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I got home on Tuesday March 1st after a great 5 months in Argentina.  I accomplished my goal of improving my Spanish, as well as being able to have some wonderful travel adventures.   It feels great to be home, but not for too long as I'm off to China on the 22nd of March to visit my sis! 

Hanging out around Buenos Aires

My last month and my adventures with my last travel buddy.  Tatiana and her brother arrived last week, it was the first time Tat and I saw each other since three years ago when we worked as maids together in Yellowstone National Park.

We spent a little bit of time hanging out in Buenos Aires before heading off to Tatiana's friends house who she met during her year abroad in New Zealand.  Her friend's house is about a 30 minute train ride from the city, and is in an absolutely beautiful area. We have been taken in as if we were long lost cousins.

Every day we go out and explore the town of San Isidro and Beccar.  There is an incredible surfing spot where on a windy day there are so many colors in the water because everyone is out wind-surfing or kite-surfing.  Yesterday her friend's brother got married and as new family members we were invited to the first wedding, the church wedding is next Saturday, which we are also invited to.  This is one of the many wonderful aspects of the Latin American and Argentine culture; it is a very inclusive.   I don't know if we will be able to leave this wonderful home.

Esquel, Puerto Madryn and Puerto Piramides

Kai and I spent my birthday in Esquel just relaxing and hanging out.  It's not easy having your birthday on a Sunday in South America because everything is closed for most of the day, and slowly starts up again around dinner time.  We were staying at an amazingly located campsite two blocks from the main street in the center of Esquel.  It looked like it could have been someone's backyard that they turned into a campsite and added a hangout spot/kitchen area separate from their house.  

We took a bus on to Puerto Madryn to go explore the east coast of Argentina.

 Puerto Madryn is known for its amazing wildlife.  Unfortunately the whale season was over by the time we arrived and we couldn't figure out the tour system to make it work for our schedule, but Kai did get the chance to swim with two sea lions.

There was an incredible sunset on our last night in Puerto Piramides before heading back to Buenos Aires

Trekking to refugios

A few hours before going to bed Kai and I decided that we wanted to go trekking for two nights and three days, one of these days being Kai's birthday (we went from the 19th through the 21st).  Thankfully the woman at the hostel in El Bolson was incredibly helpful.  She told us where to begin the Azul Circuit and where and when to get the bus the next morning.  We ran to the supermarket, got our bags packed, and woke up very early the next morning to catch the 8 am bus to the trailhead.

We had a little mishap on the bus where the bus stopped outside what looked like his friends house. But his friend wasn't home. He came back on the bus, mumbled something incomprehensible in Spanish, took all the change off the bus and walked and than ran down the block.  About 30 minutes later he drove up in a new bus.  We all piled on and we were off again.  It turned out that we weren't the only ones doing this circuit as a little over than half the bus got off with us.

During the hike we were chatting with a German guy who was hiking and traveling by himself.  We ended up hiking all three days with him, and continually bumped into him in El Bolson.  And continued on to Esquel together as well.  

It had been raining for the past week and this was the first day that the rain had cleared.  Parts of the trail were very muddy.  Our first obstacle was a one person maximum bridge, it was quite the wobbly experience.  We hiked straight up mud paths and hiked down the face of a mountain. The refugios which are all over this region of Argentina are little huts on campgrounds, so you can choose to sleep in the hut or set up your tent outside.  They serve food and drinks, and have incredible wood burning stoves.

 This is the inside of Refugio Hielo Azul

 The glacier by Hielo Azul

The refugios are pretty hidden but yet the views from all of them were amazing!

The first 2 days were about 5 1/2 hour hikes and then the hike out the third day was a 3 hour hike.  Needless to say my legs were feeling the hiking, and I had a very hard time stepping on and off the sidewalk the next 2 days. But we saw some pretty beautiful scenery each day, and we were very glad to have been able to get out of the city and small towns for a few days.  

Wwoofing at Chakra Millalen

 Kai and I spent a couple of days in Bariloche where we met up with some friends from my Spanish class. Here are some pictures from Bariloche

 The buildings had the feel of a small swiss town.

 But we have spent the most time at a wwoofing site in El Hoyo called Chakra Millalen, which is about 3 hours south of Bariloche. We set up our tent in their field of lavender.

 The incredible mountain that was our view from the tent.

 We arrived on Jan. 7th, a Friday, and the next day we headed out on a hike with some of our new friends from the chakra (farm). Two of the girls that we hiked with needed to renew their visas by Sunday.  So we took a hike to cross the Chilean border.  There were great signs on the Argentine side, but the second we got to Chile we got lost at least 3 times before finally getting to the border patrol house.  We spent the night on the Chilean side and got back to the farm the next day - Sunday.

 Nacho, Sonja, Rochelle, Ezequiel, and Kai - our hiking group

 This one water crossing out of many on the Chilean side didn't end well for Rochelle and I as we both ended up with a wet foot.

 Ezequiel, Sonja and Kai - we took a boat on Lago Puelo to the Argentine border where we began and ended our hike.

 Back at the farm I had to capture Kai in his berry picking outfit on our first day of picking.

The farm

 Inside the common area - there were many ping pong games and communal meals in this room

 The woman who is washing dishes at the sink is Josephine who runs the farm with her husband Fabio and their 16 year old son Juan. Josephine is originally from Switzerland, but their family has owned this farm for 28 years now.  

 hanging out

 There was a lot of bread making in this wood oven made by Fabio.

 Josephine's birthday.

 Peeling Flava beans in the kitchen

 Making bread roles in the Panaderia

 We made 60 loafs of bread one day, and all the jams came from our berry picking in the morning

 On a rainy day we all sat together and gathered all of the dried oregano.

Every day we started picking or weeding at 8:30 and we done around 11:30/12.  Someone would go in early and start making lunch for everyone.  Siesta was until 5, when the full time wwoofers would go back to work.  The rest of us would continue in either reading, hanging out or going down for a swim at the river.  Dinner was around 8:30/9. Each meal was made up of what we could harvest in the veggie garden, everything was vegetarian. 

 On the last night we went to the Festival de Frutas Finas in El Hoyo - celebration of some amazing fruit, so many rasberries and cherrys.

 The massive parilla at the festival

  

This is the whole group that wwoofed on the farm.  It was a wonderful community of wwoofers.

This wwoofing experience expanded my respect for how much work goes into running a farm, and the appreciation for where food comes from.

Gas Strike

The night before leaving La Paz, 12/26/10, I was packing up to head out on my 2 day bus trip back to Buenos Aires, when we read on the front page of BBC news that there was a huge bus strike because the gas prices have just risen for the first time in 10 years.  Well I was hoping that miraculously my bus wouldn't be touched by this strike and would carry on like normal.  Sadly, as I walked up the hill to the bus stop I knew that I wouldn't be able to get back that day, and therefore would have to work on finding other ways to get back to Buenos Aires before Kai came down on the 30th.  All of the bus companies had signs in their windows that said "we aren't leaving today".  When I asked if anyone knew when they would be leaving I was giving the response, maybe Wednesday but no one was sure about anything.  Luckily, no one could come into La Paz either so there was space for my friends and I to reserve a room in the hostel for 2 more nights.  My friends left to Arequipa, Peru on the 28th, international buses began to run because they were planning on buying gas outside the country.  

I flew to Buenos on Dec. 29th.  Kai came in on Dec. 30th.  Everything went smoothly, and we have been meandering all parts of the city.  Headed off to Bariloche, Patagonia on Tuesday.

Salt Flat tour

We took a 3 day salt flat tour beginning and ending in Uyuni, Bolivia.  Here are some pictures from it.

 Emily in front, Lottie behind me, and Matt behind her.

 All four of us on Fish Island in the middle of the Salt Flats

 Piedra del Arbol - rock tree

 At the train cemetery; Bolivia used to have a great train system, but it no longer really exists.

 Our jeep and driver

 It was so windy on the second night.  This picture is from Lottie's christmas powerpoint card that she and Emily were both sending back to their family's to document their travels.