Dalama Adventures

We Must Be Dreaming - Grocery Shopping Ecstasy

laurelmarshall — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:50:00 GMT

Living on the road from town to town, hostel to hostel, bus to bus, we never have truly have access to a big grocery store. Especially in Latin America, we've tended to shop for groceries at local mom & pop tiendas, as large supermarket type grocery stores, when we actually have kitchen facilities and a fridge to store perishable goods. Most of our travels, large supermarkets if they do exist, are not anywhere close to where we've landed. We have mastered the art of shopping for the freshest of goods at the local panaderiá (breads), carneceriá (meats), fruteriá (fruits), and other local veggie/produce stores. Having our own apartment and a little fridge now presents a whole new world, and our challenge will be fitting what we want to buy in this small cool space. Our apartment is just a couple of blocks away from Coto (a big grocery chain).

We escape the heat of the day, ducking into Coto, and are overwhelmed with what we find. This place is huge - two levels - on top is a Target type store where you can get all you cleaning, paper, plastics and other important household goods, including clothing, etc. The downstairs has everything we'd ever want to eat. We have no trouble finding "real" orange juice here. There's an aisle for freshly made pastas, including soft sheets of plump raviolis. The meat counter is a real treat, and I love the guy behind the counter... he enjoys our daily game of charades, trying to figure out the right name for the hunk of animal lying in the plastic display bin, and which specific part of that animal that we're wanting to eat. There are aisles of fresh veggies and fruits and the variety is tempting us to buy one of each. We haven't had fresh fruits and veggies in ages, and now that we can safely use the water from the tap to wash and clean our fresh produce, we're in heaven buying this evenings salad. The selection of wines is endless, our most difficult decision of the day... which bottle of Argentinean Malbec shall we try tonight, from the shelves and shelves full of different regions and wineries. Most bottles are under $5 USD! There's even a big cereal selection and milk here comes in bags or boxes, none refrigerated like we've become so accustomed to in the US. Coto does gourmet well... it's like a "mini-Seaside-Cardiff", in San Diego or "Dean and Deluca" in Napa type market with freshly made meals to go, a gourmet cheese, caviar and succulent cuts of exquisitely prepared and seasoned meats... ah, I'm sure this all sounds so "regular daily life" to all of you at home, but after eating out for so long with little or sometimes no choice, this to us is a dream come true.

While the checkout process is a bit lengthy and arduous, we get the system wired; Darrin stands in line at the checkout when we first enter the store, I cruise the aisles filling the cart, and 40 minutes later we're now at the head of the line. Our first time at the checkout was a dismal experience... after both of us shopping for two hours, pining over all the mouthwatering options, filling our cart with the freshest of fruits and veggies, we waited in line for another 40 minutes. At the register, we were unable to purchase any of our veggies or fruits, because we had failed to have them "weighed and priced." After that painful experience, we always seek out the "weight woman" in the store to be sure we've got the process right. Our biggest challenge, however, is stuffing everything into the tiny fridge, especially Darrin's 1 Liter bottles of beer that will just have to wait until we eat up some space for them!

The Chic and Hip in Recoleta

laurelmarshall — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:47:00 GMT

The wealthy upper class in Buenos Aires resides in Recoleta, both living and deceased. This Barrio is noted for it's beautiful old mansions, French architecture and leafy green parks. We're told that it costs an enormous amount to live in this area, however, not nearly as much as it does to rest quietly in a plot in the ever-so-famous Recoleta Cemetery. This is where Argentinean elite are laid to rest, within the huge, ornate marble mausoleums. Among the high flying status holders and those with elite surnames, the remains of "Evita" are also housed here. "Evita", Maria Eva Duarte de Perón, the wife of former President Perón, is to this day still celebrated by the masses who appreciate the social assistance she pioneered for lower class women. Most people outside of Argentina may know of her works through the movie "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," by Alan Parker. We spend hours checking out the magnificent sarcophagi and ornate mausoleums but finally retreat under the heat of the sun, heading through markets of local handicrafts, and finally to a little outdoor cafe to hydrate. We watch dog walkers cruise by with their gatherings of ever so pompous pure bread doggies. Walking through neighborhoods, it's surreal to see the gorgeous homes, knowing that so many in Buenos Aires live in poverty. This is an exclusive, well protected area that we find in any city we visit - home of the privileged. For us, a nice afternoon stroll, chatting with new people on the streets, learning and soaking up as much as we can about locals and their lives here.

The Buenos Aires Experience

laurelmarshall — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:46:00 GMT

We are living like locals here in Buenos Aires, and comfortably fitting in. Our friend Ana helped us score an apartment in a new complex just outside the city microcenter, near a main subway "Subte" line on Avenida Corrientes. At first we were hesitant to sign up for a temporary lease, it was quite a ways from the sights of the city. But this place has a pool, and Buenos Aires in the summer time is bloody hot. Not to mention that they have a gym and wireless access. We were sold. Our landlord/property manager couldn't be cooler, despite speaking only Spanish in rapid form, we are able to stumble through our lease and score ourselves a studio with great city views.

We're now based in the ethnic melting pot of the "Once" Barrio, one of the most culturally diverse areas in the city, which makes exploring the streets and surrounding neighborhoods a fun experience. It's also an area that many Jewish immigrants had settled when they moved to Buenos Aires, and is the cultural hub in the city for Jewish community gatherings. Many families are out and about in their dark, long clothing and top hats in the sweltering heat, gathering for important social events. There's also a large Asian contingent in this neighborhood, and we've been able to seek out some really good diverse ethnic restaurants close by.

We've quickly fallen into the same routine we used to have at home - we found the local grocery store and soon our mini-fridge shelves were stocked with juices, fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, meats and of course, beer to cure Darrin's thirst. We'd been carting around our Concha y Toro wine glasses from Chile, and those have now come in very handy to drink our delicious $2 bottles of Argentinean Malbec. Bottles of Argentinean wine in the states that costs $10-15 are available here for only $2-5. So with our $35/day apartment which we successfully negotiated down to $15/day, our budget easily can afford a bottle of wine each night!

People in Buenos Aires are so friendly. Despite reading in guide books that Argentineans are not so friendly and have big egos, we've experienced just the opposite. We think that perhaps the Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) are friendly and less snobbish to foreigners, but perhaps it's more apparent to local Argentineans not from Buenos Aires or other Latin American countries that feel the vibe. For us, as we walk the streets, people approach us, curious to find out where we're from and talk to us. All the people at the grocery store know us, and take pleasure in teaching us new words with each visit. The Chinese-Argentinean owners at the internet cafe near our apartment are overly friendly and ask lots of questions about our life in the US. The Subte ticket guy expects us daily, and takes pride in the fact that he's taught us how to get around the city with ease. There's a convenience store, again, Asian owned, and the owner always "chatty cathy," and I practice Spanish with the local pharmacist whose looking to improve his English.

Our apartment complex is full of Brazilians - some just kids in medical school, all wanting to practice their English as they multitask on multiple internet chat screens in our gym/computer room in the basement. Another woman from a small town near the Argentinean/Bolivian border exchanges girl talk in the mornings with me, as she's doing internet searches and I'm attempting to work on in the non-a/c room. Elderly couples outside our apartment stop to ask if we need directions. We're really enjoying our local living experience here in Buenos Aires, loving the friendly open people we're meeting and the homeliness of our own apartment with no work schedules, doorbells, phones to answer or reason to rush.

Electricity Shortages & Door to Door Lightbulbs

laurelmarshall — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 04:45:00 GMT

We've had the pleasure of learning about politics, policy and the state of the Union from friends and other local residents that we meet here in Buenos Aires. The jury's still out on Argentina's new female President, Christina Fernandez de Kirchmer, as she was just recently elected, and taking over office from her husband from last term. However, there seems to be a sense of optimism around her, with many hoping she'll move forward labor rights and working conditions. A couple of lawyers we met in Patagonia hope that the new government will help bring along the masses of people that have been 'left behind' since the economic crisis and devaluation of the peso. Increasing employment rates and working conditions they believe will drive down crime rates and better the livelihoods of the masses of people looking to contribute and partake in the growing economy. While we are in Buenos Aires there are electricity shortages and blackouts occurring, similar to the rolling blackouts we've dealt with in Southern California. At our apartment, we're not even allowed to use the water or dryer (which we were so looking forward to being able to wash our clothes properly) because the government has restricted electricity use. Apparently the city has a better idea on how to solve the electricity shortage... they are going door to door handing out two new energy saver light bulbs, in exchange for old inefficient ones. I'm sure that will get them to the root of the energy crisis! So while the government is peddling light bulbs door to door and crunching usage of washers and dryers, we're undoubtedly wasting valuable water resources doing laundry piece by piece in our tiny kitchen sink. Hope there's not a drought anytime soon!

Brazilian Visa Troubles: Reciprocity Sucks

laurelmarshall — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:44:00 GMT

We gave ourselves plenty of time in Buenos Aires to organize our Brazilian visas, which notoriously take a long time to process. The Brazilian embassy in Argentina is only open from 10:00 am to 1:00 p.m. for application submission. We arrived at 11:00 am, figuring that would be plenty of time. I had also completed and printed out our applications, had our passport size pictures ready, along with the documents required detailing flights and our $274 dollars in crisp, new USD bills ready to submit our payment. I've applied for Brazilian visas twice before, so figured we were all set, and just needed to submit and wait out the administrative processing for a week or so. We take the elevator to the seventh floor and can barely exit as the visa queue into the embassy has spilled out into the elevator lobby. We finally make our way through the metal detectors and pat-down by the security guard, and through the doorway of the tiny embassy office. We wait in the queue, only to see people in front of us consistently turned away because they hadn't brought everything they needed. One guy and his girlfriend from the US had already been back five times, apparently the embassy officials seem to change the rules on what they require daily. Our turn up, we are quickly declined. First, because I filled out the wrong form, the one on the official Brazilian Embassy website in Sao Paulo is not the correct form. In Argentina you need to fill out the automated form on their computers in the lobby. The only difference is that the Argentinean one has "Argentina" listed on the top of the form as the address for this specific embassy. Also, because Darrin and I are married and share bank and credit card accounts, one statement with both our names on it won't do. We are informed that we need to produce a marriage certificate, along with bank statements from the past three months. Good luck finding our marriage certificate, as it's buried deep inside some packing box in our storage pod locked securely in some warehouse of metal pods in East San Diego. When I show our around the world airline tickets flying into Sao Paulo and out of Santiago I quickly informed the agent know we'd be crossing out of Brazil by land into Argentina at Foz Iguazu, and would be taking public bus for which advance tickets are not sold. That's not good enough. We need to show a round trip flight in and out of Brazil. So now we need to go buy some pricey refundable flights and hope they accept an international credit card, which most vendors in Brazil do not accept for online purchases. The woman hands us a list of documents that we need to be prepared with for our next visit to the embassy. The list, extremely general, lists things like copies of credit cards, bank statements, airline tickets, passport photos, etc. The devil is in the details and the unasked questions. How is one to know that your electronic bank statement printout needs to have your name on every page, or that you need a marriage certificate if you share an account? It's no wonder why most people here in line have already made several trips, and are frustrated beyond belief. We need to wait two hours in line just to speak with an agent in Spanish (the guy in the entrance information booth only speaks Portuguese, and when asked a question in Portuguese, he doesn't respond with words let alone answers, he just hands out the same damn list of generic requirements). The worst part of the process through, is for US and Canadian citizens, we all get hit with the hefty fee of $137 USD/pp to apply. Like other South American countries, Brazil levies a "reciprocity tax" on Americans (as well as Canadians, Australians, and Mexicans - although much lower amounts for the latter two). They do this specifically because our country levies similar taxes onto their citizens when they apply to come to the US. It's also probably why the process is so painfully slow and bureaucratic... they're also replicating a similar, poor, bureaucratic US process. We've heard time and time again on our journey how the US Immigration office makes foreign visitors jump through painful hoops to submit application paperwork, then keeps the processing fee ($100) if the person is declined their visa. I guess we're getting a taste of our own medicine.

I think I have found my calling - when I return to the US I must seek out job opportunities with the US Government to work on immigration reform and process improvement. Bureaucracy & reciprocity sucks!

Female Cabbies Rule

laurelmarshall — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:42:00 GMT

Argentina seems to be land of opportunity for women.... a female President, and female cabbies! There are only three female cabbies who do the Buenos Aires Airport to Downtown City run, specially enlisted with the airport pool of registered vehicles. We were lucky enough to get one as we left the airport today. She was great and made us feel safe and secure - wow, that's a first in South America. Not to mention overly chatty in very clearly articulated espanol, and thrilled to share information and stories about her family, politics and the state of the economy with us. By the time we arrived at our apartment, we felt like part of her family. As she left us and our bags at the side of the road, she smothered me with kisses, just like a daughter. Welcome to Buenos Aires!

Labor Strikes and Customer Rage: Buenos Aires Airport

laurelmarshall — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:40:00 GMT

Argentina is know for it's restless workforce. Striking employees line the streets with flags, drums and lots of chanting, hoping to bring attention to their cause and resolution of their issues. Most recently it's been the airport employees in Buenos Aires who have been on work stoppage, causing undue delays and cancelation of flights, to the extend that they're enraged their customers who have physically attacked and caused significant damage to the airline check in counters, and airline employees are fearing for their safety. It's so bad that the government sent in the troops to quiet the crowds and keep them under control. We can appreciate the frustrations of the flying public, and the unresponsiveness and often non-communicative roles that the airlines play. Today is one of those days. We should just have a quick, painless flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires... all in Argentina. Our One World Round the World Ticket, however, won't allow us to fly direct, and routes us through Santiago. What we didn't know was that the flight also lands in Punta Arenas, Chile first. We spend the day literally "locked" in a glass waiting room with a ton of other passengers, waiting to hear any information about our flight. There are no TV displays or behind the counter displays providing updated information on departures and arrivals. In fact, the TV's seem to all be disconnected, nothing works. We have less than an hour in Santiago to catch our connecting flight to Buenos Aires, and it's the last flight for the night. Of course, if we get stuck in Santiago, then we need to clear immigration, which would result in our need to pay that $100 reciprocity tax that we've so far, successfully avoided by not flying internationally into Santiago. I finally get an agent's attention after what seems to be hours behind the glass walls, and she allows me to slip through, locking the doors behind me. I explain our situation and after three times going back and forth with her airline bosses, she finally understands the real issue of our missing the connection. She admits now that the flight will be delayed a couple of hours (something that none of the other testy passengers have been informed of, as they don't communicate here at this airport with their customers). I tell her I need her assistance to call our apartment manager who will be awaiting our arrival at 1:00 a.m. in Buenos Aires with the keys to our flat. She agrees to help make the call, although we still don't know what will happen in Santiago, if we'll be put on another flight, or made to stay overnight and take morning flight out. She also assures us that if we get stuck in Santiago, they have approved us for a free hotel stay, meals, and yes, to pay our immigration fee. Wow, what luck. We hope they actually hold up their end of the agreement.

We finally get a new plane that's cleared mechanically, and we touch down in Punta Arenas. We're all asked to get out and clear customs in this first city we enter through Chile. Not sure why, but we all pile off and are herded through immigration. Whew, our passports are stamped, we're cleared for another 90 days in Chile, and no immigration tax, yet. We board the flight again, and we're off for Santiago. Lucky for us, we're met on arrival by the LAN rep, who takes us to another guy who is wheeling around a bag of money, who we now call Mr. Money Bags. Yep, this is the guy we will stick close to, he goes through immigration with us, dishing out the now $132/per person fee to the immigration officer. The immigration officer looks at our passports, and refuses the money... he says because we've already cleared immigration on the same day in Punta Arenas, we are not required to clear again in Santiago. But just to be sure, we are then sent to the Police Department in the airport. We are closely following Mr. Money Bags who chats with the Police, who confirms, yes, we are cleared through, no need to pay. Wow, once again, we've avoided the reciprocity fee, although we would have liked LAN to pay it on our behalf and not have the worry anymore that we'll be hit with it, especially as it would be good for the life of our passport - which really only has another two years of validity. Mr. Money Bags passes us off to another woman who takes us to the airport hotel and pays for our stay, making sure we're all set for our flights and tickets for our 9:00 a.m. flight in the morning. The only thing we can't manage is to call the apartment manager in Buenos Aires to tell her that we'll be arriving the next day. We hope she's not waiting right now for us in the apartment. Apparently they have trouble calling out from Chile to Argentinean cell phones, and the hotel guy can't seem to get a call through either... so we go off to our fine 3 course hotel meal, and settle in for a few hours rest at this late time now, before our flight back to Argentina. I think today wins for the most passport stamps in one day... how crazy, having to clear out of Argentina immigration just to make our way back into Buenos Aires. We have One World and their crazy program rules to thank. LAN, however, has restored our confidence in their service... and while there were a ton of angry "glassed in" customers sitting in Ushuaia's airport waiting room with us, we at least eventually got service, despite the lack of communication and information.

Los Pengüinos

laurelmarshall — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:39:00 GMT

Ever since the third grade when I did my "animal report" on penguins, I've always had the dream to head to the icebergs and see penguins. Not quite Antarctica, but close enough, Ushuaia does the trick. We take a bus two hours to Harberton Ranch to an Estancia where we board a boat and head out to the Penguin colony. Most tours take you past the penguins for a fly by picture snapping experience. With this tour, we're with a really small group - only five people - and we get to walk amongst the penguins. We had a great guide, who had very strict rules about what we could and couldn't do, which respected the animals and their nesting area. We got off the boat, sticking close to our guide and got to see these tiny animals hunkered down, protecting their young newly hatched chicks from predators and the harsh winter elements. The noises they made were unforgettable and seeing them protecting their little ones was pretty amazing, and just so coincidental that we are here at the time they are nesting.

We also learned from our guide that in Tierra del Fuego, the national park here, that the trees are dying because of the beavers that had been introduced years ago from Canada. They were brought here for the commercial viability of the oil the produce, but since then have multiplied and grown out of control, to the point where huge areas of land are covered with dying or defunct tree carcasses from the damage the beavers are causing building their dams. Sad to see, we hope they are able to solve the problem before this crisis starts destroying the park more than what's already visible.

Paradise Found: 18 Hours of Daylight and King Crab

laurelmarshall — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:21:00 GMT

While Ushuaia may be windy and cold, you can't beat having 18 hours of daylight. We reflect on what it's like back at home now in San Diego - getting dark before 5:00 p.m. I get energy from daylight, and it's funny home at home it's hard to keep my eyes open past 10:00 p.m., but here in Ushuaia, I can go all day from 6:00 a.m. until midnight and not be tired until the sky finally goes dark. I had a scientist friend in Belgium doing a study with mice, testing the effects of light and dark on sleep patterns. There's definitely something to be said for the correlation between hours of light, and the ability to stay awake. That was the hypothesis he was seeking to prove scientifically - I think I'm a great living example of it.

It's a good thing I'm now able to stay up late, because restaurants don't open their doors for dinner until late evening, and we arrive around 10:30 p.m. for one of our favorite meals here, King Crab. The Crab is the most delicious here, and the gracious waiter at the restaurant La Cantina Fueguinade Freddy, reaches into the tank to grab a freshie, and asks Darrin to snap a shot so we can email him a copy. We leave fat and happy, our big King Crab meal one we won't forget, along with the pictures to remind us!

Bus, Boat and Back to Argentina and the End of the World in 12 Hours

laurelmarshall — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:32:00 GMT

We're getting pretty comfortable with the routine of crossing borders between Chile and Argentina. Just as comfortable as we are now with 12+ hour bus rides. Today's ride is only 12 hours and all during the daylight, so we get to see the terrain all the way from Puerto Natales to Ushuaia - the "End of the World" as the Argentineans call it. We stop a couple hours into the drive to ferry across the Straight of Magellan, and we've now entered the super windy region - as if we haven't experienced real wind yet. We finally make it to the San Sebastian border crossing where it's smooth sailing. Argentina land borders are a breeze compared to going the opposite direction into Chile. In Chile, we're now used to the drill, they unpack everything in our bags. We're also still paranoid entering Chile that they'll hit us up for the $100 reciprocity tax. But now we're heading back to Argentina, we can bring in our fruits and meats, so we can relax and not have to inhale all our food in 10 minutes at the border. The good thing about Chile's restrictions are that they've been able to preserve their fruit and veggie industries. In fact, Chile is the only place in the world that can grow the Carmenere grape, ones that came originally from Bordeaux, France. Now these grapes have been overrun with the Phylloxera plague, and the only place that produces them, without risk from the plague, is Chile. So for the inconvenience, we'll deal with it, knowing that when we're in Chile, we're eating disease free and organic products.

We finally arrive in Ushuaia around 9:00 p.m. and find ourselves a bit out of luck trying to find a place to sleep. Luckily it's light out until nearly midnight, and by time we get to the fourth place, they actually help to call around to other more remote hostels, trying to find two beds somewhere in town. We get the last two beds in a little hostel up a steep hill. By 11:00 p.m. we're settled into our bunk beds, and heading out to the local Irish pub for a beer and late night snacks. the sky finally grows dark just after midnight, and with the darkness we call it a night.

Another Day of No Show for the Torres

laurelmarshall — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:31:00 GMT

Up at the sound of our watch alarm, it's now 4:30 a.m., it's still windy, rainy and the Torres are again socked in. We sadly go back to bed, upset that we'll not have a clear day to capture good photos and see this remarkable formation that adorns covers of National Geographic magazines, and books on Patagonia. We really need several more days to buffer the bad weather and have a better chance to see everything. Then again, we could stay here for two weeks, and be unlucky with weather, it's just so unpredictable. So we have a leisurely breakfast in Refugio Chileno, and start back down the pass on our very short two hour trek to catch our bus. Around noon it seems like the clouds might again clear, but then another storm rolls in, sealing our fate that there will be no showing of the Torres on this trip. We are happy to be back in the warm comforts of Erratic Rock II for a last evening, and reward our 4 days of trekking and camping to a traditional Patagonian lamb parrillada at a local restaurant.

Wind, Rain and Stinky Horse Poop

laurelmarshall — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:30:00 GMT

Our trek today will be far easier than yesterday's. Just seven hours total, what a luxury! We even sleep in until 8:00 a.m. and awake to a magnificently sunny day. Our $18 breakfast is very worth the money, oatmeal with almonds and raisins, scrambled eggs, home made bread for toast, a glass of real orange juice in mimosa type glasses, and all the Nescafe we can drink. We almost forgot for a second that we were camping, and had a flash back to those all you can eat champagne brunch deals back in the states; ah, this is the breakfast of Champions we've missed during our time in Argentina. We are now ready to take on the mountains!

Darrin zips off the legs from his pants, imagine going from freezing where I'm sleeping in long johns, down jacket, pants and a fleece to where we're needing to just wear shorts and tanks now... wow! Most of the trek today is easy, up a slow incline through pastures of wild flowers with the glacier capped mountains looming over us, with the last two hours up a steadily increasing incline, and glacial streams raging below us, cutting through the steep sloping mountains on either side. We approach our camping destination, Refugio Chileno, and can see the grand "Torres" or pillars of granite, that make this park famous. The clouds clear for maybe 20 minutes to give us a show. It's another two hours up to them, two hours back. we had planned to do this part of the trek tomorrow, and just have a light "seven" hour day today. Knowing, however, how quickly the weather can change here, we decide to take on the additional four hours to try to see the towers. The clouds begin covering their tips, but we hurry up and by the time we make it to the very last campsite, before the hour scramble up a boulder field to get to the base of the Torres, the clouds have socked them in and the wind is now howling through the valley and the rain is coming down strong. We disappointedly wait for 30 more minutes, hoping the weather would pass, but it doesn't. We run into our Israeli friends again, who have hauled their heavy packs up to this prime viewing campsite, to sleep in the cold wind and rain at this exposed windy spot. We haul butt back down to camp where this little rasta guy managing the tent rentals had set up our tent, mats and sleeping bags. he was just like a hotel guy, checking us into our room, letting us know that if we needed anything, he was our go-to-guy. Just like a hotel... well, not, our room (tent) hangs over the dirt pit where all the horses hang out and leave their piles of waste. Even worse, that strong wind that's continuing to pick up, blows the smell right into our tent. So we'll be spending most of our evening in the lodge, over a yummy chicken dinner and bottle of wine we buy at the Refugio bar. We meet a wonderful Chilean woman and her son who are now living on Long Island. We learned a ton about Chile from her, the past governments, corruption in the country, and how the government tried to recruit her during the Pinochet dictatorship era to spy on people who they were paranoid were attempting to organize and overthrow the government - a role she promptly refused... but she shared stories about the years of the "missing" where people disappeared (i.e. were taken, tortured and killed), taken by the government in attempt to irradicate their opponents and anyone who might pose a threat to their regime. What's most impressive is this woman's entrepreneurialism, strength and perseverance and the life she's built in the US, based upon her creative business ideas. Again, it's stories of those locals we've met along our travels who have show us such inspiration through their business savvy, perseverance and entrepreneurialism, dedicated passion to their desire to bring success and happiness to their families. It's such a refreshing sight. As we've seen the world over, many people don't have the easy way out we have in the states. Getting a job with a company, being taken care of in a rater secure environment, being assured of health care and a steady paycheck from an employer.. They live and succeed by their work ethic, blood, sweat and tears. These are the heros on the global frontier. we fall asleep under the torrential winds and rain, and get used to the horse smells, a ton of ideas running through our minds.

13 Hour day: Mr. Musculo Kicks Butt

laurelmarshall — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:29:00 GMT

We always have a good laugh at some of the TV commercials in Chile and Argentina. The one for liquid cleaning fluid in particular, cracks us up. Like our Mr. Clean in the states, here they have "Mr. Musculo" (Mr. Muscle), a guy that cruises around in his superman outfit rescuing women sunk in kitchen duties. Darrin likes it so much that when he moans about our treks and his achy muscles, that he says are growing gigantic on each trip requiring physical activity, we now refer to him as "Mr. Musculo." And today was definitely a Mr. Musculo day. When Darrin looked at the map and timeframes/distances last night he nearly freaked. I had planned our first day, which was really just a half day once we arrived the park from the catamaran, to be only a 4+ hour trek. We could have come back down another 4 hours that same night (as the sun doesn't set until at least 11:00 p.m.), and stayed at the Grande Paine Refugio on the Lake, but I figured eight ours hiking in only half day would be pushing it for the first day. so the second day would be our big 13 hour day, taking us from Glacier Grey to Lago Pehoe, up through Valle Frances and then back down to Refugio Los Cuernos. He hadn't realized it would be such a long day, but we had already booked and paid for our camping and meals at Cuernos because they only had one tent left. So the only way for us to go is forward. We had to leave Refugio Grey without having breakfast to make our timing work, as the refugio doesn't open until 7:30 a.m. We pack up our gear, wake up the gear rental guy to give back our home, and retrieve our passport being held as a deposit. He was pleased to be woken up so early. It's 6:00 a.m. and just getting light, but freezing cold and windy. We both couldn't imagine having to put on cold wet clothes on a morning like this had we encountered rain yesterday. Luckily we're warm, and we keep a steady pace, on a mission to make our final destination. We stop off after the first four hours at Grande Paine Refugio, which looks more like a luxury mountain resort, and now we wish we had trekked the extra four hours last night to camp here. We run into our Israeli friends who are now just leisurely waking up and starting their day. The cafeteria is now closed, we've missed it by 30 minutes. However, this is the one refugio that has an amazing stock of food for purchase in it's camp store. We load up on cheese, pepperoni and fresh bread for our breakfast sandwich and lunch, all for under $10 - eating those meals in the Refugio would have set us back nearly $40! Over our fine sandwiches we meet a father-son duo who are working together with their wife/mother for a non-profit she's created to help developing countries "ascend" out of poverty. They've traveled the world together soaking up culture and learning from locals, enjoying a happy balance of work and play. Inspiring that these guys are also from the US, Salt Lake City, and are living the dream. A great story, and personally for me, a big inspiration.

So we're pleased, and full, ready to plough through the next 9 hours. The weather continues to turn foul. It's so windy I nearly get blown off the trail. I stop to capture it on video and Darrin laughs at the act of trying to video record wind... really, it's all for the "sound" which is so cool here, we can hear it coming kilometers away through the valleys and when it finally hits we're braced low, keeping our balance. We make it to Campamiento Italiano, a very basic "free" campsite at the base of the Valle Frances (middle W), and we eat another sandwich, fueled up not to ascend through the valle to see the beautiful Frances Glacier. Weather is not in the cards today, as the clouds and rain are moving in quickly. It's too cloudy to see the cones, so we cut the ascent short hoping to make it to Refugio Cuernos before it really storms. Luckily the clouts outside the Valle de Frances (known for attracting foul weather) is starting to break up as we get further from Frances. After several more hours of up and down slopes over loose rocks, we reach the lake and very picturesque beach, full of black and white rocks - a really unique beach and setting. I reach over to feel how cold the glacial waters are and nearly get blown over by a huge gust of wind. We reach our Refugio Cuernos, and Mr. Musculo is ready for a chilly beer to relax his weary musculos. This refugio is great. Our tent is private and sheltered among bushes, the staff if happy and entertaining - the chilean women in the big open kitchen are singing songs as they whip up veggie canoles and tasty desert. How lucky we are, good food and treating ourselves to a cold beer as a reward for our 13 hour day. we enjoyed fun travel stories with a French couple and another couple of guys from NY on their few weeks vacation... one guy from NY had just quit a 14 year job, the other a professor... we congratulated the one on having the courage to let it go, and he was in a state of elation imagining his future from this amazing lakeside mountain camping retreat. We find that meeting other travelers along the way far surpass the useful information we could ever hope to find in a guidebook... compiling others stories, tips and travels would make a much better guide book than Lonely Planet.

Glacial Camping

laurelmarshall — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 11:28:00 GMT

Here we stand, among the clouds, sun, sprinkles of rain and wind, gazing out from our tent at the most amazing blue glacial lake watching icebergs float by. The ground is freezing cold, our rented mats the thickness of a cheap yoga mat, and our sleeping bags suitable for keeping warm on a starry summer night out in the desert. In Nepal we were spoiled with our -10 degree celsius brand new down sleeping bags, and here we've left it to the fate of what the refugios have. Darrin opens his sleeping bag, only to find someone's dirty stinky buff - well, at least it wasn't a pair of underwear! He's actually quite stoked on his $25 find, but gets a bit bummed out by the smell of the bag.

The views trekking the short four hours to the glacier are amazing, starting with the bus ride and across the lake on the catamaran. The sky, with just a few clouds, was dark blue, we can see the sprawling mountains before us, and sneak peeks of the Torres as we drive in. The boat ride is clear and cold, but fabulous views of the canyons between the glaciers and mountains where we'll be in just another days time. The trail ascends through a narrow valley up to Lago Grey, a minty green colored lake. As we pass the two hour mark we find ourselves gazing out in awe at chunks of icebergs floating by, blue ice, ad we imagined how cold it would be to swim here. Just around the corner views open up to the magnificent Grey Glacier, and we head off the trail to find a great little picnic spot for lunch. Just past the refugio after four hours into the hike we scramble up brown and orange rocks jutting out into the lake for the most breathtaking views of the glacier.

Back at camp we set our dry packs in our tent and make up our home for the night. We are so fortunate to have dry wether most of the day, and while it's raining now, we've lucked out and have two sets of dry clothes. We arrived at camp just in time to place our order for dinner, and head into the hut for a bit of heat from the wood burning stove, and eat up the not so tasty roast beast and instant cup 'o soup dinner that we paid $36 for between the two of us. We really just wanted a cup of hot water to drink, but it's not included with our pricey dinner, imagine that. Oh well, it's been an amazing day, we're dry and are full from dinner, ready for a night out in the wilderness by our glacier-side canvas casa. Buen Noche!

Wilderness Backpacking 101

laurelmarshall — Tue, 8 Jan 2008 11:26:00 GMT

We attended an information session with Erratic Rock owner Rustyn, and over a "real" cup of java we learned all the essentials needed to make our trek successful. The tips he shared with us were so good, we thought we'd share them with others, in case any of you are planning something similar.

To Move West to East OR East to West? We chose west to east, based on the advise of Rustyn, to shave off some time and still be able to do the complete "W" in just four days. The placement of refugios and campsites allows one to do this easier going West to East. Those thinking of doing the full circuit also might want to go this way, as backpacks are heaviest starting out with 7-10 days of food and supplies, and the refugios are well positioned to leave packs at the base, and take day trips without having to carry all the weight. This saves energy, and if need be, meals are offered for purchase at the refugios which allows food carried to also be saved for later in the circuit when there are no refugios with the ability to buy food.

To Camp or Stay in Refugios? Those that are here looking to do a trek are here for the outdoor experience; camping is the best way to experience it. Camping also opens up your options on more places to sleep and explore. Imagine the refugio dorms, sharing a room with 10 other stinky people and all their wet dirty gear. Imagine gazing up at the stars shimmering over the glacial lakes and the moon rising over the mountains before diving into your tent for a peaceful nights sleep, or that hot cup of coffee after awakening on a beautiful sunny morning, as you roll out of your tent, listening to the sounds of birds, and smelling the nature. By camping, you get to really experience the national park, and there's no problem camping at the refugio, so you get the best of both worlds, you can dine in if you don't have the energy to cook up your meal, and retire under the starry night sky.

To Rent Equipment or Bring Your Own? If we were coming to South America just to trek, we would have brought our own stuff, as descending the continent, it's rife with beautiful camping options and it's also very easy to bus it around to new destinations over distance with your gear. We've opted however, to rent our gear, and we're actually renting it at the refugios, so we won't have to carry an excessively heavy pack. After having porters in Nepal and Peru, we have decided we want to enjoy the hike, and not be limited by being our own porters as well. This does have it's downsides as well, as we're betting that the refugios don't clean the sleeping bags and that the mats are probably super thin. However, on the plus side, the tents are supposedly already set up, so when you arrive at your tent, you can crash out easily. There are plenty of rental shops in town, though, and if you've got the energy (which now nearly 12 months into this trip we're lacking energy) renting your own gear is a great, and much less expensive way to go. It's probably even less expensive to purchase some of the equipment and either keep it, or give it away - or sell it to the next new person at your hostel, when you're done with it.

How to Deal with the Rain and Wind?
Backpacks: for our packs, we took Rustyn's advise and compartmentalized everything inside into durable trash bags, sealed to keep the water out. Dry clothes in one bag at the bottom. Food on the next level, portioned out by day and easy to access. Cameras and emergency things like first aid on top. This way, when it rains, while our packs may be soaked, everything else is dry - not just for comfort, but also, less items drenched means less weight to carry. And at the end of the day when we're settling into camp, we can take out each of the plastic bags and throw them into the tent, and leave the wet pack outside. It will eventually dry the next day when we're hiking if it's dry in the sun. Also, ditch the plastic pack covers that attach over the back of the pack. With the wind here, they will be blown off in seconds, and it's an expensive item to lose to the wind. Besides, they don't really keep your pack dry, the only thing that truly keeps things dry are those plastic garbage bags.

Clothing: Our biggest concern is getting soaked, freezing cold, falling sick and not being able to dry out and warm up for 4 days. Our fearless mentor gave us great advise. Bring two sets of clothing. One set will be undoubtedly get "wet," and the ones you wear during the day as you trek. The other set is your "dry" set of clothes, and the ones you wear to bed. Layers of clothing that will dry easily, like our synthetic trekking pants and shirts are key. We're going to get wet, lets face it - either through sweat or rain, and should be wearing layers that will eventually dry out. Thick jackets and fleeces should be left in the dry clothing bag for later when we're done trekking. Wearing Gortex rain wear will only keep our sweat in, and fail to let us dry out, and even the best of Gortex doesn't keep the rain out. It also slows you down, with the way the weather here changes so fast, you'd easily waste an hour or two taking the Gortex on and off again, catering to the rapid changes. So Rustyn's advise, safe the Gortex wear for night time and morning when you're outside the tent when you have your dry clothes on and you want to keep them dry. Avoid the plastic ponchos, the wind will have a field day with the, and turn you into a kite, if not blowing the poncho over your face while you're trying to manage your steps on a difficult trail. Shoes and socks are bound to be soaked If you only have one pair, bring a set of flip flops or tennies for your "dry" ones - just be aware of having extra weight to carry. With one set of dry socks left, and shoes web and muddy, you can always slide your dry socks into a plastic bag before putting your foot into your shoe. It may help to keep you a bit dryer, although consider your feet will be sweating and may end up a bit wet anyways. They may just dry out along the trail walking the next day. When you finally reach your tent at the end of your day, strip off your wet clothes and toss them into a plastic bag... it's no use hanging them in the tent or outside, they won't dry (unless you're camping at one of the refugios and can use the indoor lodge to attempt to dry out a few articles. In the morning, as you're reluctantly taking off your warm and dry clothes after breakfast, you now have that wet and ripe set of bagged clothing to slip on from the prior days trek. You'll also be amazed at how quickly they dry as they heat up from your hike.

What to Pack to Eat? Pack light, freeze dried, dehydrated goods, things that cook quickly in water. Oatmeal is great for breakfast. Cup of soup, instant noodles, nuts, chocolate bars, etc. are also great options. On the "W" you can also treat yourself to a meal at a refugio, just let them know an hour in advance, but also know that most refugios stop taking reservations before 6:00 p.m. so if you're planning on a Refugio meal, get to the campsite before 6:00 p.m. There's some food supply you can get at one or two of the refugios, but it's super pricey. Water... you can drink it from the streams, just fill your bottles in a safe place (not downstream from a campsite. Some refugios, if you're camping there, will give you or sell you hot water. That can also help you save cooking fuel, so take full advantage. There are several grocery stores in Puerto Natales carrying a decent supply of instant food for you to purchase before you get to the park.

What About Transportation to and from the Park? Getting to the park is easy, you can book a bus ticket through your hostel, and they pick you up between 7 and 7:30 a.m. It's a 2.5 hour ride to the park. If you're doing the park west to east, get off at Lago Pehoe. You'll have enough time to sprint up to the waterfall and back before the catamaran leaves to cross the lake to the Grande Paine Refugio, where you can then head off on your trek to Grey Glaciar. Coming back at the end (east side) of the "W" there's a shuttle bus to catch from Refugio Las Torres to where you catch the first of two daily busses back to Puerto Natales. One bus leaves at 2:30 p.m. and the other much later evening.

These tips from Rustyn were tremendously valuable. We had originally wanted to stay in the refugio dorms (which during high season are very difficult to book last minute), but after this information session, it sealed our decision to camp, and to rent our gear at the refugios. Given that we only had 3 nights and 4 days, this would be the most convenient and pleasurable way for us to do the trek. We also decided to bring snacks and lunch food and depending on our timing at camp and level of hunger, we would decide if we wanted to buy the meals, which are really a pricey rip off - dinners @ $15-18, lunch@ $13-15, and breakfast @ $8-9. We spent the rest of our day planning our route, booking refugio camping gear and sites at through the local Path@gone office, and getting supplies and bags packed. We're feeling ready for our big outdoor adventure!

Back to Chile: Puerto Natales the Windy City

laurelmarshall — Mon, 7 Jan 2008 11:25:00 GMT

It's smooth sailing for our 7 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales today, and thankfully gaining an extra hour on Chilean time, just in time to snag the last "double" room at Erratic Rock II, a small franchise of hostels (there's actually 4) the Erratic Rock name owned by a former Portland, Oregon resident. Our hostel rocks; it's a cool place owned by a local enterprising woman who also teaches English on the side to local kids. She's pitched it as the hostel alternative for couples, which is actually a really neat way to position it, and we find it great, as each morning over the most fabulous breakfast we've had (full American, eggs, cereal, homemade bread, yoghurt, cheese and ham, and real orange juice with soy, and REAL coffee) we can sit with other couples with similar interests. Puerto Natales feels like a "real" small residential town and not as touristy as some of the other towns we've been passing through. Aside from the few restaurants, cafes and camping gear stores, it's mostly full of local homes, and our hostel is back off a tiny neighborhood street. It's super windy, cold, and a bit rainy here, although it feels like it should be snowing. Desolate plazas are filled not with people, but with random packs of street dogs that play in the grassy patches along the roadside, plaza centers and streets. Puerto Natales, while windy, is not as bad as it's sister city to the South, Punta Arenas, where they have ropes on the corners of the main square to keep people from blowing away into the streets. Most people come here to get stocked up on camping gear and food before heading out to Torres del Paine National Park on a trek of the "circuit" or the "W." And that's exactly why we're here, to get our plan and equipment sorted out for the big trek.

Trekking on BIG ICE

laurelmarshall — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 11:24:00 GMT

El Calafate is the entry point in Argentina for Parque Nacional Los Glaciars, and the massive advancing Glaciar Perito Moreno. Of course, we wouldn't be satisfied just standing here looking at it ... we need to get out on beast and feel it under our feet. We waited three days to get into the "Big Ice" trek where we would get to spend an entire day actually walking on the mammoth field of ice. We could've done the one hour "mini trekking", but it just didn't seem as impressive or interesting when one of the big German hostal guests told me he did 'mini trekking' yesterday. So, we strapped on our packs, harness (in case we fell into a crevasse), and crampons with ten others and trekked up the side of the glacier for an hour before we could actually step onto it.

We have the most amazing day out here on the ice field, and the weather couldn't be better... the entire prior three days in El Calafate have been full of wind storms and cold temperatures. Even this morning when we awoke, it was still raining from the night storm. Arriving at the base of the glacier this morning, where it meets and grows into the lake, the clouds are clearing, creating trippy hues of vivid blues in the ice. The sound of the glacier cracking, expanding and falling into the icy waters far below was eerie, and set the adrenaline stage for our five hour trek.

Stepping onto the glacier is a completely surreal experience. Similar in texture to the jutting landscape of Valle de la Luna in northern Chile (only ice instead of sand and rock), we zig-zag our way across peaks and valleys, channels and glacial rivers and lakes, stopping for our guides to instruct us on crossing deep blue water-filled crevasses and walking across translucent ice that drops tens of meters below us, deep into the massive ice. The crampons aren't so easy to walk in, and although we are taught new skills for walking up, down, and traversing the glacial ice, it is still inevitable that the occasional ankle gets twisted.

The colors of the ice holes, streams, and lakes are like none we've ever seen. Our guides educate us about the vivid blues we see. They tell us that the ice that is less compact and still has air bubbles in it, absorbs white light, and therefore appears as white in color to us. The brilliant blue colors are produced from the portions of ice that are much more densely compacted, squeezing out the air bubbles and absorbing blue light. We've never seen blues this color before, and we recall our flight from Calama down to Santiago, as we peered out the airplane windows, seeing strikingly blue colored lakes, wondering if they were really lakes, and how they could be so blue. We now have learned that the color coming from the glaciers, some lakes have iceberg debris which refracts the light, causing the unusual color.

While our harnesses we wear for safety and rescue purposes only, our guides have an alternative use for them; each guide on either side of me holding each leg harness, leaving me suspended over a deep glacial hole, peering down to the raging river far below the surface, enabling the glacier to move forward. While I wasn't as fearful on the glacial ice as I had been in Guatemala on the active lava field, I have decided if there were to be an accident, I think I'd rather slop through an icy glacial crevasse pool versus slipping through crackling hardened lava into the depths of firey hot molten lava. Maybe my body would freeze, like the Inca mummies still preserved in ice from early sacrificial days. And if rescued, maybe I'd have a chance of being resuscitated. The alternative of melting away in molten lava is just much less attractive of a way to go. Which would you choose? Luckily we have great guides who are testing the ice every step of the way, carving steps into steep slopes down to glacial rivers, and leading us through narrow channels across crevasses and lakes safely. We're only at the mercy of our tired, weary and very out of shape bodies that are now acing just three hours into the trek. Walking with these crampons on is a bit of a challenge. By the time we hit the dirt trail again to head back, we can barely move our legs, however, taking off the crampons makes us feel like we're waling on clouds. I'm even offered a job by one of our young guides, to help with future tours, but having to be at the glacier at 6:00 a.m. sharp each day in the freezing cold weather isn't exactly where I think my dream job is at right now. That said, if I keep eating Argentinean beef t the rate I am, I'll have a nice big fat layer of padding to help me keep warm for those foul weather tours, and perhaps it's my new calling, certainly a big departure from siting behind a computer and in unnecessary meetings in the corporate world.

Breakfast of Champions in Argentina

laurelmarshall — Sat, 5 Jan 2008 11:23:00 GMT

Most hostels here in Argentina promote "breakfast" as a feature to your stay with them, included with the room rate. We always look forward to breakfast, it's one of our important meals of the day, especially if it's included with the room rate, we figure we've overpaid for food, and need to get our $'s worth, and eat enough so we can make it through the day until dinner. That's what the backpacker budget has done to us... extend our food resources to last us through the day. Especially in both Chile and Argentina, many of these little towns are built around tourism industry, and eating out is super pricey, going without lunch helps to keep us within budget. But our eager eyes and grumbling tummies turn sad here in Argentina. Breakfast consists of hard tiny stale pieces of bread, kind of like melba toast, along with butter, jam, and dulce de leche. If we're lucky we'll be offered one "media luna" (croissant) and Nescafe coffee. So our routine in Argentina now is to have several cups of nescafe, hoping the caffeine curbs our hunger and it will hold us over until shops open up and we make our typical lunch - cheese and salami on bread. What Argentina lacks in their breakfast of Champions they certainly make up for in their nightly parrillada and fine wines... but a good dinner can't hold one over until the next...

People We Meet on the Road

laurelmarshall — Fri, 4 Jan 2008 11:22:00 GMT

Over the past year we've met a ton of people and made some really cool friends along the way. Most people we meet are either from Europe, Israel or Australia. From Europe we have met many travelers from Switzerland, Holland, France, Belgium, and a handful from the UK and Germany. Those few that we've met doing 1 year plus round the world trips have been mostly from Switzerland and France, with the average duration for our European travel friends being between 2-4 months. Israelis we've met are on a mission. They're all young, just finished up their military service and are now on a 4-6 month tour to see the world, many focusing in either South America or Asia. Australians we've met are traveling for an extended time, most out here for at least a year, and some having combined a work stint in the UK with their trip to augment funds. Many NGO and other non-profit workers we meet are from Belgium, Holland, and occasionally from another country but now residing in Switzerland working or the UN, Unicef or some other meaningful organization contributing to making the world a better place. What has amazed us the most is the number of single women we meet, traveling for long periods of time alone. We wonder why this is, are women more adventurous than their male counterparts, more courageous to just leave it all behind and go? They end up making other female friends along the way, and traveling for short stints with their female companions from all ends of the world.

We've met just a few North Americans from the states, mostly in Central and South America, and all on their standard "1-2 week" corporate vacation, although a couple people we've met have taken a school term abroad to study and volunteer. The North Americans we've met from the states out here in some far flung places, are open minded and free spirited, experiencing life vacation to vacation, keeping their dreams alive. It's refreshing to see our US compadres out here traveling and helping to dispel the "ugly American" image, loving life and digging into the culture. Most of the people we've met on the road are also younger than us, or retired... it's rare to find mid-career couples or individuals out here with us... but we're on a mission to convince others that it's possible! When I first told professional colleagues we were doing this sabbatical, they thought we were crazy, "You're at your peak earnings potential and career stature, do you really want to lose your momentum and give it all up... give up your dual income for over a year, possibly two years as you start a new job search when you return and live off your savings for retirement? Are you crazy?" Reflecting over the past 12 months, we're intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually richer than we'd ever have been sitting still in our former jobs for that same timeframe. I recently was treated to a snippet of BBC on TV and there was an interview with Dr. Martin Selgman, psychologist and researcher from the University of Pennsylvania who had released findings of his happiness study, and concluded that at certain points, more accumulation of wealth, versus taking time off for family, friends, self and lifestyle has diminishing marginal returns for a person's overall happiness. In fact, we see the poorest people in some of the least developed countries happier than upper middle and upper class North Americans. They have the richness of strong family bonds, deep friendships and faith that create a happy and fulfilling quality of life, despite having sub optimal supply of food, water, whether, education and access to medical and health services. But the key is that they're happy and living life to the fullest. Breaking away from societal pressures, thinking, expectations and judgments is really hard to do and probably equally as hard not to fall back into the trappings when returning home, but we're determined to live a fulfilling, balanced, meaningful happy life, as so many others around the world have managed to strike the balance and strength to sustain. We look up to and respect the open minds and free spirits of those we've come to know on the road, and intend to keep their passion and commitment to living, burning strong inside us.

All the more reason this gives me to write a book about my mid career gap year so others throughout the US can see it's possible to step out of the daily grind and follow their dreams... if others throughout the world are doing it, why can't we all break the viscous work cycle back home and enjoy our travel dreams as well...

Windswept El Calafate

laurelmarshall — Thu, 3 Jan 2008 11:21:00 GMT

The town of El Calafate lies on the banks of icy blue glacial fed Lago Argentino. As we've headed south in Argentina, the conditions get more and ore windy, and the landscape more rugged and desolate. The simmering, brilliant blue/aqua marine rivers and lakes are stunning, amidst the arid land. Snow capped mountains surround the town, which is a frosty winter destination and built around adventure sports and ice trekking, the town fully equipped to support the tourist with it's main street shops. The shops are loaded with sporting goods, artesian handicrafts, leather products, mate mugs and cafes/restaurants. We're staying up on a very windy hill at a hostal we were reassigned to because our first choice, America del Sur, had no more double rooms. The staff at America del Sur are very cool. While they sent us to another hostel across the road, they still let us use their kitchen, fridge, huge lounge, and wireless access to boot. The hostel is well set up to meet fellow travelers and every night they have a fabulous all you can eat BBQ for about $15 uSD per person, including a large beer and pengüino (ceramic penguin shaped pitcher) of wine. We swap travel stories over bottles of red wine wit other travelers, gathering endless trips and advise for our onward Patagonian destinations. We will end up here in El Calafate two days longer than planned, as all the "big ice" trekking adventure trips are booked out, and after all, big ice and glaciers are why we're here!

Happy New Year, Happy Hangover: 34 Hour Bus to Patagonia

laurelmarshall — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:20:00 GMT

In retrospect, we should have flown from Bariloche to El Calafate in Patagonia, however, finding an "open" airline office for LADE (the local Argentinean airline with the best fares and available schedules) wasn't going to happen between Christmas and New Year. We didn't want to risk purchasing over the web, as we'd seen other tickets, even but tickets, available for purchase via web for dates that we had confirmed there was no service for. In fact, when our bus stopped in the middle of the night to pick up passengers, one woman had been sold the same seat as us, but for the prior day, New Year's Eve, and there was no bus service on New Years Eve, so she had hoped to get on today's bus, but we had already paid for and been seated in the same seat. So at this late stage in the game, bussing it was the only option for us.

Heading south to Patagonia, there are really no nice paved roads, unless you opt to take the 40+ hour bus that crosses Argentina over to Puerto Madryn, and then down to Rio Gallegos then back up and over across Argentina again, to El Calafate. So we spent two nights in seats that are like airline economy seats, and driving over continuous wash-board roads. At one point the bus stops, i think it's around 1:00 a.m. the first night in a remote little town. Driver and copilot get out and duck around a small house, coming back to the bus carrying huge black metal screens 12 feet tall to cover the front windows of the bus, protecting it from the large rocks that keep flying up from the road. iPod batteries can only last so long, and with a bumpy ride, we can't get much reading done. the air conditioning and heater in the supposedly "brand new" Marga bus (we were sold on), that just started this route (there are no other options for a direct route), and because it's a holiday week, there's no one around for them to call to service the problem. So during the long days, they pop open the vents on the roof, filling the bus with gravely dust, sending my lungs into an allergy fit... finally the driver makes me sit up front in the main driver cab, where interestingly enough there is relatively pure air and air conditioning, despite the rank stench of cigarettes they've been chain smoking in their airtight capsule. Sitting up front with the huge view windows in the driver cab is the scariest part of the ride for me, as the bus seems to float freely from side to side of the road, and come to screeching halts every 50 or so meters for big piles of dirt detouring traffic across half built bridges crossing new large drainage ducts. I asked why we weren't on the other road, a significant distance off to our left that had a few lonely vehicles on it, and the driver said that the road we are on is much faster, even though the government has banned traffic on it because the funding to finish it has dried up. Hmmm... It's now nearly 11:00 p.m. and there's still light on the horizon and pink/purpleish sunset hue behind the clouds in front of us. We finally pass out in our cramped airlines seats between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. only to wake up completely frozen around 6:00 a.m. praying that we're only another hour away from El Calafate. We finally arrive just before 9:00 a.m. stumbling into our next cold, windswept destination. El Calafate is considered the gateway to Patagonia and Los Glaciers National Park. The town is just beginning to open its sleepy eyes and start the day, and we've arrived, ready to sleep the day away.

New Years Eve Feast Argentine Style

laurelmarshall — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:19:00 GMT

Hard to believe it's nearly 2008, and almost a complete year that we've been on the road. Even harder to believe we're in this very touristy town, and many restaurants closing early on New Years Eve - I guess there's that "US capitalistic mindset" kicking in again... if some of these restaurants stayed open, they could rake in the profits, but just as has been highlighted to use throughout our travels this year, people in these countries prioritize family time and lifestyle over excessive earnings. Despite searching for a place for a good Argentinean dinner, we come up empty handed, so decide to eat our dinner at lunchtime, and decide to feast on traditional Argentinean parrillada at the local family run establishment El Boliche de Alberto (yep, the same owners of the fabulous Italian restaurant). We made the right call, as they slice up the big slabs de vaca right in front of us, explaining what each piece/cut was, and from what part of the cow it was from. After receiving our full cow education, we select our slabs; me, a 300g slab of lomo-filet.. and Darrin selects the 600g huge hunk of chorizo cut, which the Argentinean chef highly recommends. They have a huge, beautiful stainless steel grill that Darrin is salivating over, wishing we had one back in San Diego on our deck. We watch as they sizzle up our carne, and we feast for two hours, over a nice bottle of Mendoza Malbec. While we eat, they close the restaurant and their entire extended family arrives to grill up and dine on a cow to themselves. We feel like we're in their family kitchen celebrating with them. All together, the best New Years Eve meal we could have dreamed of. here the sun doesn't set until after 10:00 a.m. so we have a great after feast nap, waking up before the turn of the new year, ready to welcome in 2008.

Heaven Found For Choc-o-holics

laurelmarshall — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:17:00 GMT

We've never seen such frenzied consumerism around chocolate. Here in Bariloche I think chocolate buying is considered a sport, or competition. It could easily be a main export for Argentina. Chocolate shops literally line the streets, and there are massive grocery store sized shops on the big corners. The lesser quality shops vie hard for our business, doling out the free samples. We nearly need to run from some, they don't recognize how many times they've already fed us. The really good shops, i.e. Mamuschuka, are really stingy with their samples and it's so crowded in their mega-super store that we need to take a number to be served. It's good to have a wait in the queue, however, as it takes 30 minutes just to browse all the glass display cases to see what they have. If this were the states, I'm sure they'd have menus for hand out to move the process along and people in and out to maximize sales. Here you have to really work for your fattening purchase. We've completed the grueling and oh so competitive purchase process here at Mamuschuka several times now during our stay in Bariloche. it's like going to the pharmacy in Latin America. Get your number, wait 30 minutes in line to place your order, receive a receipt that we then take to a "cashier" whose behind a plastic plexi-glass shield. Once we pay, we're given a new receipt which we then take to the collections counter to retrieve our tiny bag of six chocolate squares. The other women around me are hauling out bags filled with boxes of chocolates, and are coughing up hundreds of dollars for the stuff.

Alongside the chocolate Santas and penguins are the symbols of our sad state of "always available, always wired world," ... chocolate cell phones! Ugh! I'm sure there's the black"crack"berry model too. It's quite an experience here, fending off the other tourists swarming these shops, just to pack on unnecessary calories, but oh, it tastes so good, especially with the right wine pairing.

Argentinean Town of Teens

laurelmarshall — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:17:00 GMT

Bariloche is a hot spot ski destination for Argentineans and Chileans, and an city to be seen in, strutting your stuff in the summer. we figured it would be a happening spot to spend New Years Eve. What we didn't realize is that it's an equally strong magnet for end of year school groups. In both Argentina and while, class groups of teenagers save up all year long, raising money to take a big end-of-year trip. They travel in packs of 20+ kids, in big tour busses and engulf cool, calm tourist destinations en masse - Bariloche being no exception. There must be at least 50 tour busses in town, 15 year old teens crown the streets like ants on candy. The local teens in town come out to partake in the fun, their tiny compact cars specially "lowered" close to the grounds with big spoilers on the boot, thumping oversized speakers blaring on the roadside. This beautiful ski and outdoor adventure paradise has been transformed into a raging pot of teen hormones. Between the hordes of kids and the "jeweled and furred" out glitzy women with big tinted sunglasses, and newly fixed up plastic body parts consuming everything in their path, from furry animal ware for body and feet, expensive jewels, and massive boxes of handcrafted chocolates, it's more like a Los Angeles here, and I think this town is a huge shock to our system. Overly touristy, commercial, and the epitome of reckless capitalism and consumption. We'll keep a low profile, away from the teens and glitzy rich, and tuck ourselves away eating at the good, yet very inexpensive quaint family run restaurant of El Boliche de Alberto - a great Italian restaurant that we've now been two twice for pumpkin ravioli and $3 bottle of nice Malbec Vino.

Bus'in it to Bariloche

laurelmarshall — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:16:00 GMT

It's an uneventful four hour bus ride from San Martin to Bariloche today, and it was a beautiful ride through the countryside. Se stopped off along the way in the tiny town of Villa la Angostura, an even more quaint lakeside town. We've decided next time we come to this region we need to have our own camping gear. The potential camping sites alongside clear lakes and streams provide ample opportunity for private camping, and easy fishing for fresh dinner... it's an all so serene environment to really relax and unwind in. The multitude of treks to do in the region astounds, and we could easily spend a couple of months trekking and camping between Pucon and Bariloche. The weather in this region changes not just daily, but by the hour. Forget a forecast, it's just plain unpredictable. One day it's raging hot in the morning, only to turn windy and cold in the afternoon.

Upon arrival to the main bus station, we hop on the local city bus into town, our big packs presenting a problem trying to squish on and eventually disembark this already crowded bus. Nearly missing our stop after 15 minutes ride, we realize the rules of the bus are that you embark at the front and disembark out the back - the driver reprimands and restricts us from disembarking in the front of the bus, after having pushed and prodded our way to the front to exit, past the hordes of women standing, nursing their children in the aisles, which by the way, is a common practice we've sen everywhere we travel in Asia and Latin America... No need for privacy or sensitivity, or "lactation rooms" in the office... when the time to feed comes it's perfectly acceptable to just whip out your boob in front of everyone and feed, something we in the US have privacy issues with is so common and open everywhere else in the world. We get off the bus, pass the very long queue for "completos", or hot dogs sold on the street corner with "everything" on them - so much stuff smothered on top you can't even see the meat. We happily check into our overpriced hostel at El Rojo Ciervo, all hostels, restaurants, etc, are significantly overpriced during the high season here. In fact, it's put a bit of a damper on our free wheeling travel plans as we've had to book hostels in advance to ensure a spot to sleep during end of Dec/Jan, which makes it a bit less relaxing and adventurous. But we're "home" now, as we refer to each new spot we check into, and ready to decompress from the bumpy ride, and escape the extremely cold weather outside.