La vida porteña: June 2011

SO MUCH has happened since I got back from Iguazú-- only 2 weeks have passed and it seems like forever ago!
It all started when I made the decision to join a group of 7 fellow IES students on a trip to Patagonia for the weekend, buying my plane ticket only two days in advance! My sister Brittany was still arriving on Sunday morning, so I made arrangements for a friend to hang with her for the day until I returned that evening from my weekend excursion.

The flight to Patagonia and Rio de Janeiro was about the same length (around 3 hours), so we arrived in the El Calafate airport around 10:30 in the morning. From there, we took a small shuttle bus to the town of El Chaltén (trekking capital of Argentina) where we would spend the next two nights of our trip. It was clear when we arrived that we were basically the only tourists staying there; in the winter seasons, even the locals empty out and go north to escape the normally freezing, rainy/snowy/windy weather. Probably only a third of the population was still there, so it seemed like somewhat deserted. We stayed in two small cabins, complete with our own kitchen! The rest of the time that day was spent getting hiking boots and crampons (strap-on metal shoe spikes used to walk on ice) for our long hike the next day, as well as hike a shorter trail to get a glimpse of the town from the surrounding mountains. We made it to two lookout points, and the view was absolutely incredible!! That night, we shopped at the local grocery store and made ravioli for a group dinner. Yummy :)

The next morning, we were greeted at 7am by our guides Nacho and Jesse. We were equipped with backpacks filled with lunch and extra layers, and some of us had headlamps to see the dark trail (the sun doesn't rise in Patagonia until 9am in the winter). After we got going into the wooded foothills of the mountains, you could see so many stars! We were definitely heading into the wilderness. When the sun finally started rising, we could see an orange glow coming over the Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy Mountains, just like in the postcards!! In front of us was a frozen forest- all of the tree branches were bare and twisted from the extreme winds, and also covered in huge, flat ice crystals! The way they sparkled in the early light was breathtaking.

Next, we reached a river where we had to hang from a rope that stretched across (using a harness) and pull ourselves across! This was the beginning of the Cerro Río Fitz Roy that we had seen coursing around the town. The water was so clear and almost turquoise-- and tasted fantastic!! After the river crossing, we had the hardest part of the trek ahead of us. One by one we hiked slowly up the Cerro Solo into the forest, where we had to watch out for frozen rivers where we could possibly (and did!) slip and fall. At one point, we were nearly being pushed up an 80-degree incline, avoiding a frozen stream AND extremely prickly bushes :( The last and final test before reaching the glacier was carefully walking across a sloping mountain covered in a rockslide!! We were terrified everytime a rock moved and we lost our footing, peering down into the freezing water below. After making it past one more frozen river, we stopped at the foot of Glacier Grande to strap on our crampons and get ready for the ice-trekking adventure!
The ice was nothing like I'd expected-- it was covered in huge ridges and almost turquoise in color besides the parts that were covered in rock deposits. In order to walk correctly on the ice, we had to stomp down flat instead of walking heel-toe like normal. Also, our guide tried to tell us to center our balance around our navel, but instead he said nipple!! Oops....

After a some walking around and exploring some smaller glacial caves, we settled in a bowl-shaped area where we sat to have lunch!! The walls were basically vertical though, so the guides taught us how to ice climb!!! We hooked up our harnesses to an anchor one of the guides set at the top (after free-climbing the wall-crazy!) and used 2 ice picks and our metal dagger shoes to climb. It was SO hard but 3 of us made it to the top (one being me!!!) After finishing our bagged lunch, we trekked back to where the glacier met the mountainside, took off our crampons, and began the trek home. My muscles were screaming at this point, but we were motivated to go quickly so that we could get through the hard terrain before the sun went completely down and we couldn't see. When we made it back to the final trail, we got to watch one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen turn the mountains and clouds a rosy orange-pink. It was a great ending to the day. Twelve hours after we had started that morning and dark once again, we returned exhausted to our cabins, ate, and passed out asleep.

The next day we decided to to a smaller trip to see Laguna Capri, which was about a 3-hour hike there and back with mixed uphill and downhill trails. I was down for anything easier than the day since I could barely lift my legs to climb the stairs that morning!! Ouch.
It ended up being completely worth it, and we got to see the Fitz Roy reflected on the smooth surface of the frozen lake. Once we got back, we packed our things and headed on a bus for El Calafate, our next and final destination for the trip.

We arrived in our hostel around 9pm so we didn't do much that night, but the next morning we woke up early so we would have time to see the famous Perito Moreno glacier before our flights that afternoon. Perito Moreno is a huge part of tourism in Patagonia, and it is the 3rd largest freshwater source in the world!! We're talking 97 sq. miles of glacier... or 19 miles long and an average height above water of 240ft!!! We took taxis to get to the Glacier National Park, and got there just as it started to snow! The taxis weren't exactly the best for driving in the weather so it was a little scary driving on the winding roads towards the glacier but we all made it just fine! The glacier is on top of the Lago Argentino, which has beautiful turquoise water that stretches for miles. We couldn't stop taking pictures- it was an incredible sight!

I left first for my early flight, only to get to the airport to find that all flights for that day (and probably the next) would be cancelled!!! :( The Puyehue volcano located in the middle of Argetnina's neighboring country Chile had erupted after 50 years of being dormant!! The resulting ash cloud from the eruption was being blown east across Argentina, blocking flights between the north and south. Some ash even made it to Australia in a matter of days! Our group tried anything we could to get back to the city by plane, but after hearing they might not leave until Friday we finally had to buy bus tickets to BA... aka over a 40 HOUR TRIP! On Tuesday we packed our things, ran through town buying crafts (paper, glue sticks, puzzle/coloring books, connect four, etc.) and food (mostly wine) to keep us busy for the next 2 days. The result was a trip I'll never forget-- making playdoh figures, paper animal hats, coloring pictures and solving brain teasers until we arrived in the city on Thursday morning. The effects of the ash cloud were not yet dramatic in the city, but it looked like everything was covered in a layer of dust, and people were wearing SARS masks! So strange.

It was nice to finally see my sister (she had patiently waited 4 days for me to arrive) and hear all about her adventures in the city by herself, mostly to find tango lessons :) I was excused from class for the day, so I spent Thursday and the rest of the weekend trying to show her my favorite things about Buenos Aires! We visited the Recoleta Cemetary, La Flor, the parks of Palermo, had an asado and wine dinner, explored the San Telmo outdoor fair, saw a Tango show and had chocolate and churros at the famous Café Tortoni, and visited a few confiterías (pastry shops) and heladerías (gelatto/ice cream shops) along the way!

Sunday we decided to make a trip to the Luján Zoo, which is one of the most famous and controversial zoos in the world. Here you can pet lions, tigers, bears, and elephants, climbing right in the cages with them! We even got to hold baby lion cubs that were 25 days old!!! It definitely made my Lion King dreams come true to finally hold Simba :) It was so weird to see people interacting so closely with the animals, but they didn't look like they were being maltreated, but more like extremely domesticated. It was a very interesting and cool experience, even a little scary when you're right up next to a tiger and realize how big its teeth are!

Once the week started again, Brittany spent her days exploring and shopping for tango shoes while I started to prepare for my finals next week. I can't believe I have less than two weeks left... all of the sudden the time flew by! We're making big plans for the weekend to help Britt see as much as she can before she leaves, and on Sunday I'll be attending an Argentine National soccer team match!!! I'm so excited :)
Until next time...
Besitos!
Taylor