Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego

Bonnie and I went to the end of the world's last national park, and incidentally ran into both (hilarious) George Clooneys from our hostel (they rode bikes from the hostel, and continued to see the park by bike...It was a 30 minute ride by bus. golly.), and the president of the United States, and a chill porteño, Javier. I'll let the pics say the rest.

Note, we are moving on to el Calafate tomorrow, so once again, no clue when I'll update this again. Chao!!

Glaciar Martial

Our second day in Ushuaia we spent talking to two porteños about possible routes as we proceed up north on Route 40. We received great advice, and it was entertaining because they enjoyed our humor (sometimes there is a boundary between American humor and other cultures) and they both somehow looked like George Clooney.

After our conversation I mentioned Glaciar Martial, and a different man at the hostel, Luis, wanted to join us. So he grabbed his thermos of hot water and mate, and we left.

We chose to walk the 7km to the glacier, because a taxi is expensive, and it was still a nice day for a walk (despite going up hill the entire time). We found several short cuts along the way, then finally made it the base of the glacier. Here we chose not to take the chair lift up to be closer to the glacier, because it was also expensive, it was still a nice day, and we wanted the exercise. We continued sipping mate and made our way up.

It took forever to get to the top of the chairlift, then there was still the actual steep trail up to the glacier. Let's just say, as we were climbing up this steep trail, the George Clooney look alikes passed as going down. They had visited a museum FIRST and somehow passed us completely, seeing the glacier before us and everything... By the bicycle pants they both wear, I knew they were well fit, but gosh.

-I believe they did opt for the taxi and chairlift, if I understood one George correctly. But, still.

Anyway, with walking slow and several breaks, all three of us made it to the snow of the glacier and took many pictures, and it snowed a bit on us, and I may or may not have slipped and fallen on the glacier snow when I was posing for a picture.

We walked the long walk back to town, hit up a grocery store, and arrived back to the hostel 7 hours after our adventure began. A great day in Patagonia!

Ushuaia

Bonnie and I safely arrived to the end of the world (after a night of little to no sleep and figuring out buses to the Aeroparque with the Rasta...a lot more difficult than it should be ;).

We decided to walk the 5 km from the airport of Ushuaia into town with our big backpacks (hey, they must be down to 20 lbs) and enjoyed the scenary. Blue skies, shimmering sea water, snow capped mountains, and brisk 55 degree Fahrenheit weather. That's what I'm talking about, after so much time in jungle and hot desert.

We checked into the cheapest hostel (don't worry, Shasha, we didn't sleep in homemade tents) and wandered around the first day to check out the cute touristy town. It's a lot more tranquil than the others and reminds me of a fishing town in any US state.

Sleep consumed me at 7.30 pm (after a long hot shower), and I did not wake up until a little after 6.30am the next day.

Lovely.

Acquaintences

In the Bolivia mine tour of Potosí we met two porteños from Buenos Aires capital and kept in touch with them through facebook.com, Omar and Marcelo.

We actually met up with them the evening before leaving for Ushuaia and they were our 'guias' so to speak, and brought us to the Casa Rosada, or the Pink House, where the Presidenta does business meetings and works. We went to la Boca, a colorful part of BA close to the water, with lots of art. We finished by eating some pasta and making plans for a cook-out when Bonnie and I return to BA for our flight home.

It'll be a blast. Marcelo is a musician in his early 40s and very talkative and informative. Omar is a sweetheart and knows everything about Patagonia, so we enjoyed getting some travel plans from him.

Reasons to like Buenos Aires

1. Pedestrian cross walks with lights.

2. Plenty of gorgeous parks to choose from.

3. Public transportation around the clock.

4. Trees!

5. Seven peso pizzas (the equivalent of $1.75) that are of medium size and taste delicious.

El Tigre

Close to the capital city, or just a posh neighborhood far from the central of the capital city lies El Tigre. We went by bus, and then walked along the riverside for a nice day out. We stopped at an ice cream place to listen to Bob Dylan music and grab fruit from the tree (but not actually eat ice cream), climbed a tree on the riverside, watched water traffic (kayaks and speed boats and jet-skis) where I noted porteños are less conservative than American men...Short shorts are in!

We finally made our way to the Museo del Arte. The art was actually really good, but the building is what enthralled me. A great place to get married, in my opinion. It use to be a club for the water sportsmen/women, and now houses paintings, but it is a palace!

The Tango

Porteños (folks from Argentina) prefer the night life. Night life until 5am night life. I prefer to sleep at 10:30 and wake up early.



As the Rasta insisted, 'Today is Friday. You cannot sleep. Positive vibrations.'


So Friday night we went out on the town, found a lovely plaza in the San Telmo area (fancy part of the capital city) and in this plaza a restaurant had set up many tables and chairs. Live accordian and guitar music filled the air and two women and one man danced tango and sang.



It was beautiful.


We were outside in the fresh air, we sat at a table (okay, only Bonnie ordered something in order to permit us to sit at a table).



Buenos Aires city has claim on the world's heritage for tango (or something like that).


And we stayed out until 3ish, and made it back to the house around 4am. I was tired. And still woke up early the next day...

The Circus Crowd

Our circus friends... Standing three people tall! They also juggle, do trapeze, and the guy in the middle does magic tricks.












And am I levitating from a magic trick, or bouncing on a trampoline?? Nobody knows...










And Beto (the Rasta), Bonnie and Luigi (yes, from the Nintendo game) in the back of a truck. (I was sitting pecariously in a chair in the back of the truck (upon their suggestion), then looked back and saw a bus and a lot of other traffic behind us in 4 lanes...Hmmm.)

The Circus Performers

Indeed, Bonnie and I are participating in www.couchsurfing.org to save a bit of money here and there, so we left our posh hostel downtown (way too many tourists there) and headed out 7 miles to la casa del Mago (Magician) and his roommate the Rasta.

Interesting to say the least.

We've seen them stand 3 people tall with a guy who looks like Luigi from the Nintendo game, we've jumped on the trampoline that happens to be inside the room we sleep in, we sleep on safety mattresses below an indoor trapeze, and argue against the extreme vegan-ism of the Mago. (Mago doesn't drink water. It's 'poison.')

Pictures will come eventually, believe me, the world must know...

Buenos Aires

Bonnie and I have been in Buenos Aires for a total of 2 days, and it is LOVELY.



This is the 'Paris of South America.'



We are in a touristy hostel (Hostel Suites, Hostelling International) downtown on Avenida Florida, which is a pedestrian street lined with boutique stores and vendors of trinkets in the middle of the street with their wares.



We went to a Cementerio de la Recoleta yesterday, which has giant statues and many coffins... We even found Evita Peron's resting site (just follow the tour crowds!!).

*Eva was the stellar first lady of Argentina once upon a time



Our plans keep changing, but as of now we have a flight to Ushuaia (on a map, this is the TIP of South America) on Sunday and will be busing up Route 40 all the way to Bariloche and seeing several outstanding national parks and continuing to Mendoza, where we will complete the triangle and return to Buenos Aires in time for a flight back to the US Apri 11.



Due to not knowing anything about the technology availability to come, I am unsure how frequent updates will be. Maybe more frequent. Probably not.

Ode to Guacamole

In honor of Julie's blog "Letras," I would like to write a letter, also.

Querido Guacamole,

You are amazing. You are filling, delicious with the right amount of sal and fresh pancitos (salt and bread, for you who no habla español).

You give me fruits and vegetables in my diet.

You are so easy to create.

And so delicious to eat!

Thank you. For being so tasty, more or less healthy, and very filling for a vagabond traveler.

Yours truly,

The girl with avocado stains on her t-shirt.

Puerto Iguazú

Bus rides are wicked expensive in Argentina (of course, we just came from two of the poorest countries in all of South America), but we chose to continue on to Puerto Iguazú, home of AMAZING cataratas, or waterfalls.

This is the second highlight for our second month in South America (the first month being Machu Picchu).

I'll let the pictures speak the rest of my joy.

Corrientes

We moved east to Corrientes, where we stayed with the lovely Lily and realized we are in a HOT part of Argentina.

So we SWAM!! It was great. The water was brown from rain stirring up the bottom, but clean enough. I still had a floatie to enjoy, too.

yerba amanda

I am pretty much famous in Argentina, if you didn't already know.

The mate tea that people drink has a famous marca, or brand, known as amanda.

That is correct.

Don't believe me?

Try: yerbamanda.com.ar

Mmmhmmm.

I already have my own Yerba Mate amanda cup and straw, and am currently on the search for a thermos.

Argentina

Por fin, Bonnie, Edgar and I went to Argentina. As mentioned before, no visa, no problem. Although Edgar was given some grief, being Peruano.

It is so far so good. I'm excited to be in a latin american country with a large European influence (although our Peruvian friends insist this makes it a non-latin american experience).

We started in Salta where we encountered a dorm buddy who we call Chécito (he was shorter than me) and he cooked us some Argentina carne, great beef, on the grill. And amazing potatoes. He also shared with us mate (mah-tay), an herbal drink 97% of all Argentines drink throughout the day to stay hydrated. Generally it is shared in a circle, and a thermos of hot water continually refills the cup to keep the social atmosphere going round.

We went to a nearby village, San Lorenzo, and hiked a bit then enjoyed mate and conversation. It is just gorgeous here.

Proof of the Bolivian Hospital Experience

They made sure I was covered with a blanket and my coat to stay warm. Just sweethearts.

Carnaval

Exactly what is Carnaval, I haven't figured it out.

We just compare it to what Mardi Gras is in New Orleans, although I cannot figure out if there are many other Americans who celebrate.

So, in Bolivia, Carnaval signifies a time to splash each other with water. It is summer, after all.

I spent Saturday in Villa Montes avoiding waterballoons from overzealous boys and teens, and avoiding the occasional squirt gun.

But.

What could prepare me for Sunday, while walking with my large backpack and small backpack to the bus terminal, an old man on the Bolivian equivalent of a firetruck doused me with water from the fire hose in a drive-by shooting.

Feliz Carnaval!

One of These Things is Not Like the Other...

...One of these things does not belong...

Please note what the crouched woman is touching...

Villamontes

After the wrong visa turns, we came upon Villamontes, a cute little pueblo with hot weather and friendly folks.

Bonnie and I have been enjoying use of the kitchen and made spaghetti. Vagabondo is still with us, so he more or less enjoys the cooking also (he doesn't have a choice).

I also found leche de frutilla, or strawberry milk, my FAVORITE. So I enjoyed drinking it in the park one night.

A Few Wrong Turns...

We attempted Santa Cruz as a stepping stone to Brazil.

But.

The visa process was too long for our taste (okay, only 72 hours) and$130 too expensive to ponder for more than a day.

So we considered Paraguay.

The visa process was easier, but we would have to backtrack 8 hours by bus to get to the appropriate consulate.

Cancel that idea.

Now we're thinking Argentina (no visa, no problem).

Photo of a boy selling fruit juice...I'm fascinated with the ¨child labor¨ here, but I learned from our traveling friend the Inka that he worked as a child, too, and it taught him the value of money very quickly.

Why Bolivia

I was against Bolivia, due to Evo (Sin) Morales and his new and improved visa law for US citizens (only), causing us to pay $135 to enter.

But, considering almost all nations need a visa to enter the US I realized I was being selfish for not wanting to go to a country just because of a visa.

I have friends who have attempted for a US visa and wasted $100 just to be denied.

So I went for Bolivia.

Potosí

As touristy as the town may be, I thoroughly enjoyed the colonial architecture and 20+ churches and, of course, the creepy mine tour of Potosí.

The town is tucked in the beautiful rolling Andes and was exploited by Spainards who basically enslaved the indigenous people to work in the mines.

The townspeople still work there to this day, and allow tours to come in exchange for gifts of gloves or candy or soda or coca leaves (they chew them like some people chew tobacco).

They have the god Tio, aka the devil, inside little rooms in the mine where they leave gifts in exchange for good luck.

La Paz

Dirty, polluted and loud, I was unimpressed.

I was also sick from a ¨stomach infection¨ (I never received an official diagnosis). I vomited and had diarreah and actually felt pain eating because I knew what the consequences would be, so I finally insisted on going to a hospital.

The hospital (La Paz Hospital) I went to was full of residents and a few doctors, but all extremely nice and all that happened was they gave me a saline solution to rehydrate me and then an injection of something to stop the diarreah...so far so good! They took forever to find a vein (this is normal), and then blood spilled onto my white t-shirt, and one resident took the time to wash it out as best as he could. He also made sure I had a blanket. Just a bunch of sweethearts. =)

And, much to my mother's surprise, it came to a total of 100 bolivianos... Roughly $15. This is why I didn't bother with traveler's insurance.

I also looked like a crack-house resident with 3 cold sores on my lips, and a concerned doctor actually wrote me a prescription for a cream. How sweet. =)

And Peru Lets the Door Slam Our Bums

Talking with our Peruvian friend, Edgar, we decided to head for Bolivia for a bigger taste of the Andes. Little did we know, when leaving one country for another do not walk next to a person of a different color. Apparently it is highly suspicious.

So, Bonnie and I were walking with Edgar and his friend Edwin over the bridge to Bolivia and the Peruvian police stopped us and insisted we follow them for questioning.


It was quite painless, and they were amusing enough, actually. They just looked through our bags and had us empty our pockets, in which I had an awkard amount of tampons, toilet paper, and pads.


But.


In Bolivia Bonnie and I counted our money to pay the horrifying visa fee of $135 and each of us realized we were $20 short.


The police ripped us off, very likely through distraction.


Thank you, third world police force for inspiring faith in all you do.