Buenos Aires / Patagonia Pics

Pictures to go with the last post:

Plaza San Martin

Cemetary of the Recoletta

Local flavor

Casa Rosada

On the boat at Perito Moreno Glacier

From the opposite shore

Sheet of ice falling...

...And fallen

Fitz Roy on the trail from El Chaltan

The last pitch to Lago de los Tres: the Glacial Moraine

Starting back down

Lago del Pato

On the way out of El Chaltán, looking back at sunrise

Flamingos at Laguna Nimez

Argentina- Back in the Western Hemisphere

After a long 11 hour flight and a very scary landing, we arrived in Buenos Aires almost two weeks ago. We did our usual plan of taking the public bus into the city, but for the first time it totally backfired. We should have known from our adventures in Costa Rica to never take the public bus in Latin America. The ride which should have taken about 30min took 3hours and that's only because we finally got off the bus and walked part of the way. But we got the hang of things after that.

Buenos Aires is all its talked up to be. Especially the late nights. After grabbing a bite at 10pm we got back to our room to find it empty until about 3-4 am when our roommates returned from the clubs. What a change from NZ when people would be sleeping at 9pm. Lucky Noah was able to fall asleep easily, but I was a jet-lagged disaster and slept until noon. A first for me.

When we finally made it out of the hostel, we grabbed some breakfast at a nearby cafe and walked down Florida Street, a pedestrian mall, towards the Recolletta neighborhood. On the way we grabbed a bit of sun at the park at San Martin Plaza. We then trekked toward the heart of the Recolletta to check out the cemetery. I was quite skeptical about a cemetery being a great tourist attraction, but we heard that we had to go. So we did. And it was pretty neat, just as they described a mini-city. Streets and streets of tombs, all a different design. Some brick, some stucco, some shiny marble. We walked around for a bit exploring them all, but really the only person we had heard of was Eva Peron, so once we found her plaque, there wasn't much more to do. We grabbed lunch at a brewery across the park so Noah could have a sampling flight and then off to the Museo de Bella Artes. The collection was decent, with at least one painting from Monet, Manet, Renoir, Picasso, and Van Gogh. There was also a collection of works from local artists which were very dramatic and sometimes a little scary.

When we got back to the hostel, a couple from Chile on their honeymoon (yes, staying in a 6 bed dorm) invited us to go out for dinner. Or that's what we understood, but actually they had offered to show us where they went to dinner the night before. After a tiring hour's walk to Puerto Madero we got to the all you can eat steakhouse at 12:30am and they said bye. We hadn't actually even been that hungry because we had just devoured a baguette with dulce de leche. It was pretty awkward. We hid in the restaurant until they walked away and then headed to a nearby cafe. Pretty nice to get seated at 1am, can't even imagine anything open in Boston at that time.

Our second day in Buenos Aires we were not as ambitious. We walked to Plaza de Mayo to check out the Casa Rosada which is the site of the president's offices. The architectural details were very elaborate, but the building was very elegant because there weren't too many colors. We even got a free tour, although most of it was in Spanish. We saw a parlor where the Russian president was received just a week ago, and the famous balcony where the presidents address the crowds. From there we hopped on the cheap fast subway and headed over to the Palermo district. This area is known for its parks and a cute neighborhood called Palermo Soho. We walked around for a while and grabbed a bite at a cafe, but unfortunately shopping is not really a backpacker activity and I had to leave the clothing boutiques unexplored.

The next day we woke up super early to catch our flight to El Calafate. We almost had a minor issue because someone (I won't say who) remembered the time of our flight incorrectly and we only had 25 minutes before the flight departed. Due to some luck and some traveling finesse (which we have finally acquired) we made the flight with no problem and after 3 hours we were landing in Patagonia.

The landscape down there is surreal. Away from the mountains the land is completely flat and very arid with only a few scraggly scrubs here and there. But once you approach the mountains, there are beautiful beech tree forests in oranges, reds, and yellows this time of year. There is also Patagonian tussock and grasses in some areas covering the ground. We saw this our second day there when we went to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. Since we had done glacier trekking in NZ, and since this glacier is so huge, we decided to save some money and get a look at the glacier from afar. And we were so glad we did.

Unlike the relatively tiny glacier we visited in NZ, this glacier was huge. Forty-four kilometers long, 5 km wide, and 60m+ thick (above the water). We first inspected the leading edge from a boat where we got a good look at the blue cracks in the glacier and saw some pieces of ice falling into the water. It was also a good example of the speed of sound, as it took several seconds for the sound of the ice hitting the water to get to us. I guess I had never really thought about it before since usually you are not looking at something so far away. Unfortunately the laws of physics make it hard to watch the action as you could not depend on your ears and had to be lucky to be watching the right place at the right time.

But it was only after we were off the boat on the new modern boardwalk that had been built in the beech forest on the side of the mountain, that we got a look at more of the glacier and really started seeing some big pieces of ice fall into the lake. Needless to say, we were mesmerized. We walked along the boardwalk for four hours watching the glacier, willing some huge sheets of ice to fall into the water. First we heard some major cracking and a cave was formed at the base of the glacier. We headed over to the area keeping a careful eye on the ice above the cave. And no doubt, only a few minutes later, the whole sheet thundered into the water. Amazing!

The next day we took the bus to El Chaltan to view Fitz Roy, the most impressive mountain in the area. We journeyed out into the Patagonia wilderness for an 8 hour trek to see it in all its glory. The hike was nothing short of fabulous with gorgeous views the entire time. As we got closer to the mountains, we even reached some snow which made the area even more magical. With a perfect blue sky, snow on the ground, and beech trees at the height of foliage it was probably one of the most picturesque hikes we have done so far. And also one of the hardest as hours 4 and 5 were spent sliding up and back down the snowy, icy base of the mountain to get a view of the three glaciers and lake that the trek was named after. Too bad we couldn't linger with the view too long as we had 4 hours return and we had gotten a late start.

From Patagonia we traveled to Bariloche where we have spent the past week at Noah's family friends the Tognettis. More on the lake, mountains, and our most recent trek soon.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, more memory card issues.

North Island Pictures

Ok, pics for the last post:

A View of Auckland from Mount Eden Crater

Cathedral Cove

Battling the waves at hot water beach

Korai Trees

Our only purpose in hugging this tree is to demonstrate its girth.

Waiau Falls

Forraged mussel feast

In Bill Buckley's toy shop

North Island

El Calafate, Argentina

We apologize for the lack of posts recently, but technical difficulties are preventing us from uploading any pictures at the moment. We've resolved to put up a few text-only posts, and we'll add pictures when we can.

We had less than a week to explore New Zealand's north island, starting and ending in Auckland, so we had to limit our itinerary to something managable. In Auckland, we explored the parks and markets, took in a movie at the IMAX and hiked up Mt. Eden, the highest of the extinct volcanos upon which the city is built. It has an impressive crater, and we were treated to a great sunset from the top. As night fell, we found ourselves looking down into the glowing statium below, listening to ecstatic cheering crowd gathered for to watch the local rugby team. It was really cool.

Next, we rented a car and head out towards the Coromandel Peninsula. This quiet area east of Auckland is characterized by lots of conservation land and vacation homes. We stayed in Whitianga on the east coast, which is lined with white sand beaches. One of these, known as hot water beach, has a unique geothermal spring. It bubbles up through the sand around the low tide mark, making it theoretically possible to come with a spade (british for shovel) and dig your own spa (british for hot tub). We tried this, along with about a million other people, but the tide didn't get quite low enough to build a tub that would withstand the surf. Still it was pretty cool to stand in the waves near the spring and feel the alternating hot and cold water.

We also hit up Cathedral Cove, a secluded beach with a huge stone arch and stone pillars, and a long enough access hike to keep some of the tourists at bay. I tried to snorkel at nearby gemstone bay, where there are a lot of stingrays. Unfortunately, I was equipped with neither mask, snorkel nor wetsuit, so I couldn't see much through my foggy swim goggles and didn´t last long anyhow. I saw some fish though.

Our next stop was the town of Coromandel on the west coast. On the way we drove down a long dirt road to the sedcluded Otama and Opito beaches. These were absolutely stunning and empty and we spent most of a day there. From Coromandel, we explored a rare, undisturbed grove of giant Korai trees. These were logged almost to the last tree, but a few remain. The oldest in the grove was 6m in circumference, about 40 meters high and 600 years old. The largest one ever cut down was 20m in circumference, about 80 meters high and 4000 years old. It's a shame, but it's nice to see they're being preserved now.

We continued down the rocky west coast of the peninsula back toward Auckland, stopping occasionally to forrage for green-lipped mussels. I got about a dozen, which I cooked up back in Auckland with butter and a little local sauvignon blanc. They were delicious.

Our last morning in Auckland, we went to visit Bill Buckley at Buckley systems. He gave us a great tour of his shop, including the 'toy shop' where he builds midget cars for racing. It was really an impressive operation, and Bill was a great host. We were glad we squeezed it in. Then, we went to the airport where we almost didn't get on our flight because we didn't have proof of exit tickets from argentina. We got it worked out though, and got an escort past the security lines (sweet!). We settled into our transpacific time machine, and arrived in Buenos Aires 3 hours before we left! To be continued...

Queenstown- The Adventure Capital of NZ

Auckland, New Zealand


After a day relaxing in the park in Queenstown watching the frisbee golfers, we decided to take it up a notch. We boarded the gondola just outside town and rode up to the little amusement park at the top, courtesy of Rony. (Thanks!) We used the ride as a jumping off point for a tramp up 1700 meter Mount Ben Lomond. Almost the entire hike was above treeline in the tussock. We made the summit in two hours, and enjoyed panoramic views of endless mountains in all directions and a hasty lunch with frozen fingers before heading back down.



When we got back to the top of the tram we made use of part two or Rony's gift and took a couple of runs on the louge. It was great fun, I was surprised at how much liberty they give you to go as fast as you like.



When we got back to the top of the tram we made use of part two or Rony's gift and took a couple of runs on the louge. It was great fun, I was surprised at how much liberty they give you to go as fast as you like.

Queenstown is where bungy jumping was invented, so I figured I pretty much had to try it out. The girl that we bought the bungy jump from told us "It's not like anything else... except maybe dying." Despite this poor salesmanship, I decided to go ahead with it anyhow. The Nevis bungy is the highest in New Zealand at 134m. That's about 40 stories. They couldn't find a bridge high enough to jump off of so they suspended a little room over a canyon on a cable, accessed by gondola. It's really a crazy set-up. They toss 150 people off this thing each day, one after another so they really run an efficient operation. It's good for most people who will be smart enough to reconsider the idea of jumping off a cliff if they think about it for too long, but I wished I had a bit more time to savor the whole thing.

The first feeling when you clear the platform is the usual feeling you get when you jump off of something, greatly intensified of course by your altitude. However, the real thrill comes several seconds later when you are falling really fast, and still accelerating, completely disconnected from anything (as near as you can tell), and getting uncomfortably close to the ground. It's really an exquisite, life-flashes-before-your-eyes type of moment. Once the bungy starts arresting your fall, you feel pretty secure again, but at the top of the bounce, there's a little bit of a 'here we go again' feeling. Then you get the fun of releasing your feet so you fall onto your harness, and they can reel you in right-side up. A couple of girls who went after me couldn't figure that part out and got reeled in upside down. Pretty funny. After the jump, we headed back to the park for sunset. What a great day.

Fjord!

Auckland, New Zealand

Since the internet at the Auckland library is super slow and the firewall will only let me upload one picture at a time, I'm going to have to be more descriptive than usual when explaining our trip to Milford Sound. So, use your imagination!

Heading to Milford is supposed to be the highlight of everyone's trip to the south island of NZ, so there were pretty high expectations heading out in the morning. It had finally stopped raining in the Fjordlands, just in time for our trek to be over. But, although the sun was bright and sunny in Te Anau, by the time we neared the sound it was pretty overcast. But at least it wasn't raining!
We got on the boat and were immediately surrounded by high steep mountains coming straight out of the water. You couldn't really appreciate it until the boat came closer to the mountains and you were looking straight up the sides of the cliffs.What was really surprising was how much vegetation was able to grow on the cliff walls. Our guide explained to us that due to the 7m of annual rainfall, the moss grows very thick and then the roots of the trees embed into the moss since they cannot go into the rock. What happens sometimes though, is that if one tree dies or gets blown over, it rips all the connecting moss and other trees down with it. They call this a treelanche (very creative). You can see this in some of the pictures, that there are lighter streaks on some of the cliffs where the trees and moss are missing.More from Queenstown soon!

What's the Difference Between a Weasel and a Stoat?

Queenstown, New Zealand

New Zealand left the rest of the world before mammals evolved. Their usual evolutionary niches were filled by birds who quit flying and started foraging on the ground. When people came to New Zealand for the first time, about 1000 years ago, they brought with them a number of mammals that changed the balance of the ecosystem. Rats, dogs, cats and possums either competed with the native species or hunted them. Flightless birds in particular, were sitting ducks. One of the most damaging introduced species was the stoat, a weasel-like little guy about the size and color of a chipmunk. They run wild in Fiordland, and the survival of a few colorful bird species hangs in the balance. The Takahe and Cacapo are particularly close to the brink, with only about 100 of each species left in the wild. The kiwi is in slightly better shape, but the stoats don't help. The upshot is that even the most fervent environmentalists don't object to the trapping of stoats using what are basically big mouse traps. These are distributed every few hundred meters along the tracks, baited with chicken eggs. Anyhow, that's the official line on stoats: "the only good stoat is a dead stoat".

We passed through Queenstown on our way to the Kepler track, but didn't stay long. First thing in the morning we headed on to Te Anau, gateway to Fiordland National park. This is the least developed part of NZ, and that's saying something. The town sits on the shore of a huge glacial lake, with views of the Kepler Range beyond (yes, actually named after Johannes Kepler, father of the laws of planetary motion).

The Kepler track is a loop track from Te Anau, about 60 km long. It is only about 30 years old, and the track is in amazing condition. It goes to show the difference that good trail management can make. The first day involves a climb up above treeline, located very low at around 1000 meters here. What we hadn't counted on was the rain. It turns out that Fiordland gets a huge amount of rain, about 7 meters per year at Milford Sound. The day we headed out on the bus to Te Anu, we learned that they had received more rain the previous day at Milford than Queenstown gets in 6 months. That made us nervous. Sure enough, it was pouring as we headed out on the Kepler Track.


Our first night was at Luxmore hut, and the rain cleared up in the evening, providing great views of Lake Te Anau. We did our best to dry our stuff out. In the morning, we were treated to a great sunrise. We were advised to 'run over the mountain' before the rain started again. We started off, climbing further into the alpine tussock, and soon found ourselves traversing a series of ridges, from one peak to the next. The sun came and went, but it never rained much, and we saw some amazing rainbows.

Sun!

No sun ):

In the afternoon, the wind picked up, and just as we dropped below treeline, the rain started again. We hurried on to the Iris Burn Hut.

Yellow plastic pack-liner: A must.

Day three was all rain again. We didn't take the camera out to take any pics, but we did spot a stoat tail sticking out of trap 79. Score one for the flightless birds!

When we woke up on the last morning, the weather had finally broken, and we had great views of Lake Manapouri from the Motarau hut. The level stroll through moss-covered beach forest with the sun sending rays of light between the trees was really beautiful. We spent the rest of the day back at the hostel relaxing... and playing volleyball with some Israelis we met on the track.