billclayton

This is the last entry in the blog, describing the last 1600 Km of travel from the Moreno Glacier to Santiago, Chile where the trip ended for me. this last section of the trip is mostly a long drive on narrow, one lane roads through the spectacular national parks of Chile and Argentina in the Patagonian region. Highlights of this section are the Rio Futaleufu whitewater center, specializing in river trips, followed by the towns of Bariloche and Pucon, and finally a 500 mile superhighway drive to Santiago. The Rio Futaleufu whitewater center is a private hostel/campground/rafting center South of Bariloche. Unfortunately, we arrived after two days of constant rain, and were not looking forward to pitching our tents and living in the rain for two nights/three days. We were lucky to find that they had ... read more

The Moreno Glacier, El Calafate We arrived in El Calafate, a small but growing, tourist oriented town near several glaciers. The glaciers are the main attraction, and numerous companies offer glacier tours, glacier treks, boat trips up to the glacier, and other similar packages. Occasionally I would see an American, but mostly the tourists were South American or European, and most seemed pretty affluent. The restaurants and shops reflected this affluence. Souvenirs are priced double or more what they cost in the other cities we have passed through, and restaurant prices are generally double what we are used to paying. Having said that, you can still get a superb steak dinner for about $16.00 US, and the one night we ate in town we found an all you can eat “Parilla” with a big charcoal fire ... read more

The city of Ushuaia now has 55-60,000 residents, depending on your source. It is growing very quickly and you can see the typical boom-town hodgepodge of new construction and older run-down houses and buildings still being used. Since Ushuaia is the jumping off place for Antartic cruises as well as boat trips in the Beagle Channel and is a backpacker/ trekker/ outdoors recreation destination, the stores and restaurants are oriented to a tourist customer. Prices for souvenirs are fairly expensive. Restaurants are good, but are expensive compared with the rest of Argentina. There are lots of opportunities for hikes, glacier treks, boat tours of the Beagle Channel and so forth. This is also a great place to catch a bargain on unfilled Antaractic cruises. The price seems to be from $1300 US up, and looks ... read more

Exploring Buenos Aires, the “City of Faded Elegance” PS. On the last entry I attempted to enter a video of Igauzo Falls. Apparently, this attempt failed, so I am attempting to enter the video again on this entry. hope it works. As you walk through the streets of Buenos Aires, it would be easy to sort of squint, blur your vision, and imagine that you are walking through any number of European cities. First of all, the residents don’t look like indians or natives; they dress in a more Euopean/western fashion. The architecture of the buildings, the layout of streets, public squares, and so forth evokes a very different feel than that of Rio de Janeiro. Not quite European, but not South American, either. The main street is 9 Julio; reputed to be the widest street ... read more

Monday, Jan 13. The town of Bonito is fairly surrounded by clear water rivers, springs, waterfalls and other similar tourist attractions catering to trekkers and “eco tourists.” Today we traveled about 50 miles South of Bonito to snorkel and swim in the Rio da Prata river. This attraction, owned by a local “farmer” who owns about 3000 acres, has a well developed facility catering to visitors, with a snack bar and curio shop, picnic facilities, and well developed trails to and from the river. Sunscreen and bug repellent are not allowed, as they may contaminate the water, and the guide told us that the government strictly regulates the number of visitors daily and inspects frequently to insure that the ecology is maintained in its pristine condition. Fortunately for us we arrived in a very dry period, ... read more