the W

All you Gortex clad, hightech owning backpackers watch out for the plastic poncho wearing fools (or old farts as we now feel)! We just finished hiking "the W" circuit in Torres del Paine National Park. The ciruit is named the W because it makes the shape of a W as you hike up 3 valleys in this beautiful national park. Wow! Fantastic! Stunning! Unbelievable! Freezing! Sorry the words used in this blog are overused and a bit cornball but this is all I have to try to describe this amazing place.

The hike itself is a 76 km (47ish mile) trek. It is absolutely breathtaking and also a bit ####### the old bones. We had been doing a bit too much sitting on buses and boats, but it felt great to be "aching" the way we did. Along the trail, there are hostels that you can stay in but they were really expensive (45 dollars per person per night, in a dorm room and not including sheets or a sleeping bag, those are all extra). So, being the money pinchers that we have to be, we decided to rent all the gear in town before we left and carry it all with us. It made the hike a bit more painful but in the end we saved a whole lot of dinero. Also, being as unprepared as we were for this part of our trip, only having plastic ponchos and cross trainers and some rental gear from our shoddy little pretrek hostel, we definatley got a few sorry glances from the seriously teched out fellow backpackers that we passed on the trail.
The first night was a little disheartening as we climbed up the last boulder field to look out at the famous Torres (towers) only to wait 2 hours in a snow storm (snow blizzard) and to no avail, they were hiding in the clouds. The next moring we ran (literally) up that part of the trail again to try to catch a glimpse of the towers, but again the snow started just as we were about 45 minutes from the top, so we tucked our tails between our legs and started toward the next campsite. They warn you that you can experience the 4 seasons in one day down here.
From that time on, however, the views got better and were so amazing that we forgot that we didn´t get to see one of the lookouts. The campsite on the second night was set right on the bluest lake we have ever seen (turquoise blue) and the sheer cliffs just made us stare in awe throughout the evening (sitting at the table in our sleeping bags of course). The third day involved 11.5 hours of hiking (luckily, only 5 with our packs) to the next campsite, but the top was a cirque surrounded by glaciers and sheer cliffs and in all directions. The colors in this park are brilliant. The last day, we hiked to Grey Glacier, a huge glacier which is not really grey but bright blue. Something that I have never seen before. This park is so beautiful, it is no wonder it is the most visited national park in South America. Patagonia, what a place. This is recommended to anyone who loves to backpack (or day hike) and who needs a trip to the bottom of the globe.

¿Where in the Fjord?

A lot has happened since our last update, and life is blustery and frigid here at the ends of the earth. When we last checked in we were embarking onto the Navimag ferry from Puerto Montt, Chile, to Purto Natales (it was the first time we had ever ´embarked' so it was pretty exciting). The boat trip itself was about 4 days through the canals, fjords, and the open sea of Chile´s southern stretch.

Although the trip itself was a little pricey it was a welcome change from our regular mode of tranportation. We stayed in a four person cabin, oddly enough our roomates were a great Isreali couple who we had met several weeks earlier in Argentina--small is the path of travellers. The quarers were tight with no privacy to speak of except a curtain that covered the small bunks.

Since the majority of the trip was through the fjords the water was calm, and for the most part the weather was relatively good--not sunny, but not pouring rain with zero visibility. The scenery from the deck of the boat was great, especially when it was navigating the narrow chanels (the smallest being only about 85 feet wide). Of course a good thing can´t go without a mishap, and on the second day as we glided past towering green mountains and an uncountable number of waterfalls, our camera decided to stop working. (We think the culprit may have been a grain of sand that started causing problems a month earlier when I dropped the camera in my pocket--which was full of beach sand. Woops.) Although the scenery on this day was amazing, for us, the beauty turned to tragedy as we were not able to take hundreds of photos like everyone else. After a relentless pity party full of scowling, moping, banging the camera on my hand and telling others of our misfurtune, it started working again. It was now 8:00 at night, but the problem, what ever it was, was now gone. Whew...anyway, back to the boat.

At percisely 2:15 pm on the second day the tour conductor on the boat makes an announcement in English, with her strong Chilean accent, ''Passengers, now is the exact time to take the sea sick pill.'' Which we did. Turns out I am not meant to be a sailor, or a pirate, or an old sea dog, because as soon as we hit the open ocean and the I could see the horizon through the windows of the boat turn from the gray of the sky to the gray of the sea, I had to retire to my small bunk and lay in the fetal position for the rest of the night, struggling to keep down my spaghetti dinner. Shanon, on the other hand, lazily read her book in the lounge and then watched a movie in the cafeteria.

The experience itself was nice overall, and a good change of pace. The food was good (Shanon ate fish), our friends from Isreal were great to hang out with, and like I mentioned, the scenery was great, and it feels REALLY good to go a few days without having to make any decisions about where to go, what to do or where to eat. That's as easy as it gets in South America.

Once again we are just ahead of the summer tourist mahem that's about to begin down here, and in case you were wondering, life is cold and blustery down here at the end of the earth where Antarctica is just a long stone throw away.

Spring in Chile and the Push for Patagonia

We´re back in Chile again and just made it through another weekend. We always thought it was difficult to find stores or restraunts open in SLC on a Sunday, but in Chile and Argentina life nearly comes to a grinding halt. Almost all the stores are closed, and restraunts keep strange hours that are not consistent with our fickle eating habits. Yet, we perservere. To the left is a pleasant view from our room in the hostal. Brrrr.

And this is the only action we get on another lazy Sunday afternoon.

We´re heading out on a ferry this afternoon from a bustiling city called Puerto Montt. The city itself it nothing spectacular so we stayed about 30 minutes outside of town in a place called Puerto Varas (this port is on a lake though), which is much more quiet and has a great view of three massive volcanoes...or so we hear. It´s been cloudy and raining like mad for the past three days. We did make it out to another small national park one of the days when there was a break in the weather, and saw some waterfalls in a massive river that were formed by a fairly recent lava flow. The water rages with so much force that it actually shakes the small bridge (capacity 10 people) that crosses one narrow section. Since it's still early in the season we had the fals to ourselves for almost 45 minutes before people started to show up--one of the benefits of going places in the off season.

Waterfall Salto de Petrohue

Another pretty place in another pretty National Park.

The downfall, as I mentioned before, is the weather. Eventually the rain started again and we hopped back on the rickety old mini-bus for the voyage back to our hostel. Although the safety if the buses here in South America is occasionally questionable, we had reassurance on this dilapidated old jalopy, and out minds were at ease....

....it´s a dark photo, but that´s an old hammer on the left fastened to the bus. Even if there were an emergeny you wouldn´t be avle to move that sucker. Fewwww....safe at last.

The travelers on yet another mini-bus.

Next up is Patagonia. We´ll probably be off the radar for the better part of the next week or so, but hopefully the weather will be kind to us and we will return with some more tales and stunning visual imagery. Until then, Viva Chile!

Car Rental Day

Yes, freedom at last. Nothing compares to a road trip; and as much as we have grown to love crowded, swaying, cheese smelling buses, the last 2 days have been blissful in our own rental VW.

We got the sweet ride in Bariloche, traveled to the ski resort above the town of Bariloche (it closed for season the day before) and then around Lake Nahuel Huapi to a small town on the opposite side of the lake called Villa La Angostura. It was so tranquel there, a small ski town, but this is definately where the wealthy settle down. The lake front houses look out across the glacial lakes and amazing Nahuel Huapi National Park.

The views of the Andes from all angles of this town were breathtaking. The pictures will never do justice (I know I´ve said this before).

From this town, we hiked 7-8 miles to the end of a penninsula where the Los Arraynes National Park is. It is a very small park which protects a rare forest of trees (arraynes) that are only found in a few places on earth. They are really beautiful and have no outer bark to protect them. It was nice because the only way to reach the park is by hiking in 7 miles or by boat (really expensive, but we took it back one-way to save time).

It was a nice car trip out here with our music, space and no other people reclining all the way back in the seats in front of us. To bad the budget doesn´t allow a car rental in every place we go, because that is the way to really see the land.

This Place is on the Wrong Continent

Its the end of ski season here in Southern Argentina. The snow is melting, there are bright pink blossoms on the trees, the grass is starting to turn green--it is mid-October right? The seasons are definately changing down here, but it feels like it should be autumn, not spring. All that aside, if you were to look up the word Beauty in the dictionary you might find that the definition would say: The Lakes District of Argentina (and of course there would also be a photo of Shanon).

Really though, if this weren´t so far from the home we already know and love, this would be an easy place to settle down and cash it all in. The towns here are small and still relatively unpoiled, despite the consistent barrage of tourists and nationals that flock to this region--It´s easy to see why this is the premier vacation spot for Argentinians and others from all over the world. The main hub here is a hip city called Bariloche. The one-way streets are filled with massive groups of teenagers in matching ski uniforms, the upper-crust Argentinian ski society in tight pants and open shirts, and of course the occasional ski/snowboard bum. What really makes it special here though are the surroundings. There are literally dozens of national parks throughout this section of Argentian and Chile, and the snow and glaciar capped Andes shoot directy out of the frigid waters in any direction you look.

To beat the crowds in Bariloche we headed south for a few days and stayed in a small self-proclaimed hippy town called Bariloche. Here the atmosphere was laid back, and on Saturday and Sunday the main plaza is full of the local artists selling everything from home-brewed beer to hand-knitted leggins (which Shanon bought in celebration of 80s fashion having an amazing presence in S. America...and to keep her warm). A nice Sunday ride through sleepy towns took us to another secluded National Park where families lounged in the sun, kicked around a soccer ball on the grass, and seemingly had no cares in the world--sign me up for that lifestyle.

As we walked to the shore of the lake we passed two older ladies who were on the bus with us. Like many of the friendly folks here in Argentina they tried to strike up a small conversation. Since were a little better at communicating now we answered that we were from the US--when they asked where in the US we told them Utah, and expected to have to give our usual spill about the proximity of our state--somewhere between California and Chicago--but these ladies apparently knew all about our home state and instantly replied, ''Ahhhh, Mormons.'' Hilarious.

Here's an idea...everyone start working on your Spanish and we'll all come retire here together (or keep on retiring for those of you who already have done that).

Olive Trees and Vines

Alright, Mendoza, Argentina was nice and we got a lot of errands done (i.e. Laundry, which is hard when you have to wash everything you own so you don´t have anything to wear to the Laundry mat). Also, we took a nice tour through vineyards, churches and olive orchards in the area. We didn´t stay long here, since we had to once again get on a long bus. It was a nice stop non-the-less.

This is what happens to us after too many long buses--->.

We are now in the lakes district in Argentina. Bariloche to be exact. It is a good size town and it is absolutely beautiful. It is a big ski area in the winter and in the summer it is full of lake, river and mountain fun. And so much treking, I don´t know how you could see it all. The town feels like we are in Canada or Colorado. There is definately a stark difference between the poverty in Peru and Bolivia and what we have seen in Chile and Argentina so far. Jared and I came up with a great trip idea for any of you... Buy a cheap car in Bolivia and drive south through the lake district (both the Chile and Argentina sides). It is amazing, but it is hard to see it all from buses. There is so much to do and such amazing camping. With your own car you could do some great exploring. So some of you come and do that trip for us.

Food update: Burrito Nirvana! We found it after a month and a half of searching in South America. It was amazing and it actually had black beans (not green beans) and mexican rice. And not even a speck of oregano. I was so happy that I forgot to take a picture of it to post.
We will definately be going back there (sorry Jared) before we leave this area.

Buses, Graffiti and more Buses

Yes, we are still bee-lining south. We are almost to our first big stop (the Lakes District) which boarders both Chile and Argentina where we will make our way back and forth across the boarder. We have one more 17 hour bus ride tomorrow and then we will finally be there. Luckily it is an overnight bus so we can sleep at least 8 of those hours.

Some of the stopovers we have seen over the past week on our way south in Chile are:

La Serana: not that exciting, however we did take a short day trip to a sleepy little beach town called Tongoy. We are still in the spring season so the town was quiet, but supposedly this is quite a summer destination for Chileans. There was

supposed to be the "most amazing seafood" there, but since the menus were only in spanish, and the waiter couldn´t translate for us, we ended up with yet another full meal of deep fried fish, deep fried potatoes and deep fried cheese empanadas. I swear the grease down here will be the death of us.

Valparaiso: an absolutely amazing city just outside of Santiago. I loved it here. It is a huge city of color, graffiti and hills. We wandered the cobbled, narrow streets up and down the hills for 2 days. The houses line the hills and are so old, rusty and stacked, they look like they will topple any day. The city sits right on the ocean and used to be a main port for all of South America. They have small trams scattered around the city, where you can take ride to the top of streets since the hills are so steep. The alley-ways are plastered in amazing art and some of the areas are dedicated open air museums where the huge murals line the buildings and retaining walls of the city. I could have lost myself in the hills of this city for days.

But alas, we had to keep moving south and now we are in Mendoza, Argentina (the Napa Valley of Argentina). The ride here from Valparaiso was amazing as we wound up through the andies and through an amazing mountain pass. More posts on Argentina, coming.

Chile, the Desert and a Dedication

It´s tought to keep up with this blog buiness when we seem to spend most of our time making a beeline for the bottom of the continent. We are oficially in Chile now, and the contrast of this country compared to the two we are coming from is pretty stark. Better roads, less shanties and of course higher prices. We started in a small town just over the Bolivian border called San Pedro de Atacama--and the scorching desert heat was a welcome reprise after being pretty cold for the last month.

The town itself has a bohemian feel with its dirt streets, bike rental shops, local artisan handcrafts, lots o´ drums and dreadlocks, and outdoor restaurants that circle large bonfires. It was great to soak up the sun, and the dry, desert climate made it feel just like home. So, keeping our adventurous spirits at full throttle we rented bikes (yes, Shanon too--for those of you who know Shanon´s past experiences on a bike) and pedaled about 30 km (round-trip--about 18 miles) to the Valle de la Luna. Shanon rode her heart out, and it proved to be a great time as we were able to dodge the massive tour groups who were rolling in on their buses just in time for sunset.

Away from the masses we watched the sun drop over the desert landscape, and it felt like we were home...and we thought of you all...so I played a little song on the flute we bought in Peru and dedicated it to all our working class friends and family back in the US of A. Unfortunately, our fute only plays one, sometimes two notes, so the song was more symbolic than it was impressive--but it was for you.

Like I mentioned before, we´re making a beeline for the Southern end of the continent, heading to Patagonia via a series of overnight bus rides (almost like an airplane but with lots of layovers, lots of bouncing, and nauseating toilets). We´re going to try the Argentinian side of the Andes to see if we can cut some cost and make better time. More to come...

Flamingo´s and Salt

Goodbye La Paz, hello Salar de Uyuni.

We finally made it out of that crazy city (actually a pretty cool city when all said and done), and headed for Uyuni (a small town in Southern Bolivia) for the frequently recommended 3 day jeep tour of the Salar de Uyuni.

We stopped at an old train graveyard just before the tour started which had some really cool old rusty trains. Jeff, you would love it.

The tour starts by cramming 6 tourists into a "jeep" which is really an old land cruiser. Our group consisted of a a guy from Montreal and a couple from New York (funny, the same couple that we had the pleasure of spending those heart wrenching, never ending minutes in the airport trying to leave La Paz). They bought an extra "jeep seat" so our car only had five, which still seemed a bit crammed but much better than having 6 (or seven like some tour companies try to pull off).

The first part of the tour was amazing as we drove along a blinding and vast Salt Flat. It was beautifully white as far and the eye could see. (Jared and I thought it was funny that we flew all the way to Bolivia to see this when we have one in our back yard that we have never seen.) There were random islands on the salt flats that had huge Cacti sticking up all over the whole island. The color was amazing against the white sea around the island. There are also a few hotels and restaraunts scattered on the salt flat that are made completely out of salt (this includes beds and tables).

We stayed the night in a very small village called San Juan just outside of the salt flat. The next morning we headed up (and up) to a moon scape. Actually, it was a Doctor Suess scape. It consisted of mountain peaks, red sand dunes and lakes that were bright red or green or black. They were erie and beautiful and full of Flamigos. Thats right, flamigos but apparently not the species native to Boca Raton. For these Flamigos were in lakes at 4995 meters (16,387 feet!) and not tropical, but desertish (aka dry and baren but freezing).

The last morning we woke up at 5:00 to catch the sunrise over a geyser field. It was amazing but really, really cold. After, we soaked in some hot springs. Very nice. The last part of the trip consisted of "Salvador Dali" rocks and more colorful lagoons.

If anyone is planning on coming to Bolivia, this is a definate must. It was absolutely breathtaking. Or a better word might be surreal. Or Bizzar. And of course "pictures never do a place justice"...

Bolivia is an amazing country and super cheap!
The tour ended in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It is a great little town, but there is more to come on this place.

A Long and Sad Two Days

Well, a lot can happen in a week--or not happen. After sliding down into La Paz we had high hopes of a nice, cheap stint in Bolivia. After a day of cruising around the city we decided to take a quick flight up to the northern part of the country and visit an ecolodge just outside of Madidi National Park. After much deliberation regarding the associated costs, i.e. flight, tours and lodging, we decided that we absolutely had to go. We made all the arrangements and were happy about the decision...spiders the size of frisbees, snakes large enough to swallow us whole--it was a must. (Now, go to Google and search Madidi to see photos of how amazing it looks there, because we never made it.)

The next morning found us at the airport at 5:45 am so that we could make the flight at 6:50. We were advised to expect delays because of the grass airstrip in Rurrenabaque where we would land, and the occasional overbooking of passengers. So, when we tried to check our bags we were not entirely surprised to hear that the flight was delayed. From here it´s all downhill...we started to hear people murmering about yet another delay, talking under their breath about the same runaround from the airline the day before, etc. We asked a couple from New York if they knew what was going on and they filled us in on a secret--90% of the people there waiting to get on the plane, the plane that we were supposed to board at 6:50 that would take us to the most incredible rainforest in the world, those people had all tried to get on the same flight to Rurrenabaque the day before. Not only was our flight delayed, there was an entire flight in front of us that still hadn´t left from the previous day. Not good. The plane only holds 20 people or so, and our understanding was that the entire fleet was only made up of a few of them.

An hour of waiting turned into two, then three, then four. ¨Check back in an hour,¨ the clerk would tell us again and again as the time on the departure board kept getting pushed back. At 3:30 pm the flight ahead of us had still not left and no one really knew what was going on. At 4:30 they said there would be no flights that day and to come back in the morning. Smoke they told us finally--the pilot would not be able to land because he would not be able to see the runway. Apparently there are intentional ground fires in the Amazon every September, but no one had ever mentioned that small detail. Funny that they would even sell the plane tickets if they knew no one would be going anywhere.For those of you who have had long delays I don´t need to describe the bizarre and exhausting sensation that comes with being in an airport for 11 hours.

The next morning we showed up again, hopeful, but still uncertain. Less people this time but the same story. After the same guy from Amazonias kept telling us to coma back in an hour for updates people were beyond loosing their patience, and after a description from the actual pilot of the situation in ´Rurri´, we knew we weren´t going anywhere. In fact, he made it sound like no one would be going up there all week. The second option was a 17-20 hour bus ride to the park, but it would have added another three or four days of travel time, and we decided not to sacrifice the days (not an easy decision) since we have a long ways to go in the next month and a half. Disheartened, we asked to cancel our flight and made our way back down to La Paz--back to the traffic, honking, yelling, steep streets, odd smells, llama fetuses for sale....

The runaround we got trying to get our money back from the airline was the icing on the cake, and another story of its own that is too long for the likes of this already long post (but it did involve several taxi rides to the offices in the city, a bout of diarreah and a fierce rainstorm while we were on the streets). Why, oh why, do we have such a hard time getting out of the capital cities of South American countries? I think we will skip Santiago (Chile) all together.

All the way to S. America and no rain forest...it just doesn´t seem right. Argentina will be our last chance, but we are already southbound, so the chances of seeing frightening jungle creatures aren´t that great anymore. Sigh.......La Paz was neat (for a city), but not as neat as a monkey or a two-toed sloth.