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.