Quick update

Hey everybody. We hope the holidays have been good to you. Jer and I just got back from 6 days of camping in Torres del Paine national park. It was way too much amazingness to describe right now. However, we will post more details and pictures soon. Here's a preview of stories to come: trekking across a giant glacier, six days with no shower, way too much dehydrated food, hiking by snow-capped mountains in t-shirts, "the towers" all to ourselves at sunset, and SVELTY!

Now, we're off to gorge ourselves on pizza, beer, and ice cream. Mmmmmmmmmmm....

Una foto vale mil palabras...

(a picture is worth a thousand words)





This is a view of Ushuaia from the boat as we departed on our journey through The Beagle Channel.

Me and Jer on the boat


Sea Lions in their native habitat (not quite the same as San Fran's fisherman's warf) and a huge cormorant colony behind them.


Our campsite in Tierra del Fuego. Can you find our tent?

Some of the sights we saw during our hike to the Chilean border in Tierra del Fuego. Note the "Old Man's Beard" growing on a tree, and see if you agree with Jerica's last posting. :)

Summer Solstice Take 2

Yesterday we took a bus out to Parque National Tierra del Fuego, about 20 minutes outside of Usuaia. It was a bit rainy when we arrived and chose our campsite, but the drizzle, the mountains, and the lake made it all ok.

Fortunately, the rain stopped as we began our hike. Daves camera is currently filled with pictures of bunnies, which are an invasive species that seem to be taking over the area. We walked through ever changing forests along Lago Roca. The climate here is what our boat guide called "fridge climate", so there is no bacteria here. Therefore, all of the trees take forever to decompose. The trees are also covered with old mans beard, which we thought felt a lot like Daves beard. I did a blind test to see if I could tell the difference, and found out that no, I could not!

We ended up at an orange metal pyramid sort of thing covered with graffiti. We knew this hike went to the Chile border and were warned that if you attempt to cross, you could be arrested. However, the orange structure did not have any sign on it. We envisioned Chilean military hidden amongst the trees and decided to head back. After our hike, we found out that it was indeed the border marker.

This morning, we woke up to a gentle pitter patter of more rain on our tent, but it was nothing that stopped us from enjoying the day. We hiked a series of easy trails, one of which brought us up to a beautiful lookout point over a lake and the enterance to the Beagle Channel. We had a nice lunch up there with some things we brought: tuna sandwiches and dulce de leche with apples. Our bus back to Ushuaia wasn't quite so on-time (about an hour late) so we danced some lindy hop in the rain to keep ourselves warm.

Tomorrow we're heading to Puerto Natales and we just made reservations at a really friendly hostel, where they help you plan out your whole trip to Torres del Paine. We'll be spending 4 nights and 5 days camping amidst some of the most awe-inspiring nature in the world. This is also going to be the first time for both of us that we'll be away from our families for Christmas, and we'll miss them very much. We will, however, be bringing along an ipod with a tiny speaker so that we can play some cheesy christmas music in our tent, lest we forget to embrace the holiday spirit.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanza / Festivus! May the snow gods be merciful. hehe.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

... was about all we could say after our first bites of the famous Ushuaia king crab. Although earlier in the day we were only amused by their menu that had translations of items like jam and cheese omlets and paris coffee trout, they did have incredible crab. After much debate, we decided on one order of fresh, cold king crab with lemon and one order of hot, Provencal style crab. They both left us speechless, something that has occurred quite a bit since our journey began. Paired with a nice bottle of white wine, it was a royal meal.

The End of the World!!!

Greetings from Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world! We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, after a pleasant flight direct from Buenos Aires. The descent was absolutely beautiful, as we passed over the tiny islands and channels of southern patagonia. Ushuaia, itself, is a tiny town nestled in a little nook surrounded by the Andes. These mountains run north to south, creating the border between Chile and Argentina, except at the very south of the continent, where tectonic plates have caused them to run east-to-west.

After arriving yesterday, we checked into a very friendly little hostel, dropped our stuff off, and went for a hike up to a scenic lookout point just north of town. As we ascended, we noticed that the snow-covered mountains seemed to be getting closer and closer, and all of a sudden it was indeed snowing--quite the contrast from the muggy 80 degree weather in Buenos Aires we had experienced just earlier that day! However, all the precipitation in Ushuaia, be it rain or snow, only seems to last about five minutes at a time, so conditions cleared up soon enough.

From the top of this lookout point, we were treated to a marvelous panoramic view of the whole city and The Beagle Channel upon which it is situated. The Beagle Channel was made famous by Charles Darwin's book "The Voyage of the Beagle" and is a gateway to Antarctica, as well as many of the surrounding islands. Since the sun rises about 5am and sets about 10:30pm this far south, we had plenty of time to enjoy the view before hiking back into town.

Today, we went on a fantastic boat tour of the Beagle Channel, and tomorrow morning we're getting up early to go camping in Tierra del Fuego National Park, a short bus ride from Ushuaia. Saturday morning, we'll be departing on a 16 hour bus ride to a town called Puerto Natales, across the Chilean border. This town is the gateway to Torres del Paine national park, where we'll spend three or four days camping amidst beautiful lakes and gigantic granite towers carved out by glaciers. Originally we planned to leave here on Friday, but all the buses were booked up and we couldn't get a ticket for anything sooner than Saturday. Fortunately, this is not such a bad place to be "stranded" for an extra day so we have no complaints. :)

just call us captain jer and captain dave

Yes, that´s right, we both got the chance to "drive" a boat at the end of the world. Luckily, someone who knew where they were going was driving for 3 hours and 57 minutes of the 4 hour boat ride through the Beagle Channel. We were told by our tour guide, an energetic, informative, and enthusiastic woman from Norway named something like Gru, that we were extremely lucky to have the sunny, calm weather that we did. As we left the port in Ushuaia, we were surrounded by mountains that refused to give up their snow caps, despite the fact that it is summer. The mountains here are sharp and jagged granite. My personal favorite mountain, Olivia, looks as if it could be where the evil queen in any fairy tale resides. We enjoyed the sunny and chilly air from the top of the small boat as we headed towards the lighthouse. On our way, we saw 4 penguins searching for some chow. The lighthouse, although it is no longer in service, was very picturesque out there in the middle of the Tierra del Fuego waters. We also stopped at several small islands to observe the wildlife which included sea lions, coromanders, skewers and other birds. We docked at one of the slightly larger islands to go for a walk and were impressed with the environmentally friendly tourism that exists here. There was one small dock and one little dirt path on the island. We were asked to take nothing with us and stay on the path as to not destroy the plants. We agreed that it was a nice balance between being able to bring tourists to see these amazing sights, but still keep them in their original, awe inspiring condition. We learned about chocolate plants, which unfortunately do not actually grow chocolate, but smell quite a bit lke them. After learning about some of the plants, the indigenous people, and tasting some berries, we got back on the boat. On our way back to Ushuaia, we had some coffee liquor that was made by the captain, got a short history of Ushuaia, and had lots of opportunities for silly as well as beautiful pictures. Overall, an amazing ride with loads of interesting information, unforgetable scenery, and the freshest air I think we will ever breathe.

no time to waste

Hello argentina!!!! After many days in DC and some crazy moments of utter stress, I am finally here. Dave and I have officially begun the trip we´ve been planning for so long. After a nice little nap and a change into clothes I haven´t been wearing for 4 days, we are on our way to find some lunch. Or is it dinner¿ Or breakfast? Im not sure, but I know I am hungry. Thanks again for all the help in getting here. Buenos Aires here I come!