If there were ever an update where I really hoped you guys would check out the pictures, however disorganized, this is the one! :) I’ve been hiking in Patagonia, spent about a month in a tent, and hung out with some interesting people. It’s been an adventure… everything I’ve been looking for!

Ushuaia was fantastic. Situated on the Beagle channel, you could just imagine Darwin and his crew wandering around, meeting the locals who lived naked in the cold (apparently they lathered whale grease on their skin to keep warm). Saw a bunch of penguins, sea lions, interesting birds, and the sky which was ALWAYS interesting to watch. I managed to get myself lost and found in a random valley, as well, which was quite exciting.

Dancing Penguin

I visited the old prison in town (that’s how the town was born, like Staten island… and Australia) :) and partook in a “tour” where they dressed everyone up like convicts and marched us around, yelling, shut us in cells, etc. That was an interesting experience. We couldn’t stop giggling, which just got us yelled at more and more. :) Funny to think we paid to be treated like that!

I didn't do it!

Next came Chile and the Torres Del Paine National Park. That’s pronounced PIE-NEH, not PEN-NEH, which is what I did for a while, effectively calling them the “Penis Towers.” Yeah, I´m going to go hike the Penis Towers. I need a tent for the Penis Towers. Have you seen the Penis Towers? Are they very big? Has anyone climbed the Penis Towers recently? How hard are they? Etc. I’m surprised it took as long as it did before someone spewed water all over the table.

Torres del Paine, Chile

Cesar and Julian freezing as we wait all toooo long for sunrise. Misinformed!

What. a. spectacular. park. Did the circuit hike in 6 days.. a bit too fast (they recommend 7-9) with two Chilean guys, Cesar and Julian. I met them in my hostel in Puerto Natales, and given how much they took the piss out of me for the amount of food I had spread out in preparation for the hike, I figured they had ample experience in the mountains. Only when we’d actually set off and they ATE all the food did I realize they didn’t have as much trekking experience as I’d originally thought! Day trippers. ;) We had a great time, though… they provided the comic relief and I the food. Ha. By the end we were like a giant married couple – oscillating between genuine bickering and roaring laughter. As for actually walking, they were fast, which was great. We were going about 20 kilometers a day with 20 kilo packs. We passed a LOT  of people. I was happy to be with Spanish speakers, not to mention locals! They kept trying to “fix” my thick Argentine-Gringo accent and called me “Papa Frita” (French Fry, or Chip). =) No one knows why.

Glaciar Grey

Lago Pehoe

After the Torres, I headed back into Argentina, past the Perito Moreno Glacier to El Chaltén, home of Los Glaciares National Park and Fitz Roy , another spectacular granite peak.

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

Fitz Roy

This time I stayed in a free camping at the base of the trail into the park and hung out with some bona fide hippies. These people were the real thing, hearts the size of melons. One Columbian guy had been travelling for 25 years, all in South America and made a living off of making wire keychains in a tent. There was an American who played the Dijeridoo (sp?), an Aussie climber who spoke French and Spanish, Chilean brothers who continually played music, and then the French “Rasta” group who made string bracelets and necklaces with the Argentine ceramic artist who got his materials from the local stream. Another Argentine girl was a yoga instructor, and I had my very first yoga class trying to balance in the strong Patagonian winds, face in the sun. Amazing.

Ali the Colombian, travelling 25 years

We had a grand “Asado” (Argentinian bbq, meat grilled over coals), hosted by Jesus who had a voice like The Godfather. :) I didn’t eat a bite of it, unfortunately, as I’d earlier gotten sick from eating some bad mayonnaise. That was fun. Wake up in the middle of the night, crawl out of the warm sleeping bag into cold wind and rain, teetering to the outhouse to projectile-vomit into the hole in the floor. Mmmm. Followed by diarrhea the next day. Weee! That’s for those of you who think all this travel is a continual paradise.  ;) Let’s just say I´m over my post-hike bread + mayonnaise craze. I know it sounds disgusting, but it’s gooood down here. :) No fridge, so no more.

Jesus (drinking the wine) hosted an Asado

When I finally got OUT of El Chaltén (stayed a few more days than I would have liked because busses only leave in the direction I was going 3 times a week, not to mention the getting sick part), I had a 30 HOUR bus ride where I met a Paleontologist who was telling me all about the history of the area – the fossils she´d found and petrified forests… definitely something I want to go back to see! She also had quite a cocky attitude in approaching Sudoku, and got extremely frustrated when it posed a challenge. Interesting bus ride, for sure.

30 Hours to where, you ask? To El Bolsón, near Bariloche. They say the local mountain is one of the “energy centers” of the planet. It has hippie roots and was the first in the world to declare itself a nuclear-free zone. They don’t give you bags in the grocery stores to take your food home. If you don’t have dreadlocks (or at least long hair) you feel a bit out of place. Once again, I stayed longer than I should have. Partly due to recovery (getting over the illness plus extremely long bus ride), partly due to sheer laziness. Not to mention the best ice cream EVER and a nice little market where I bought a ring and necklace and promptly lost them. After all the hiking and rough weather, it was nice to be in a calm, sunny place for a few days… or a week, as it were. It really reminded me of home, actually. Pretty much the same latitude!

My El Bolson Campsite - mine is the purple tent. "Energy center" mountain in background.

FINALLY escaped El Bolsón’s mysterious clutches and made my way back into Chile. Here I’ve picked up the pace considerably. Phew! Climbed a live volcano (nearly passed out from the sulfur fumes at the top) but didn’t get to see any lava, and then descended it on a mountain bike. This was the most extreme mountain biking I have ever done. Put those eyebrows down, I haven´t done much. But it was enough to get the heart racing a bit! Good day.

Volcan Villarica - summited on foot, mtn biked down. Fun day!

Summit of Volcan Villarica

Mountain bike descent

Then I met up with Cesar and Julian again in Temuco! We went out a couple of nights and danced until dawn. It was certainly a change of scenery for us three – I was used to all of us being grimy and tired, and here we were in actual civilisation and shaking the hips to “Reggaeton,” a Latino-Reggae-Hip-Hop combo that is ever so popular down here.

Moving North. Last night I visited an observatory in Vicuña and saw planets and stars through a pretty big (though not the biggest) telescope. It was amazing! Also visited the oldest Pisco brewery in Chile. Pisco is the national drink here – it’s a liquor made from white wine. YUM. :) Now I am in the north of Chile, camping in the Atacama desert.

Pisco brewery

I’ll be home again for a month in April (working on the UK visa) and then it’s back to South America. Weee!