Adios America!

Last official stop in South America: Buenos Aires. I hadn't heard the best things and wasn't expecting much, but I actually loved this city - or at the very least, I loved the day and a half I spent there :) I checked into Milhouse Avenue, a designated party hostel, and had a lot of fun with--unexpectedly--two Brazilian girls. Went to bed at 5am and woke up four hours later to do everything I could possibly do: Palermo-Plaza Italia-Plaza Serrano-Zoological Garden-Botanical Gardens-Japanese Gardens-Plaza San Martin-MALBA-Museo de Belles Artes-Plaza Francia-Recoleta Cemetery-Peatonal Florida-Peatonal Lavalle-Teatro Colon-Obelisk and then somet. I had about five minutes to rest and then I was off to the River Plate-Banfield game. LOVE the way the fans are singing and chanting the entire game! River won after a goal relatively late in the game and I admit, my fist punched the air in victory. Back to the hostel for another night out with the Brazilian girls.


Woke up early the next day to see the Plaza del Mayo, Casa Rosada, Puerto Madero, and the Ecological Reserve. Next, I picked up my stuff at the hostel and bused to the famous La Cabrera restaurant. I didn't have a reservation and the lady was going to make me wait for 45 minutes to see if a space opened up off the WAITING LIST... but then I think I seemed pathetic enough with my backpack and hunger that she seated me right away. I wanted a good steak for my last meal in Argentina, I got it! I think it was 500 grams of filet mignon with a ton of garnishes: assorted breads, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, yams, apple sauce, olive spread, mashed vegetables, onions in gravy sauce, caprese salad, hearts of palm, pickled cream, and garden salad. Oh, I also enjoyed it with a bottle of wine to myself. Really amazing meal! (Thanks Ben, for the recommendation!)


I went straight to the airport after lunch, checked into my flight, then I was off to Africa! Buenos Aires is big, bustling, and beautiful and I would be happy to come back and explore more of the city some day.

So on this trip, I am officially done with South America. It's really hard for me to pick and choose favorites because there was good and bad about every country. Chile is definitely at the top of the list though... the prettiest night sky I've ever seen was in San Pedro de Atacama and the food was really fantastic! LOVED the enormous (and delicious) steaks I had in Argentina... LOVED the salt flats and cheap books in Bollivia... I could go on and on. I feel so lucky to have had these last three amazing months, and without major incident. Stats are updated down below to give you an idea of my bug and boozing habits. Enjoy!

Salta Linda

They call it Salta the beautiful, it is. I enjoyed the time I spent in the city and surrounding areas but I had a bit of a rough start. When I went to get my backpack from under the bus, it was basically soaking wet. The straps were wet enough to imprint on my shirt and the hostel that was supposed to be close, was much farther away than they claimed. When I got to my room, my lonely planet had expanded to twice its size from the water and days later, it's still not completely dry... Maybe it's a sign I shouldn't be traveling with a Lonely Planet from 1997 ... My newly-washed clothes were wet too though. It happens I guess, and this was a super nice bus too! Lesson learned: use a rain fly at all times.

That night, I spent about four hours exploring Salta... I went up to the high point at San Bernardo Hill... I explored the town's center and churches... I visited the Sunday-only fair on Balcarce street. Salta has some of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen, especially the Church of San Francisco :)

I love the architecture in this city and the cities ambiance makes you feel calm, happy, and appreciative of what you get to see around you. Balcarce's fair was okay - about three blocks of vendors selling artesenal goods. I think it's partially because of cultural insensitivity and partially because I know I don't have the room or will to carry souvenirs from every place that I'm really just not impressed by local handicrafts. I watched a Pena show (folkloric music and dancing) while I had my dinner. This was okay too... I am never really impressed by these kinds of cultural shows either, but I always end up going...

So Salta is a major hub to do tours to other places, and that's what I did. I went through the very beautiful Quebrada de Las Conchas (Shell Gorge) on the way to Cafayate - famous for its production of Torrontes white wine. We went to Nanni winery and got to sample some of their wines. They are 100% organic but the tour guide told us that Argentine's could care less about it being certified organic.. they just drink it for the taste. I'm with the Argentines. :) I also got to try wine ice cream, of the Torrontes and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties at the supposed "creador de helados de vino." It tastes exactly like wine! Awesome! The best part was probably the tunas-flavored ice cream that I had. Really, really amazing! (Tunas grow on cacti and I think are called prickly pears in the US.)

On another tour, I went through the Quebrada de Humuhuaca, a UNESCO world heritage site recognized for its history and beauty. The highlight of the tour was a stop in super small town Purmamarca, which sits at the base of the famous seven-colored hill. It was all very beautiful and such a change in scenery from where I'd been for most of the last two months: Patagonia. I think honestly though, UNESCO site or not, the Quebrada de las Conchas > Quebrada de Humuhuaca. I probably didn't need to do the Humuhuaca tour either since my bus from Salta to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) passed through the quebrada, the seven-colored hill, and the incredibly beautiful Salinas Grandes. Even though I'd seen some of the sights before, it was the MOST BEAUTIFUL BUS RIDE EVER!! I felt very lucky to be able to take in such amazing landscapes with really quite dramatic changes in scenery throughout the bus ride.

Wine Country

Night bus from Santiago to Mendoza = terrible idea. Generally, I like to take night buses because you can sleep while covering a lot of distance. The buses in Chile and Argentina are fantastic too! When I spoil myself, I get a cama seat, which is almost fully reclining. On this bus, however, I had a semi-cama (semi-reclining) seat; it's comfortable enough. Everything started off well.... they gave us blankets, pillows, and even a midnight snack - never had these amenities before! Unfortunately, we had a border crossing that we reached at 2am. This was Terrible. 2.5 hours of getting your Chilean exit stamp, your Argentinian entrance stamp, and then your hand luggage and stowed luggage manually searched. Border crossings have been a nuisance... but you usually get off at one border for 20-40 minutes to get your exit stamp, drive another 10-30 minutes to the other border, then wait 20-40 to get your entry stamp. So it's never taken so long before. I'd also never done it at night before, and certainly not at 2am. Not so fun. Probably only got about five hours of sleep that night and now I definitely have a cold. I also missed Aconcagua, the highest point in South America. I had great advice about where to sit and when to look on the drive from Santiago to Mendoza to see it (thanks Eli!)..... but by the time we finished with the border crossing, I was too exhausted to stay awake. (It was also too dark to see lol)

I arrived at the hostel around 7:30am, well before check-in, but my room was ready so I got to settle in. Hostel Empedrado in Mendoza = awesome. I had a two-bed "dorm" room that cost about $19. This hostel had free wi-fi, free laundry, a free 15 minute international call, crepes and DIY eggs at breakfast. Fantastic! (For breakfast, most hostels have free toast, tea, and coffee... sometimes you get cereal. And that's it.) I didn't have much time that morning though because my friends were there and wanting to leave on a morning bus to nearby Maipu, for wine tasting.

15 of us got on a 45 minute bus to Maipu. We rented bikes and the second we were all paid up, it started pouring rain. Mr. Hugo (bike-shop ower) gave us all a glass of wine as we waited out the rain. Next stop: the only place where you get free wine - most vineyards cost between 15 and 25 pesos ($4-$6) to taste. Next, we went to a really amazing place that made almost everything you could want: whiskey, absinthe, liquors, jams, olive oils, chocolate, etc. I'd never had a shot of absinthe before... it's pretty gross! They made the most amazing jalapeno salsa though - I bought three jars :) After a long bike ride, we ended up at the Termus vineyard. 10 of us split 5 bottles of really good wine... I had my wine with a really amazing steak that only cost about $10. I also had the best Malbec ever(!) but the bottle cost about $100 and I couldn't bring myself to buy it. Next time maybe? We even went to a beer garden later that day - delicious stout :) It took a while to get home and some girls got lost on their way, but we eventually made it back for an all-you-can-meat asado/all-you-can-drink wine night at the hostel. Such good food! It's six of us left from the Antarctica trip and this was our last night all together. On and off, we had a month together, and it's been a lot of fun :)

So wine tasting and the asado made for a really fun day, but I have deduced that even when boozing, biking isn't that fun. One girl fell into a ditch... (she fell two more times that day...) another girl just fell off her bike in the middle of the street. (Dangerous, but that was funny because she kind of just laid down and surrendered.) Everyone was okay minus some cuts and scrapes. I didn't fall or anything, but I ended up with my normal biking bruises...

Mendoza itself and the surrounding vineyards, I have to say, weren't so impressive. I think Sonoma and the Russian River Valley of California are incredibly beautiful and this was just eh. Lots of smog and trucks passing through so that that magic of biking through vineyards was essentially lost. I walked around the city of Mendoza for four hours, giving it its proper chance, and nothing I saw was particularly memorable. Definitely glad I went to see it, and will probably always remember my wine-tasting experience there, but I maybe don't have to come back here.

As I write this, I'm on a bus from Mendoza to Salta, in the north of Argentina. 19 hour bus ride and I got myself a cama seat. So awesome. We just finished a game of bingo and I am full because they served us dinner last night, and breakfast and lunch today. (Sometimes they give you one meal for a 28 hour bus ride and that's it!) I'm trying to be good to myself because my body seems to be more stressed out than I'd like it to be... Sorry if it's TMI but I've missed a period from putting too much stress on my body, I'm not sleeping enough, I'm fighting a cold, my knee starts to hurt anytime I do any hiking, biking, or running, and I've developed little red bumps on my arms and torso that I'm pretty sure are from my first bed-bug attack :/ That said, my spirits are high and I've really been enjoying the last two month of travel. I know I should take it easy, but I can't just yet.... I'll be in Brazil in less than two weeks and that's when I plan to properly recover and rest :)

Powering Through Chile

It's a mad dash for carnaval and I've got no choice but to pick up the pace: MUST GET TO RIO BY MARCH 3RD!!!

Osorno: I left Barioche in the morning and had about five hours to spend in Osorno. At the suggestion of the bus terminal lady, I took an hour's bus ride from there to Lake Puyehoe - it was okay. I didn't know it at the time, but I had driven past it already on the bus from Bariloche. Oops! I did get that picture-postcard view of the Osorno Volcano so it was kind of worth it. (You can see this from Puerto Montt, a town I skipped.) Osorno itself was okay...pretty bustling... a little grungy ... a little dirty. The supposed sights to see weren't much to look at, but their main plaza has free wi-fi and since it was summer, live concerts in one of the main squares. :)

Pucon (Villarica): Arrived in Pucon that night around 11pm with Kelly and Megan. We had plans to hike the Villarica Volcano the next day... little did we know you had to prepare the day before to get fitted for clothes and gear. We were too late. They basically said it was impossible for us three to go but I asked if there was any way I could go because I already had my bus ticket out of Pucon to Santiago the next day. The hostel owner made a call and, though I had to be up at 6am, they were able to fit me in. Hostel Donde Egidio - super nice people there, not to mention a great hostel overall. After four hours of sleep, I woke up to get ready for climbing the volcano. 4.5 hours to the top, including a ride on a chairlift that supposedly cuts off an hour of hike time. With ice axes in hand, a group of about 16 people including myself climbed up the snowy, ashy volcano. Parts of it were terrible of course... super strong winds, ash in my eyes, and a neverending uphill trek... But the top was amazing! The colors! Volcanic rocks are also very cool. We were lucky because the smoke(?) from the volcano didn't blow at us from the top so we didn't have to breathe in those terrible fumes until the very top. You had a view into the volcano - no visible lava - and then a view of about five different lakes down below. When we started the trek, everything was blanketed in clouds but they cleared and it was just an incredible view. The best part, however, was the descent: We got to go sledding all the way down. SO FUN!! Sometimes you'd go so fast that you'd get a face full of snow..... or you'd end up sideways from banking a turn.. or you'd just crash into the person in front of you because you were butt-sledding faster than him or her. I've concluded that butt sledding is way more fun than any other snow sport :)

Back from Villarica into Pucon, I rushed around town to get a feel for Pucon. I liked it very much... it seems to be relaxed and quaint... full of really nice people. I also ate the biggest empanada I have seen so far .. about half the size of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper... super good too!

Santiago: 9pm bus from Pucon to Santiago with a 7am arrival. I'm not sleeping enough and it's starting to take a toll on my body. With no time to spare however, I powered on. I saw all the major sights of Santiago in a day... After exploring by myself for a few hours, I met up with a group for a free tour. It kind of sucked because the girl was European (i.e. not Chilean) and didn't seem to know that much about the city. I Did meet some cool people who were willing to go to the soccer game with me that night: Universidad Catolico vs. Union Espanola. This turned out to be a bust because the website lied about the game's start time... and by the time three of us were in a cab on the way to the stadium, the game was over. Boo. On the upside, the money went to Pisco Sours, Beer, and Lomo a lo Pobre (steak with two fried eggs on top, onions and french fries) instead. Great night spent with new friends :) Santiago itself was an amazing city. It was the biggest city I'd been in for quite some time, but I loved it. I can do big cities... I feel like I can navigate them pretty easily. I really only had a small taste but I will definitely be back to Santiago some day.

Valparaiso: Valparaiso is about two hours away from Chile. It's a cool little town full of hills... so much so that there are 14 (maybe 15 or 16?) elevators throughout the city that bring the people to their homes. i think locals actually just walk, but the elevators have historic significance and I think they've even been declared a historic monument. The hilly part of town is completely different from the town below... the streets are windy, there's a bohemian feel, bright colored houses dot the landscape and it's just a cool place to be. Pablo Neruda's house - La sebastiana - in Valparaiso was cool too; it looked like a ship! I tried the local reineta and congrio fishes at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Not sure what you guys think of this, but one woman in the tour group wasnt going to eat half her fish... so i asked what she was going to do with it - throw it away - and I asked to have it. No shame! I ordered the congrio and got to try the reineta as a result. :)

Vina del Mar: I don't really have too good a feel for Vina del Mar since I only had a couple hours there... When you first enter the town, you see a giant watch made of flowers. You drive by castles and palaces... and they even have a Moai from Easter Island. (I think, anyway, that they actually brought it from Easter Island.... there may have been a language comprehension issue on my part, however.) The beach, Playa Acapulco, was beautiful and it was really nice to have some time relaxing in the sun.

Valparaiso and Vina del Mar were a day trip from Santiago. Once back in town, I picked up my stuff from the hostel, took the subway to the bus station, and then was on my way back into Argentina. Mendoza here I come!

Bariloche (Bar-ee-ah-loh-chay)

Bariloche was very good to me. Rather, I decided to be good to myself for the days I spent here. For one, almost no hiking! At Cerro Campanario, you can hike up or take a chair lift to the top. I took the lift and had tea and an empanada while enjoying a panoramic view of Bariloche. At Cerro Otto, you can, again, hike up or take a cable car. I took the cable car. It was sunny the day I did Cerro Otto and the views were spectacular!

One morning, I took a colectivo to its last stop at Llao Llao (pronounced Zhao Zhao). I kind of went on a whim and didn't know exactly what to see or do there, but I ended up walking about 6 kms and saw a lake (Lago Escondido) and a bridge (Punta Romano). Cool. While in the forest, there was a kind of bamboo that covered the pathway, making it feel like a very magical-and even enchanted-place. Very cool. Back on the road, it was raining pretty hard and a ranger gave me a ride to the hotel where I could catch the next bus back into town.

My last day in Bariloche, I went chocolate shopping for two hours. TWO HOURS!! I visited 11 stores and bought something from 10 of them lol I don't kno what came over me!.. some crazy ideas about comparing chocolates perhaps. They had one store called Mamuschka - Russian themed and complete with matroshkas (the little doll statues that are stacked inside each other). For some reason, Bariloche had a lot of little Russian touches and several stores sold Russian trinkets.... I liked this very much.

Post chocolate-shopping, I had a massage. Awesome except for the fact that the woman stood there and watched while I undressed...(Incidentally, this happened in Thailand too.) Next, I was off to Parilla de Tony. Not including all-you-can-eat restaurants, this is the most meat I've ever had. The options for single portions are 400 grams or 800 grams... that's 14 ounces or 28 ounces of filet mignon. SO MUCH MEAT!!! I got the filet mignon pequeno (400 grams): You have a massive plate in front of you that you can use to snack on the bread and chimichurri sauce they give you.... then Tony himself comes out to serve the meat. He put one filet on my plate... it was BIG. But then he put ANOTHER one on my plate!

For any Ruth's Chris fans, this was bigger than the Ruth's Chris cut and there were TWO of them on my plate! I think it was way over 14 ounces and probably closer to 20 ounces. It was amazing!!! (This was, incidentally, my second time eating at Parilla de Tony - I went the first night with my friends and it was so mouthwateringly good that I went back [by myself!]).

So basically, Bariloche to me means incredibly beautiful landscapes, R&R, massage, chocolate, and meat. It doesn't really get better than this :)

Next stop: Crossing back into Chile to hit Osorno, Pucon, then Santiago!

More Patagonia

The day after the superbowl, I crossed back into Argentina to get to El Calafate. The town is pretty touristy and they know how to make everything easy for you. Before I left to have dinner with friends, I had my bus ticket to the Perito Moreno Glaciar the next day, my transport to and from El Chalten to see Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy the day after that, and then a bus ticket out of El Calafate to Bariloche the day after that. Easy. One complaint though: I was staying at a different hostel from everyone else - at I Keu Ken. It was a nice hostel but they advertised themselves as being four blocks from the bus station... it was, but four blocks uphill... not fun with bad knees and a backpack.

Perito Moreno: This is pretty much the only reason to visit El Calafate - it's in the Glaciar National Park. The Glaciar National Park is said to house the third largest ice field after Antarctica and Greenland. Even after Antarctica, turns out I'm not sick of glaciars. This one was especially cool because you could see it breaking apart every now and then. Huge chunks of glaciar would break off and fall into the water. It was incredible to see and so loud, like fireworks only they were exploding beneath you! My camera ran out of batteries so instead of taking pictures, I enjoyed the view and snacked on chocolate bon bons. :)

El Chalten: More hiking. My body is definitely mad at me now. I hiked for 9.5 hours to Laguna Torre and halfway to Cerro Fitz Roy (the two highest points). Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy are part of the Glaciar National Park too, only about 3 hours away from El Calafate. I have mixed feelings about El Chalten... I got an incredible day.... no clouds to obscure the beautiful view and great weather... sometimess the town goes 10 days without seeing the peaks! I was lucky and it was awesome!

(This next section is a big rant. Feel free to ignore and skip to the end.) El Chalten was beautiful that day, but I'm also pissed off at El Chalten and everyone I talked to about it. I had overly ambitious plans of doing both hikes.... Once I got to the park, I was discouraged from doing so and pretty much made to believe that this is impossible (little did they know the pace I kept in Torres del Paine!). So the ranger says not to do it. The RANGER! Okay, fine. I start in on another hike to Laguna Torre - this is amazing. Then there's another viewpoint an hour away - the Maestra. I am most pissed off about this because the view (an hour away up a rocky crappy hill) wasn't any better than from Laguna Torre! I even asked people if it was worth it and asked about what you could see ... nobody told me it was shit! So that's two hours of time wasted. (This becomes important later...) Around this time (3pm), I realize that my two-week old backpack has lost its bottom... comletely ripped at the seams with my stuff falling out. It looked like everything was still there.... but it was when I went to reapply sunblock that I found out that tht was missing. Oh coppertone! I've also lost my orange which I was really looking forward to eating! So I can already feel the sunburn on my shoulders and I happen to glance at the map to find out that Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy are CONNECTED. WHAT?! I assumed doing both hikes in a day is impossible because you have to go back and forth to the start point. Nobody told me! It's like a hologram... you just dont see it for the longest time, and then once you see it, it's all you can see. So all I could see on this map that was very confusing, is the route to Cerro Fitz Roy... that I now am probably too late to take. Heading back into town from Laguna Torre, I stop and ask a girl for some of her sunblock. Bad decision. She tells me she's taken this connection route from Fitz roy to Laguna Torre... that it took her about two hours.... and that it was the most beautiful part of the park she's seen. Crap. I can't miss that!! So I get to the sign and it says three hours to Poincerot (where the first Fitz Roy lookout is), then another two hours from there to town. It was 4pm. I had to be back in town for an 8pm bus. So what do I do? I go for it! I know, I know, stupid... but I was used to beating park estimates. But the sunblock girl did NOT tell me it was SUPER uphill and I had already killed my knees getting to the stupid Maestra. So I'm discouraged.. but I power on. Again, stupid, I know. Then I run into a guide who says its another two hours - I'd been trekking for about 40 minutes uphill... and that I can't make it back to town going that way by 8pm. He says if i hurry, I can try to see one of the lakes and then rush back to town... so I did that. Then went back all the way I came... basically trekking two hours out of the way, then another two hours to town. I made it with about 40 minutes to spare before my bus but the whole way back I was so mad!!! Would have taken me about two hours to get to Laguna Torre, then three hours to Poincerot, then another two back into town... It sucks that I hiked 9.5 hours and still wasn't able to do what I wanted to do in the first place! Why did the ranger discourage me?! Why did I take the stupid Maestra?! (Not only was it crap, but I would have had those two hours to do both treks!) Why didn't anyone tell me the Maestra was crap? Why didn't I know the treks were connected?! Why did I stop to talk to the one girl who'd tell me what I was missing? Why did I go for it?!!! GAH!!!! Basically, it was my fault for not knowing, and then trying to go for it anyway... but at the time, I was mad at everyone! It was also poor time management and that's just not something I'm used to.... therefore it makes me so incredibly angry! AHHH!!!! To top it all off, I almost missed my bus because it started pulling out of the station at 7:55pm. He let me on, and everything was fine, but goodness! Anything else, El Chalten?! Thanks for the sore knees, sunburnt skin, and bad tan lines! (Rant concluded)

My last afternoon in El Calafate I spent buying sunblock, buying a new backpack, reinforcing the backpack with duct tape, and buying a new watch (my old one died recently...). I ended up with a kid's Winnie the Pooh watch because it was the only thing moderately affordable. :) 28 hour bus ride to San Carlos de Bariloche that actually wasn't bad because I was in a fancy (cama) seat that almost reclines into a full bed. Now I'm off to celebrate a friend's birthday... Happy 24th Birthday Kelly Toomey!

p.s. Mom tells me there was a 7.0 earthquake in Chile... I didn't feel it! I'm safe :)

A Sea Lion Headbutted Me

17 hours on a bus to get here - not bad at all! They give you dinner (but I was asleep) and then packaged snacks: one alfajor and one tostado dulce (sweet toast). A traditional alfajor consists of dulce de leche sandwiched between two cookies that is then dipped in chocolate. It sounds good.... but it's not. I even bought the best alfajor brand to try: Havanna. I'm just not impressed. Basically, the only time I eat them is when we get them on bus rides and I wont be getting food for another ten hours.

I ended up spending four nights in Puerto Madryn when I only intended one at first. There were no buses down to Ushuaia so I couldn't leave for a few days. It's actually a good thing because they've been protesting in Chile and people were stuck further down south for 5 days! I also heard they took some Dutch tourists hostage, but I'm not sure that that's true. Gas prices have risen 300% or something and people are mad! So, in case you guys are getting bad news about shenanigans in South America: I haven't been taken hostage in Chile. I was not struck my lightning in Buenos Aires (I think three people were recently?), and I was nowhere near the flooding in Rio.

So Puerto Madryn. It's supposed to be the dive capital of South America but everyone I've talked to has been disappointed with the diving. I was too. We went down about 25m to see a ship wreck. The water was freezing, the visibility was poor, and we were only down for about 25 minutes. We didn't even get to go inside the ship because it was really dark down there. I Did get to see swarms (?) of what I can only describe as little lobsters - about half the size of my pinky. There were thousands of them about 2-3 meters deep that would surround us and swim in our faces.

But the highlight of my ocean adventures was getting either kissed or headbutted by a sea lion. I signed up to do a snorkel-with-the-sea-lions tour that wasn't the most amazing thing ever, but really cool to do. I think I'm a little jaded because the first day, we took an hour boat ride to the sea lion colony, got into the freezing water, and then weather conditions were too dangerous for us to do anything. So they got us back into the boat and we sat there freezing for an hour... fingers and toes numb, and constant, hard spray from the ocean because it was so choppy. I haven't been that miserable in a long time... But the next day, the weather was fantastic and actually swimming with the sea lions was cool! 2-4 would come around us at any given moment and bite us (didn't hurt) or just swim around and play. I had my face in the water at one point though and a sea lion came up to me, hesitated for a second, and bam! Kiss or headbutt? Not sure :)

One of the big reasons to visit Puerto Madryn is for the nearby opportunities to see animals. Unfortunately, it's not whale season which is one of the biggest draws. We even waited around two hours to see orcas snatch baby sea lions, but no luck. I guess Willy wasn't free today. It was really sad though, there were two dead baby sea lions and birds were feeding on them - the sea lions just let them! :( Because people I had talked to were disappointed with the tours, I ended up renting a car with some new friends and spent about 12 hours driving around Peninsula Valdes. We saw unidentifiable birds, penguins, sea lions, elephant seals, cows, horses, llamas, sheep (ugly when shaved) and an armadillo! All day I wanted to see the armadillo and I even called to it in Spanish. Then randomly, one was crossing the road and stopped in front of my window for a picture. What a nice armadillo. They are surprisngly small, only about the size of a large guinea pig. Toninas are a type of dolphin that I think is only found in the Patagonian waters... I didn't see any there but I saw three while crossing the Strait of Magellan.

I really liked Puerto Madryn. I felt good when I was there and not really stressed at all. Cars actually stop for pedestrians here if that's any indication (this is pretty much unheard of in Argentina). I met a lot of cool people in my hostel and while sea lioning and now I have friends to visit in Europe!

Next stop: The end of the world!

Mar del Plata

I had less than 24 hours in Mar del Plata, but they were great!

One of my roommates, Eyal, was just waking up (around 10pm) when I arrived. He was super nice: He shared his pasta dinner with me, gave me a peach, and then we watched the Oregon game while drinking Quilmes (Argentine beer). I stayed up all night with Eyal and other hostel mates - from what I remember there were Brazilians, Argentines, Americans, and a guy from Colombia. I think I'm going to like this hosteling thing. :)

Sunrise was set for 5:40am and I was determined to see it - well, I was awake anyway. Because I'm on the Atlantic coast, the sun rises over the ocean... very strange since I've been on the west coast my whole life where the sun sets on the beach instead of rises! It was quite beautiful.. though I admit I missed a little bit of it waiting in line for McDonald's.

Hostels del Mar was the most expensive place I stayed so far and the bed I spent the least amount of time in: 3.5 hours. After that nap, I went to the last stop Bus 211 would take me. The bus (2 pesos) drives up the coast and because this is a major holiday season for Argentines, rich and poor alike, the bus was jam-packed until people were able to get off at different beaches.  I was on the bus for about an hour until La Serena, the last stop. I picked up fruit (super cheap!) and then just walked for hours on the beach. It was too hot to lay on the sand and I didn't have a towel, but walking was great.! This was the first time I could just walk and walk and not worry about getting back to my car or have to worry about time. At one point, an older lady stopped me and (i think) said I looked just like her daughter or her daughter's friend or something. We walked together on the beach just talking for awhile. It felt really good and I even enjoyed the kisses on the cheek this time. It was such a nice way to spend a Tuesday afternoon... how's work everyone? :)

After walking a few miles, I caught the bus to the Puerto and had lunch: paella and calamari.  was expensive ($78 pesos) and not so good. I've been finding lately that I can't eat much of Argentinean food...  I just feel unhungry after a few bites. It's very strange, but I'm sure I'll adjust. Before catching the bus to Puerto Madryn I stopped to get aloe.... apparenty the sun is stronger here so my sunblock wasn't enough. Sunburn on my shoulders (when I have my 25lb backpack to carry) and the backs of my knees (when I have a 17 hour bus ride ahead of me). Not fun. But all in all, Mar del Plata was a good way to start my trip. I can't explain why Argentinians flock here for vacation, and I probably wont be back here, but I had fun!

62 Hours Without a Bed

It's been a really long and tiring three days.. so this post is a rant of sorts. It's long. :) I left Indonesia in the afternoon on Saturday (Jan 8) and because of the time difference, landed at LAX Saturday night. I got very little sleep and watched six movies instead. Six! I also ran into a friend, Tiffany Sin, at the Hong Kong airport (there's something to be said for up-to-date statuses.... her gchat status said something about waiting for a flight at HKG and we happened to be in the same gate area, flying on the same airline and equipped with the same cameras! So random!

While in LA, I spent time with family who stayed up all night with me (thank you!!) and then dropped me off at the airport at 5am. At this point, it had been about 36 hours with only 2.5 hours of sleep. I slept on my flight to DC in preparation for my 8 hour layover. Then, Tami came--totally out of her way--to spend a couple hours with me at IAD. Thanks Tami!

Next came a 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires. It was now Monday. I was feeling really excited... this is it! the start of my trip! I paid the $140 entry fee, got my passport stamped, collected my baggage, went through customs, and was on my way. *About the entry fee: This is not a visa. Rather, it is a reciprocity fee that you only have to pay if you are from Canada ($75 for single entry or $150 for multiple entries for 5 years), Australia ($100), or the US ($140 for multiple entries for 10 years). Also, you only have to pay it if you fly into Ezeiza, not if you cross into Argentina overland or arrive in another airport.

Originally, I planned to stay one night in Buenos Aires and then head over to Mar del Plata, six hours away from Argentina. Instead, i decided to skip Buenos Aires (and just see it later for a week in March/April) and head straight to Mar del Plata. There was even a company, Manuel Tienda Leon that would take me straight from the airport to Mar del Plata. I thought it was going to be easy but I landed at 11am and the next bus wasn't until 6pm. Crap. But I had a back up plan! I knew I could take a Manuel Tienda Leon shuttle ($50 pesos) to Retiro and a bus from there to Mar del Plata. I felt savvy-ish because I had pesos (thanks Ben!) and was all ready to go whereas these other Americans looked a little confused and definitely lost on the exchange rate.

All confidence pretty much disappeared after that. The bus to Retiro stopped at the Manuel Tienda Leon station where half the bus, including me, was unaware that you have to get off the bus and board another to your final destination. I finally got to Retiro which, for me, was a super overwhelming mess. A "hot mess" if you will. There were long lines for all the different bus companies that service Retiro with no signs to indicate which companies were going to which destinations at which times. Some companies listed destinations on their signs, but no departure times. So to find out, you had to stand in a long line and ask. I picked a shorter-lined kiosk that listed Mar del Plata departures every 30 minutes. Looked promising. But then the lady said there were  no departures until 2:30pm, an hour and a half away. I asked if there were other companies with earlier departures, and she said she didn't know, go ask around. So I did.

I stood in another long line for someone to tell me 2:30pm, and another long line for someone to tell me 3pm. I went back to the first lady who said that now, there are no longer spots for the 2:30pm, now 3pm. I go back in line for the other 2:30pm bus but now there are only spots for 3:30pm. Gah!!! So I go back to the lady again hot, frustrated, and tired, and get a seat for the 3pm bus. But this lady spoke super fast so it was hard to understand. I was really confused and pretty much felt like an idiot. I also havent had to use the Spanish alphabet in about 8 years so spelling my name was a really hard! I ended up with something like Kimberli Wiesprock. Pretty close I guess. Perhaps the worst part is that different bus companies sell tickets for each other, so I shouldn't have bothered standing in those other lines and just gotten that first 2:30pm bus ticket. I ended up with a ticket on the 3pm Mar del Plata bus ($148 pesos) on the Condor Estrella line, bought from the Dumascat kiosk. Are you confused? I was!

Now I had a bus ticket with more than an hour to kill. I was super hungry and decided to get lunch. At this one place, I didn't know whether you order at the cash register or if you just sit down. So, stupidly, I tried to order something at the register and the guy looked at me confused and told me to sit if I wanted to eat it there. I didn't know they had a menu, so I picked something off the wall: milanesa con papas fritas and a 7up. It was okay. I think milanesa is a chicken-fried steak which i would pretty much never knowingly order. It was about an $11 meal. So I'm sitting there eating my not-so-good food and in walks this couple - they are American. I immediately dislike the girl because she gets to see a menu, she has a spanish-savvy boyfriend who is making everything easy for her, and she's painting her nails in the restaurant. What a bitch! To be fair, I was tired, grumpy, and alone, and she seemed to have it all..

Once on the bus, I had a Cama-Ejecutivo seat which was actually really comfortable. Of course, I was in the wrong seat, but a quick switch and we were on our way. They passed out little snack packs with a bunch of baked goods. I didn't end up eating any of it because I slept most of the bus ride. The bus stopped at a place that could have been Mar del Plata but wasn't (= more confusion), and then I finally arrived in Mar del Plata. I went to a kiosk to buy my next bus ticket to Puerto Madryn ($262 pesos - Don Otto). This experience was painless! Success!

I had looked up online how to get from the bus station to the hostel... it was about 1.2km away and walkable. I started walking. I didn't recognize any of the street names though and I felt like a target with my big backpack and foreign face. It was also close to 9:30pm and dark at this point. I walked back to the bus station and took a taxi. As I sat there, I was hoping I communicated my destination correctly because the taxi ride was much longer than I was expecting. So I'm wondering if he's either cheating me by going the long way or if i told him the wrong place. Turns out, all is good. It's just that there are two bus terminals in Mar del Plata and I didn't come from the one close to the hostel.

I arrive at Hostels del Mar and Patricio at the reception desk kisses me on the check. Oh right, they do that here. But as he's checking me in, the hostel doesn't have my reservation. Awesome. Lucky for me, they have an open bed (70 pesos). Patricio carried my bag upstairs, I locked away my valuables, and finally felt like I could breathe again.

Welcome to Argentina.