http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jaimeta/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jaimeta en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:44:32 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:44:32 BST This year for fourth of July Dain and I did something no other North American did to celebrate Independence Day. We traveled to the east coast of Patagonia to get some fresh air and winter time beach activities. During this time of year the Southern Right Whales arrive to mate as well as the Elephant Seals. Later in September October Orcas arrive to feast on seals in fact Patagonia is t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Puerto-Madryn/blog-297695.html Dain and I were both in our traditional Saturday is a rugby day mindset as we headed to the Argentina vs. Scotland rugby match by means of taxi. The most exciting part of the rugby match honestly was as usual the outside events happening on the stadium grounds. First of all it was beyond shocking to learn that all the grocers anywhere in the vicinity of the stadium all block off their boo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-288062.html Meet MC and Joe the friendly pair from Wyoming The flight attendant MC and buddy pass holder Joe stopped by Buenos Aires for a short 4 day visit. It was a treat to have part of the Wyoming family in town and we spent a good deal of time partying in the true Argentine fashion. The first attempt to party until the sun came up was a backfire because of an early start with dinner at 7pm. In http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-284167.html We are at the half way point with our time in South America and thus the trip to Uruguay to renew the visas. We were reluctant at first most of our students warned us that the country is very boring and dull. The trip started off on a bad note when we were fined 100 pesos for staying 4 days past our visas allowed. But we had no choice to go and arrived in Colonia de Sacremento after a 3 hou http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-275145.html I don't know if the big city blues made Mendoza my favorite side trip but I do rank this city second to our Patagonia hiking excursion. Enjoying the beauty of the fall weather in Mendoza was a real treat Sunny days falling leaves colorful surroundings and exceptionally friendly people who spoke at a tempo other than a presto. Our activities were somewhat limited due to time. Regrettably w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-273672.html The first impression of the San Telmo market was a draw dropping amazement at the astonishing amount of people and vendors packed into a street stretching for at least a mile. My favorite part of the San Telmo market experience were all the street performers. Apologies in advance for the somewhat shakey videos I've posted. Like I said the market was packed with people and getting bumped from http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-269761.html Despite the rumor of La Boca neighborhood being overrated Dain and I had to check it out for ourselves. The long crowded bus ride and consumption of diesel fumes was enough to give Dain a headache before we even arrived. The short amount of time we spent 2.5 hours in the area was enough to realize the crafts market was overpriced and the restaurants were desperate for customers. In fact th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-263097.html A very exuberant weekend in Mar de Plata followed the relaxing Easter Holidays. Over the Easter weekend my friends from Colorado and the CU Women's rugby team arrived bearing necessities and gifts from up north. The most exciting of them being a stockpile of peanut butter A care package my Mom put together included a birthday gift of a fully loaded MP3 player thanks Bro a lot of Tabasco m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Mar-del-Plata/blog-262755.html My long lasting birthday weekend was followed by an even longer Easter weekend Semana Santa. Below you will find pictures from the St. Patrick's Day celebration and the side trips from Easter weekend. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-258438.html Sometimes Dain and I will just jump on the Subte and find a destination we have never been to. Usually this proves very entertaining. At a stop called Constitution we found a hooker on every corner Even witnessed a pickup between a table of prostitutes and a pizza eating patron where we ate lunch. In Congresso de Tucuman we found an excellent Artesian market and ate the biggest calzone I ha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-256212.html Ah yes...we have an address A difficult week long search led us to our Buenos Aires home in a neighborhood called Palermo. So far we love it. Our studio apartment has complete kitchen all dishes utensils Tupperware coffeemaker juice maker and more come with the apartment. The bathroom has a nice shower great pressure and temperature a stock of fresh towels are in the closet. There is http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-253721.html At the tail end of our 2WeekPatagonianBackpackingAdventure we finish in El Calafte. The hostel we stayed at was up a hill away from the center of town and difficult to find in the dark. Dain and I are discovering that if the Argentinians dont know the answer to a question they just makeup something. After a series of bad directions we found our hostel just in time for everything to cl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-251312.html Now as Dain and I trekked into town against a very powerful windstorm we were fully prepared to board our bus to El Calafate. In fact we were completly comfortable on the bus with books in hand and the ticket taker came to tell us that our tickets are for tomorrow. With much confusion we exited the bus and just admitted that we were a day ahead and had to stay another night in El Chaltn. kPi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-251308.html After finishing our frantically windy hike from Glacier Torre we set out for 3 nights 4 days of camping around in Glacier National Park. The pack was a much lighter load on my back because we did not have to carry water in all water in the Park is drinkable a very sweet feature. After an hours incline the rest of the hiking for this trip we rated as easy. Kind of a nice break but we foun http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-251305.html By far this was the most challenging and most rewarding hike I have accomplished in my very immature trekking experience. From Lake Ilon we descened quickly back to the trail head Pampa Linda and took a recovery break to refill water bottles snack on granola and get out of the sun. Before long we were heading up to the 'Cloud Pass' hike. It was more popular than the very steep Lake Ilon. A http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-251190.html Without much rest Dain and I woke before sunrise to meet a group of people hiking to Glacier Torre. Our guide moved us quickly to meet Matis and Luis who would be taking us on the Glacier for ice trekking. Now that the sun was up the snow stopped falling and the scenery was just beautiful. We crossed a fast moving glacier fed river onto some steep terrain then over a small waterfall and back http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-251084.html What luck we had on this bus ride. Dain completely jinxed the entire operation. As soon as he sat down on the bus he sarcastically crossed himself by the time we were in El Bolson the bus had broke down. The passengers waited together and here we met our actuary friends from England Chloe and Phil. As well as some students not unlike ourselves from California Tasha and Morgan. While the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-251078.html Dain lives to be 25....barely On this day we attempted to declare ourselves a tourist day of just exploring town and relaxing maybe go for a picnic by the lake. What it turned into was a wild goose hunt to get things booked and running errands. We were both quite tired from our day and went back to the hosteria for card games and wine. Later when I was packing and Dain was showering the el http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-250627.html We caught a bus from Bariloche to Pampa Linda in Nahuel Huapi National Park where we would stay for a short 2 nights and 3 days. The kind lady at the information desk helped Dain and I pick out and narrow down the hiking options. Naturally Dain refused to believe that all the hiking in the park could not be accomplished in 3 days. Eventually the park people convinced him it wasnt a good ide http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-250408.html A long and bumpy bus ride that started out 3 hours late finally dropped us off in the town of Bariloche. Both green in the face with bus sickness Dain and I found our way to the Centro Civico of the town. In this plaza my favorite feature of the town exsits. Usually there are several great fluffy St. Bernard dogs sitting pretty with their puppies. Of course the owners charge a great amou http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-250405.html