dunnpilo

We arrived in Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) on Christmas. Steve returned the rental car while Theresa Ben and Oliver got settled into the latest hostel. This hostel is run by a family. Their two kids immediately showed interest in playing with Ben and Oliver. First they brought us Christmas cake. Then they let us know they had a backyard the kids could play in. Finally, the mother came in to clean our bathroom and asked her little girl to bring her supplies. With this, the little girl (Catalina) had the opportunity to meet Ben and Oliver who were still acting very shy. Finally, Catalina offered to show them her “coneja” (rabbit) and they were off playing with her. Steve came back from the car rental company. After sweating out damaging the car, the rental company just ... read more

Today is Christmas Eve and we will be leaving Puerto Natales tomorrow to visit Punta Arenas for a few days. While we have been in Puerto Natales we rented a car to visit Torres del Paine National Park (TdP). The park is about 1.5 hours away on a mostly gravel road with road construction in progress. On the way to TdP the first day, two exciting things happened. First we stopped at the Cueva del Milodon. This is a cave at which was found the fossilized remains of a giant sloth (scientific name: milodon) in the 1890s or so. The remains even included hair. (This is significant to us because we saw some of the remains in the Natural History Museum in Santiago and because the hair was the inspiration for the book we are currently ... read more

Here we are at the ends of the Earth (well almost) and the beginning of our trip through Patagonia. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world. It is where people embark for Antarctica. It was rainy when we arrived. And it definitely felt at the opposite end of the world from hot and sticky Buenos Aires. No more shorts for us - it is now jacket weather. Considering it is mid-December, being in cold weather makes it feel more like the holidays. It’s hard to believe it is springtime here, only a week until the summer solstice. It is so foggy it is hard to get a real feel for our new environment, but the Beagle Channel (named for Darwin’s ship) is a beautiful sight and the air feels so clean. We find our hotel ... read more

With only a few days left before we fly to Ushuaia, and having done everything in Buenos Aires that interested us, we were ready to visit the surrounding areas. We had wanted to visit Uruguay and there were ferries that took you across the river (Rio de la Plata) to Colonia del Sacramento, an old smugglers port in Uruguay. So, leaving the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires in the morning, we went to the boat station to find that the only boat bound for Colonia was not leaving until late in the afternoon and wouldn’t be arriving in Colonia until around 6 o’clock or so in the evening. We also found that the return boat from Colonia back to Buenos Aires was in the late morning. We had made the wrong assumption that there would be ... read more

Our visit to Iguazu Falls was absolutely fabulous. There are not many words that can describe the famous waterfalls of Iguazu. We spent 5 days in Iguazu doing a little bit of the park each day and seeing more and more of the waterfalls. When we got off the plane in Iguazu we were in a jungle environment - hot and humid with thick vegetation. Luckily our hostel had a pool! Iguazu Falls is at a point where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina all meet. Argentina has done a great job of making its park accessible. You can get right up to some of the falls on catwalks. They have a little train that takes you from one spot to another in the park. It had the music from the movie, “The Mission” playing on it. (If ... read more