Kat Johnson

I arrived in Ushuaia from El Calafate via LADE flight. During the summer season in Patagonia, it is difficult to find a flight down to Ushuaia from El Calafate, so I was lucky to have found a flight - it was actually less expensive to fly down there, as well as saving me two days on the bus. Touched down in Ushuaia, and as expected, it was cold and rainy even though it was the middle of January (yes, this is their summer season). Rocked up to the Freestyle hostel where I had a reservation. Very nice hostel, great staff, heated floors, and amazing views of the bay from both the common room and my dorm room. After dropping my pack, I went out to Kaupe restuarant for Fuegian Lamb, so amazing! Good start to Ushuaia. ... read more

After leaving Bariloche, I headed down to Patagonia. Patagonia was the part of my trip that I was most looking forward to. While planning my trip to South America, I was overwhelmed with the possibilities of South America. Its such a vast, amazing continent, with so much to see - the beaches in Colombia, the Andes mountains in Ecuador and Peru, the salt flats in Bolivia, the famous hospitality of Chile, the beauty of Brazil - but for some reason, seeing Patagonia was something that interested me the most (maybe my love of mountains?), and it did not fail to disappoint. When I was in Pucon, Chile, I read Bruce Chatwin's "In Patagonia" to get myself hyped for Patagonia, and it made me even more excited to see the mountains, lakes, small towns, and of course, ... read more

From Buenos Aires, I hopped on a night bus to Mendoza, arriving there early in the morning. The nightbus was great, a Don Otto bus, complete with fully reclining beds, movies and pretty good food. My first day in Mendoza, I went white water rafting down the river. This was my first time rafting. The river bed was apparently quite low, which I actually was happy about, given that I had no prior experience. Made it down the river safe and sound! The next day in Mendoza, I went to the Pascaul Toso winery outside of town. It was absolutely beautiful, and I was lucky enough to be a small private tour with only two other people. Learned a lot of interesting things about the winery and wine in general. Am definately excited to pick up ... read more

What could be better than meeting one of your besties in South America for a couple of weeks of fun in the sun? If you figure it out, let me know!!! I left Salta, and took a night bus to Buenos Aires to meet Ashley, who was flying in from Vancouver to spend almost three weeks with me - our planned route being Buenos Aires, Iguaza Falls, and Rio. I arrived in Buenos Aires a night before Ashley was to arrive, only to find that the hostel that I had booked us in at had lost our reservation. I managed to find a hostel nearby our planned hostel, that more or less resembled a refuge camp . . . good times! Made the most of it and picked up Ashley from the airport on a Friday ... read more

Our salt flat tour dropped us off in San Pedro de Atacama, and small town in the Northern Chile. As soon as we got off the bus, we met Simply Red, or, the owner (?) of Hostel Flordia. Yes, his name is Simply Red, he told us to call him that. Checked into the hostel and wound up spending three nights in this great little town. On the first night, Esther, Lyndsey, Carol, Rhod (who we met on the salt flat tour), went out for dinner at La Casona (which Rhod and I discovered earlier in the afternoon when looking for a place to get some afternoon drinks at). Great little restauarant with a nice patio out back and a fire pit. After La Casona we headed out to another bar, called "Milagro" for some late ... read more