I saw several big glaciers during my time in Alaska this past summer, but none of them came close to being as impressive as Perito Moreno. Perito Moreno is 97 square miles of ice with a length of 19 miles. It is massive! It connects to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which is the third largest in the world. I was wrong in my Chalten post when I said it was the second largest. Greenland and Antarctica are both larger. The face of the glacier is about 3 miles wide with an average height of 240 feet. It is one of only three glaciers in Patagonia that is growing. This growth causes an ice bridge to be formed between the glacier and a section of land that jets out into the lake. This ice bridge acts as a dam in Largo Argentino or Lake Argentina (largest lake in Argentina). The section of the lake that is dammed is called Brazo Rico. As the water level rises in Brazo Rico, pressure mounts and eventually the ice bridge ruptures and collapses in a dramatic and theatrical event. For decades this rupturing event occurred every four to five years. Now it is becoming more random and impossible to predict. It used to be that tourists would flood in during the assumed rupturing period with hopes of being lucky enough to catch the big show. There were even constant news feeds of the glacier with the hope that viewers at home could witness the event as well.
There are three options for viewing the glacier. One option is to pay 260 pesos (foreigners) just to get into the park plus the 300-400 pesos transit round trip. Once in, you can view the glacier from well -constructed balconies or platforms. The second option is to do the Mini-Trek, which places you on top of the glacier for an hour to an hour and a half. The third and best option is to do the Big Ice Trek, which is a 6 hour trek that puts you on top of the glacier for roughly 3.5 hours. We did the Big Ice Trek. It was expensive, but well worth the money. The morning started off with a 50 minute bus ride from Calafate to the balconies. We checked out the glacier from them and then boarded a boat to get right up next to the glacier. We trekked for about an hour along the edge of it so that we were closer to the middle. During the hike, we met four Americans. Two were ironically from Seattle and University of Washington graduates. Having graduated from Gonzaga University myself, we had a few choice comments to say about one another’s basketball teams. The other two were Villanova graduates and from the east coast.

I will allow the photos to give you a feel of our trek. It was phenomenal. We had to be careful walking on the inclines of the ice with the crampons, but otherwise we were fully absorbed in our surroundings. Our guide explained that Perito Moreno is a temperate glacier opposed to those of Antarctica and Greenland. That basically means that the temperature of the area is substantially lower. He also shared that it takes roughly 400 years for the ice to move from the back of the glacier to the front. It is one of the only glaciers that isn’t growing or shrinking. The guides answered some of our questions in regards to their lifestyle. They seem to really love their work. They do the Big Ice Trek 2 to 3 times a week and usually the Mini-Trek 2 times. Most of them spend the spring and summer in Calafate guiding tours on the glaciers and the rest of the year in Chalten guiding hikes around Fitz Roy. The training to become a mountain guide is intensive and requires 3 years of schooling. Don’t worry Mom, I love trekking, but don’t foresee a career leap into that field.

The next day I was picked up bright and early to head out for a boat tour of the remaining two glaciers, Upsala and Spegazzini. According to the loudspeaker of the boat, Upsala is 3 times the size of Buenos Aires. Obviously there are a few problems with this fact, but it paints the picture of how huge this glacier is. It is the widest glacier in the country. Due to its size it was used by the air force to prepare for missions to Antarctica. Like Perito Moreno, Upsala flows into Lago Argentino. We weren’t able to get that close to Upsala due to icebergs and that was very disappointing. I was able to get photos of some brilliantly blue icebergs from up close and person as seen above. We then visited the Spegazzini glacier. It is 2 to 3 times higher than Perito Moreno and definitely made the day worth the trip. It is a stunning glacier that runs down the side of a hill into the lake. I spent a good chunk of the day with an older woman from just outside of BA. She was patient with my slow and broken Spanish, but we were able to have roughly an hour conversation straight. She found me amusing because during the 40 minute trip from Upsala to Spegazzini, I stood at the front of the ship getting drenched. I was not going to lose my prime photo taking spot again (earlier in the day I shifted to sneeze and a family stole my spot). I pointed to the bar in front of her and said, “Tuo” and then pointed to the bar in front of me and said, “Mio”. If you are on a budget, I would recommend skipping the Upsala tour and putting all your money into the Big-Ice Trek.

Another awesome part of our time in Calafate was that yet again we were able to meet up with our Swiss friends, Martina and Raphael. Before heading to our hostel for an evening of taking advantage of actually having an oven, we shopped as a group. The people waiting in line behind us were very confused about our nationalities. Martina and Raphael spoke Swiss German to each other, all four of us spoke English with one another, and Nico spoke Castellano to the clerk. In order to use his credit card he had to hand the man his Argentinian ID. This made the two elderly Argentinian women behind us drop their jaws. They whispered something of the nature, “He is Argentinian? Strange… Didn’t you think he was American?”  Nico made milanesa for the first time (the day previously I gave empanadas a whirl and they were actually good) and we all chowed down. While eating, we were disturbed and entertained by the slightly nutty cleaning lady. She prepared chicken for the following day by slapping all the raw meat down on the kitchen table. She didn’t use a plate, pan or cutting board. It definitely made us rethink consuming our breakfast there. Yet again our goodbyes wouldn’t be for long. We still had two meet-ups ahead of us.

Come to Calafate and enjoy the glaciers. Just make sure you prepare your checkbook the area is impressively expensive. If it is feasible for you to do this region by car, do it!  A car would allow you to avoid the overpriced transit cost of the buses.

Beautiful Mendoza! When we planned this trip, Mendoza was one of the stops I was most looking forward to. It doesn’t have the shock value of Iguazu Falls or the Uyuni Salt Flats, but it is a nicely planned city with irrigated trees lining its streets and an abundance of really good wine. It is actually one of the nine cities in the world designated as Great Wine Capitals. The city sits along Ruta 7 which connects Buenos Aires to the east and Santiago de Chile to the west. People are drawn to the city to explore the hundreds of vineyards that make up most of the surrounding countryside. It is the largest producer of wine in South America and is very famous for its Malbec wines. As stated previously, I am not a big consumer of alcohol, but I do enjoy a glass of wine or a beer every once in a while. In general, I have always been a white wine drinker. I have been won over though. Argentinian Malbecs have converted me to loving red wine and man do they produce the good stuff. I should also point out that people enjoy this region for mountaineering (the city hugs the eastern side of the Andes), rafting (especially in San Rafael), and horseback-riding tours. We didn’t come for any of that. We came for the wine.

Reaching Mendoza was an adventure in itself. We were mentally comfortable with the short 8 hour bus ride from Santiago de Chile. What we weren’t prepared for was the nine hour pause at the Chilean border. Mendoza and Santiago de Chile sit on opposite sides of the Andes and the border crossing between Argentina and Chile is nicely perched high up in the mountains. Before even climbing in altitude, trucks hauling goods between the two countries and passenger vehicles sat with engines off for roughly 2 hours. The bus company announced that they were waiting to get word if the border would even be opening that day due to snow conditions. One woman sitting behind us informed us that she had attempted to cross the border 4 times already to visit her son and each time had been stuck on the bus for hours and eventually forced to turn back. Ugh! The word finally came that the border was open. This was delightful news, but the fact that our crossing happened to fall on a Chilean holiday was not. Due to the high volume of holiday goers and the fact that the border had been closed the day before it was an insane wait. What made it even worse was the fact that they made us get off the bus and stand in line in the freezing cold amongst the fumes of the buses for two hours. I won’t waste your time complaining about the absurdity of going between Argentina and Chile. We have done it several times now and it is silly. The process is easy itself, but both countries scan your luggage for fruits and plant products. Chile is strict and has sniffing dogs crawl over your bags in addition to putting them through a scanner. Argentina doesn’t care at all, but makes you scan your bag for the sake of bureaucracy. At one of these crossings the Argentinian scanner stopped working and the entire bus had to wait for an unenthusiastic employee to fix it. In the end I had a few apples I had forgotten about in my bag and nothing was said.  Ergo, pointless.

Anyway, the flood of Chileans in town meant we had to switch hostels four times. So if you are in need of reviews of hostels in Mendoza, send me an email. The highlight of our time in town was meeting up with a very special Swiss couple. We met Martina and Raphael in a hostel in Sucre, Bolivia. Several weeks later while doing a free walking tour in Valparaiso, Chile, Nico leaned over and said, “We know them right?” There they were wandering the streets checking out the wall art. I said, “Hey, what hostel are you staying in?” Low and behold they were staying in the same hostel as us and also had plans to go to the hostel’s wine tasting that evening. We spent a nice night with them and said our goodbyes. We then proceeded to stay in the same hostel in Mendoza. They made our makeshift self-guided wine tour so much fun. We all rented really crummy bikes with sort of functioning brakes and hit the gravel roads. We visited three vineyards. After our first stop, Martina and I were already feeling the wine and were a bit more happy than normal. I kept thinking to myself that doing this on a bike might not be the best idea, but what the heck. When in Rome, do as all the other tourists do… is that how the saying goes? At one point Martina and I were a bit ahead of the guys. We spotted a large sign that read, MARTINA. This was very entertaining for our inebriated minds and thus we stopped to take photos to the amusement of our biking partners. On the way back to town the sky opened up and decided to dump buckets of hail. Having survived we made our final stop at a chocolate/olive oil/specialty liquor store. There was even dulce de leche liquor, which was too sweet for my liking, but the Malbec mustard was interesting. That evening they made us dinner- Thank you! I greatly appreciated their company and have serious plans to visit them this coming summer in Switzerland.

Nico and I also spent a day visiting a Rutini winery. Rutini makes one of our favorite wines Trumpeter, but the only winery they own open to visitors is their lowest ranked, San Felipe. It was interesting learning about how the Italians and French greatly altered the wine production of the region by bringing with them technological advances from Europe. The locals had previously smashed grapes with their feet in hanging cow skins (yes, like I Love Lucy), but this technique hadn’t been used in Europe for some time. They also introduced the use of cutting sheers to prevent the vine and grapes from being damaged during the picking process.

Also of note is the vegetarian restaurant Govinda.  It was the first vegetarian restaurant I have found in Argentina that deserves serious praise. There were also many great vegan options. YUM.

Next up, a quick stop in Buenos Aires in route to Puerto Madryn.
P.S. Check out Martina and Raphael's blog at http://www.suedwaerts15.blogspot.com.ar/ it is in German, but you can use Google Translate.

In the southern Argentinian province of Santa Cruz, one will find a wonderland of mountains, glaciers, and breathtaking vistas. The first stop we made was the town of El Chalten. I knew the Austral Andes would be beautiful, but I had no idea how impressive El Chalten would be.

The town was founded in 1985 for two reasons. First of all it was to support hikers exploring Los Glaciares National Park. Secondly, it was to lay claim to the area. For years Chile has had its eye on expanding its territory and would love to have more of the vital water supply of the continental ice sheet, which is the largest in the world after Antarctica. The name Chalten means “smoking mountain” in the native language of Tehuelche. The indigenous people originally thought it was a volcano that was constantly steaming not realizing what they saw was not smoke, but clouds. Chalten is the name of both the town and the mountain. The mountain is more commonly referred to as Cerro (Mount) Fitz Roy after the captain of Darwin’s ship the Beagle. The two most famous peaks visitors come to see are Fitz Roy (3,405 meters) and Torre (3,128 meters).  The area was demeaned the trekking headquarters of Argentina and it makes sense why. There is an abundance of well signed and maintained paths with several clean camp grounds. It would be easy to spend more than a week just camping and exploring all the area has to offer.

We arrived in town and made ourselves comfortable at the Patagonia Traveler’s Hostel. It is by far one of my favorite hostels I have stayed in. The facilities were nice, but most likely it is the type of people Chalten draws that made it so special. Everyone was very friendly and I met a ton of people while politely fighting for burners in the kitchen. One French man even gave me his burner simply because I offered to arm wrestle him for it. One person we met really stands out above the rest though. His name is Carl and he is from Colorado. He is currently pursuing his dream of snowboarding in Antarctica. He is a high school teacher and took off an entire semester to train in Bariloche, travel around with his wife and sons, and finally make the leap down to the most difficult continent to reach. It took him ten years of prep and saving to make it happen. Carl if you are reading this, congrats. One of the things I respect the most in this world is chasing your dreams. My father always told me that if I had a goal, write it down and there is no reason not to reach it. I full heartedly agree with this thought process. During my last trip home, I actually found a bucket list I wrote when I was 16. It had 50 items on it. I have accomplished/done 47 of them. The last three will take some time, but I know I will be successful. My problem is every time I cross one thing off the list, another ten jump into the bucket. I guess that is why they say life is about the journey and not the destination.
Our first day out and about we did the easy two hour round-trip walk to the Chorrillo del Salto. On the way we met three members of the Olympic Austrian sail team.  What a cool lifestyle they have! The government funds for them to travel around the world to train year round and to compete. A huge benefit of their sport is that they will be able to compete until a much later age than most sports since so much of the sport is knowledge/experience based and less demanding on the body.
After a day of prep, we hit the paths with our bags way over packed with food. We calculated that by day three Nico’s pack was at least 16 kilos lighter due to our food consumption. Regardless of how our backs were feeling, it was by far the best leg of our South American adventure thus far. The hike to Camp Poncenot was stunning. The sky was clear and when we reached the first view point of Mount Fitz Roy I couldn’t help but yell, “Heck Yes!” I have been to many amazing natural spots around the world, but Fitz Roy on a cloudless sunny day takes the cake. There is something about the composition of its jagged peaks, its gray/orange rock face, and its massive ice sheets precariously balanced just waiting for an excuse to cascade down into the lagoon below that make this spot something very special. We set up our tent and decided to chase the sunlight by hiking up the steep hour long path to the Laguna de Los Tres. It is by far the most important spot to visit in the area. Unfortunately most people are tired when they arrive at the top and they see the first snow covered lagoon and assuming that is it, they head back down. Having seen photos of an ice sheet sliding into a turquoise lagoon, I was under the impression there was more. Due to the lack of light we agreed to do the tiring hike back up in the morning and to look around more.

During the night we had a visit from a fox. He successfully freed our garbage bag from its not so secure location and vigorously cleaned all our tuna cans. I remained awake due to my lower extremities feeling like icicles. It snowed throughout the night. I kept thinking, “At least it isn’t raining.” Well it didn’t matter much. When we got up, everything was wet. We spent several hours trying to dry everything out and repacking our packs. Luckily, by the time we were ready to head to Camp Agostini, the sky had cleared and we were able to make our second go at Laguna de Los Tres. I was really hoping I was right about there being another lagoon. If I dragged Nico all the way up there to have the same view as the day before, I was going to feel bad. It was another AHHHHH YEAAA moment though. We passed the ledge where all the hikers stop and continued down along the lagoon and up a rocky hill to be met by a brilliant turquoise lagoon spotted with large sheets of ice. Mission accomplished! We spent so long taking in the view that it became evident we were going to have to stay at Camp Poncenot another night.

The next day was a long long day. We had to make up the mileage from the day before. We ended up doing almost 30 km with our big packs. We hiked along Lag. Madre e Hija (mother and daughter) to Camp Agostini. At the camp we dropped our bags and booked it up to Laguna Torre. We persevered past the strong wind gusts and walked along the narrow stony path to reach the closest view point of the glacier and Cerro Torre itself. We knew we were going to be pushing daylight yet again, but decided to head back to town. Before leaving the lagoon, we took a jump photo with a nice group from South Korea. One of the guys even had a portable printer in his bag and he printed me a copy of our jump photo! So cool. I love Asians.

Even though Torre isn’t that tall, it is one of the hardest mountains to climb due to its sheer rock faces. The mountain has a very interesting and dramatic history. In 1958, Walter Bonatti (one of the most famous climbers of that decade) climbed about 500 meters and announced that it was not possible to summit Cerro Torre. In 1959, Bonatti’s rival Cesare Maestri accompanied by Toni Egger took on the mountain to prove Bonatti wrong. Maestri claimed to have been successful, but during the descent Egger fell to his death. Egger had been carrying the duo’s camera and thus there was no evidence of a successful summit. For years it was contested and argued. Today most agree that Maestri’s claim was nothing but a hoax. Climbers in the 70’s found evidence of Maestri and Egger’s climb up to the 1,000 foot mark, but nothing in the remaining 1,500 feet. The deception and stories that revolve around Cerro Torre make it one of the most interesting peaks in alpinism’s history.

We impressed ourselves and made it back to town with half an hour of daylight. We were tired, but still up for more trekking for sure. So on our last day in town we hiked up to the Los Cóndores and Las Águilas viewpoints. We really lucked out with clear weather. Supposedly, Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy are usually encircled with clouds 300 days out of the year. It was a fun day with weirdo and we got some awesome photos.

I highly recommend coming to Chalten and spending at least three days trekking and if you can even longer. Next up walking on a glacier in El Calafate!

Puerto Madryn is the best place in Patagonia to get up close and personal with many species of wildlife. The two main species that tourists flock to see are the Magellanic Penguin and the South Right Whale (Ballena Franca). We did two main tours. The first was a trip to Punta Tumbo to waddle with nature’s little butlers.

When Nico was younger his family did a road trip from their hometown in the far south of the country to Buenos Aires. On the way they stopped in Puerto Madryn and were very fortunate to have a serious display of whale mating (apparently it was very involved) and were able to walk freely among the penguin colony. Nowadays conservation of their breeding ground is taken into consideration and tourists must remain on a gravel path. If a penguin approaches, you must slowly back away and wait for them to cross the path. This is obviously in the best interest of the penguins and thus I am in support of it. Yet it must be pointed out that Nico’s last trip here must have been a much cooler experience.

Penguins are fascinating creatures.  Magellanic Penguins mate for life. The colony at Punta Tumbo, Argentina is the largest in South America with roughly 1 million penguins residing there each year. When September rolls around the males return first to prepare the nest and then shortly after the females follow. They use their same nest from the previous mating season and are able to reunite by recognizing each other’s cries. Since we were there at the beginning of the mating season (September to April), we were able to witness penguins reuniting for the first time. We also saw several displays of the mating ritual, which involves the male walking around the female while flapping his wings. There were a few incidents of a bachelor trying to interfere and “hit on” a taken female. This resulted in some strong squawking and eventually the intruder left the scene not having gained female attention.

The females lay two eggs. Once this has happened, the male and female take turns incubating them for roughly 40 days. While one manages the nest, the other goes out to sea to feed. It can take days out at sea to feed depending on the prevalence of fish. Due to current environmental and climate changes the incidence of starvation of the partner left to maintain things at home has increased. This unfortunate occurrence has notably impacted their population and is one of the factors behind why they are now designated as a “Threatened” species. As for the unhatched babies, the biggest threats they face are seagulls and foxes. It may make me sound like a horrible person, but I kind of wanted to witness a seagull flying away with an egg. In my defense it is the circle of life.

Our guide shared a couple other interesting facts. The reason their bellies are white and backs are black is for camouflage. If a predator is swimming beneath them and looks up, the white bellies may blend in with the sky and sunlight filtering down through the water. If a predator is swimming above them and looks down, their black backs may blend in with the darkness of the water. She also explained how the penguins waterproof themselves. When you get up close to them, you can see that they aren’t smooth like seals, they have fine feathers. They have a gland that produces a waterproofing agent. They then rub the agent all over their own bodies with their beaks.

Walking amongst thousands of nests was an exceptional experience, but learning about how our species is damaging the environment to such an extent that it is drastically impacting their population makes one stop and think.
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Our tour then took us to the Welsh town of Gaiman. It is the largest Welsh community outside of the United Kingdom and has garnered some fame over the past decade as a cultural must-see in Patagonia. In the 1800’s the British government placed restrictions on the use of the Welsh language in hopes that they could force the Welsh to only speak English. A group of about 150 people decided they wanted to flee the oppression of the British government and they set their sights on the country of Argentina. Argentina had an open door policy for immigrants during that time with the hope of populating its expansive territory which was very underpopulated except the area surrounding Buenos Aires itself. The Argentinian government was especially keen on encouraging people to settle in the rough and empty space of Patagonia. This was perfect for the Welsh because not only were they looking to get away from the subjugation of the British government, but they wanted to live in a place away from all other languages in which they could tightly preserve and proliferate their own culture. This first group of Welsh people was led across the Atlantic by Michael D. Jones in 1865 on the Mimosa. They reached a barren coastline void of fresh water. They were forced to break up into two groups. The men headed inland in search of fresh water while the women and children remained on the coast. The journey on foot to reach the Chubut River was arduous and lengthy. Once the men were able to establish a basic foothold along the river, the women journeyed to join them. They built extensive irrigation ditches around the entire area and very efficient farms. At the beginning things were hard. They had very limited resources. Most of what they had came by ship from Wales. They quickly built a strong connection with the local Tehuelche community and they greatly owed their survival to the education and support of these indigenous people. The Tehuelche showed the settlers how to survive in the barren region and in return the settlers gave them bread and wheat. It is considered one of the few examples in world history of a peaceful colonization. Interestingly enough, the name Gaiman is actually a Tehuelche word which means ‘sharpening stone’.As time went on their farms flourished and they became powerhouse wheat growers. Their wheat was considered some of the best wheat in the world at that time. They began exporting it and made a pretty penny which they then put back into their farms.

The Welsh settlers founded the towns of Gaiman, Trelew, Puerto Madryn, and Rawson. Gaiman has maintained its Welsh roots the most and has the most descendants of the original settlers.  A large percentage of the townspeople of Gaiman boast Welsh as their second language and recently it has been reinstated in schools in order to reinforce the Welsh culture for generations to come. Gaiman is a very small town but its Welsh roots are evident. The first house built in the town is still standing along with several other early 1900’s buildings. These buildings along with both the poplar trees, which only grow near the town and its irrigation ditches, and the very popular traditional Welsh teahouses clearly show visitors who built this quaint town. Recently on the anniversary of its founding, the Welsh government granted many descendants of the settlers citizenship.
 
What people really come to Gaiman for is a nice afternoon visit to one of its famous teahouses. The original teahouse built in the 1940’s served local farmers traditional Welsh cakes made with the town’s grade A wheat and of course tea. We happened to stop at that very teahouse, Ty Gywn, and even met the owner and daughter of its founder, who had been the first nurse in the area. We entered the two story wooden structure and were promptly squished into a table with four strangers. The waitress seemed very distraught that there were several guests traveling alone and that somehow she was going to have to figure out how to serve the stuffed plates of cakes each compiled for a two person party to singleton diners. Apparently she didn’t compute the fact that there were six people sitting at the table and thus three sets of two. Regardless, the expensive fee for this experience did provide an absurd amount of cake and tea. The most famous of all the cakes is the spiced fruit cake, torta Galesa. To be honest I didn’t like it at all. I did like the custard cake though! As I consumed cake after cake, I kicked myself for having an annoying need to get my money’s worth out of whatever I do. I should have stopped three pieces before I did. Did I mention there were also cheese finger sandwiches? They were good too! My overall assessment is that the whole experience was overpriced by a long shot, but if you are in the region you have to do it. Even the teapots scream Welsh culture with their bright tea cosies.

Another teahouse worthy of mention is the Ty Te Caerdydd. It was made famous by a visit from Princess Diana. Also worthy of note is the fun fact that the town has a seaweed drying factory which one can tour. Yep. What a gloriously random attraction!
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Our other tour took us to the Valdes Peninsula where we boarded a boat and went in search of the South Right Whale. At one point we ran into a mother and her calf. The youngster was curious about our boat and came right up to the side and then swam under us. We didn’t have a show like Nico did when he was a kid, but later in the day from land we witnessed a very energetic whale jumping continuously for at least ten minutes. The boat right next to him had much better luck than we did. Regardless, it was a nice experience. It is amazing how large these whales are. Our guide shared a lot of interesting information about these giants that reside below the surface. The way in which they mate is fascinating to say the least. Two males will box in a female from either side and a third male will forcefully copulate with her from behind. In essence it is a gang rape in which all three males will copulate with the same female. In one ejaculation they can produce up to 7 liters of semen. When we crossed the border from Chile to Argentina, I was entertained to read that we were prohibited from bringing in fruit and semen. My first thought was good thing there are no whales on our bus! … I know.

The mother calf relationship is also interesting. The mother will stick with her young for a year. Our guide said that on average a female gives birth once every four years. In order for the calf to drink milk from the mother it has to quickly swim towards the mother and slam into her chest. She does not have external nipples, so the baby has to force milk out of her milk glands. The milk is very high in fat and thus floats. If the baby doesn’t get the milk on the first go, it can catch it has it floats.
We learned about the differences between whales and porpoises. Whales have filters and porpoises have teeth. Thus, killer whales are not whales at all. They have teeth and belong to the porpoise family. Killer whales, also known as orcas, are a predator of the south right whale. They will swim above a whale and prevent it from surfacing for air. They then eat the whale’s tongue.
We also saw sea lions and gigantic seals. The sea lions were much more active and interesting to watch. The males have their own harems. Usually the older the male the larger the harem. We witnessed several displays of male dominance when younger bachelors attempted to cuddle up to a “taken” female. The real purpose of this tour was to see the whales though and the rest was just extra.

Aconcagua stands at 6,962 meters high. If you want to hike it, you need at least two weeks and need to be prepared to drop a lot of money. Our tour was lame. I won't waste your time complaining about it, but the view you see in this picture is all we got. The rest of the time they pushed the other tourists into renting snow gear to go sledding for 30 minutes. We did get to spend ten minutes at the Incan land bridge which was interesting, but not worth the time or money.

Valparaiso is a port city roughly 63 miles from Santiago. It is a quaint colorful town built on many hills overlooking the ocean. At one time Valparaiso was one of the most important ports in South America and was even called the “Jewel of the Pacific” and “Little San Francisco”.  It was the major stopping point for ships transitioning from the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa via the Straits of Magellan. Many European immigrants moved to Valparaiso in hopes of capitalizing on the trade opportunities taking place there. This flood of immigrants from many countries gave the town a very unique flare. They introduced football, founded schools, and constructed homes with little architectural details from their home countries. Many were protestant and this did create some conflict with the predominantly Catholic population.  In 1914 the Panama Canal was opened and this devastated the town’s economy. Most of the European immigrants took their business elsewhere and the traffic to the port drastically diminished. It wasn’t until more recently that the city has experienced a renaissance of sorts. Many artists now call the city home and with the city council’s permission they have covered the city’s walls with diverse murals (anyone found placing graffiti or art on the walls without permission has to serve jail time). Larger seafaring vessels that can’t pass through the Panama Canal stop in Valparaiso now and the country is exporting more, thus the port is more in use. We did a free walking tour and our tour guide told us that at all times at least 2% of the Chilean navy is stationed there.

From a tourism perspective all we did was the free walking tour (highly recommended- 10 USD tip is sort of the norm) and a wine tasting through the hostel. The guy who ran the wine tasting was hilarious. I was a bit confused because he had the Chilean look, spoke Spanish fluently, but then had perfect English with a really odd accent. Come to find out he is from Nebraska and just speaks very flamboyantly with the use of strong Chilean hand movements. He explained that the most famous Chilean wines are made from the Carmenère grape. We all were tickled by how he described this grape. He called it “The Little Bastard”. Apparently, it had been very common in France long ago until its popularity fell far below other grapes to the point it was no longer planted. An immigrant planted some in Chile and for some reason the plants were forgotten. When they were later rediscovered, it became apparent that Chile was pretty much the only place on earth growing this grape. Thus, they are now used to produce a very uniquely Chilean wine.

We really liked our hostel Casa Verde Limon. It even had a trapeze!

This is obviously not relevant to my travels, but look how cute he is. His eyes are just like my mom's! I thought the world should take a moment and acknowledge the newest member of my family. The best part is he has a little sister on the way and that means I get to buy her soccer gear. YESSSSSS!

The day of the big earthquake in Chile we were sitting in a hostel dining room in Uyuni, Bolivia when Nico recognized a Chilean accent. He leaned over to ask the couple if their family was fine and if they had any news about the earthquake. They are the same age as us and live in Santiago de Chile. Augustin offered for us to stay with them the following month during our visit and we exchanged contact information. That short interaction led to a great weekend with good people. When we arrived in Santiago, Augustin had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and even had dinner on the grill. We spent the evening chatting with him in both English and Spanish. Their home is on the 25th floor of a building with a clear view of the mountains and was a comfortable place to stay right after the tough travel of Bolivia.

Santiago de Chile is the capital of Chile and the seat of both the executive and judicial branches of the government while congress is based in Valparaiso. Chile is a very interesting country for many reasons. The reason that stands out the most to me is the fact that it is so skinny and long. Most of the economic output and population are in Santiago. Populating and funding other regions of the country has proved to be difficult for the government. One big issue is the lack of transportation from one region to another. Train travel is basically non-existent and the mountainous terrain makes bus travel lengthy and difficult. Flying is pretty much the only option. The city was founded in 1541 and has a distinct European flare. I was really impressed by how clean, modern, and spacious the city felt. In some ways it reminded me of my home city of Portland. It has the most extensive metro system and tallest building (Gran Torre Santiago) in South America. The food was clean, the supermarkets had just as many options as the ones in the US, cars waited for you to cross the street, and strangers smiled at you!  In general in the Pacific Northwest of the US, it is rude if you pass someone and don’t smile. Unfortunately, in some countries, such as Bolivia, people look at you strangely if you smile at them. I really really really like this fact about Chileans. I also loved that shop keepers didn’t try to push their goods on you. You could look at their wares and walk away and still be given a smile and a nod.  On Sunday, the main avenue that runs along the Mapocho River is closed to motor vehicles so that runners and bicyclists can rule the road. We took advantage of this and went for a run along with a seemingly huge portion of the city’s inhabitants. The Parque Forestral also runs along the river and provides a peaceful place to enjoy the outdoors within the city limits. In summary, I like Chile a lot.

Ok, ok, one bad thing did happen. We were walking and all of a sudden a man grabbed my shoulder and pointed to Nico’s backpack. Sure enough his bag and pants were covered with a sticky substance that at first glance appeared to be bird poop. The man gestured for us to step to the side of the road and offered us assistance. Nico instinctively grabbed my arm and began walking at a brisk pace. A second man approached and offered to guide us to a public bathroom. Nico said some strong words in Spanish to indicate that A. he is a native Spanish speaker and B. he knew what they were trying to do. In this neck of the woods it is common for thieves to “mark” you. They will throw ketchup, mustard, or something on your clothes and when you go to clean yourself off they rob you. Apparently this has happened to several people he knows and luckily he kept it from happening to us. Safely within Starbucks we assessed how bad we had been “marked”. It was all over my butt and back as well. After inspection, we assumed it was some sort of salad dressing. Always be cautious and clean yourself up away from the street.

We visited the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Plaza de Armas, the church of San Francisco, ran up to the statue of the Virgin Mary on San Cristobal Hill (great views of the mountains and city), ate fresh fish at the Mercado Central, climbed the Cerro Santa Lucía, visited the Hard Rock Café, and took it relatively easy. There was definitely more to see, but our time there was simply relaxing. Our last night we had dinner in the apartment with Agustin, Connie, and their Spanish roommate who grew up in Ecuador (he himself was a very interesting person to chat with). Connie has a strong traveler spirit as well and told us about her time in India with three female friends. It is one of the countries I so badly want to explore, but am hesitant to due to safety concerns. I have a feeling that one of these days I will make it to the land of yoga, amazing curries, and Hinduism. Thank you Augustin and Connie for your enjoyable company and for allowing us to use your well equipped kitchen. You were excellent hosts and we hope to return the favor in the future.  

Above there are pictures of Valparaiso, but I will write about it in a different post.

La Paz’s average elevation is around 3,650 m, yet as the city’s population has grown the people have built their homes ascending the surrounding hills. Thus, the elevation of the city ranges from roughly 3,200 m to 4,000 m. In general the wealthier you are the lower you live. The families living at the higher elevations spend their lives trying to move closer to the city center. It isn’t a city I would want to spend a lot of time in, but I am thankful to have seen it. It is one of the most unique cities I have ever visited.

During the flight from Sucre, we marveled at how seemingly close we were to the land. Since the whole altiplano region is at such a high altitude, the plane’s altitude felt much lower.  What was even more amazing was that the runway is at eye level with the tip of a snow covered mountain. Of course our travel plans had to take us back to high elevation and this time I wasn’t the only who felt it!

On our return to La Paz from Lake Titicaca, we got to see for ourselves several of the facts we had been told. For example, one local told us that the reason all the buildings are just brick and have no plaster is because the owner of a building under construction pays less taxes on it than when it is completed. Thus, all buildings are in a perpetual state of “construction”.  This one fact alone makes the city horribly ugly. Whenever we met other travelers who had been to La Paz, I would say, “Isn’t it the most beautiful ugly city you have ever seen?” They all understood what I meant and agreed. The buildings are shabby, poor, and all the same square red brick. Yet, they are surrounded by majestic mountains and in the distance the Valley of the Moon is visible. It is also crazy to think how all the houses are built one on top of another. If an earthquake hit, the city would be devastated. Another bizarre thing about the city was the sheer magnitude of fried chicken fast food restaurants. In some squares it was the only type of food to be found.

We moved slowly due to the altitude and pretty much only checked out the main plaza and some side streets. The main tourist attraction is the cable car which the current administration built as a legitimate form of transit for the locals. It provides some impressive views of the Lego city and the mountains in the background.

Speaking of the current administration, President Morales is an interesting figure to discuss. He originally was a coco farmer and greatly rose to power through his advocacy for the cocaleros (coco farmers). From the beginning he fought against US pressure to eliminate the production of the crop. From a US perspective, production of the coco plant is in direct opposition to the War on Drugs. In Morales’ opinion the US is an imperialistic bully trying to encroach upon the traditions of the indigenous Andean people. In reality, the coco plant has many uses and benefits outside of the drug realm. His hope is to show the world the uses of the coco plant and for it to become a legitimate and legal form of trade. He is a very controversial political figure. Many people love him for all his socialist policies that benefit the poor and the fact that he is the first indigenous president (he is the 80th president of Bolivia). He is praised for his fight against illiteracy and for distancing the country from neoliberal influences through such acts as lessening the country’s dependency on the World Bank. Others, claim he is the worst thing to have happened to Bolivia because his abusive changes to the constitution. He even changed the laws surrounding how long a president can hold office. It is currently 2015 and he took office on January 22nd, 2006. Interesting to say the least.

The most interesting person we met in La Paz was the guy working the morning shift at our bed and breakfast. I could write four paragraphs about the conversations I had with him. For some reason I always happened to be in the kitchen by myself right around the time he showed up. He had spent four years in New York City and liked the prospect of practicing his English with me. He told me all sorts of things about men like the fact that all men get craaaaazy jealous. He personally doesn’t allow his girlfriend to go to the gym by herself because she as an easily persuaded female may innocently swoon over the brute strength of another male. I tried to tell him that that degree of control is overkill and would probably damage the relationship long-term, but my suggestions fell on deaf ears. My favorite conversation revolved around facts about Americans. He greatly enlightened me. He said that when an American is born, the government places a chip in his/her arm. The chip allows the government to control us. Thus, it isn’t our fault that we all view the world incorrectly. The chip is to blame! Also, Obama is an alien. I am so glad that I was shown the light and that I am no longer naïve to the massive conspiracy that is in control of my people and country. You know they say that laughter is one of the best things for your health, well once away in my room this friendly fellow’s shared knowledge greatly improved my health.

The main tourist site we visited while staying in the city was a day trip to the ancient ruins of Tiwanaku…