Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Day 31-32, Puerto Iguazu




There is only one reason to come to Puerto Iguazu, to see one of the hundred wonders of the world . . . Iguazu Falls. I spent the whole day walking around the park. The falls are taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide. According to the guide, there are ¨over 275 cascades spread in a horsehoe shape over nearly two miles of the Iguazu River. Iguazú Falls are the result of a volcanic eruption which left yet another large crack in the earth.¨

The most popular waterfall(s) is the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat), which is the culmination of several waterfalls gathering into one are and spraying a mist hundreds of yard´s into the air. The view and the sound (deafening) were unbelievable. I liked less terrifying falls better. My favorite were the valley Argentian Falls, which is a series of smaller waterfalls that are surrouned by beautiful green moss.

After visiting all the falls on the main track, I took a ¨Great Adventure¨that was neither great nor adventurous. It was advertised as a boat ride that gets you close to the falls, that continues into some ëxhilarating¨rapids, and ends with a 4x4 drive through the jungle. What it was, was a boat trip that takes you right under some of the smaller falls, completely drenching you. It then drives to some remote part of the park through the rapids that are created by the boat´s own wake. At that remote dropoff, you are crowded into a big truck that drives you back to the parks entrance while the guide yells out names of the trees as you drive pass.

Not impressed with my jungle tour, I decided to walk on one of the lesser-known jungle paths. It was a bit unnerving walking through the dense forest, knowing from the constant buzzing, chirping, clicking, snapping, and fluttering, that there are hundreds of animals and insects surrounding you. This is especially true after you read the map the ranger hands you when entering the trail, which map warns you about what to do if you get bit by a snake or spider, what to do if you come across a puma or jaguar, and not to feed the monkeys cause they bite! Anyway, I got back in one piece.

Day 30 - San Ignacio Mini



After a very luxorious overnight bus--great meals, good movies, roomy seats, and wine service--I arrived in San Ignacio Mini. This is a short detour from the well-beaten tourist track to Iguazu Falls. It is a beautiful little town with rust colored streets and the first glimpse of the lush rainforests that one imagines when they think of South America.

The main attraction to this town is the jesuit ruins. I spent a couple of hours just walking around the surprisingly well-preserved buildings. Most impressive, were the temple walls and the beautifully crafted floors.

Day 29 - Buenos Aires - Soccer




It turns out that tango and food are not the only things Argentians are passionate about. I couldn´t leave Bs. As. without seeing a soccer game, Racing v. Independiente. The game itself was not that interesting. Our team, Racing, lost by two points, both of which were scored within minutes of each other and in the second half. Only one other kick even came close to scoring.

Now, I should note here that my decision to support the losing team was not based on skills, team colors, or team name, but instead on the desire to live. Not only are opposing fans not allowed to sit in the same section, they cannot sit in adjacent sectionsand from leaving the stadium at the same time. Instead there is at least one vacant section between the fans, guarded by cops in riot gear, and one team´s fans are completely evacuated from the stadium and given a fifteen minute headstart before the other fans are allowed to leave.

The fans were, by far, the most interesting part of the game. EVERY fan was wearing the appropriate color, armed with the matching balloon, streamer, and smoke bomb. They all knew their team´s cheers by heart and did not cease from screaming them through the entire game. When it was clear that our team was going to lose, our fans went ballistic. They started tearing apart the stadium and throwing the pieces into the moat that seperated the fans from the field. I´m sure that this rage would have been turned against the opposing fans, but when the crowd started moving in that direction, the riot cops did not hesitate to fire rubber bullets into the advancing mob. CRAZY!
I spent my last full day in Bs. As. shopping on Florida Ave, a pedestrian mall. Shopping when you have been wearing the same clothes for a month is like going to the grocery store when you haven´t eaten, you shouldn´t do it. To add to my temptation, I found my favorite boutique, Zara´s. It was just too much to resist. I ended up buying, among other items, an adorable pair of trousers that have absolutely no functional value and will probably line my backpack for the next two months (I can´t believe my trip is already 1/3 over!).

To rationalize my purchase, I wore my new trousers to the Tango show I had reservations for that night. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings that I´ve had since I started the trip, definitely the best meal. It was a three-course meal with a bottle of wine included for each party. Since I was by myself . . . I knew it was going to be an entertaining evening. For the first course, I had a fantastic salad with mushrooms and bacon. The entree was a to-die-for steak. I savored every bite. Argentinians really know their meat! Dessert, a chocolate souffle with regional fruits, was served after the show was well underway.

The show included a traditional Argentine band, a tango band, two singers, and a whole group of amazing dancers. There is a lot more to tango than the ¨¨Step one, two, three. Turn one, two, three.¨ It´s hard to describe. The music was almost sad. The dances seemed to convey a sense of unfulfilled longing, begining slow and elevating to the verge of realization, only to stop abrubtly and end in sorrow. A big tease!

We finished the show and the meal with a complimentary glass of champagne. Then the host hailed a cab for me and paid my fare. What a great night!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Day 27 - Buenos Aires - Retiro and Recoleta




After slumming it yesterday, I decided to explore the more affluent neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. I walked along Florida Street, a pedestrian mall with every boutique you could ever think of, to Retiro Station, a Central Station-esque train station.

From there I headed to Recoleta, the poshest neighborhood in Bs. As., where even the dead have to be rich and famous. It had only the most exclusive shops and high-rise apartments overlooking perfectly groomed parks and Recoleta´s most famous attraction, the cemetary. This cemetary is reserved for only the most important people in Argentina´s history. Eva Peron is buried here. Though her husband, the former president, did not make the cut. The graves here all look like temples (see above photo--this is not a church). I didn´t like it as much as the cemetary in Punta Arenas though. It was too impersonal. It did spend hours in it, however, not because I wanted to but because I got lost.

Speaking of the rich and famous being lost, still lost on the way back to my hostel, I stumbled upon a large crowd of people screaming, held back by police barricades. I thought it was a demonstration of some sort, but picket signs were noticeably absent. After further questioning, I found out that it was the hotel where the Rolling Stones were staying and that they were about to leave. After waiting in the rain for an hour, I got a couple of distant photos and some nice blurry shots of Mic Jagger filming the crowd as the bus blew by.

Day 26 - Buenos Aires - San Telmo and La Boca


San Telmo is one of the poorer neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It was once the prestigious place to live, but the yellow fever epidemic caused its inhabitants to abandon their mansions for other parts of the city. The abandoned mansions then became a type of subsidized housing for the poor. Now, as more affluent people are moving back into the neighborhood and fixing up the crumbling mansions, it is becoming the chic place to live.

La Boca, another poor neighborhood, is known for its artist´s corner el Caminito, which is made of brightly colored corrogated metal.

After exploring these two neighborhoods, I walked back along Puerto Madero, the newly remodeled port. It is now a row of exclusive restaurants, stores, and condos, like the Gateway, but with a river running through it.

Day 25 - Buenos Aires - Central



Buenos Aires is known as the Paris of South America because of the similar architectural styles, but Buenos Aires reminded me less of Paris and more of a strange jumble of several major cities. It is what you would get if you mixed D.C. with New York and threw in some Paris and a dash of Salt Lake.

Upon arriving, I had just enough time to explore the city´s center. As the country´s capital, it has the Congressional building (designed based on the U.S. Capital) at one end of a major avenue and the Presidential Palace, the Pink House, at the other end, with a phallic symbol of political power, an obelisk, in the middle.

Day 21-23 - Puerto Madryn



Originally I didn´t plan to come to Puerto Madryn, but, as fate would have it, all the flights from Calafate to Buenos Aires were full until the middle of March. So instead of heading straight to Buenos Aires from Calafate, I flew on a small and scary plane to Comodora Rivadavia and caught a bus to Puerto Madryn.

My first day there, I was exhausted. My bus didn´t get arrive until 3 a.m. After sleeping a few hours, I decided not to waste the whole day sleeping in bed. I grabbed my swimsuit and my new sarong, light blue with dark blue palm trees, and went to the beach to sleep there instead. I spread out the sarong on the beach and crashed. I was shattered!

After a couple of hours, I decided to take a short walk on the beach. I was getting strange looks, but figured it was because I was blindingly white compared to the Argentinian women. When I got home, however, I realized that my sarong had bled perfectly shaped blue palm trees all over my thighs and back. I tried showering it off, but I suceeded only in smearing the trees.

Since I could go to the beach looking like a smurf, I spent the next day exploring Peninsula Valdes, a wildlife preserve. I was amazed at how many different types of animals shared that habitat. I saw sea lions with their pups, Ostriches, grey foxes, seals, more penguins, armadillos, maras (like rabbits but with deer legs, very strange!), llamas, and orcas. I guess we were really lucky to see the maras and the orcas because they were last sighted two weeks ago. The beach where we saw the orcas is the same beach where National Geographic shot the footage of the orca beaching itself in order to grab a sea lion pup for a snack and then using the tide to get back in the water. Although I didn´t see any pup-snatching, the Orcas did swim right in front of the beach. It was wild!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Day 17-19 - El Chaten


I had heard many people say that they thought the Cerro Torre was just as impressive as the Torres de Paine. I was eager to see for myself. I only had three days in El Chaten and I heard that it was supposed to rain on my last day there, so, even though I didn´t get there until noon on Tuesday, I decided to do the hike to Laguna Torre that day. It was a relatively easy hike, five hours climbing no more than 250 meters. The hike was beautiful, but I was disappointed to see that Cerro Torre was completely covered by clouds. I waited an hour at the Laguna Torre (until it started to rain) hoping that the clouds would move. They didn´t.

The next day, it was raining like crazy outside. I considered waiting to see if the weather changed, but my roommate had already rented camping equipment and was determined to make the hike to Cerro Fitz Roy rain or shine. Never one to turn down a challenge, I went too.

The hike to Cerro Fitz Roy is a lot more difficult than the hike to Laguna Torre. It is an eight-hour hike (round trip) that climbs no more than 350 meters for the first three hours, but in the last hour it escalates 450 meters more. It was a horribly windy hike that rained intermittently throughout. During the hour before the 450 meter climb, it was pouring. When we got to the final hour, the 450 meter climb, Vanessa (my roommate) and Salome (her friend), decided to wait at the base and drink some Mate.

I was determined to make the climb. I had come this far already. As soon as I started climbing, the clouds cleared and the sky came out. I knew that if I didn´t hurry, the view would change. I hurried to make it to the top, passing even the professional hikers with their trekking poles. The last hundred yards, my legs turned to rubber. My efforts were rewarded though. I got great views of the most amazing mountain range. I won´t even try to describe it.

Encouraged by the results of my hike the day before, on my last day in El Chaten, I decided to climb to Laguna Torre again. Unfortunately, luck was not with me that day. It was still too cloudy to see. I guess I should have learned my lesson the first time! Se la vie!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Day 15-16 - Calafate



Wow! I have had the most amazing couple of days. Last night, after dining in a fabulous restaurant, I decided to walk around Calafate. As I was walking around, I met the nicest guy, Sergio, who told me about trip he was organizing to see the Perito Moreno Glacier under the full moon. I couldn´t refuse the opportunity to see the glacier at night.

The Perito Moreno glacier is one of the only glaciers that is advancing (about 1 m. a day). When we got there, I was stunned at how huge it was, snow and ice twenty stories high (according to the guide) as far as you could see. I was shocked when I heard that we could only see thirty-percent of the glacier. We just sat there mesmerized for about two hours, listening to the glacier move. It was like listening to a storm. When a piece would break off, it would cannonball into the lake making a loud, thundering crash. Then, as the glacier adjusted, surrounding pieces would crack like lightening. It was eerie and beautiful.

Today, I went back to the Glacier. Although it was much less serene (the place was packed with tourists), it was no less amazing. I took a boat, which got me much closer to the glacier than I had been the night before. It sent shivers down my spine when large pieces of the face would slough off into the surrounding water causing a wave of ice to rock towards the boat. When the water would splash back up from the crash, it froze in midair like a superhero cartoon.

Tomorrow I head to El Chaten.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Day 11-14 - Ushuaia, Argentina (The End of the World)


Ushuaia, located at the end of the world on the island Tierra del Fuego, is everything I hoped it would be. Getting here was not without its bumps though. Actually the term clusterf%#k comes to mind. I hadn´t been in my seat for more than five minutes when a guy came up to me and told me I was in his seat. We compared tickets and realized that we were both assigned to the same seat. The bus driver said that the numbers weren´t important and to sit wherever there was space. This is what I told the woman at the next pick-up when she told me I was in her seat. This arrangment worked well until we stopped at the final pick-up and there were two people waiting for the one seat left on the bus.

The driver went down the aisle asking everyone for their ticket and name. When he got to me I gave him my ticket, but was unable to find my name on the list. After a heated discussion, in which I told him that I had bought my ticket on Saturday and refused to wait another minute, I grudgingly agreed to sit in front with the driver. I later learned from the driver´s assistant that there were two more people who weren´t on the list (and passengers who were on the list and not on the bus). I ended up sharing the very uncomfortable front seat with them.

The road to the border was unpaved and very rough. A girl a couple of rows ahead of me threw up all over the aisle. After the border, though, the road was smooth and scenic, winding along the Atlantic coast and through some spectacular mountains all the way to Ushuaia. Ushuaia is surrounded by these mountains on one side and by the Beagle Channel on the other. That, combined with the colorful swiss cottages, combines to make a very charming town.

I spent my first day in Ushuaia at the National Park. It was not what I had envisioned, but still had some really beautiful lakes surrounded by colorful peat moss, milky green lagunas, and impressive mountains. My favorite though was the beaver dam. I loved the juxtaposition of the naked trees in the dammed lake and the surrounding greenery.

The next day I went sailing on the Beagle Channel. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Neither words or photos can adequately capture how truly magnificent the scenery was. The guide explained that a melting glacier formed the channel, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Where the glacier passed, the land eroded to a lopsided bump shape. These islands, which are covered with colorful peat moss, contrast sharply with the jagged mountains that surround the channel and are reflected in its waters.

We started our tour at the lighthouse at the end of the world and ended at Bridges Island, where the Yamanas (nomadic indigineous tribe) made one of their stops. Every island in between seemed to have a specific inhabitant: rock cormorans, one-haired sea lions, two-haired sea lions, and king cormorans. I was especially amused by the two-haired sea lions. The one-haired were frolicking in the water and wiggling about on the island. The two-haired´s, however, were lazing in the sun. It is no wonder though. The males, who were not present on the island, have a harem of females to impregnate. They spend the rest of their time fishing and playing. The females, on the other hand, are pregnant 360 days a year. They mate within five days after giving birth and continue to feed their pup during the pregnancy.

My last day in Ushuaia was my first experience with an Argentian prison. Don´t worry, I didn´t get arrested. One of the most famous museums in South America is the maritime/prison museum in Ushuaia. Before Ushuaia was a naval base and long before it was a tourist destination, it was a penal colony. Now the maritime museum is located in the old prison building, which is huge. It was funny how the exhibits changed from cell to cell from a maritime exhibit to a jail exhibit, you never knew which one you would get.

As luck would have it, there was also a Salvador Dali exhibit at the same time. It was fantastic. It had a couple of his better known paintings (Gala Looking Out the Window, which, when viewed from a distance, looks like Abraham Lincoln and the Levitating Crucifix), but I was much more excited about the lesser-known collections such as the Tarot Cards and Casanova paintings. Most fascinating was a three-series of paintings that look like¨typical¨surreal paintings, a fly or a landscape, but when you place a reflective cylinder in the center of the painting, the painting is transformed into a jester or a nude lady. How did he do that?

Monday, February 06, 2006

Day 8-10: Punta Arenas



Thus far I am not impressed with Punta Arenas. When I arrived it was rainy and depressing. I hoped that sun would improve the city, but it hasn´t. I was not suprised when Greg, my unofficial tour guide, told me that Punta Arenas is unaffectionately referred to as Puta Anus.

My main complaint is that there are all these beautiful colonial buildings that have been left in a horrible state of disrepair. Imagine the French Quarter after it has been abandoned for several years. The only layer of paint not peeling is the grafitti that covers the walls of nearly every building. The only buildings that appear to have been spared from the spray can are the mansions that surround the Plaza. And most of these building have not been preserved as museums, but have instead been turned into banks, restaurants, and travel agencies.

A few redeeming factors, though, are the Avenues lined with meticulously groomed juniper trees, an enormous cemetary, colorful churches, and the Strait of Magellan. As strange as it may sound, the cemetary is really impressive. The gravesites range from rows of buildings that have graves stacked two stories high, to gardens with real and/or fake flowers, to statues and monuments, to family mausoleums, and finally to miniature churches. No matter how humble the grave is though, there are always pictures and an assembly of knick knacks surrounding it.

Yesterday I went to Seno Otway, a magellanic penguin colony. It was really surprising. As the bus got close to the entrance, I wondered if I had gotten on the wrong bus. Instead of the ice and snow I expected, the terrain reminded me of south eastern Idaho. It was desert-like with sagebrush-type bushes and weeds. Then there was the exotic mix of fauna: penguins, of course, sheep, ostriches, and dolphins. With the exception of the penguins, there were no arctic animals around.

The penguins were amusing. It was the time of year that the baby penguins lose their baby fuzz. They spent a lot of time bending their neck backwards preening. My favorite, though, were the ones playing in the water. The fearless ones dove in without hesitation like an armless child on a slip-n-slide, but the other ones timidly stuck their heads in the water and then belly-flopped into the water.

I spent my last day in Punta Arenas taking a cruise down the Magellan Strait to Isla Magdelana. Although the island itself was nothing to write home about (hee-hee), every square inch of it was covered with penguins.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Day 5-7 Torres del Paine



After my last entry, I flew into Puntarenas and caught a bus to Puerto Natales. By the time I got there, it was late and I only had a few short hours to organize my trip to the Torres del Paine National Park. I ran around frantically searching for a map, renting camping gear, buying bus tickets, and buying food from the very limited selection at the only open grocery store (I had to be very creative).

Because of the short time that I have on this trip, I had decided to hike the W circuit (4-5 days) instead of the full circuit (12 days). The W consists of three 8+ hours hiking up into the mountains, seperatated by two 4-6 hours hikes across the mountains. The major attractions, besides the already beautiful scenery, are the Torres del Paine, Cuernos del Paine, and Grey Glacier.

I was so excited the night before I left, I could barely sleep. The two-hour drive the the park entrance was surprisingly unimpressive. A lot of desert. There were a handful of wild lamas though. Then, all of the sudden, we were approaching this huge, beautiful purple mountain-range. It was a perfect, sunny day. For the first three-and-a-half hours, I was unstoppable. I was making great time and could not make myself stop for a break. I tried to break for lunch, but I only took about three bites of my leftover pizza before I decided to eat lunch when I got to the top. There was plenty of fresh river water along the trail.

But about an hour before the summit the steep trail turned into a steep field of boulders. The scrambling took its toll on my already weak knee, and by the time I reached the top my knee was on fire. The Torres, huge pillars of mountain extending from a milky aqua lake into the clouds, were so breathtaking though that I temporarily forgot about my pain. I spent about an hour just looking at them and the strange shapes the clouds took around them and snapping photos.

It was a very slow descent. A nice german boy, Benjamin, took pity on me and walked the last two hours with me. When I got back, I made a hotdog pizza--pita bread, packets of tomato sauce, processed parmesan cheese, and cut up hotdogs. It was surprisingly tasty (I was famished) and treated myself to a couple of oreos. Then I crawled into my bivvy sack and went to sleep before it got dark (about 9:30).

A note about the bivvy sack: This was the first time I had ever used one. After several renditions, I finally got it to stand. Though stand is really an overstatement. This was an old school bivvy sack that didn´t even have room to sit up, let alone stand. I´m still not entirely sure that it was put up right. It took a lot of wiggling to get in my sleeping bag and an impressive show of acrobatics to get dressed the next morning and out of the bivvy sack. Only after I sommersaulted out of it, did I realize that there was a second zipper down the side! =)

Anyway, I convinced myself that rest was all my knee needed, packed up camp, and headed on day two. I did not get very far before I realized that I was not going to make it, at least not without risking the remainder of my trip. It wasn´t worth the sacrifice, especially when the other sights could be viewed from the bus. So I hiked the hour-and-a-half back to the entrance and caught a bus to the shorter day hikes. I was very disappointed! I did a short hike to the lookout of the Cuernos (horns) of Paine. Although I´m sure it was nothing compared to being at the base, they were still pretty impressive.