D29 to D35 –- Back Home

Our flight home was smooth and we were happy to be back with family and friends. We’ll be home for six days before leaving for more adventures.

-Thomas

D28 -- Farewell Santiago

The last four weeks finally caught up with us today as we waited for our midnight flight back to Dallas. We had initially planned on an ambitious day of touring museums and craft markets, but quickly realized we were pretty wiped out and needed to take it easy. We ended up skipping the museums and the craft markets. Instead, we took the trolley up to the highest point in Santiago where we got some good views, although the always-present smog largely obscures the mountains that surround the city. There was a chapel at the top of the hill, and an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary. We did make a quick stop at a small craft market, but then headed to a café for some R&R. In the end we decided that Santiago was our least favorite stop so far, as it does not have the energy or charisma of Buenos Aires or the natural beauty of the Patagonia towns.

- Thomas

D27 –- Sport of the Devil!

We went to a 19^th century home, Palacio Cousiño, which belonged to an extremely wealth family and is now a museum. The staircase was made of something like 20 different kinds of marble, the floors were either ornately patterned wood or Italian Majolica, the drapes were hand embroidered by French nuns of silk and velvet, etc., etc., etc. Next up was Chile’s version of Sacre Coeur – Iglesia de los Sacrementinos. You can't tell from the picture, but the building was in pretty bad shape.

In the afternoon we visited the (smelly) Mercado Central, where they sell all kinds of fish and shellfish, the Cathedral, San Francisco church (built in 1618), and the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolumbino. They had an impressive collection: lots of ceramics, some wood and stone carvings, and even some textiles dating back to BC times in some cases. During our sight-seeing we happened across a book fair going on at the beautiful, neo-classical Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. I spotted a churros vendor and alerted Thomas, who’s always on the lookout for a good churro. He was in 7^th heaven, as they used real powdered sugar (instead of granulated like in Mexico.)

Early in the evening we headed to the airport to try to fly standby. It was mayhem - we waited for about four hours to learn we weren’t getting on the plane. We used a shared minibus taxi to get back to a hotel. On our minibus were a nice woman named Lulu and a man from Texas. Lulu is Chilean but lives in Whistler, Canada, where she’s a ski instructor. The man was quiet for the first 20 minutes while we chatted with Lulu about skiing. Then all of a sudden he starts ranting about how environmentally destructive skiing is because of the development and the corresponding damage to the environment. He struck us right away as a wacko – one of those people who perhaps has persuasive information to share, but is so volatile you can’t take him seriously. When he started to cuss and tell us we (anyone who has been or goes skiing) should all burn in hell, Thomas got worried and immediately started to engage him in conversation so as to shield Lulu and I from his ranting. We felt pretty bad when we got dropped off at our hotel because we knew she’d be left alone with him and his incredible hostility toward the skiing industry. Poor Lulu!

- Elva

D26 –- Travel day

Today we caught a bus to Punta Arenas Chile, then a flight to Santiago. We got in very late and hadn’t made hotel arrangements since we’d hoped to fly standby back to Dallas. No such luck. We called a few places listed in our guidebook and settled on Hotel Vegas. When we arrived it was as if we’d stepped into a time warp. The room was as 70s as you could get. We thought the trashcans were particularly funny.

-Elva

D25 -- We are the Champions!

We had agreed the night before that we’d wake up at 6:15 to check the weather and if it wasn’t raining we’d head to Las Torres. If it was, we’d go back to bed. Well, we woke up (careful not to disturb our roommates) and it wasn’t raining, but it was threatening to. We decided that we should just go for it. We’d come to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine to see the Torres, after all, and we’d endured too much to just quit near the finish line. So we got ready and invited another woman, Sue from Minnesota, to come along with us since her boyfriend had gone up the day before without her.

The first hour was mostly uphill through a pretty forest, but the second was climbing over rocks and boulders up a very steep incline. That’s when the rain started. It was not heavy, but it was steady and horizontal and freezing cold! Fifty-something Sue was a like a machine, but Thomas and I took it slow. It was probably the hardest portion of the trek due to the steep ascent, terrain, and weather, but we did it! We got to the mirador, or lookout, and were rewarded with a view of the famous Torres.

By this time our hands were red with cold so we took a couple of pictures and got the hell out of there! We hiked another three hours to get to the buses that would take us out of the park. Thomas in particular was exhausted.

In all, we hiked about 40 miles in 5 days in awful weather. It was an amazing experience, but I will think long and hard about ever doing it again!

- Elva

D24 -- We will not be broken!

We got very little sleep last night because it was storming so badly. We both woke up every couple of hours thinking the roof was going to blow off. I imagine that’s what a small hurricane or typhoon must be like. Crazy! At breakfast the wind was still going strong. We were in good spirits, though, with a wait-and-see attitude. My efforts to remain positive were slightly challenged when I found a dead bug in my scrambled eggs (after I’d eaten most of them, of course).

We set out for Hosteria Los Torres instead of Chileno as originally planned, thinking we’d cut the trip short and leave a day early to go see penguins and thereby escape the crazy Patagonian weather. But as soon as we left the rain stopped and a beautiful rainbow appeared over the lake. It was hard to stay in a bad mood looking at that!

So we trudged on, me with the benefit of Jock Jams on the iPod to get me through the steep climbs at the beginning of the trail. (Thanks, Denise!)

We had another setback when it came time to cross two streams. There was a wire to grab on to but that was it – you had to cross by stepping over mostly submerged rocks. Ever the gentleman, Thomas carried a woman’s pack across and came back, managing not to get too wet. So he told me not to take my shoes off, which turned out to be a big mistake because I got my feet drenched. I changed into his dry, day-old socks, then we hit the trail again, with me in a bad mood and sloshing around in my boots. What really frustrated us was the realization that we could have used Thomas’s Tevas to cross the stream. Ah, hindsight.

The sun was out today, and the walk was pretty but SO windy. It really beat us down. We debated leaving versus staying when we came to the fork between Torres and Chileno trails. Being a stubborn gal I hated to quit, but by staying we could put ourselves at risk of more annoyances and bad times and there was no guarantee we’d see the famous Las Torres rock formations/mountains because of the unpredictable weather. And frankly, we were having a string of bad luck so we were thinking maybe fate was telling us to give up. We decided, however, to go on, but after another 30 minutes of ozone-hole sun and battering wind we again reconsidered over lunch. (I couldn’t bear to eat my sandwiches after the bug incident, so Thomas gave them away to some hikers.) We decided once and for all that we’d stick it out together and that we were lucky to have learned something about ourselves - we’re day hikers, not trekkers!

About 1 hour from Chileno we started to see huge drifts of dirt coming off the mountain that we had to pass, much like the water that got picked up by the wind on the lakes. (We got showered by another lake earlier in the day.) Then we started to pass very tired-looking people heading the opposite way saying things like “it’s REALLY windy”, “good luck” and “be careful not to let the wind knock you off the mountain.” Great! We came to Valley Asencio between two mountains, at the bottom of which was a river with rapids. It was called “Paseo de los Vientos” on the map (vientos = winds). That’s when the REAL winds hit us. We had to brace ourselves not to fall over. The dirt pelted us so hard it stung. It got in our ears, noses, mouths… we were completely covered! Thomas saw one woman get blown down to the ground by the wind. She just stayed down to wait out the gust. We made it to Chileno just before another downpour started. Whew! We heard later that this day was the windiest day of the season so far, and read that the park can get wind gusts of up to 60 mph. I’m guessing the winds we experienced were close to that. We traded wind horror-stories with Danuta over dinner and hit the sack.

- Elva

D23 -- Whose idea WAS this?!?

Although it rained all night, we slept well and got up relatively late. After breakfast with Alex and Dorothy we set off in a light drizzle and strong wind. After an hour, Thomas realized that the rain cover had blown off his pack, along with our waterproof pants. He went back to look for them but the wind had long since carried them away. We debated what to do, and Thomas decided we should go back to be safe, because if we hit heavy rain we’d be soaked and extremely cold. After 40 minutes of backtracking I decided that I didn’t want to waste money (we had already paid for board and lodging at two refugios), so he agreed to turn around AGAIN!

It was less rainy than the previous day but the wind was the same, if not stronger. The rain was pelting us again and the wind almost knocked us over several times. It was actually pretty funny. Thank goodness for walking sticks! The trail took us to the shore of Lake Nordenskjold, and we had to stop two or three times to brace ourselves as incredible gusts of wind slammed into us carrying water picked up from the lake. My cap flew off at one point but Thomas saved it. Now it was more miserable than funny, and I told Thomas to cancel our treks in Nepal and New Zealand as soon as we got to a computer. The terrain was easier than the first two days, but the wind really beat us down. We were glad to reach warm, cozy Refugio Cuernos after six hours of hiking.

We dined with a Polish woman named Danuta who’d been one of our roommates at Paine Grande. She’s very nice and it was interesting to learn more about Poland and Switzerland (she lives in Geneva). After dinner we were exhausted and bummed to learn that tomorrow’s hike was 6 hours, not 4 ½ like we thought. Thomas had a splitting headache and my knees had begun to plot a mutiny against me. On a positive note, we did have one beautiful view from a place called Camp Italiano. A rickety bridge over a raging river looked up the valley to the mountains and a glacier. I bet it’s gorgeous when it is sunny.

-Elva

D22 -- Are we having fun yet?

Our first night turned out to be a bit tough, as one our roommates snored, another got up at 2:30am to go to the bathroom, and pretty much everyone got up earlier than us and made plenty of noise. It was super rainy, so we sat around and read books until it stopped around noon, when we set out to see the glacier one more time.

We went up to a big outcropping of rock to get closer than before and it was incredibly windy - I could lean back into the wind without falling because it was so strong. There were 3 condors flying overhead, which was beautiful. We backtracked the 6.5 miles back to Pehoé and met a nice brother and sister from Germany along the way and ate lunch on the trail with them.

The weather was all over the place. Cool and windy but dry, then rainy, then sunny. We took off our rain pants when it turned hot and sunny, and sure enough it started to pour about thirty minutes later. We busted out the ponchos but not the pants. My poncho was billowing about so much I couldn’t see where I was stepping – it was awful. The rain was coming at us sideways and it was so windy it pelted us like freezing rain. I was so annoyed with that damn poncho, and Thomas tried unsuccessfully to jerry rig it to work. I decided I was done with this hiking business so I started to book it and didn’t stop for just about anything. My pants were soaked and covered in mud. My hands were freezing. My knees were killing me. And all we had to look forward to was camping at Paine Grande in the horrible weather, because we’d been unable to get a dorm spot. We finally arrived about 20 minutes after the sun made a brief appearance. We came inside and lo and behold they’d had a cancellation and had room at the refugio. Praise be!

We checked into a room with only 4 other beds and a pretty view of the lake. It was so much nicer than the other refugio – it was like a ski lodge. When I went to take a shower 2 of the 3 stalls didn’t have hot water. I tried to tell the German woman who came in during my shower to wait for me so she could have hot water but she didn’t understand what I was saying. You should have heard her screaming in that cold water! I don’t speak German, but I have a pretty good idea of what she may have been saying. After washing off all the mud we had a comforting dinner of beef stew and mashed potatoes with a very nice couple from Ireland: Alex and Dorothy. We were pretty exhausted, and were glad to hobble into our sleeping bags.

- Elva

D21 -- Let the Trekking Begin!

We woke up at 6:15 to catch a bus to Torres del Paine National Park to start our five-day trek. (I have decided that on the next leg of our trip there will be more sleeping in and more naps!) The bus dropped us off at a boat launch on beautiful Lago Pehoé, with its spectacular turquoise green waters. From there, a catamaran took us past snow-covered mountains to Refugio Paine Grande. Refugios are lodges where you can eat, stock up on supplies, and rent a camp site or a bunk bed in the dorm. We took advantage of the satellite internet connection to frantically blog for the last time, took some “start of the trip” pictures, and set off on our way.

We hiked for almost four hours on a rocky trail that took us past wind-carved mountains, beautiful Laguna los Patos, which looked like an infinity pool because it was right next to a steep drop off, a waterfall, and a bridge over Rio Olguin, which ran swiftly through a gorge. In all, we walked about 6 ½ miles to reach Glacier Grey on Lago Grey. The glacier appeared to have blocked off part of the lake, creating a pond with tiny icebergs that had nowhere to go – it was very pretty. We didn’t stay long, though, as it was overcast and cold and we were worn-out from hiking the up-an-down terrain.

We checked into Refugio Grey, where we shared a dorm room with 6 other trekkers. It wasn’t too bad – we rented sleeping bags since the beds don’t come with sheets, and Thomas had bought sleeping bag liners with us. The bathrooms, particularly the men’s, left something to be desired in the way of cleanliness, but at least there was hot water. After we both showered we sat down for dinner and were served soup, meat with rice, and mixed fruit – all three with hairs in them YUM! We later read in the guest book that this is the dirtiest refugio of them all.

-Elva

D20 -- ¡Adios, Argentina!

We took a bus back to Puerto Natales, Chile, today. The ride was uneventful except when I fell on the stairs getting out at the border crossing. Apparently I can climb a volcano without incident, but getting off a bus is a whole other story. I landed on my left butt cheek, and already have a bruise. I guess I don’t have as much padding as I thought down there. Happily for you, I have decided not to post a picture of that on the blog.

I really enjoyed our time in Argentina and would love to come back to see more. It’s a land of amazing natural beauty and friendly people. However, I will appreciate the U.S. more now, specifically for its no-smoking-in-public-places policies and its wide variety of salad dressing choices. A girl can only take so much (corn oil) and vinegar, which is the only option there. But oh how we will miss the steaks, ice cream, and late-night dining! Tomorrow we leave for five days of hiking in Torres del Paine National Park…

Elva

D19 -- Grandest glacier of all

Yesterday we toured Perito Moreno, the most famous of Argentina’s glaciers. It is the only glacier in the park accessible by road, and is also the only one that is not receding. Unlike yesterday, we were able to see this glacier from high above as it stretched all the way back into the mountains. It was quite a breathtaking sight. The glacier’s face is 3 miles wide and it is 198 feet at its highest point (at least the part above water – it extends another few hundred feet below water). There is a viewing point almost directly across from the glacier where we could take some nice pictures and, more importantly, see the occasional chunk of ice break off the face and fall into the lake. While we were there at lest two huge chunks broke, but of course we didn’t get our camera ready in time! Another neat thing was the sound made by the enormous cracks forming in the ice, which are caused by the differences in the speed of different parts of the glacier. I think the face and bottom move about a foot a day, while the top moves about 6.5 feet per day. The resulting cracks are surprisingly loud - a lot like thunder. We ended the trip with another boat ride to the face of the glacier, although this one only took 30 minutes because we were already so close.

- Thomas

D18 -- Sailing Among the Glaciers

Our day was spent aboard a large catamaran touring several glaciers in an Argentine national park that borders Chile. Once we got underway we headed upstairs to the lookout deck, and man oh man was it freezing, even after we put on an extra layer of clothes. Elva really liked the color of the glacial lake, which was a kind of milky turquoise blue. We ended up visiting two large glaciers (Spegazzini and Upsala) and then we docked and walked about ½ mile to Lago Onelli, a lake that was surrounded by glaciers and filled with small chunks of ice that had broken off from the glaciers.

While sitting by the shore of the lake we were entertained by a young couple, an American woman and we think an Australian man, who decided to strip down to their underwear & t-shirts and swim/wade to one of the small chunks of ice, which they climbed on top of so they could get some great photos. We admired their spunk but there was no way we were getting in that freezing water.

The trip to Upsala glacier was really cool because we had to navigate around HUGE icebergs (some were at least 2-3 times as big as our boat, and that was just the 15-20% of the iceberg that was above water). Elva really enjoyed Glacier Spegazzini, which is the tallest glacier in the park. We had a great time on the catamaran but by the end of the eleven hour journey we were anxious to get off and stretch our legs.

- Thomas

D17 -- Best Meal Yet

We would be remiss if we didn’t devote at least one our entries almost entirely to food! On day 17 we signed up for a guided hike up Cerro Frias, a three thousand foot mountain close to El Calafate. (The picture is one of the views from the bottom of Cerro Frias- it's much smaller than those mountains.) The hike was nice but not spectacular, and was actually a little frustrating because our guide sent us off on our own and then seemed out of sorts once we got a little lost. The highlight of the hike was when we came across a pasture of grazing cows. We started to make our way across the pasture when the guide’s dog, a large St. Bernard, started “herding” the cows. The cows weren’t in the mood and started to stampede in our direction. There was a brief period where we thought we might get trampled, but nothing too scary.



After our hike we were treated to a fantastic Argentine parrilla lunch. The lunch was served in a beautiful room with 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains and a roaring fireplace. We were brought huge platters of steak, potatoes, onions and pumpkin in addition to all the red wine we could drink. The food was excellent, and we really enjoyed getting to know our fellow tour members. We met a couple from Argentina, one from Germany, a family from Brazil, and a father and son from Israel. The son had just completed his mandatory 3 year service in the military and was getting ready to start university in Berlin. We were surprised to learn that only 20% of Israelis keep kosher. All in all a great day.
- Thomas

D16 -- Problems in Paradise

Thomas was up to his Amazing Race antics again yesterday about catching the bus to El Calafate, but I was in no mood to stress at 7 a.m., so we got off on a bad foot. The bus came for us as promised, and we slept through most of the 5-hour, bumpy ride to El Calafate, where we were to transfer to another bus to El Chaltén. Our purpose in heading there was to hike around Mt. Fitz Roy, which is supposed to be beautiful, and then return to Calafate the next day.

We had a long “layover” in Calafate so we went to check our e-mail, where Thomas found a message from the hostel in Chaltén asking us to confirm our reservation. They had sent the e-mail the day before, which was strange, since Thomas had already contacted them several days ago to confirm, and they’d assured him that we were all set. We called them, only to find out they’d given our room away. Jerks!!! Just the excuse I needed to get in a REALLY crabby mood. We did a mad scramble to find another room in Chaltén, but the only rooms available were very expensive ($125 a night). We weren’t sure what to do since we’d already spent $40 on round-trip bus tickets and we couldn’t get that money back. We checked the weather forecast, which called for rain, so we decided to give up our plans to hike at Mt. Fitz Roy and eat the cost of the bus tickets.

Of course then we had to scramble to find a room for the night, and the best we could do was a room with three twin beds and a bath for $30 at Hostel Jorgito. The good news is that the family that runs the hostel is very nice, and we really like Calafate. It’s small but has lots of shops and restaurants, especially ice cream and chocolate shops!

(Since this is a post largely about my complaints…I SO miss all the no-smoking rules in the US. Half the time here I feel nauseous from all the cigarette smoke I’m inhaling in the airport, in restaurants, etc.)

-Elva

D15 -- Heading to Patagonia

Yikes! When we woke up Tuesday morning Thomas’ face below his nose was practically purple, and his hands and neck were sunburned too. Apparently, he had applied sun block only to his forehead and nose during our volcano ascent. My upper lip and nose were swollen and red (sexy!) because I had been wiping my runny nose all day on the volcano and must have wiped off my sun block in the process. Just exhaling was painful for me, since the warm air from my nose would pass over my raw skin. I was more worried about Thomas, though, because I thought I could see a couple of blisters on his right cheek. It was hard to tell for sure, though, under all that facial hair. Amazingly, our legs weren’t really sore, though I would have traded muscle fatigue for our sunburns in a minute if I could have. During breakfast we spoke briefly with a German couple who also climbed Villarrica the previous day- they were sunburned, too.

We drove 4 hours to the airport in Puerto Montt, and had an uneventful flight to Punta Arenas. At the end of the flight, Thomas befriended a very nice couple from England, Kimball and Jo. I made reservations for the four of us on a 6:30 p.m. bus, and we shared a cab to the station. We met a German woman there who made arrangements for us at her father’s hostel in PN, but when we arrived at 9:30 the hostel turned out to be – in Jo’s apt words - “a bit spooky.”

Thomas and I went to a local internet café and after five or six phone calls I was able to get us rooms with private baths at a place called Hostel Natalino. (My Spanish has really been coming in handy down here!) It wasn’t exactly The Plaza, but fairly clean and cheap with plenty of hot water. At dinner, Kimball entertained us over excellent pizzas with stories about his climbing exploits and showed us pictures his family has published in our guide book. We retired early, as we had a 7:00 a.m. bus to El Calafate, Argentina to catch and our English friends were off to Torres del Paine National Park the next day.

A couple of side notes: Puerto Natales is located on the Straits of Magellan, and looks more like a fishing town then a tourist destination. Since the sidewalks were pretty bumpy we finally decided to use our backpacks as backpacks instead of wheeling them around. Heavy, but convenient…I’m finally a “real backpacker!”

-Elva

D14 -- Climbing Volcán Villarrica!

On January 16th we climbed Volcán Villarrica. Yup, that’s right – an active volcano! This is pretty much one of the most adventurous things I’ve ever done, so this’ll be a looonng entry! Our day started at 6:40, when we woke, dressed quickly, and headed to our tour operator’s office. We were part of a group of about 16 people from England, South Africa, Holland, the US (CT), Italy, and Spain. We were outfitted with large backpacks, crampons (spiky shoe attachments), gaiters, snowboarding-type pants, a water-proof “pamper” to cover our butts, rain jackets, hats, helmets, gloves, and a 3-foot-long ice pick.

We had four guides, which worked out well, since it enabled us all to go at our own paces once we got up on the volcano. After a 30-minute bus ride we made it to the park. It was the closest we’d been to Villarrica, and it looked BIG. After another 15 minutes, we arrived at the base of the ski lift that would take us the first 450 meters, up to 1850 meters above sea level. Four (very fit) people declined the lift, but everyone else rode up. I was feeling pretty nervous, partly because I wasn’t sure if I had the stamina to make it up, and partly for fear of falling down the steep slope.

The lift brought us up to the snowline, where one of our guides helped us put our crampons on. We all set off in a single file line at 9:25 a.m. Both of us were amazed at the stunning views that we began to see as we climbed higher and higher. We were also incredibly amazed at how steep the volcano was. When we would look back at where we’d just been we couldn’t believe we’d been able to get up to where we were because it was just SO steep. At one point we saw two or three big chunks of ice that had broken off from above hurling down the side of the volcano. All we could do was yell to those below to get out of the way - poor things - you could tell they were trying to figure out which was to duck. Luckily, no one got hurt, but it made us realize how hard it would be to stop if one of us fell.

The ascent was difficult and tedious- we zigzagged slowly up the steep face digging into the snow and slushy ice with our crampons and our ice picks. It was very slippery at times because the snow was so thick and would give way under our feet. At some points we could bury our whole ice pick in the snow it was so deep. I felt like we were in one of those circuses where each elephant uses their trunk to hold the preceding elephant’s tail. For me it was great, because I could stare at the person’s feet in front of me and just worry about one step at a time. I tried to avoid looking up at the huge distance we had to travel (997 meters), but sometimes stole a glimpse down to see how high we’d already climbed. Luckily, we got into a slower group, so the pace was okay for me, though probably a little boring for Thomas.

Our stops were few - maybe four – and lasted only 15 minutes or so every 45 minutes. It was good timing for me, because after about 40 minutes I was REALLY out of breath. During these stops we tried to take a few pictures, apply more sun block, and grab some food and water. Then it was back on the trail again. The Dutch woman in our group had to be taken down the mountain by one of the guides because she was struggling so much and said she couldn’t breathe. Another woman had to give her pack to one of the guides and he carried hers and his. Luckily, Thomas had taken the big pack with all the water and the gear, while I carried only a small pack with our food and my snow pants. Our guide called Thomas my sherpa.


We finally arrived at the summit (2847m) at 2:00 p.m. The fumes from the crater were pretty bad – they would burn your nose and throat if you breathed them in. You could see the gasses coming out of the rock. Luckily, our guides brought us up on the opposite side of where they were blowing, so it wasn’t horrible. From the top we could see five other snow-capped volcanoes, two blue lakes, and green trees all around them. It was incredible! We took some pictures of our triumphant moment, pocketed a few rocks as souvenirs, and enjoyed a celebratory chocolate bar.

The way down was just as much an adventure as the way up. We took off our crampons and put on our ski pants and “diapers” (i.e. butt covers) before we started down. When we walked it was very slippery, especially since we didn’t have crampons anymore, so we fell A LOT. I borrowed some ski poles from one of the guides to keep from falling so much. Then we would come to points where there were little concave “tracks” going down the face that were just big enough for a person’s behind and we would sit down and then slide! That was the most fun of all. We used our ice picks to slow down but at times we would careen out of the track and go a bit out of control. At one point, I lost my ice pick and Thomas had to grab it on his way down. I had two big balls of ice in the pockets of my backpack after all three slides. It was crazy! And what a view going down!

When we got down off the snow we stripped down to our clothes and hiked the rest of the way through very sandy volcanic dirt. A quick bus ride later we were back at the tour company’s office drinking beer and cokes. We got certificates of achievement- made out to Elba Mendoza and Tomas Simse. In the end it was more of a super-steep hike than a climb, and certainly not that high compared to other mountains, but for me it was an enormous achievement, and we were both really proud to have done it.

-Elva

Day Thirteen -- Election Day

It was cold and rainy when we woke up, so we decided to take it easy and get a late start. We walked down to the lake and made friends with a couple of street dogs, one of whom had an amazing talent for playing fetch.

The weather cleared up a bit, so Thomas went rafting on Rio Trancura again, but this time on the alto (high) run with its class IV rapids. He had a great time- going through scary but fun rapids like “The Last Smile” and “The Path to Hell.” I was very glad to see him come home safely.


Earlier in the day we’d had a tough time finding a place to eat. Almost all businesses were shut down for Election Day. I thought that was pretty cool- perhaps a sign that Chileans take democracy seriously, unlike some of us folk in the US. We could tell when the results were in because we started to hear celebrations in the street. The liberal candidate, Michelle Bachelette, beat out the conservative candidate to become the first female president of Chile. It was exciting to witness such an historic day, and we enjoyed watching the parade of people waving flags and banners and honking their horns.

-Elva

Day Twelve – Canopy, Zipline, and Rapids (oh my!)

Yesterday (Saturday) was a day for high adventure! Our first activity of the day was “canopy”. Canopy entails using ropes and cables to navigate among the tree tops, and ends in two zip lines over a river. Although our guides Ivan and Marcos and our equipment all seemed very trustworthy, I still couldn’t help being a bit nervous. It was really hard to keep your balance walking on the wires and wooden steps between trees. Thomas, of course, was grinning from ear to ear. When it came time to step off the platform to do the first zip line, I was downright scared. With lots of encouragement from Thomas, I did it, and it was fantastic. So FUN! He loved it too, and instead of zipping across the river in the fetal position like me, he did it upside down- like a big monkey.

Our next activity after lunch was supposed to be river rafting, but there weren’t enough people to make a group. Darn, I thought, now I will have to be safe and dry and take a nap! My nap plans were thwarted, though, when we stopped by another outfitter and learned that the last trip of the day was just about leave. We had a guy from Bosnia in our raft, as well as a family from Santiago, Chile, and our able guide Max. Since the youngest member of the family was probably around 9, I felt comforted.

My comfort level went back down at all the talk of what to do if you fall in the water during Max’s safety lecture. About 5 minutes into the ride we hit our first rapid, only a Class II, but a doozey. A wall of ice cold water came gushing over the top of the raft. Thomas got knocked back into me, and we both ended up on the floor of the raft. I let go of the top of my oar for a moment (a big no-no) and I’m still not sure if I accidentally whacked the girl behind me. I could tell Thomas was taken aback by how powerful the rapids were--his previous experience with rafting was relatively calm, and he wasn’t expecting to get knocked around.

After falling into the raft I was bound and determined not to fall OUT of the raft on the next rapids, which were II to III ½ (VI is the worst- I can’t imagine!). When we hit the next ones, everyone else was pretty much screaming with delight and fear and gave up on trying to row, but I thought if we all paddled hard enough we’d get through okay. So I turned into the Monica Seles of rafting. When Max yelled “adelante” or “atras” I paddled my little heart out, and was grunting like you wouldn’t believe! When the rapids stopped Thomas and I were laughing so hard, we couldn’t believe the sounds that had come out of my mouth in the throes of paddling! I tried to calm down a bit and enjoy the remaining rapids. I’m really glad I went, and Thomas LOVED it. In fact, he went back today to do the Class IV run. I finally got my nap.

-Elva

Day Eleven -- Hiking in Huerquehue

Friday was our first full day in Pucón. It’s a very quaint resort town- similar to what I imagine Vail or Aspen might be like. There seem to be five main categories of (expensive) businesses here: lodgings; restaurants; adventure activity outfitters; chocolate shops; and places to buy jewelry and clothes. Thomas was practically salivating at all the outdoor activity possibilities. I was missing the relative cheapness of Mendoza.

We made some turkey and cheese sandwiches, loaded up our backpacks and then drove to the national park of Huerquehue, which our guidebook advertised as having routes that were “non-taxing” and good “warm-ups” for those planning to climb the volcano. We were in good spirits as we started the hike, but about 45 minutes later we started to realize that we were in for a challenge. It ended up being around 7 ½ miles and taking us 5 hours! The first two and a half miles were a constant uphill climb--we gained 1300 feet during the hike. And of course the way back was all downhill, so our knees were dying. “Non-taxing” my butt!


The good news is that the views of the volcano were nice, and we passed three picturesque lakes and a very pretty waterfall. The bad news is that it got us a little worried about how we will handle our trip to Torres del Paine later this month, where we will be hiking and backpacking for five days straight. BUT, Thomas says that most of the hikes there will not be as challenging as Huerquehue. I hope he’s right, and/or that we (mainly I) gain a bit of endurance by the time we make it there!

Since we felt we earned it, we had steaks at Uruguayan restaurant for dinner. Thomas’ steak with pepper sauce was divine, but I had to send my bloody steak back twice before it was cooked enough for me to eat it without thinking of mooing cows. I didn’t mind waiting, as I was enjoying a great pisco sour- the national mixed drink. We asked for a box to take home the fatty parts for the stray dogs and as a way of apologizing about the rare steaks they gave us a bunch of other people’s leftovers, too. Since today was Maddie’s 9^th birthday and we weren’t at home to spoil her, we instead spoiled several neighborhood dogs with yummy steak in her honor. We sure miss that beautiful dog.

-Elva

Day Ten -- Onward to Chile

Today we traveled from Mendoza to Pucón, Chile. We were in transit most of the day, so we don't have much to report. Perhaps the most interesting moment of the day was when we left the airport in Chile. We had only driven about 10 minutes when Elva saw what she still swears was a small dog crossing the road with a human arm in its mouth. I did not catch a glimpse of this ghastly sight. Elva said we would have to check the newspapers the next day to see if there is a story about a mutilated body. Lovely.

We arrived in Pucón late, but took a picture from our balcony the next morning. From our balcony you can see the main attraction of Pucón, Volcano Villarrica. The volcano is still active and erupts about once every ten years. Our hotel gave us instructions on where we should go in case there is an eruption. Lovely.

-Tom

Day Nine -- Boozing it up in Mendoza

We spent Wednesday afternoon on two different wine tours. The first, Catena Zapata, was in a town called Lujan de Cuyo. It’s apparently one of the most esteemed wineries in Argentina, and is absolutely gorgeous. The bodega was a modern, pyramid-shaped structure surrounded on three sides by the vineyard and facing the Andes. The interior was built of Argentine materials--beautiful stone and wood. The tasting room was awesome--it had a wall of windows looking out onto rows and rows of barrels. We also saw Catena’s personal collection cellar, which contained about 75,000 bottles from all over the world!

We went on a very informative tour, where our guide explained the differences between their premium stuff--Nicolas Catena Zapata--and their cheaper brands (like Alamos). First, only the best grapes are chosen for the premium wine. Second, the barrels used to age the wine are 100% first-use French oak. Alamos uses lesser grapes aged for shorter periods in a mix of French and American oak barrels that have been used 2 or 3 times before. Also, NCZ is made in smaller batches and different processes are used. For example, they use egg whites to filter the wine. The lesser wines are made in bigger stainless steel vats and are filtered differently. The grapes that are even less desirable and the barrels that have been used three times are shipped to their other vineyard--Esmerelda--where they apparently make crappy wine with them. By the way, the 2002 NCZ, which will be released next year, is expected to be fantastic if you have an extra $100 to blow.

The grapes are all harvested by hand between February and April. One of the men who took the tour works in a Catena Zapata vineyard, and he told us that the migrant farm workers who pick the grapes earn about US$1.50 per hour. I guess it is easy to afford fancy digs when you pay your laborers such a minimal amount.

We had to skip out on the tasting, unfortunately, because we were due at a winery called Luigi Bosca. The facilities there were much less showy, and we were the only ones on the tour. Our guide was very sweet, and since we’d already been on a couple of tours that explained the process of winemaking, she used our time to let us try four different wines. While chit-chatting about the Argentine culture and economy, she taught us about wine-tasting etiquette. For example, she told me the whole spitting the wine out thing is optional. Needless to say I left there feeling pretty good.

After a long walk through the streets of Mendoza, we finished the day off with another fabulous steak meal that we would never be able to afford in the US. This one was at a restaurant at the Escorihuela vineyard, where we enjoyed their their Gascon Syrah (2003) and Chardonnay (2004).

--Elva

Day Eight -- U and Hairpin Turns

On Tuesday the 10^th we drove toward the border between Argentina and Chile to do some hiking. The trip started off with Thomas making a u-turn in the middle of a busy street, right in front of a police officer. The guy was kind enough to let us go with a warning, although he said he could have confiscated our car. Yikes! We drove (cautiously) through an area called Villavicencio, listening to tango music by the famous Argentine Carlos Gardel. The drive was amazing, both for its beauty and its crazy hairpin (literally) turns. I’ve never seen so many and such crazy warning signs on a road before.

We picked up lunch and a hitchhiker in Uspallata, near where “7 Days in Tibet” was filmed. Not to worry- it’s much safer than in the States! He was a very nice university student from Munich, who had studied in Córdoba for a semester and is now traveling throughout Argentina.

Next was our first hike of the trip. We went to a provincial park Christian the hitchhiker told us about where we hiked for two hours near Aconcagua, the tallest peak in the Americas (and the tallest peak outside of the Himalayas, too!) It was beautiful, and pretty neat to be near such a huge mountain. We could see the 300 meter-thick glacier near its peak. Crazy! Even crazier, we saw a bunch of men who had apparently attempted and/or made the summit. We assumed this by their completely wind-burned faces and lips.

Before turning back we tried to see Cristo Redentor, but our trip was thwarted by a closed road. It’s a 90 foot-tall statue of Jesus which sits on the border between Chile and Argentina--you may have seen pictures of it. We decided to skip the super-winding road and took a more direct route back to Mendoza. I fell into a deep sleep, and it’s a shame, because Thomas said it was one of the best drives he’s ever been on. (Hmmm… was he referring to the breath-taking scenery or the fact that he was freed from my endless backseat driving?)

For dinner we treated ourselves to two salads, two delicious 10 ounce tenderloin steaks, one side of mashed potatoes, one coke and a ½ bottle of wine for US$20. Incredible, huh?

--Elva

Day Seven -- Our First Visit to a Winery

Today's highlight was a visit to Bodega La Rural, one of the oldest wineries in Argentina and the only winery here with its own museum. We took a tour and learned how wine was made during colonial times and how it's currently produced. We also learned that it was first produced in Argentina so that Catholic priests could use it in religious ceremonies. Argentine wine was until recently not highly regarded outside of the country and thus was never exported. When the national consumption of wine began to decline (due to a newfound preference for beer), Argentine wineries decided to upgrade their facilities so they could compete internationally. The signature Argentine wine is a red variety called Malbec.

On a side note, ever since we started watching The Amazing Race, we've become much more aware of how long it takes us to get from one place to another. We like to "strategize" while we are in transit about how we would get ahead if we were in The Race. So we were disappointed when we got lost briefly on our way to the winery and I began to question whether we'd be able to win.

-Tom

Day Six -- Look out the window, dorks!

Sunday, January 8 was a travel day as we flew from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, which is Argentine wine country and, of course, my last name. During the first flight we decided to watch some episodes of The Amazing Race on our laptop. Tom's brother Sean told him about the show years ago but we never really thought much about it until we saw an episode in San Miguel. The show consists of teams of two people racing across the globe following clues and undertaking different challenges to win a million dollars. We closed our windows so we could see the screen better and had a great time watching the show -- pausing every now and then to talk about what we would do if we were contestants, and marveling at how awesome it is that they get to go to such breathtaking locations. The only thing disturbing our viewing pleasure was the captain who kept coming on over the loud speaker. At one point, I actually bothered to listen to him and heard him say something about looking out the window. So I opened the shade and there, all around us, were the gorgeous, amazing Andes (including the highest peak in the world outside the Himalayas). We immediately looked at each other and burst out laughing. Here we were watching The Amazing Race and envying the contestants for the exotic locales they visited, all the while flying over (and ignoring) one of the most incredible mountain ranges in the world!!! Talk about irony...


Mendoza is a pretty little town, with lots of tree-lined streets and sidewalk cafes. We were happy to find that our hotel room had air conditioning (!), daily maid service, and even a balcony overlooking Plaza Independencia. Quite a step up from Casa Vaiven, and for only $7 more! After checking in we stopped to listen to some local talent (a drum line and a rock band) in the plaza, walked along a huge outdoor crafts market, and headed out for dinner.

-Elva

Day Five -- Lunch with an Argentine Family

Saturday was our last full day in Buenos Aires. Our day started with an arrachera (barbecue) at Francisco’s house, where we were joined by his daughter, Andrea, and a family friend from Italy, Alessandra. They cooked us a fantastic meal of grilled meats (mostly beef and pork ribs), two kinds of salad, bread, and lots of yummy deserts. We ate and talked for almost 3 hours, going through two bottles of Argentine red wine (Malbec, the type of wine that Argentina is most known for). Among other things, we learned that Andrea is a cardiologist; Alessandra visits Argentina each summer so she can better learn the tango; and Francisco and his wife, Juli, have been married for 52 years. It was great to be in their home and get to know some Argentines in a non-touristy setting.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and then headed to a tango show at a historic restaurant called Café Tortoni. The show was designed to cater to tourists and we really enjoyed it. There was signing, drum playing, and of course tango dancing. After the show we grabbed some dinner and then visited a milonga (tango dance hall) that Alessandra recommended. It was very different from what we expected. Most of the dancers were older than us (many in their 50s and 60s), and the men were generally older than the women. Many of the dancers were very good. It was interesting to see men in their 50s and 60s dance so intimately with women who were in their 20s.

I was again amazed at how vibrant the city is so early in the morning. We left the dance club at 1:30 a.m., and it was crowded with people still arriving. The streets and cafes were bustling. Almost all of our dinners began around 11 p.m., and the restaurants were always full at that time. Indeed, most restaurants do not even open until 8 p.m. The city definitely has a lot of energy to be able to sustain such an active nightlife.

--Thomas

Day Four -- The Mother of all Cemeteries

Friday the 6th we moved upstairs from our sweltering, steamy room into a little apartment with WINDOWS--hooray! Our first stop of the day was the amazing Recoleta Cemetery. I’ve never seen anything like it--it was like walking into a city full of tiny churches. Most of the crypts are like little chapels where the coffins sit on pedestals surrounded by altars, kneelers, chandeliers, stained glass, etc. Many of the insides of the crypts were visible through glass windows and doors, while others had broken windows or gates so that there was nothing separating you from the coffins. Most of the crypts had a “downstairs” to them that you could also see through the glass. It seems whole families are interred together- we counted up to 13 coffins/boxes of cremated remains in one little building. The very rich, famous and infamous are buried here--one of the highlights was seeing Evita’s grave (though it wasn't as ornate as this one).

Later we walked through a nice park and looked at more impressive architecture, but at 95 degrees it was too hot to stay outdoors. The weather turned stormy later in the evening, as did our dinner in the Puerto Madero barrio. Note to all you husbands out there: no matter how well-meaning you are, don’t tell your wife that she should “take it easy on the bread.” After dinner we decided to stay in and watch movies on TV for a much-needed break from the endless sight-seeing and late nights.

--Elva