http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/viva_vida/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from viva_vida en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:31:23 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:31:23 +0000 Nacho and I were headed back to the bus to Puerto Natales when a guy in a truck offered us a ride. After hiking many miles in the previous days we were happy to accept. As the driver rambled on in crazy Argentine Spanish I sat there thinking how lucky Nacho is that he can understand what he is saying. The first thing Nacho said when we got out of the truck was... I couldn't understand anythi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-52206.html Early on the third day the rain had stopped and the sun rose over the valley coloring the mountains in a beautiful rose color. Nacho and I had breakfast together and started our adventure. Hiking through the grasslands we came to a river crossing that was engorged with rainwater from the previous night. Leading he decided to take a small side trail to avoid crossing the raging river. The ti http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-52150.html The next morning the snow turned to rain. And more rain. and you guessed it more rain.I decided to descend.Many hours later I arrive at the Refuge throw down my backpack and order a chocolate caliente... completely soaked.Dear REI All the Goretex in the world would not withstand the diluge of southern Patagonian storms. Not only was I soaked but so was my camera. The rain collected in th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-52145.html If you are not framiliar with my sarcastic side... welcome.I was very tempted to skip the most famous attraction of all of South America Machu Picchu even before I left for my trip because of my serious distaste for touristy places. Despite my sceptism everyone said I HAD to go. So even though it is the end of my trip I am tired of tourism tired of running here running there and tired of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-62013.html I am leaving today this afternoon in a couple hours. I sit here in a cafe looking out the window of a second story building. As I sip on my double espresso I am writing in my journal reflecting on my trip and feeling a deep sense of peace. There is a huge parade on the street below me. The waiter tells me that the reason for the parade is to celebrate an anniversary of something South Am http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/blog-62496.html I was not planning to go to Buenos Aires before I left for South America but a friend of mine Danielle begged me to visit a friend of hers that she had met on her South America adventure just a couple months ago. Her friend Max worked in the hostel in Buenos Aires referred to as BA from here on out and she was sure we would be great friends. 930 am Sat. morning I arrived exhausted afte http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-60202.html Sorry for the lack of pictures again the camera stopped working.The night of telemetry folliesEstela the boss has gone to the city to help a friend whose mother has just passed away and I am alone in the field house. I am determined to do some telemetry while she is gone so I gather the equipment put on my field clothes and find the old clunker of a bike in the garage. The bike mechanics I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Bah-a-Blanca/blog-56855.html Day 1 I arrived to El Chalten and walked down the dusty road past the little Aframe alpine huts and found a great youth hostel called Rancho Grande. It was the largest hostel I had stayed at but a great meeting place for travellers. The Fitzroy range includes some famous peaks such as the Cerro Torre and Fitzroy Peak itself and are supposedly some of the hardest peaks to climb. I arrived with http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-53772.html Enjoy some pictures my camera is coming to life again Not quite fully there I always have to use a flash and have no other manual controls... but hey thatrsquos better than nothing. HaHa to all those who said it wouldnrsquot work again Always keep faithArrived last night to Bahia Blanca the biggest city I have been to thus far in South America. I walked around the bustling city unt http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Bah-a-Blanca/blog-54420.html After taking a bus from El Chalten back to El Calafate I spent one more night in the 5 star hostel Hostal De La Glacier only 7 and it had heated floors. The next afternoon I took the bus to Rio Gallegos. I ran into the SF couple and met another couple from London at the bus station. We had some coffee at the local gas station and watched some ftbol soccer while we waited for the next http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Puerto-Madryn/blog-54442.html Playa Hermoso the ghost beach town is the southernmost beach resort in the Buenos Aires Province and only a 30 min. bus ride from Doerrgo. It looks like a bustling town in the summer but in the fall there are only a few fisherman and lots of shells scattered on the beach. I walked up and down the beach soaking up the sun and admiring the iridescent colors of the oyster shells. I spent the day http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Monte-Hermoso/blog-55145.html Walking down the dusty road after the bus dropped me off on La Ruta I started to wonder if looking for the field site without getting a hold of anyone was such a good idea. I had my huge backpack 4 km to go and didnt even think to bring water. I was too concerned with trying to get off the bus at the right place to think about what would happen after I got off. I just tried to think of it a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Bah-a-Blanca/blog-54923.html Easter MorningAs the full moon continued to rise in the early morning of Easter the light became more and more brilliant on the peak. The skies were clear and the stars were bright. Every hour or so when I turned to adjust myself in my down cocoon I looked over to the glowing snowy peak and smiled. Something about moonshine on mountains just makes me smile. The mud on the ground was frozen a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-54242.html I arrived at the Torres Del Paine National Park ready for a 7 day trek. The rain was pouring and the wind was whipping. People whom had just descended from the mountain huddled in the refuge tyring to thaw out from the bitter cold rain. They said everything they owned was soaked somehow the little plastic poncho and trash bags didnt keep everything dry. Others were waiting out the storm... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-52143.html Passing the border wasnrsquot very difficult between Chile and Argentina one long line lots of stamps and we were in. The first day in Argentina I took a minitrekking tour with Sonia a German girl that I met on the bus to the Perito Moreno Glacier. Perito Moreno is one of the only glaciers in the world that is actually stable. It sits in a cold valley below the Southern Patagonian ice fi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-52750.html A little story about the origen of the Patagonia.Once upon a time as Mother Nature was just about finished painting the earth from top to bottom she ran out of ideas. I have already created huge mountains huge valleys huge deserts and huge forests. What is left She sat and sat and sat but could not think of something new to create. OK I will take the most magnificent parts of the who http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-51611.html I snap the chinstrap to my helmet and hop on my rental mountain bike grinning from ear to ear. Gung ho as can be I am off to La Cuerva del Milodon La Cueva del Milodon is a huge cave where an extinct monster used to live thousands and thousands of years ago. Ok OK its more like a bear but reaching up to 25 ft. tall Three huge caves still exist in the Patagonia and for a mere 3000 pes http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-50599.html Oh man What a crazy trip No one told me that I had to recheck my baggage when I got to Santiago and now they say it has disappeared. Ahh crap. To make matters worse when I got to town I walked all over looking for my hostel becuase the taxi driver dropped me off too early. On top of that I got sick and threw up all the meat I was served on the plane The only thing I can add to this cra http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-49829.html And She's Off again Having settled in the Bay Area for almost 2 YEARS I know my roots were a little difficult to pull up this time around. But with the freedom of travel on the horizon I look forward to the anticipation of what's to come and the adventures to be had. Packing tying up lose ends...There never seems to be enough timeScramble scramble scramble.Goal 1 to sip some Chil http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Irvine/blog-48940.html