To the ends of the earth

April 23, 2008

Waking up on a bus is always hard. We travelled for 18 hours through Pantogonia to a town called Rio Gallegos where we hoped to catch a bus to Ushuaia (home of tierra del Fuego) but, found out there is no bus until nine in the morning, the next day. We have no choice but to grab a hostel for the night. The town itsef seems pretty laid back and it is pretty small. The main thing that sticks out is the wind. It would almost blew us over and from what we were told, it is like this all the time. THe wind even gets up to 145km/h. We are staying in a hostel called "El Cira" and its not so bad. It is family run and the family actually lives in the house amongst the travellers.


April 24, 2008

So, we travelled 10 hours this morning heading to the town of Ushuaia, the most southern city of the America's. The trip took us through Chile which was a nice surprise. Journeying through this part of Pategonia was pretty cool as there was quite a bit to see in this non forgiving climate. We could see pink flamingos in the the distance, thousands of sheep and cattle, a beautiful sunset, forests, mountains, a scary channel which we crossed by a ferry, and snow capped mountains in the distance. As we neared Ushuaia, the snow started coming down really hard. We still cant believe the snow followed us to this distant area. Chrissy is especially excited to be here as she has dreamed of coming here for many years. We are both so happy to be sharing this special experience. We are staying in a very decent and cheap hostel for the night and thinking of getting back on budget after the many setbacks.


April 25, 2008

We have finally slept in after quite some time, It was nice not sleeping on a bus. We decided to go for a nice long walk up to a scenic point up a mountain. It also gave us the chance to walk through the town of Ushuaia and see a normal days life at the end of the world. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with the occasional snow flurries. Even the the roads and trails were very wet from the the snowing we still managed to stay warm and walk for a few hours to the point. The mountains sides are covered with autumn coloured trees and snow covered peaks. The views were spectacular with the Chilean and Argentinian mountains surrounding us, the snow covered town, and the boats in the harbour. We are enjoying this town more and more.


April 26, 2008

Rude awakenings!! At two in the morning, one of the pipes from the kitchen above burst, which sent streams of water into our bedroom via the lightbulb and on to Chrissys face. We were both really startled and at first had no idea what to think. We had to change beds, our sheets, pillows, and help the owner figure things out. It was a pretty good laugh at three in the morning and at leaet we got to sleep in. We had heard so much about Ushuaia's national park that we had to go and explore. Everyone we talked to tried convincing us to spend lots of money and catch the tour buses into the park. Being as adventurous and stubborn as we are, we decided to find our own way. We jumped on a public bus (which no one ever mentioned we could catch) along with locals and got our own city tour and a ride close to the park for one dollar. Hitchhiking and walking the rest of the way ( dont worry mom's it's different here) we got to see the park in our own time without a bus full of tourists. The park itself is extremely large and since the leaves don't fall from the trees it makes for a colorful hike. With temperatures hovering around zero degrees and the snow crunching beneath our feet Chrissy and I made our way to the end of the world. Looking out into the never ending ocean we thought about how thankful we were to be to be here and to have this amazing oppoutunity. We gazed out into the distance before the cold winds kicked in and we headed back into town.


April 27, 2008

4:30am wakeup calls are tough. We headed off to the bus station to catch our ride out of Ushuaia to our next destination, El Calafate. This area is home to a very famous Glacier in Argentina. As our bus tried leaving their seemed to be something wrong and after two hours of waiting, we find out the breaks are done. After another two hours we finally get our money back but with still no solution on leaving this town. This bus was the only one leaving town as it was a Sunday. We tried hitchhiking, leaving on a plane, renting a car, and finding another bus to take us out. With absolutely no way out, we made our way back to the hostel for another night.

April 28, 2008

3:55am, our earliest wakeup time yet! Today we tried to catch a bus again to leave town, this time with a different company. And we succeded! It was an eighteen hour bus ride to Rio Gallegos and then another four to El Calafate. It meant a lot to have visited Ushuaia and we are hoping to return in the future except, next time we will come in the summer time.


April 29, 2008

Upon reaching our destination at one in the morning, the hostel workers were there to pick us up and take us to the hostels. This would be our first time sleeping in a dorm room but, at this time of night after a long bus ride, we could have slept anywhere. We woke early this morning to take a tour to the "Perito Moreno" glacier. The tour took us through the small town of El Calafate, past Lake Argentina and to the Glacier National park. The first glance at the Glacier from inside the park is memorable. The sheer size alone really surprised us as the height of the Glacier wall stood sixty meters high, five kilometers wide, and thirty kilometers long. The Perito Moreno glacier grows approximately two meters a day due to the constant snow fall from three different mountains that sorround it. We were able to take a boat ride to get even closer to glacier wall which was a nice treat. There were hikes that brought us to different view points and every so often you could see and hear the ice breaking off and crashing into the waters below. The tour itself was eight hours long and by the end we ready for a small siesta on the bus as we headed back into town. Once in town, we booked our bus ride to Buenos Aires. We met up with a guy named Andres who we originally met on the bus that broke down back in Ushuaia. Since it was dinner time we headed for a bite to eat and a few drinks. We got to know more of Argentinas history and way of life through Andres. He is a mellow guy who we hope will come and visit us back at home some day. After saying our goodbyes, Chrissy and I settled in at the bus station for a four hour wait and a fourty hour bus ride back to the city. The countdown to leaving Argentina has begun.


May 1, 2008


10:30pm and we just arrived back into Buenos Aires. The fourty hour bus trip was killer but we made it. We made our way to a hostel we stayed at a few weeks ago to pick up Henrys new credit cards (remember Costa Rica?). Once done, we decided to treat ourselves one last time to a great Argentinian steak dinner. im sure we looked and smelled like some bums but, we still chose a nice restaurant to eat and drink our last meal. It was delicious! We then caught a city bus to the airport and by this time we were dragging our feet from lack of sleep. The thought of a nice shower, fresh cleaned clothes, and a bed kept us going.


May 2, 2008

We arrived at the airport at three in the morning to catch the six o'clock flight to Rio De Janeiro. The flight itself was only fours long and we managed to get a couple hours of rest. As great as Argentina is, the long distance travellling really takes a toll on the body. We arrived in to Brazil with mixed thoughts as we have heard so many good and bad stories. After some good information at the toursit help desk we decided to make our way into Copacabana. This is a safe and good area to be in. The hour long bus ride took us through many parts of the city and allowed us to see how many parts of Brazil could be dangerous. Some streets were completly lined with graffiti and looking into to the Favella's made us curious, not that we would ever go there on our own but to see how these people actually live. Upon arriving to the famous Copacabana area we started to understand why this area is so popular. The beach itslef is teaming with things to do and the streets are filled with a variety of people. We found a hostel for $35 Riel (about $20 canadian) and we slept in a dorm that holds ten people. We didnt really do to much today as we are both so tired. It was really unfortunate that our hostel was extremely noisy. It was good for partying but not sleeping.

---

---