots of wildlife!! Will keep you updated on our trip south to the "End of the World."