Route 40 Bariloche to El Chalten

So we begin our ride with a short trip to a little hippie town know as El Bolson about 2 hours south of Bariloche. Up to this point we had no idea what to expect except for many Argentinians that told us that it was exactly like the hobbit town from "Lord of Rings". We both really excited to see what it was like and had been told by many other travelers that it had been one of there favorite places. So we got there, only staying for not even 24 hours but through the night we again had not booked anywhere. So as we got of the bus looking like lost tourist we were approached by an older man that said hey you need a place stay? You can come stay at my house and really experience the true El Bolson. And he said he would even take us there. Kent and I both looked at each other thinking this guy was crazy and that we weren't about to go to this strangers house. Well it turns out that this guy is in Lonely Planet and he has built a couple of little cabins on his property right at the edge of town just for travelers, jut like he once was.

So after about a minute of discussion we decided to gamble and see what the true El Bolson is like. What the hell you only live once. So Agustin Porro drove us to his humble abode called "Casa del Viajero Agustin Porro". It was a cute cabin and we even got our own room. We decided to take a walk into town and crossed a very old handmade bridge and had some really great ice cream at "Jauja" the only place. Then headed back to relax at the cabin. Kent actually fell asleep in a hammock outside with the chickens running around him. Later I was reading and this lady walks past me humming her favorite song as she is picking apples off the ground from her apple tree in the garden. I felt like I was in a ferry tale. Anyway there is also one of the best Artisan Fairs in the country held there on Sundays which we missed because we had to catch our bus. Oh Well

So just to give you an idea of how far we are traveling in a bus in two weeks here is a map and Buenos Aires our starting point is not even shown but would be at the upper right hand corner.

Route 40 is the longest road of nothing I have ever experienced. We were also in a great brand new bus that had air conditioning and flat screen TV I'm guessing to make the drive a little more comfortable, but they were never used the entire trip. 12 hours the first day with the first quarter of the ride on paved road and then the rest gravel .We stayed in a town "Perito Moreno" which is only one street that is 10 blocks long.

The next day we get work that the bus has a flat tire and it is Sunday so they can't find anyone to fix it. We sit at our hostel for 3 hours and finally they arrive. We get on the gravel road and everything is going great and then we stop for some gas and the driver tells us "well we never found anyone to fix the tire and are driving on the spare right now" Even though we have been out in the middle of nowhere for a day he says "I don't want to drive the next portion without a spare because we will be out in the middle of nowhere for a long time" And I am thinking what the hell would you call where we have driving for the last day. So all of us are left at this run down old gas station with only a single house in sight in the middle of the desert in blazing hot 98 degrees. Looking back it would of been a great start to the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" only in South America this time. So we sit for 3 hours with a couple of younger folk bonding while asking each other "would you rather" questions. Yes we have discovered that this is a world wide craze and is a great way to break the ice with complete strangers. We found ourselves playing this game in Peru as well. Anyway to make a long story short we arrived into El Chalten around 2am about 4 hours late, and glad to be off the bus from hell and the gravel road. Kent and I have never been so bored in our lives. So take some advice and do not go this route unless it finished being paved. Which probably won't be done for a long time.

Oh so the story about the armadillo. The tour guide on the bus yells stop to the bus driver and we see the guy jump out the bus and run accross the street in the blaze of glory not knowing what the hell he is doing, he catches an armadillo in the wild. So he is pretty cute and he was scared shitless and litteraly he was because he shat all over himself.

San Carlos de Bariloche

So we arrive at Bariloche again with no hostel reservation thinking that it would be easy being that is a bigger city. Well not so much. We eventually found a nice little room at grandma's house. At first we thought that it would do for the night and after looking at our options we decided that grandmas house was a wonderful place. Plus how could anyone say no to a cute old lady like herself. Well to describe this place, it's another pretty bigger city that doesn't need a lot of devoted time unless you can't handle the wilderness and it's not snow season. We chilled out and tried some famous chocolate "Mamuska" (very good but still isn't as good and Chris Elbows chocolate in Kansas City) there is an entire street dedicated to artisans chocolate shops. Dad you would love this place. And we got to watch hordes of people buying tons of boxed chocolates for Valentines Day. Kent and I both agreed that Valentine's Day is a little overrated now that we are married. Ha people keep telling us that changes after 10 years of marriage. I don't know the polls are still out, all you long time married folk will have to let us know on that one.

We went to a highly recommended restaurant that brought out our food literally, no kidding, 4 minutes after we ordered. That's fine dinning in Argentina. But they did a have a free Tango show going on and Kent got to strut his stuff with the lovely lady.

Also Bariloche is supposedly where the St Bernard's are popular and people stand around in the main square whoring there dogs and puppies out for pictures. They are beautiful dogs but Kent and I, being the dog lovers we are, decided not to support this type of behavior. So we reserved our puppy dog talk and faces as we walked by, that was very difficult for me to do.

This lovely place is also the crossroads for the final decision on how you will travel further south to Calafate. There is a lot of nothing after this for a long time. You have three options: 1) fly to Calafate being the most expensive but the fastest 2)Take a bus east across the country to the coast then down to Rio Gallegos and then back west across the country 26 hours to Calafate. This being cheap and the most common way 3)Take a bus straight down Route 40 which is supposidly famous but a gravel road and with no service almost 3/4 of the way but cheap. So which number feels lucky............ well we went with #3. So tune in later for the adventures of that one. Until then enjoy the 2 pictures we took in Bariloche. Chau for now.

Route de Siete Lagos to Villa La Angostura

This drive is so beautiful, and is the only way anyone should travel to get to Bariloche. If I were to do this trip again I would plan to get on and off the bus at all the different lakes. Each of them have great camp sites and beautful scenery, and it seems easy to do. You just have to have an up to date bus schedule so you know when the buses will pass buy and you just flag them down. You can also stay in these little hostals along the way that look great as well, but it is advised that you check availablitiy before you get there. So next time we will camp for sure, who would like to come with?

All the little lakes surrounded by the mountains, it is just so beautiful, make sure not to fall asleep on this one. After 3 hours of the great scenery we arrived to a small mountain town called Villa la Angostura. Smaller than San Martin, but very nice! It is in the Southern part of the province Neuquen and on Lago Nahuel Huapi(a huge lake). It has been built up for the tourist but still remains very cute. This whole area is a popular get away not only for foreigners but all South Americans. We met a lot of Argentines and Chileans on vacation. We could only find a place to stay for one night so this was a short stay but a nice one. We stayed in a popular hostal that was desinged to house many backpackers, not like the last one. So Kent and I had to sleep in seperate rooms because they did not have mixed dorms. So the newlyweds slept seperately for the first time in our married lives. Ha!

The next day we walked to the peninsula (3 km) planning to take a boat out the the end and then hike back through what is called ¨Bosque de Arrayanes¨. It´s a national park with these really cool trees that are old and one of a kind. We ran into this family from Chile that need two more people to complete this boat trip that was going to be cheaper than taking the bigger traditional boat out there. Not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into we said sure and gave them some money, hey they seemed like nice people. We followed them and then two girls from Buenos Aries who were also on our boat, bought us all of our Park entrance tickets for $13 dollars cheaper. (If you are Argentine everything down here is much cheaper to get into parks, museums, lakes, ect.) So, so far so good! We boarded the small boat and began our 45 min ride out to the end of the peninsula. It was very nice, we passed some ski resorts and a couple of nice ranches and then arrived to the distination. The good thing about doing this is that we didn´t arrive with all the hords of tourist on the big boat so it wasn´t as crowded while we were walking around. Big Plus! The trees were cool some of the oldest were around 500 years old. Wow! Then we started hiking back (13km). Taking pictures of huge bees feeding off the nectar of these pretty flowers. It was pretty funny to watch Kent get really close and then all of a sudden scream and start running. Later I found out that Larry (his dad) is badly allergic to bee stings and Kent was never tested, so there is a possibility he is as well. I asked him if he thought that what he was doing was a good idea. No reply of course just another scream as I watched him run by me. I said wow I learn something new every day about my husband.

After three hours we arrived back and the pier had some lunch and couldn´t find a taxi or a bus so we had to walk another 3 km back to the hostal. We ended up catching a bus as 6pm towards the next stop, Bariloche. Chau Angostura!

The voyage to the end of the world part one: San Martin de los Andes

So the travels started off with a 19 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires, by far the longest either of us have experience. I highly not doing it unless you have to. Though we did manange to keep ourselves busy with sleep, movies, and cards. I also managed to buy tickets early enough so we got the front two seats in the top of the bus. So you have windows surrounding you and it feels like you are flying. Its a good spot for car sick people like Kent! We got served all of our meals on the bus and even wine and champaigne. Anyway we arrived in the afternoon to this beautiful mountain town, a lot like Aspen but with a huge lake ¨Lago Lacar¨, very cute and relaxing. With now where to stay yet, we finally found only after 4 tries ¨Hostal Seqouia¨. Yes there was a huge Seqouia tree out front and it had a double room just for us for $30 US a night. Very cute and it is not right on main street so it wasn´t so touristy. We dropped off our bags and off we went to explore.

We ended up stopping off and buying some chocholate and walking to the small beach that was over crowded with all the locals. It was Sunday so all the families were out relaxing and trying to stay cool in the 96 degree weather. So we sat down one little open spot that we could find under a tree and realized that buying chocholate was not the greatest ideas, as we licked the runny chocholate off the side of the bag. It was very good. If you don´t know this already the ¨lake district¨ is know for all the artasenal chocholate stores.

We went to have a beer at a cafe and met our first friend! Great guy named Steve from S.M. who is a spanish/english teacher at the school. Kent practice speaking spanish with him as I practice listening and understanding! Then he invited us back to his house for a glass of wine. So we went. He was very interested in our travels and showed us a lot of things to do in the area and just reasured us on a lot of our plans. We told him to look us up if he got to the states and we would return the kind wine at our bar. We told him where we were going to ¨La Tasca¨ for dinner and he said he knew the owner and that he would call them for us. Great food for a pretty good price. Everyone knows everyone in this town. It felt a lot like home here, with the people, the friendlyness, and the laid back attitude. It is a definate stop if you get to Patagonia.

Monday the next day we took an hour hike to this ¨mirador¨ look out point of the lake. A litte further through a small village there was a rocky beach with only a few people and the clearest water I have ever seen for a lake. We chilled out for a couple of hours went swimming and got some sun. Don´t forget sandals for this place because the rocks are hotter than hell. That night was a chil night with a pizza and a bottle of wine at our cute little hostal.

Tuesday we went to a Canopy zip line for some flying lessons. It was great we took a cab out to the middle of nowhere, and at one point the cab just turned off the road onto this dirt path and started driving straight. It didn´t even look like a road. Kent and I looked at each other and we both had a look on our faces like ¨where the hell are we going¨? We got there and there were a total of 10 lines the longest one being 250 meters. We were going through trees and flying pretty fast. Our guide cuka (a Rich B. look alike, no joke Rich I thought you were hanging out with us) was great he spoke the little english that he knew and told us about the trees and environment here. It was lot of fun and something different for both Kent and I. Andrew and Mason if you ever do open a Zip line in Colorado I want to work for you!

At about 5:30 we said our goodbyes to San Martin and we were off on ¨Route de Siete Lagos¨ to Villa La Angostura.

Taken back in time with the Inca Trail

So after 4 connections and 24 hours of plane time we finally arrived in Cusco on Friday 4th. We had to spend the night in Santiago's airport. Fun times. So Cusco is a beautiful place but the closest to a third world town that we have ever seen. The streets are cobble stone or mud and the buildings of course are very old. Kent and I felt right at home with the mountains and the greenery. Our hostel cost us $18 dollars a night and was beautiful. We met up with our friend Andrew from Colorado and got right to exploring. We went out for dinner at this amazing restaurant and had Alpaca Steak and the coolest dish of the night was bananas wrapped in bacon. I now it sounds weird but you should try it! We ended up getting a hell of a dinner for around $30 dollars for all three of us. One of the most interesting dishes they serve here is called Kuy (Guinea Pig). We haven't had it yet but will not leave the country without trying it! We be sure to show you a picture of that one.

So the most interesting and unbelievable parts of Cusco was hiking the Inca Trail. This is absolutely, hands down the coolest thing Kent and I have ever done, besides of course getting married. This 4 day trek literally took us back in time and allowed us to follow in the same footsteps as many of the Inca's did some 500 to 1000 years ago. The history, symbolism, and meaning of their life was just beautiful to see and experience. I would recommend this trip for all ages at any time in your life. Just to give you a brief description of the trek and then I will just show you photos to explain the rest. We trekked for 4 days a total of 27 miles, 3 passes, and camped in the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The first night we camped in the back of a small village with the donkeys, chickens, and tarantula's. The second night we camped out at 12,800 feet just below the first pass we had to climb the next morning. That night we saw more stars that we ever have, and for the first time the "Southern Cross". The 3rd night we camped at 12,200 feet right beside the tallest mountain "Salcantay" standing at an enormous 21,000 feet. We stayed in Aguas Calientes on the fourth night and returned back up to Machu Picchu for the 5th day. The food was amazing and our guide Edison had 18 years of experience under his belt and taught us so many things about the Incas as well as the environment. We had 6 porters that carried everything (50 lbs) up and down these passes, RUNNING in sandals. These guys are beasts. The record time for a porter completing this hike with no weight is a little over 4 hours, insane right. On the 5th day we went back up to the ruins early in the morning and climbed Winapichu and then got a 4 hour of the ruins.

Well I could write a book about this trip. But I will just show you pictures for now.

The Orphans Christmas Party

So Christmas was a little different this year. We decided to invite all of our orphan friends from different countries that did not have family over to our apartment for a celebration. So I decided to cook a turkey, twice baked potatoes, and stuffing. Yes I did this all without my mom and grandma! Amazing isn't it. Okay so the potatoes weren't as good as moms and grandmas, but I do cook one mean turkey so we found out. I couldn't believe it but we found a 11 lb turkey at the grocery store along with whole pigs right next to them. We decided the whole pig was a little much. But we invited our friends from Sweeden over as well as Rob from San Fransisco and Fitz from New York and had a hell of a time. After dinner it ended up a drinking fest imagine that, oh here is the kicker, Christy passed out on the bed at 2am and the rest went out on the town till 7am. Yeah can you believe it. It must of been all that hard work in the kitchen. So even though we missed everyone in the the states for the holidays we had a great Christmas.

What "Parilla" looks like

So we went to this "Parilla" which means grill or steak place with our Spanish School. The name of the place was "Pena y Colorado" very fitting for us right. Well we experience our first true meat in Argentina and here is the presentation. It just comes out on a little grill and they sit it right on your table. This is a parilla for two people. Holy shit is right. So you have all different cuts of the cow on here as well as grilled kidneys. There are two types of sausage and one is pink which is Charizo, and the other is black and that is coagulated blood. We tried all of them and not so sure I am a fan of Black sausage, the texture is just a little too weird. Yah and the Kidney's taste a little metallic. Happy Eating!