Recapping Patagonia pt. 2

After just a couple of days in El Calafate, I decided to move forward with my journey. With no plans or schedule, I just went to the bus station and bought a ticket to a city that seemed to be in the direction of "the end of the world". After some hours on a bus, and another passport stamp, I made it to Puerto Natales, Chile. In the actual city, there was not much to do. On the afternoon that I arrived, I walked through the nice little town which seemed based entirely around trekking the nearby mountains/national park called Torres del Paine, which means towers of the blue (paine is an indigenous word, not spanish). The one thing I did do, was follow the advise of a local woman, who told me where I could have the best sandwich in the town. Now, I didn't try any other sandwiches in the Puerto Natales, but there is no doubt in my mind that this was THE BEST!!

Not only was the sandwich amazing (beef, caramelized onions, a fried egg, and A LOT of avocado), but it was also served Chilean hot sauce (there his a huge lack of anything spicy in Argentina) and also a wonderfully dark beer (most of the beer in Argentina is similar to something really terrible, like bud light). This may have been the most heavenly meal I have eaten since leaving the U.S.!

I had an evening in a quiet hostel, then got up bright and early to head out to the Torres de Paine national park. I went with a tour group because the park is so large and spread out, I wanted to see as much as possible in a short time.

My entire day was filled with incredible views and the most stunning blue and green waters I've ever seen.

After a long day in the sun and wind, I returned to the town, where I ate another one of those incredible sandwiches, explored the little town a bit more, then called it a night. I had plans to leave bright and early the next morning to my next destination-- Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world.

Back in BA-- recapping my trip to Patagonia pt. 1

After quite a vacation from my blog, I'm back, and also back in Buenos Aires. I will do my best to catch up on some missed blogging time. Here goes!!

In December, I took a trip alone to the southern tip of Argentina and Chile. I flew to Calafate, Argentina, then bussed to Puerto Natales, Chile, then bussed and ferried to Ushuaia, Argentina (the southern most city in the world). I saw a lot of breathtaking landscapes, met many other travelers, and had a great time.

In Calafate, the main attraction is the Perrito Moreno Glacier. I enjoyed a picnic lunch, and walked around taking photos of beautiful views, as I listened to what sounded like roaring thunder as pieces of the glacier were breaking off and falling into the frozen waters.

Later, a large group of travelers loaded into a boat, took a trip to the other side of the glacier, put crampons on our shoes, and trekked across the Perrito Moreno.

I was especially excited because there were two groups on my tour, an english speaking group of at least 50 people and a spanish speaking group of about 15 people, and I got to take a much nicer, intimate, spanish trek over the glacier. After a couple of hours on the glacier, we approached a table with rocks glasses, filled them up with glacier ice, and drank whiskey (which I can't stand, but I tried to play along a bit).

After my glacier trek, I went back to the house where I was staying and hung out with other backpackers a fews locals. We made dinner, had lots of laughs, and played some riveting games of UNO.

Well there are the highlights from the first leg of my journey. Next, Puerto Natales, Chile! I'll wait to put that on the next post. As advised by KC (who is a far better blogger than me-- even with an infant) I'm going to try and make more blogs, even if they are shorter. We'll see how that works!