Last week, Nobuki and I began our adventure in Patagonia living mainly off of ham sandwiches and bananas. On Thursday we took the ferry into Buenos Aires and arrived in the city at about midnight. We thought we would walk to the airport where we were planning on staying the night to wait for our flight in the morning so with our backpacks on, we started in the direction of the port. About 200 yards into the journey, a guard stopped us and said, “don’t go that way. They will rob everything from you.” Ok, tragedy averted. We will just go back and catch a taxi we thought. Well, when we got back, the last taxi carried a lucky passenger to their destination. We were standing and looking pretty dismayed when a nice couple pulled up and “Oh, Chicos con mochilas, donde van?” Where are you going, kids with backpacks? I love free taxis. They took us to the airport and even gave us their phone number in case we ran into problems.

In most airports, you have to be sneaky to score a free night of lodging, but this one practically encouraged it. A guard saw us and I thought we were done for, but he just told us to go upstairs because it’s quieter. So we went and spread out our sleeping bags and crashed.

Finally, we arrived in Calafate on Friday. After walking around the town for a couple hours, we went back to the hostel and within ten minutes, someone said, “We’re going out, who wants to come?” So I went with a Canadian Girl named Amira and a guy from Argentina named Diego to eat and enjoy the night. I had such a fun time trying to speak Spanish with Diego. He didn’t know I understood a little and was telling Amira how pretty he thought I was, then I started laughing and called him out on it.

The next day, Nobuki and I took the bus to Parque Nacional Glaciares to see Perito Moreno, one of the largest and most dynamic glaciers in the world. The field of ice spreads for miles between two mountains and feeds a cerulean lake dotted with crystalline chunks of floating ice. I thought the glacier would be bluish white, but many parts of it were so brilliantly blue, they were almost violet. Perito Moreno is as much of an auditory experience as a visual one. You can hear the power of millions of tons of erosive force cracking and grinding like thunder. When a chunk breaks, it falls in slow motion toward the water, colliding with the wall in huge claps, and finally breaking the stillness with a splash ten stories high. The lake swells from the intrusion like visual sound waves and echoes throughout the valley for 5 minutes as the ripples reach obstacles like the shore or other floating discards from the glacier. We just stared at it in wonder for two or three hours, then caught a bus back.

The, we packed our things and bussed four more hours to a tiny town called El Chalten. It was created in 1985 to block Chile from another entrance to the National Park. The bus ride drove us over dirt roads most of the way and stopped midway at a desolate panaderia in the middle of nowhere. There was a guanaco, a small llama type creature numerous on the plains of Southern Argentina, just walking around inside the bakery. I went outside with my dulce de leche treat and watched the sun fall behind the foothills and paint the sky in haphazard impressionistic strokes of violet, rose, and dusty blue.

Nobuki, some boys I met from Canada, and I started walking around El Chalten at 11 pm trying to find a place to stay. It wasn’t difficult in this town that draws outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world. The only thing as numerous as hostels were bars and restaurants. The next day, we took a tour to another, smaller glacier, but this one we got to climb on. When we arrived at the meeting spot, there was Amira again. Small world. We hiked for two and a half hours, ate cookies, then zip lined across a river. Finally, we got to the glacier and tied crampons onto our feet. They are like angry metal teeth to grip the ice. It is hard to describe the alien landscape from atop the glacier. Little pools of sky blue, bridges of ice, sheer white cliffs, ridge after ridge of water captured in time.

That night, we met for dinner with the other people in our tour; three from Spain, Amira, and a newlywed couple from Buenos Aires. A girl from California and a local joined us, and then guess who showed up…it was Diego. We sat and talked and laughed for hours over our food and wine. Finally, at 1230, I had to go to bed because we had hiking planned for the morning. Diego offered to walk me to my hostel and when we got there he tried to kiss me. Oh South American men. “Por que no?” he asked with puppy dog eyes when I refused. I made up some story and just laughed when he was out of sight.

The next day, we hiked to see the famous Cerro Fitz Roy with its iconic silhouette as close to Patagonian’s as Mt. Fuji to the Japanese. The natives called it Cerro Chalten. The word means smoking mountain, due to the nearly constant cloud that hangs about the summit. Some people wait a week or two to see Fitz Roy on a clear day, but Nobuki and I had perfect weather. After a four hour, strenuous hike, you can see the peak rising above an opaque turquoise lake . Absolutely stunning. On our way down, I saw Diego resting against a rock.

I will finish this later. Much more to tell.

That evening we caught a bus back to Calafate and had another to Ushuaia at 4 in the morning. We didn’t see any point in getting a room for that night, but the hostel we stayed in before said we could use the showers. After getting cleaned up, I went into the living room and found Amira again as well as some english people, an Italian guy, some Argentines and some Spanish girls. It was St. Patrick’s day so we decided to go out at about 12:30 after they made sure I was well fed. I think I’m always going to have to find foreign friends from now on. It was so fun. We celebrated Daddy’s birthday too. You were not forgotten.

Then we rode for 12 hours over mixed paved and dirt rodes, passes through Chilean customs twice and finally made it into Ushuaia late the next night. Once again, we didn’t know where we were staying yet, so we walked around with some Germans until we found an open Hostel. The next day, we took a catamaran through Beagle channel and I completed a dream of seeing penguins in their natural habitat. They are just so funny, waddling around the rocks looking out of place until they glide gracefully into the water.

That night, we went to a hostel Nobuki knew about. The sign for the place was written in Chinese characters (Japanese writing uses these), so I don’t actually know what it was called. I was the only person not from Japan. What an experience. It is run by a tiny, 85 year old Japanese woman, and is equipped with a Japanese bath. They were so nice to me, but seemed a little confused as to why I was even there. I just pointed to Nobuki. I learned as much about Japanese culture as I did Argentine, but the best part was watching Nobuki speak Japanese and feel so comfortable. He said that the way I was feeling is how he always feels in Casa ACU. I respect him so much more now.

The next day, we took a taxi to Tierra Del Fuego National Park and met an older Scottish man named Allen. He hiked with us all day and bought us cake and coffee too. The park looks like a fairy tale world. I expected to see little gnomes wandering around the peat bogs and mossy trees. None showed themselves, but we did see more rabbits than I’ve ever seen before. Rabbit paradise! And they aren’t at all afraid of humans. Growth is so prolific that the well traveled trails are still carpeted with bright green grass that contrasts with deep blues and turquoises of still lakes. Everything is rimmed by jagged peaks dusted by an early snowfall. I kept comparing the Andes to the Rockies, but everything is differrent. Instead of evergreen pines and a thick layer of browning needles, the forest is made up of desiduos Lenga trees adorned with burrs, moss and those long tree beards you imagine in the swamps of Louisiana. The mountains themselves are as sharp and dangerous looking as sharks’ teeth instead of the crumbling boulders of the Rockies.

The next day, I went on a tour of some of the local lakes. After stopping at two to look around, we got out and began to hike for about two hours along the banks of Lago Escondido. In 1949, an earthquake changed water levels leaving hundreds of Lenga partially submerged. Because of the cool climate, their skeletons are still preserved as tall gray monuments to the quake. after the hike, it was another fairytale experience. In the forest, we arrived at a table filled with food and drink next to a warm fire. I spoke to a German lady named Gila the whole time and she told me about her experiences in India as a young woman. She saved her money, and was going to Antarctica as a 50th birthday present. Ushuaia is the Southernmost city in the world, so it is the gateway to these sorts of expeditions. Then, we canoed in the lake to our hearts content and returned at 8:30 to our respective hostels. I have a place to stay in Germany now, if I ever make it to Europe.

class time…more later

The next day, Nobuki went diving in Canal Beagle and saw king crabs. I don’t have a license so we were split up again. There’s a glacier close to Ushuaia as well so I thought I’d go see that. It’s 12 km’s from the centro and in the fashion of my Dadaw, I said to myself, “More time than money.” and started walking. It was a beautiful way to see the city from above with mountains all around and Canal Beagle in front. I did get a few strange looks though, and taxis kept slowing down hoping to get some pesos. Once I got there, another steep hike of a couple km’s takes you on trails up to the glacier passing by icy mountain streams. The glacier itself is pretty lame compared to Perito Moreno, but the hike was beautiful. I started walking back down the street when it got cold and windy. Dang. Then it started to rain. I was forced to throw up my white flag of surrender and stick out my thumb.

A nice couple from Ushuaia picked me up, gave me pastries and mate, and talked with me the whole ride down. “Estas sola?” Are you alone they asked. “Viente anos?” And only twenty years old? they thought this was very strange. I couldn’t remember the name of my hostel for good reason, so I asked them to drop me off at a place with good coffee. The left me at a chocoloteria and I walked in a bit confused, but they did have coffee. While I sipped my espresso largo, my mouth watered at all of the artesanal treats behind glass counters. Just when I thought I would have to break down and buy at least one bon bon, the waitress placed a plate heaped with different flavors of chocolate on my table. People are nicer to you when you look lost and alone.

That evening, we hugged our hostel lady goodbye and flew back to Buenos Aires for another blissful night of airport sleeping. Then we boarded the ferry, and thats all folks. I guess it’s good to back to semi-regular life…….nah