Wedding Website

Click Here

Tango Show

Iguazu Falls

Things learned so far

- the AXN network is always in English and shows only America' s finest criminal dramas
- adiós is for gringos everyone says ciao
- no copa de agua, bottles of water only
- always put electronic items in the safe
- order one dish for two people, especially in Uruguay unless you want to eat a pizza to your face with a side of steak and mashed potatoes
- wine is so cheap,  even in restaurants and hotel mini bars
- everyone takes usd just depends on what rate they want to give you
- don't go to the beach between 10am and 2 pm, seriously you will learn why no one else is on the beach
- don't worry about being on time, even for flights,  no one cares and they will wait for you
- hide your cell phone on flights, even in airplane mode but bring as many liquids as you want
- 50 + is the average age of a Patagonian traveler
- bife de chorizo is a steak not containing any chorizo

Tierra del Fuego

Our last day in Ushuaia was dedicated to hiking in Tierra del Fuego, the National Park split between Argentina and Chile. We decided on this 8 km hike around Zaratiegui and Lapataia bays finishing in Lake Roca. The view was superb with the water framed by mountains. We saw wild horses and ate lunch on a log overlooking the beach. I wish I could show you our pictures. It was a nice hike that took us about 3 - 4 hours (there were some serious inclines). We took the bus back to town and were going to try and hit the prisoner museum but it started raining and we had a big travel day coming up. So we headed back to our hostel. Sidenote, we have been trying to save a little money on food (except for the night before when we ate crab and it was freaking delicious) and we covered all our meals in under 25 usd- including wine. Go us!

Ushuaia

We arrive in Ushuaia and it is 10 degrees cooler than El Calefate but the wind does not seem to be as intense. We check into our hotel and immediately head to town for our Beagle Channel boat ride.

Our hostel manager made reservations for us on a boat that takes you to see penguins but the port of Ushuaia was a mad house and locating our tickets was difficult. Honestly, I believe that every tourist in Ushuaia was in that harbor. We board our catamaran and are off to see the penguins which is really exciting because I have never seen them outside of a zoo. We will also see warm weather penguins when we hit the Galapagos so it will be interesting to see the difference.

We pass by an island filled with white birds that look a lot like penguins but they fly. Next, we pass by Port Williams a  Navy base in Chile and is the world's Southern most city. The Beagle Channel and subsequent bay is sandwiched between Argentina and Chile with Argentina on the left (boat facing out to sea) and higher mountains. There is also a small fishing village across from Port Williams on the Argentina side that supplies all the king crab to Ushuaia.

We approach seal island next and every inch of this 25 foot rock is covered with seals. They are laying on top of each other and I even saw one pee all over the seals underneath him. I couldn't help but wish a Great White was in these waters. That would be an exciting show.

We move on to the main event- penguins. The boat sails for another hour and a half to penguin island and they named it quite appropriately. With two kinds of penguins currently inhabiting the island, Gentoo and Magellanic. The Gentoo are your typical penguins in suits and are only there until mating season ends. The Magellanic have distinctive orange feet which are neat to see. We stop for 15 minutes so the other passengers can get a photo from every angel. I see some people emptying entire memory cards on these suckers. They are cute and have babies with them but come on people. I think we took 15 pictures total.

Anyway after the photo shoot is over we head back to port. Everyone takes their seats and prepares for the 2 hour journey back. I am napping, mouth open and all when I hear a scream of joy. A FREAKING WHALE has joined the party.  It seems two humpback whales were having a grand old time, flipping their fins and doing cool whale stuff. So exciting and apparently rare. Really was icing on a very lovely boat ride.

Now off to see what this King crab is all about.

What is the coolest thing you have ever done?

We hiked a freaking glacier today!  It was unbelievable.

We landed in El Calefate around noon and got situated in our hostel. It was cold. Quite a shock from balmy BA. Things are also much more expensive, even with our 12 to 1 exchange rate. We decide to start saving our pesos and make meals ourselves. We made a pretty carb heavy meal the night before our hike and got to bed early.

Our glacier hike started off with a nice bus ride to the National Park where you get lovely pictures of the glacier. Next was a boat ride across the glacier lake. After some short explanation on how to behave in the glacier and how to use your crampon shoes we start the land hike. It was a fairly aggressive assent up the mountain that took about an hour and was approximately 2 miles. Then it was time to put on your crampons and harness and get on the glacier.  The glacier is called Perito Moreno and is one of the few stable (not shrinking) left in the world.

I don't even know how to express what it was like to walk on an active glacier. At times it was smooth than at others it was like walking on crushed ice from your fridge. The glacier surface was melting due to the high winds (seriously maybe 35 miles per hour) which was unnerving because what if it cracks and we all fall in? The hike was difficult, going up and down these mini hills all over the glacier, using muscles not normally activated. We saw ice caves and wind tunnels. At times it was scary because the wind was so intense it could knock you over if you weren't paying attention. After about 4 hours of glacier hiking we were all tired. When I got to remove the crampons and hike down the mountain normally, it was like heaven. Another 2 mile hike down the mountain, a boat ride and a bus back to our hostel. We make dinner again and get a good night sleep.