On the tourist trail through Argentina

High in the Andes mountains, we bounced down a gravel road in our rented Chevy Corsa (thats corsa not corsica); Sarah sitting in the back seat with two Israelis, and myself in the passenger seat next to our Swiss friend Silvio, who told stories in a thick German accent about "making disco with flashlight" while listening to Roxette as a kid. The two day rental car provided the five of us with a great time touring the seven lakes of Bariloche, hiking to see various glaciers and drinking the water from the flowing streams at their base; all the while chanting along to the Beatles "We all live in a yellow Submarine." After four days in Bariloche, and still not enough chocolate, we packed up our bags and once again moved on to our next destination here in the wine country of Mendoza. This has been the story for the last couple weeks as we have met many new people and seen amazing sights in Southern Argentina.

The trip south began with our flight to Ushuaia, which in true Argentine fashion, was naturally delayed. However the flight was quite smooth, and despite flying in a third world country, we made it safely, without incident, to our destination at the end of the world. After spending one night in B.A. in a hostel in which I refused to take a shower, we spent five nights in the best hostel we have stayed in to this point, La Posta in Ushuia.

Naturally everyone is on the same route in Ushuaia since there is only one way in and out of the southern most city in the world. Hence, we all travel to or from the same destinations sharing our stories and giving bits advice for our fellow travelers, always assured to have the same conversation at each stop: "where have you been," "where are you going," and "where are you from." The unfortunate part is that everything is in English, no matter where the others are from, and they all know who is going to be our next President.

During our five days in Ushuaia, which I imagine to look a lot like Alaska, we hiked through a national park along the shore of the bay, through the Patagonian forest. We hiked to our first glacier which rests at the top of the mountain overlooking the city. The view was awesome as we looked back through the tunnel shaped valley that had been sliced out by the massive sheet of ice over a period of thousands of years, to see the glassy blue bay below. Contrary to what the guidebook says, the climb went from a steep hike to a literal rock climb to arrive at the permanent sheet of ice, which was nothing more than ice under the snow. Not so impressive, but I stood atop my first glacier, then I just had to figure out how to get back down. We also walked next to Penguins, and had the rare opportunity to smell the repugnant odor of these cute little Pinguinos. (note from Sarah: being 4 feet away from a Penguin in the wild and watching them play around in the water and waddle around near their nests was incredible!!)

We also met some folks in Ushuaia from Ireland, with whom we were reunited in El Calafate to celebrate Patty´s Day, which was a blurry mess of U2 songs and random cervezas which culminated in a broken (expensive) digital camara. However, there were more than just beers, the Periti Moreno glacier in El Calafate was amazing. After viewing the rather unimpressive glacier in Ushuaia, this was the complete opposite, and we were lucky enough to view an enourmous chunk of ice crash to the river below, a brilliant sight, accompanied by thunderous banging as the chunks made contact with the river below. It appeared as if the glacier has its own weather system. In what was otherwise a desert climate, the area around the glacier suddenly turns into a forrest. The ice shoots 60 meters into the sky, creating what looks like a blanket of gigantic blue shaded ice nails pointing to the sky. Rain moved in quickly, turning what had been an otherwise hot sunny day into what became a wet chilly excursion to a glacier.

And now I sit here waiting for the next bus ride to our estancia in Cordoba. Rain has been falling all day and everyone in the hostel is crowding around the televisioin to watch "Erin Brokovitch." A nice city, and after a few days, I even came to appreciate the rather odd storm drains that line the city streets, which would make for thousands of litigations for hungry lawyers in the States.

These drains are especially dangerous in a city that provides all of Argentina with its wine. Still traveling with our Swiss friend Silvio, we rented bikes to tour various vineyards, and spent a couple days sitting here at the hostel with mucho vino. I cannot handle anymore, and am looking forward to a few tranquilo days on an Argentine ranch.

more pictures to come, when we get a chance..... and a camara.

A