San Carlos de Bariloche

We are now in Bariloche. As you have probably already noticed, we took today off from touring to catch up on the blog. We were behind by at least a week and our hostel here has free, fast internet. So today we haven´t done much except catch up on laundry and walk to into town to buy chocolate. You know, the necessities. Bariloche is famous for its chocolate shops and we´ve kept them in business for one more week.
We got here Thursday night after a 29 hour bus ride. That´s right, 29 hours from El Calafate. Luckily, we made this trip without any problems. We spent yesterday touring the town center and taking pictures. Seth and I have both been here before during our time at Word of Life. We came down here with our bilingual program as a vacation for the students.
Bariloche sits right on a lake with mountains all around. Its a great place for hiking, rafting, kayaking, etc. We had originally planned to do some of this here. It is normally much warmer here this time of year, but our time here has been very cold and windy- almost colder than Ushuaia. So we will save the rafting for later. Here are some pictures from around town.

the town square

another from the square

St. Bernards are the unofficial mascot of Bariloche. You can pay to get your picture with them in the town square.

Catholic church near the center

chocolate

 

more chocolate

Tomorrow morning we are taking a bus to San Martin de los Andes, which is 3 hours from here. Hopefully the weather will be a little warmer so we can be outside a little more. We`ll see!

El Calafate

Well, just when we thought it couldn´t get any better than Ushuaia, we arrived in El Calafate. Its a small town that´s cute and touristy, but the main attraction is the Perito Moreno Glacier that is about 50 miles from town in a national park. We got there late at night and went straight to a hostel. We had only planned for one day there, but since it was so late there was no way to make arrangements to go to the glacier without an extra day. So our first day there we spent walking all over town running errands. Planning our excursion to the glacier, finding out how to get there, buying groceries, etc. Its amazing how it takes an entire day to get things figured out here. At home, we probably could have done all the planning in an hour or two online, but not in South America. We walked around comparing prices of excursions and ended up deciding to rent a car out to the glacier, which took more walking around trying to find the best deal. What makes it even more difficult is that almost everyone takes a siesta (nap) from 1-5pmish. So in the middle of the day businesses close and the planning stops. Anyway, by the end of the day we had booked an excursion with a company called Ice and Adventure where we could actually hike on the glacier. We picked up our car that night and took it to our hostel so we´d have it early in the morning.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and realized that my fleece wasn´t dry from washing it the night before. Oops. So we asked ourselves, "what would MacGyver do?" So 30 minutes with a hairdryer later we were ready to go. :) We hopped in our rental car (it was so fun to have our own car!) and headed for the glacier. We met up with our group where we took a 20 min. boat ride to the other side of the lake near the base of the glacier. We hiked for an hour and a half next to the glacier, then got fitted for our crampons and started on the ice. We hiked for 3-4 hours on the ice and it was incredible. We had never seen anything so amazing. It is massive.

Our first glance of the Perito Moreno Glacier. It sits down in a valley between two arms of Lake Argentina.

Putting on my crampons

Walking on the glacier! There were 10-12 people in our group.

There were little streams and lakes on the glacier. They were all this beautiful blue color. This is looking down into a really deep crevasse filled with water.

This is the lake we sat next to as we ate lunch. Stunning.

 

Seth at our picnic spot

It doesn´t look like it in this picture, but the wall of ice behind us is 60m high (about 196 ft.)

 

A closeup of one of the faces of the glacier. This reminded us of Narnia.  

After we came back off of the ice, we had the hour and a half hike back down to where we started. From there, our boat picked us up and took us back to port. The rest of our group got on a bus headed back to El Calafate, but because we had rented a car we were able to go back up the panoramic viewing area and spend about two more hours just walking around in awe looking at the glacier from every possible angle. I wish we could show all of the pictures we took (we got a little picture happy) but I hope these give a good feel for how incredible it was. 

Now, as if this isn´t amazing enough, the glacier is constantly moving forward. The middle part is moving at a rate of 6 ft per day. Because of the constant movement, there are huge chunks of ice that fall of the face of the glacier at any given moment, all day every day. To see such huge pieces of ice crack off and fall into the water is unbelievable. It makes a really lound sound that sounds like a rifle crack. Even if you´re not close enough to see the glacier, you can still hear the ice breaking and crashing into the water. (we could even hear it from inside the visitor´s center!) We caught a couple of them on video. INCREDIBLE. We were both amazed at how awesome God´s creation is.

 

Our boat coming in to take us back to the port
 

our little rental car! 

 

 From one of the panoramic walkways

 

Even though it was now bitterly cold and windy, we stood ready to video any crashes that might happen

 

Here are few statistics about the glacier that might help put it into perspective: Its 21.7 miles long, 3.1 miles wide, and 196 ft. tall at the face. 

When we finally peeled ourselves away from the glacier we made our way back to El Calafate. It was a beautiful drive back to town. The only scary part was dodging the jack rabbits that are everywhere around the park and run across the road. The guy at the rental car place warned us about them and he wasn´t kidding!

Here are a few pictures from town. 

Our hostel in El Calafate

A little shopping center in downtown El Calafate

Im not going to lie, Perito Moreno Glacier is going to be tough to beat. It was truly a life-changing day. But then again, leaving Ushuaia we didn`t think anything could top the penguins! Now on to Bariloche!

Ushuaia

Before we start with Ushuaia there is one more picture from Rosario that we wanted to add to the last post but didn´t have time. Here we are with Mariana´s family and another one of Mariana´s friends eating dinner. We really miss sitting around the table with them talking about all kinds of things in a loud, Argentine type way and eating really good food (and getting LOTS of practice with our Spanish). Mariana is the one on the far right.

Well after Rosario we took a bus back to Buenos Aires that got there around 3 am. So in the middle of the night we took a taxi to a smaller airport in BA and caught our flight to Ushuaia. It was really nice to just get on a plane and in a few hours be half way across the continent instead of these 20 and 30 hr bus rides. Ushuaia is at the very bottom of Argentina. In fact, its the southern-most city in the entire world. It is a smallish- city right on the Beagel Channel and its the last stop for boats and cruise ships before Antarctica. So needless to say it was pretty chilly even though its still technically summer there. It was kind of a shock for us to suddenly be in such cold weather, but we were very ready for it!

Ushuaia- end of the world. We kept finding ourselves singing "its the end of the world as we know it..."

The Beagel Channel with Ushuaia to our backs

This is called the flag tree. Due to the extreme wind, lots of the trees grow sideways.

The scenery in Ushuaia was amazing. We were surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We splurged a little with our accomodations (it was hard not to since everything there is expensive) and stayed in a little cabin at a bed & breakfast. It was like having a little house to ourselves with a kitchen and everything. So we were able to save on food by going to the grocery store and cooking in the cabin. We had three nights there and it was our favorite place to stay so far.
There are all kinds of excursions to choose from that take you into the Beagel Channel. We chose one that takes you to a penguin colony that has been on the same island for 40 years. We had a bus ride to get to the boat, then a small boat took us out to the penguin island where we were able to get off and walk with them. It was like being inside a Discovery Channel documentary. We could see their little caves in the ground where they nest and we could also see them shedding their old feathers for new ones. We saw 2 different species of penguins that live there on the island and 1 lonely king penguin that happened to find his way to the island on his own. Our guide said we were lucky to see him because the king penguins aren´t usually there. We were impressed with how much noise they make when they call to one another. The weather was perfect that day for us. Down there the weather can change to rain and wind very quickly with no warning so we were very grateful.

 Seth and friend

 This is one lost king penguin

This may be the coolest picture I have ever taken on accident. After I took it I thought something must have been on the lens of the camera, but when I looked closer I saw it was a bird in midflight! Perfectly framed between the mountains with a penguin watching it!

Love birds 

Penguin in its nest

When we got back from the seeing the penguins we took a hike up to the glacier just above town called the Glaciar Martial. It was only about 3 hours round trip, but it was all uphill and very steep. The guy working down at the bottom said the last half is a 40 degree incline and we think it was more like 80. Haha. Anyway, it was well worth the effort because as you get closer to the glacier, you can see more and more of the Beagel Channel and Ushuaia down below. It rained on us a little but, but it wasn´t too bad. All in all it was an incredible day that we´ll never forget.

On our way up to the Martial Glacier

From the top looking down on Ushuaia and the Beagel Channel

Our last day in Ushuaia we spent walking around their cute downtown and visiting a few museums. We hated to leave because we really loved it there, but unfortunately to see everything we want to we have to press on...
From Ushuaia we took a bus ride to El Calafate, Argentina. On the way, we crossed into Chile and then back into Argentina a few hours later (yay for more passport stamps!). During the little part of Chile that we went through we loaded onto a ferry to cross the Strait of Magellan. Here is a pic from the ferry. More about El Calafate in the next post!

Strait of Magellan

Monte and Rosario

Our last couple of days in Monte were great. We got to have lunch with my mentor/counselor Mary and her family. They were so nice to have us over and even let us call home for free over the internet! That afternoon we spent with David Brady, a fellow student, and his wife Nati. We went to Mangrullo´s for dinner and had lots of fun eating really good food.
Here are a few pictures of the Word of Life campus in Monte. 

New AIR CONDITIONED Cafeteria

New Main Entrance

Two-Story Girls Dorm

 New Huge Chapel--with AIR CONDITIONING. We´re not bitter.

 Two Telephone Cabinas

 Mega Kitchen

Old Chapel with the Updated Library in the Background

Oh how things have changed!!! It sure was fun being in Monte and reliving that time of our lives. I can´t believe so much time has passed since we were students here. It was great to see old friends and familiar places, but we both agreed there was a touch of sadness attached to being here. All of the changes and new faces reminded us that the Monte we remember will never happen again. The people we shared our lives with will never all be together again (until heaven) and we are just left with some crazy memories!
Ok, enough with being sentimental. On to Rosario. We took a bus to about 4 hrs north of Buenos Aires to Rosario. A friend of mine from Word of Life lives there and I stayed with her and her family right before coming back to the US in 2003. So it was wonderful to see everyone again and introduce them to Seth. It was great to be in a house with a family, eating home cooked meals. We took advantage of not having a booked agenda and relaxed as much as possible. We spent three days there and the weather was great. It was much cooler than the rest of our trip so far. Here are some pictures from our 3 days there.

Independence Park -where the date is written in flowers. They change it every single day!

 

Independence Park

Rosario is where the Argentine flag was created and raised for the first time. They have a really cool monument (that happens to be on their 10 peso bill) and little museum. At night they put blue lights on it to make it look like the flag!

The Argentine National Flag Monument Lit up at Night

Another of the Flag Monument

Blast from the Past

Well, our plans changed a little since our last post. Flexiblity is probably the single most important thing about traveling in South America. Just when you think you have a plan going, something will always change it.
We got up early on Tuesday and took the subway down to the ferry terminal to catch a ferry to Uruguay for the day. When we tried to buy our tickets we found out that all of the return ferries for that day were full because it was the last day of Carnaval and most people had been off work all weekend for the holiday. So we bought tickets for the next day instead, which pushed our entire schedule back a day. We had to rethink the rest of the week and figure out how to fit in everything we had planned. We ended up spending the rest of the day on running errands like buying bus tickets to Monte (the little town where we studied 7 years ago), buying our plane tickets to Ushuaia, paying some bills from back home, etc.
The next day we did get to go to Uruguay and spend the day there. Our ferry got to Colonia around lunch time and we had until 8pm to walk around and see the sights. It was an extrememly hot day so we rented a moped to get us around town a little faster and with a breeze. :) We saw as much as we could in the time we had and enjoyed it. The only bad part was that not long after getting there I ended up getting a migraine. I don´t get them very often, but when I do they´re pretty intense. Luckily Seth and I had both been here before so I didn´t feel so bad about having to lay down on a bench for a while until my medicine kicked in. Overall, it was a fun day and we can check another country off the list!

our little moped in front of an old bull fighting colliseum

safety first!

original colonial street and houses from the 1700s

We are now in Monte in a little internet cafe just like we used to do when we were students here. It is crazy to be back here again after so long and be flooded with memories. We are staying at the Antigua Casona where I stayed with my parents when they came to visit me. The town of  Monte is a little nicer than when we left, but pretty much the same. We only wish that our favorite ice cream place (named Dirti´s) were still here, but don´t worry, we´re making up for it. :) So far we have eaten at Mamma Rosa´s and bought lots of facturas from El Sol, a little bakery straight from heaven.

Yesterday we went onto the Word of Life Campus and couldn´t believe how different it is. There are lots of new buildings and even the ones that were there have gotten face-lifts. They have a brand new gate at the entrance, a new, air conditioned auditorium and cafeteria, and several new dorm buildings. We felt so old walking around talking about how we had to rough it back in the good ol´ days.
As we walked toward the lake we found Jim and Peggy Herndon, the directors of the program we were in. We sat down and had a really good talk with them and they even invited us in for dinner! It was great to talk to them and catch up.
The rest of our time in Monte we have spent walking around town and strolling through the main plaza. We have also made several trips to the laundrymat, since we dropped off one load of clothes yesterday and they can´t seem to find my brand new shirt I just bought in Buenos Aires. Arrrrggggh. They keep telling me to check back later to see if it has turned up, but I have a feeling its not going to. This used to happen every once in a while when we lived here. Looks like nothing has changed with the laundry places.