Bienvenidos a Argentina!

Nearly a month had gone by in Chile and it was time to move on. Though we did so with a very good taste in our mouths it definitely was not left there by the mayonaise-heavy Completos (hot dogs) that Chile is famous for. We will remember Chile instead for lunar desert landscapes, graffiti-laden port towns, wine with pineaple ice cream in it, awesome powder skiing, volcanoes that defy to be climbed, delicious sea food, bewitched islands, beautiful coastline and towering mountains. And so, with determination to someday visit Chile again, we headed to the mountain border crossing into Argentina for our last country and our last month of travel. First stop, Bariloche.

Bariloche

Bariloche is primarily a ski resort town that could easily be mistaken for part of Brazil with all of the Brazilian tourist that come here to vacation. A lot of the stores, hotels and restaurants are what you would expect to find in a US resort town, overpriced and over-touristed, but Bariloche still has an undeniable charm, and a local culture that is strongly Argentinian. There are plenty of activities in and around the town apart from skiing, which was good for Emily and I because we had already dropped a lot of dough on skiing in Chile, and although the resort at Bariloche (Cerro Catedral) is massive and modern, the snow quality is not meant to be quite as good. So we opted for walking a circuit in the National Park Nahuel Huapi which was well worth it. The loop starts just outside the world famous Hotel Llao Llao and meanders through a stretch of land surrounded by lakes on all sides.

Mystical Bamboo Mountain Trail

As we walked along the central trail there were several loops that took off to walk along the various lakeshores. The day was cold and in the beginning it rained a bit but when the clouds cleared we had almost the entire walk to ourselves on what turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. We ended, after 7 hours of walking, in the "Swiss Colony" where we had hot chocolate and streudel. A lot of Swiss and German imigrants settled in this area so there is somewhat of a "village in the alps" feel to Bariloche and the surrounding areas not to mention plentiful chocolate, fondue, pastries and breweries. Yum. The next day before heading out of town we took a chairlift up the Cerro Campanario for what National Geographic deemed "one of the 10 best views in the world" because who doesn't fall for wild claims like that? Regardless, it was a very nice view.

Not a bad view

Lakeshore

That night we went two hours South by bus to El Bolson. El Bolson is another little mountain town but more of a hippy town than a tourist one, with a more agreeable climate than Bariloche. More like Lake Tahoe than Park City, Utah. In El Bolson we got a great deal on a private cabin at the hostel Pehuenia. The family that owns and lives at the hostel are amazingly friendly and treated us like their own. Our first day there they treated us to our first Asado - the traditional Argentinian grill. We all went together to buy the meat and while we were at it they introduced us to some of their favorite Alfajores, another Argentinian delight - Dulce de Leche sandwiched between two soft cookies and then covered in chocolate. In the yard at the hostel we grilled up and enjoyed lamb steaks, short ribs, sausages, lamb intestines (yum) and black pudding sausage (yum also). Okay, not really so yum in terms of the intsetines and blood sausage but definitely worth the experience, even Emily tried a bit of everything taking her carniverous adventure to new heights, and keeping it down!

MEAT!

Guardian Boar overlooking El Bolson in the valley below

We layed low for a few days in El Bolson having found such a nice place to stay. We tried to climb the un-pronouncable Cerro Piltriquitron but with the amount of snow on the steep trails we struggled to keep our footing and only made it half way which still got us some great views. We also enjoyed some of the famous local ice cream and got some great steak at Restaurante A Punto. As you have probably heard, getting great steak in Argentina is easy and cheap. After a couple of days relaxing we took off across the country to Puerto Madryn and the Peninsula Valdez for some face to face with Whales.

Extreme Close-Up!

For a few weeks now we have been in the Northern section of Patagonia. Puerto Madryn is about halfway from Buenos Aires down to the bottom of the country. Being that it is still Winter down here, it is pretty cold and windy, and although the thought of "Patagonia" probably conjures up intense images of glaciers, mountains, volcanoes etc., the vast majority of Patagonia, especially in Argentina, is wind-swept plains covered by shrubs and armadillos. This was the setting for Puerto Madryn and the neighboring Peninsula Valdes, however people don't come here to look at the land, the attraction here is the sea. Every year between May and December the bay formed by the Peninsula Valdes becomes infested with Southern Right Whales. This is not an exageration. Within seconds of getting to the beach in Puerto Madryn we realized that in front of us, just off the coast, there were whales from left to right as far as we could see. The next day we took a tour that included a boat ride on which the curious giants popped up right next to the boat to get a good look at us. During the hour and a half boat ride we were witness to a whale extravaganza of jumping, tail slapping, mating, you name it.

A symbol of freedom

This is a Female floating with her belly up trying to avoid getting romantic with either of the two males trying to sweet talk her. Easy fellas.

At this point in our trip we had to make a very dificult decision; North or South. Due to the fact that the winter is still upon us and our options for the South are limited by weather conditions and the time we have left on the trip, we decided against heading South. The 46 hour round trip bus ride to El Calafate was a tough pill to swallow even when tempted by the prospect of seeing Glacier National Park. There is much more than Glacier Park that we wanted to do at the end of the world, and would not have been able to do on this trip, so we decided to save it all for our next visit. Instead we set our sights North towards Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina.

Hey

Southern Chile

Parque Nacional Huerquehue

From Santiago we went onward- further south into the Chilean lakes district, where it was truly the middle of winter. As we arrived at our first destination, Pucon, a thick haze of smoke hung in the air from all the wood fires heating homes, restaurants, and hostels.

Our hostel, cosy from said wood burning stoves, was decked out in typical Southern Chilean log cabin-style decor. It also gave us an excellent view of the main attraction in Pucon, the active Volcan Villarica, which was glowing orange with magma when we arrived that night.

Pucon is a picturesque resort town located next to a beautiful lake and alarmingly close to the volcano. While we were there we went hiking in the Parque Nacional Huerquehue, where we climbed into the snowy mountains and were rewarded with views of half-frozen lakes and stands of the famous Monkey-Puzzle trees. And since volcanic activity always means an abundance of natural hot springs, we spent a relaxing night at the thermal baths Los Pozones- beautiful pools of varying heat located next to a rushing river and shockingly uncrowded.

Monkey Puzzle Trees

We also spent a rainy day playing cards and cooking, and one day as we walked around town a wild pack of family dogs adopted us and made us their leaders. For two days they wandered the streets with us, chasing cars and barking at other dogs and the occasional shifty looking person.

The Pack- Sheila, Steve, Bob and Rex (from Left to Right)

Unfortunately, in the end we did not get to climb the volcano, which is what most people go to Pucon to do, and why we were biding our time for a few days, hanging out with our dog pack and whatnot. The climb is an ideal way for beginners like us to get technical climbing experience using crampons and ice picks, and after reaching the top you get to sled all the way back down (!) but it was not meant to be. The weather needs to be perfect and does not often cooperate in the middle of winter. On our last day there we seriously considered going up though there were some clouds on the volcano in the early morning, but the owner of our hostel strongly encouraged us not to- imagine our disappointment when at 10 am we were greeted with this view:

But the clouds rolled back in around 1, right when we would have been reaching the summit. So, feeling slightly better but still regretful, we decided it was time to move on.

From Pucon we headed to Valdivia, a city located near several rivers and the Pacific coast- for this reason the Spanish built several forts here which can still be visited. Valdivia also has a lot of influence from the Germans that came to settle in the lakes district in the 1850´s, it is the site of a major university, and it survived the strongest earthquake ever recorded- a 9.5 in 1960 (not to mention the 8.9 this past February!). We actually felt a 4.5 in the middle of our first night there, but that´s like not even a big deal in Valdivia.

Mercado Fluvial, Valdivia

We were pleasantly surprised by how much there was to do and see in Valdivia- many thanks to Viella at our excellent hostel, Airesbuenos, for clueing us in. We checked out the mercado fluvial- a fish and produce market along the river, where giant pelicans and sea lions (both animals way bigger then the ones you´ll see in california) scavenge for tasty treats. We visited the botanic garden at the Universidad Austral de Chile, and then caught a microbus out to La Niebla, a small fishing village on the coast. There we ate the best seafood of the whole trip (no joke- really delicious crab) and visited one of the spanish forts.

Valdivian coast near Niebla

On the way back to town we visited the Kunstmann Cerveceria, where they are making some pretty legitimate German beer. The other German ¨treat¨ we (well, really just Kurt) tried in Valdivia was crudo, raw beef with lemon on white toast. People really love the stuff and order piles of it. We both were more into the Kuchen- delicious cake!

Tidepools near Ancud, Chiloe Island

Our next stop after Valdivia was the mystical island of Chiloe (there are all sorts of legends about the brujos (wizards) and other magical creatures that live on the island). After our bus got ferried over to the island we arrived in Ancud, where we sampled curanto- the local dish that includes a variety of shellfish, pork ribs, chicken, sausage, potatoes, spongy bread, and a side of pork broth (whew!). We also took a walk to a beach slightly north of the town, where we saw exactly three penguins (at other times of the year there are thousands! but it was still nice to see any at all).

The next day we headed south to the capital of Chiloe, Castro. We admired the famous local church, built entirely of wood (even wooden pegs instead of nails) because of a lack of metal at the time it was built. Then we went to the national park on the western side of the island for a day of hiking.

Parque Nacional Chiloe

After walking through the boggy inland forests we headed for the beach but found the path had been flooded by a sizeable marsh. We were at an impasse- I stubbornly refused to take off my shoes and wade across, and Kurt stubbornly refused to turn back without reaching the ocean- until we agreed upon a compromise:

We arrived at the beach to find it completely deserted except for a lone clamdigger who was stuck in his wetsuit- Kurt very nicely helped him and then we had the beach all to ourselves for the rest of the afternoon.

From Castro we headed back to the mainland to Puerto Varas, another nice resort town on a lake near some volcanoes. It was really just a stopover for the night before we continued on into Argentina, our last country of the trip!

Valparaiso and Santiago

Bird Grafitti

By this point in our trip, 24 hours on a bus is not as bad as it might sound to you. Still, regardless of how long the ride, I am always ready to get off the bus when it pulls into the destination. In this case the destination was Valparaiso, the main port city of Chile, also known as Chile's cultural capital. We arrived in the afternoon and caught a taxi to the Millenium House hostel which we had booked ahead on Hostelworld. We thought the taxi had pulled a fast one on us when he said the address we were looking for was just up a back alley staircase and to the left. As it turned out, not only was he telling the truth but most things in Valparaiso are reached this way; by strange alleyways, steep staircases and century-old acensors, nearly vertical cable cars. These were a few of the many charms that made us fall in a big way for Valparaiso.

Street artist rendering of an Acensor


For fellow travellers we should point out that our stay at Millenium House was excellent. It is run by such a nice family and the location is great, right next to Plaza Sotomayor and on Cerro Alegre. Our first outing took us to the top of Cerro Alegre where we got one of the many amazing views to be had in Valpo. The whole city is built on a series of hills (cerros) which come straight up from the bay. Covering the hills are the myriad structures, one on top of the other, painted in every color imaginable and held together by unknown forces. Valparaiso has been destroyed several times by earthquakes and it appears as if each time it was built right on top of the previous attempt leaving the culture and the history in tact. Between and below the awesome balancing act of buildings run jagged streets and alleyways in any and all directions and nearly every inch of these alleys is covered in amazing street art. The result is one of the coolest outdoor museums imaginable.

Chaos

As we wandered through the hills and alleys of the city feeding ourselves on seafood and hotdogs (Chile loves hotdogs) we ended up on our first day at one of the two homes that Pablo Neruda had in the area. La Sebastian (he named his houses) has an excellent location with a veiw of the whole bay from all 4 stories. The museum inside the house gives a good history of the life of Neruda as a poet, an ambassador and as an socialite, all of which give the impression that probably would have been nice to have been in his company. Later that day we went out on the harbor for a quick boat tour of the floating ship maintenance, the shipwreck from the previous winter and the impressive Naval Fleet that is parked right in front of the city. At night we stopped into a few of the many salty pubs around the harbor area as well as the more refined nightlife just up the block.

Battleships!

Us

On our second day we took a bus over to Viña del Mar, the neighbor city to Valparaiso. There is a nice beach there but otherwise it is highrises and malls with the feel of a Florida resort destination. Likewise, Viña gets a ton of tourists but it is a harsh contrast to it's soulful and enchanting neighbor. So after a stroll on the beach, a movie and a very disappointing mall food-court experience we headed back to Valparaiso.

Beach

After a few days in Valparaiso we were torn as to whether or not we could actually leave but ultimately decided that we would just have to resolve to come back. And so it was we took the two hour bus ride to Santiago and arrived at La Casa Roja on a Wednesday evening. This hostel is pretty sweet, the owners renovated a huge ancient mansion and restored everything down to the ornate moulding, chandeliers etc. Our room was HUGE and made me feel like I should have been wearing a top hat and Emily a corset. The next day the hostel took us on a free tour of the city where we got to know the markets, coffee with legs (sort of a mix between a cafe and a strip club) and a hot local dive called the Piojera where they serve up a delicious train wreck of a drink called a Terremoto (earthquake). Ingredients are as follows: One pint of white wine, one scoop of pineaple ice cream, a shot of fernet. Delicious! Dangerous.

It's like a rootbeer float, with wine!

The next morning Emily and I got up early and headed up to the slopes of Valle Nevado about an hour and a half from Santiago. For me this meant fulfilling a life long dream of skiing south of the Equator and sampling some of the lightest snow in the world which I had seen only in Ski magazines growing up. We were in luck because the night before our trip it snowed hard. When we got to the mountain we were happy to find low crowds, a perfectly clear sky and not a breath of wind. Our wildest dreams came true when we realized that the snow was as light and as dry as one could imagine which made everything easy to enjoy; from groomed runs, to chopped up crud, to waist deep fields of light, un-touched powder. Ahhh.

Kurtis Celebrates

Emily Celebrates

Joint Celebration

San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro is a Hippy desert town in Northern Chile and it was just what we needed after the long and freezing off-road trip of the Salar. We found a great hostel called Eden Atacameña with awesome courtyards and a bonfire area complete with a giant wood pile for anyone to use. We stayed there with our new South African friends Sean and Tanja along with two more friends we made on the Salar trip, Lawrence and Julie. The six of us had great pot-luck and pizza dinners around the bonfire with bottles of excellent and cheap wine. Chile is much more expensive than anywhere we have been yet but the wine is a STEAL!

Empanada time!

The next night we went out for a popular San Pedro activity, star gazing. The altitude, the desert air and the lack of clouds (by this point I don't think Emily or I have seen a cloud for about a month) make San Pedro a hotspot for astronomy. The tour agency "space" is run by a French Astronomer who has about 8 telescopes set up for viewing, plus a quick lesson in Southern Hemisphere constellations and then a short lecture on astrophysics by the Frenchman himself while enjoying a cup of hot cocoa. Well worth the time and money and a refreshing chance to learn something while travelling.

Valle de la Luna

Our last day in San Pedro we rented bikes with Lawrence and Julie and rode to the Valle de la Luna about 15km outside of town. It was an excellent bike ride both for the lack of car trafic and the incredible landscapes. I'll end here with some pictures. Our next stop was Valparaiso which required our longest busride yet...24 hours straight! Well worth it though.

Bombing the hill!


Biker Hippy

Salar de Uyuni

On the morning of Wednesday July 8th we woke up early in Tupiza and loaded our things on top of a Toyota Land Cruiser bound for a 4 day off-road trip through the Bolivian mountain desert. Together with our driver, Lazaro, the cook, Luisa, and our two new friends Tanja and Sean from South Africa we took off into the dry, freezing and strange countryside. Luckily our team (from La Torre Tours) was great. Luisa kept us well fed and Lazaro, though he used words sparingly, used them very efficiently and kept us on a great schedule. Most importantly he kept his Land Cruiser (the only type of vehicle used for this trip) in excellent shape. The result was 4 days without a crisis, leaving us free to shiver and enjoy the amazing scenery.

Emily's friend the cactus

Taking the trip to the Salar de Uyuni (huge salt flats) from Tupiza is becoming more and more popular because the quality of the tour companies and thus the experience is much more reliable. The alternative is to leave from Uyuni where many (not all) tour companies are notorious for break downs, bad equipment, and even accidents which have caused several deaths in recent years. Because Tupiza is east of many of the key destinations of the tour it means that the tour is a little longer and a little more expensive than tours from Uyuni, but it also saves the Salar itself for the very end which is a nice finale. The first day we went high up into the mountains above Tupiza and started heading west toward the Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve. On the way to our first night`s accomodation we passed through a giant Llama ranch where Luisa provided us with a lunch of dried Llama meat to go with the setting. Llama meat is not great. That night we stayed at a very basic hostel in a tiny mountain village. The setting was beautiful; the cold was bone chilling.

Sunrise

On day two we woke up at 4:30 am and were on the road by 5:30. We had to get an early start because there was alot of driving to do and, as Lazaro told us, we would be passing over the most challenging roads. Sometime just before dawn we passed through a massive ghost town that was once a Spanish mining city. We could still barely see but could make out countless ruined buildings stretching in every direction there in the middle of nowhere. As the sun rose and thawed out our numb extremities we plodded on, breaking through thick layers of ice that had formed on river crossings. Just before noon we enterred into the Eduardo Alvaroa National Reserve. Shortly after we were at the hot springs for lunch. This was a definite highlight and because Lazaro got us up so early we were the only ones there, besides a few wild vicuña walking through the steam in front of us. Relaxed and completely thawed out, we went down to the Laguna Verde and then to our hostel for the night...again, freezing.

Thermal Baths

Laguna Verde

On day three we woke up early and thanks again to Lazaro we were the first ones at Laguna Colorado to see the Llamas taking a thermal bath and flamengos eating brine shrimp; this was another highlight for us. In the summer there are thousands of flamengos here, we saw 50 or so, but they were obviously the toughest flamengos of the group. The rest of that day we passed several more lakes and finally arrived at the Salt Hotel. Yes, it is made almost entirely of salt but I couldn't bring myself to lick the walls.

Llama bath with Flamengos in the background

Pigeons

The last day was dedicated entirely to the Salar de Uyuni. We woke up before dawn and watched the sunrise from a random point in the middle of the salt flat. Next, we walked around "Fish Island" which is covered in gigantic cacti, some of which are around one thousand years old. Being on the Salar is amazing and the type of experience that is hard to describe in too much detail because it is so vast. You can't really say much about what you see, its more about how it makes you feel. The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat on Earth and even from the middle of it, it is impossible to imagine how large it is.

Land Cruiser at Dawn

Sunrise

My Lovin' Spoonful

Giant Cactus on Fish Island

That afternoon we got to Uyuni just in time for the World Cup Final (not a coincidence) which was a pretty disappointing game but at least we enjoyed the Huari beer. That night we had to get back into Land Cruisers to get back down to the Chilean border. When I said we were at the Lago Verde on day 3 we were actually right at the border but we still had to see the Salar which required the backtracking. The next day around 1:00 we were on a bus crossing over from a dirt road onto a paved highway, the transition from Bolivia into Chile.

Us

Tarija and Tupiza

Main Plaza, Tarija, Bolivia

With the altitude, cold, and harrowing mine tour in Potosi (which I wasn't even able to complete, so I don't know why I'm complaining), we were in need of some R&R in the form of a tiny taste of home in Bolivia. This led us to Tarija, a city in the far south of the country, almost at the Argentinian border. Tarija is known for its pleasant climate and wine so we felt right at home, especially after we decided to splurge on a hotel suite with a kitchenette and balcony with views. This meant we got to cook a lot which was such a treat, and something we are trying to do much more now that we are moving into the expensive countries, Chile and Argentina. So, we enjoyed fine accommodation at a low price, delicious pastas, sandwiches, and salads, and of course, the local vino which was mas o menos, although better than anything we'd tried in Ecuador and Peru.

Vineyards and Montains

We took a tour to some of the local bodegas (wineries). The scenery was beautiful and some of the wines were too, specifically at the first place we visited, Potro. However in terms of wine quality I have to say it went downhill from there- most of the other wines we tasted were gaggingly sweet, and the tasting at the last bodega (Casa Vieja), where they poured single glasses of said sweet wine and had us pass them around between seven people, was underwhelming to say the least. The highlight of that place were the uvas borrachas (grapes preserved in Singani, a grape liquor similar to grapa) and the resident Kirby look-alike.

Cute, but no substitute for the real thing!

The 4th of July happened to be the day the city of Tarija was founded, so we actually got to enjoy some fireworks and celebratory atmosphere. To help us get more into the spirit we made hot dogs and potato salad for dinner. USA! USA!

Oh and have I mentioned we had been planning most of our travels around the World Cup at this point?

Anyway, we left Tarija via yet another night bus to Tupiza. Tupiza was really cool. We went there because it was our jumping off point for our trip to the Salar de Uyuni, but the town itself is worth a visit- mellow, not too cold, and it's got a great wild west atmosphere. Tupiza's claim to fame is that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise not far outside of the town. In this spirit, we took an easy horseback ride out into the countryside and found beautiful red rocks and sand, dramatic canyons, and lots of cacti. Our horses were a little old and tired, but we did get to gallop once or twice.

Yee-haw!

Hoe Down in the Valley

Wild Western Dogs

We watched Holland beat Uruguay and Spain beat Germany, and then geared up for our Salar trip! And we highly recommend La Torre hostel and tour company if you find yourself in Tupiza.