honeymoon dia 43 – seattle

last day in argentina and south america. we headed to el tigre – a sort of weekend destination for the portenos of buenos aires. since it was a monday, we figured it’d be less crowded.

we took the subte to the estacionomente del tren for the journey out to el tigre, about an hour NW from BA. the tren was quite warm – no open windows and lots of people + 90* temps. at least we had some entertainment when various people would run through the cabins either selling stuff, or like the one guy, singing songs for tips.


we exited the warm tren and proceeded to walk the town of tigre. very nice rowing center there. as we headed over towards the fruit market, which really wasn’t much of one on this monday, a guy approached us with a sales pitch for his boating tour service. nice guy. good product (do it for your wuhman). pretty helpful. he didn’t sell us anything, but recommended that we take the municipal boat – basically a bus/boat that takes people to their residences along the river delta and drops off a few tourists at restaurants and other various locations scattered amongst the waterways.


pretty sweet deal it turned out to be. the driver was amazing at dropping off passengers at all these random docks (try parallel parking a 50’ long catamaran 30 times). we got off at a restaurant dock and walked some paths. to where they led, we were not sure. but, we only had a few hours, so we walked for a bit, then ate lunch at a very reasonably priced restaurant. we shared chorizo and 1L of cerveza (stout) in the umbrella-protected warmth of the 90* sky. good salad too. kind of a nice closure on our trip. very peaceful. relaxed. beautiful. the random cat sitting in the netting above us was icing on the cake.





back to the dock we went to wait for the boat, which came every hour. dangled our feet in the brown waters of the river (which our one sales-pitch-guy said was “not polluted and good for the skin”) and admired our winter tan lines created by our sandals.



the tren back wasn’t as warm – less people. needed to get some cash for our final taxi ride to the airport. and that was it. no crazy ride or anything, just a normal exit. surprised the taxis have to pay at the toll booths here, but apparently that’s the way it rolls.

the airport was a mess. impossible to tell what line you should wait in because of a pan-am line for mexico. eventually we got it right and then after several annoying stations through customs, we just made our flight. same was true when we landed in washington DC and its customs shenanigans. 18 hours after leaving BA, we touched down in a snowy seattle. hollywood picked us up, and life in south america was now over.


average costs:
roundtrip tren ticket: 5 pesos ($1)
roundtrip subte ticket: 2.5 pesos ($.50)
roundtrip boat ride: 16 pesos ($4)
all photographs: https://picasaweb.google.com/mlh4480/HoneymoonDia43

note: i hope to have a reflective blog post in a few weeks about the trip. right now, recovering from hip surgery. i've also uploaded all videos to youtube now, so please check out: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikesutube4?feature=mhee

honeymoon dia 42 – buenos aires

another late start to the day – customary in this part of the world apparently. we headed out for market day. all kinds of markets. big ones too. lots of people shopping. lots of unique products. we didn’t buy of course, but it was nice to look. always helps to have helado too.



then, on to the la boca neighborhood, where tango apparently originated. lots of shops and colorful buildings. thousands of people hanging out too. a very busy area this weekend day. as you walk the streets, you see various tango dancing couples. we watched for awhile, then ate (with our own restaurant entertainment of dancing, singing, and more), then watched some more tango as we left the neighborhood.




back to the hostel, and then out to an american sports bar to watch the 2nd half of a lousy packers’ playoff game. note-to-self: don’t care about sports teams.

average costs:
tango viewing: free, sans donations
bar entrance/food fee: 40 pesos ($9)
all photographs:

honeymoon dia 41 – buenos aires

the first go around in BA was not that great for me. too many people. too much traffic. too much diesel. this time, it fared much better. probably helped to have a weekend day in town when all the locals were gone or siesta-ing.

first, our hostel was way nice. great bed. 16ft high ceilings. big open airy space in the center of the building with the rooms surrounding it. and probably the best or second best bathroom facilities of the trip. a perfect way to end. and, our host was way helpful.

today, we first hit up casa rosada – the house of the president. they were celebrating argentina’s bicentennial with free admission, so we did not pass that up. we took a tour with a bilingual guide, so it was quite informative.

we then headed off to the ecological reserve located on the rio de la plata (the huge river exiting the amazon at BA). apparently there’s wildlife here and in the two embedded lagoons, but if there was, we didn’t see it. instead, it just seemed like a large park for locals to walk through and find places for a siesta. pleasant enough, but my hip was really hurting this day.


from there, we walked across a bridge designed by famous spanish architect santiago calatrava – puente de la mujer (bridge of the woman). the artistic design of the bridge is meant to reflect the dance of the tango. coincidently, a group of 5 girls and 5 guys were on the bridge doing a photo shoot --- for what, we have no idea.


next, we watched some tango in a little plaza near the bridge and then headed to a newly opened museum. well designed for sure, but just a lot of reading to do (all in spanish), so not as rewarding to us non-fluent travelers.


came out of there and watched the flag of argentina be ceremoniously lowered – only a few feet from where we had randomly selected to sit.


back to the hostel. cleaned up. headed out to eat per the recommendation of our hostel host. it was far longer to get there than anticipated. the steaks were tremendous, but we didn’t finish eating until after midnight (the restaurant was still packed at that hour; babies in strollers, 2 year olds all awake). we headed for a nearby dance club for some tango, but it turned out they were playing more american music with a high entrance fee. combined with my hip pains this day, there was no dancing to be had for us – a disappointment for sure, especially for carrie. we’ll have to make up for it in seattle...

we somehow figured out a bus back to the hostel (20 minute ride), and collapsed when we got back.

average costs:
awesome steak dinner: 80 pesos ($18)
museums: free
all photographs: https://picasaweb.google.com/mlh4480/HoneymoonDia41

honeymoon dia 40 – buenos aires

today was a tweener day. we needed to be at the ushuaia airport at 4:00p for our flight to buenos aires, but wanted to be a little active as well. carrie’s IT band didn’t like her too much, and my feet still could use a break, so we did some walks around town.

first, we hit up a lagoon in town. en route, we pulled out our map and looked to see which way to go. a friendly local came over and asked where we were going. we respond: a la laguna del diablo. he pauses, shakes his head, and says “no hay nada,” meaning, there’s nothing there. still, after laughing, he pointed us in the direction carrie was intending to go anyway, and we parted.

at the laguna, we spotted the rare, beautiful cerveza dolphin. several of them actually.


then, we headed up a trail not too far from the laguna, hoping to find a viewpoint of the town. up and up. no obvious spot. so, we head out, walk down the road, and come across a potential viewpoint. good enough we guess. 3 minutes later, a tour bus pulls up, lets out 20 passengers, and they glance at us and then look out over the viewpoint. i guess we found it. too funny.



walked back into town. photographed some lupines. played on a highly metalize swingset with swings that make you feel like a geriatric, and pressed on. my hip was hurting quite a bit, so we stopped for a bit and carrie worked on me. then, off to museum of a former prison. too pricey for the time we had remaining in the day, so we decided to call it good, grab our stuff, and head to the airport.



the waiting area at the airport was confusing. eventually we found the right line to stand in and were on our way. adios 5am – 11pm daylight hours found here at 55* south latitude.

instead of taking the 2+ hour bus into buenos aires from the airport, we opted to get a taxi since it was 11pm. our driver = nuts. i’ll try to paint the picture, but it will never do our ride justice.

the taxi driver is a mid 40s argentine male, with shoulder length blondish hair. seems low key enough. music playing is 80’s american soft rock. no seat belts. the second we close our doors, the race begins. he’s just hammering. easily double the speed of all other traffic on the road. 7-lane wide roads simply means he doesn’t have to turn as sharply on corners; nah, just cut through all 7 of them. and when the slow driver in front of us is doing the same thing, just gun it and take him on the outside! best yet is accelerating from 120kmh, cutting lanes, all while all the traffic in front of you is braking because of the red light 100ft away.

half the time, it looked like the driver was falling asleep whenever i’d catch his eye in the mirror. we arrived at the hostel without a scratch. i told him “Ud. viaje muy rapido, no?” he smiled, laughed, and said something i didn’t understand before taking off. somehow, i wasn’t nervous during this drive. in a way, i knew that he was tuned into every one of his surrounding elements, much like a cyclist needs to be when biking through a city.

average costs:
laguna del diablo: free
viewpoint hike: free
all photographs: https://picasaweb.google.com/mlh4480/HoneymoonDia40

honeymoon dia 39 – ushuaia

called a cab for a ride to a trailhead this morning. 20 minutes and some bumpy roads later and we were at a random spot of a road with a gate. i guess this is where we go then?

we walked a road for a short while, paralleling the creek coming down from our destination glacier’s lake – laguana de los tempanos. the road was lined with thousands, if not millions, of buttercups. a fine way to start out a day. and the creek had a nice montana feel to it as well. the only downside was the muckiness of the trail in spots (compounded by my decision to wear sandals this day to prevent blister pains).


we crossed the creek using some cute ladder bridges, and the trail begins to climb steeply along a ridge. the forest here had the largest trees we’ve seen in patagonia and the crisp morning air made the hike feel like an autumnal excursion. like normal, carrie motored and i did my best to keep up. an hour or so later and we reached the lake. unlike most of our patagonia hikes, crowding was not an issue here.




we sat for a bit, explored the lake’s surroundings, and then decided to head up to a ridge to the west of the lake. some people take guided trips to walk on the glacier and up to the nearby summit, but we didn’t have the gear for that option – hence the ridge decision.


it turned out to be really enjoyable. super lush mosses and lichen covered the rocks surrounding us – the kind that when you step on it, it feel like you’re going to sink in forever. i picture these kind of plants essentially being the “start of life” for other plants.




also super awesome was this nice spiky ball of a flower that smelled like a blend of a pina colada and vanilla candles – except way fresher and purer. downwind of the flowers, you could smell the scent consistently for minutes upon minutes. quite a treat!


now, on the ridge, we rambled for awhile. great views of the glaciers on either side of us along with dozens of tarns left behind by a the receding ice. one of the tarns was so bright from the glacial silt that it seemed there were lights on inside of it.


enjoyed the top for awhile, knowing that we had some time to complete the rest of the trip and get back for the taxi pickup.


we took a different route down and walked around the topside of the lake to explore the many tarns where we saw a group of climbers that were somehow turned back on their attempt at the summit. not sure how. we dropped down the lake outlet to where we picked up the secret hidden high route trail to the valley east of us. quite a nice route actually, and it definitely beat going back down our trail for an hour and connecting at the trail junction for laguana encantada.


up and over we went. then down to the lake. we ran into a solo british hiker that was not very impressed by the “lagoon.” not sure what her deal was, but we enjoyed it, even with the clouds and light rain hitting us. it was interesting to see all the beaver dams on this lake and the destruction of the nearby forests. apparently, the beavers here were introduced from canada and are a real nuisance. reportedly, you can find them on the menus at the local restaurants too. earlier we had spotted one in a little pond. the little guy even slapped his tail on the water for us.



we hiked out and rested sore body parts in the creek (my feet, carrie’s IT band). made it back to the taxi pickup location where there was no taxi, and waited for awhile. like an hour. eventually called for one since it was clear our cabbie wasn’t coming.



returning to the hostel, we cleaned up and went out for some food. got ripped off this time, but at least the food was decent.



average costs:
taxi: 40 pesos ($9)
bottle of wine at restaurant: 40 pesos ($9)
all photographs: https://picasaweb.google.com/mlh4480/HoneymoonDia39

honeymoon dia 38 – ushuaia

an early shuttle bus (7am) picked us up from our hostel. down to the bus terminal where we loaded a larger bus for our 12hr journey to ushuaia at el fin del mundo (end of the world). en route, we transferred off of the large bus to another large bus which was coming from punta arenas. only our transfer wasn’t at a terminal, or a parking lot, or a meeting place. no, when the two buses saw each other on the long, empty road we were on, they pulled over to the side of the road, pointed at us and told us to transfer. middle of nowhere. awesome.

drove for a bit and then reached a ferry location. the ferry pulls in, anchors, and our bus drives onto it. not the most secure connection between ferry and dock, but somehow it works. the ferry filled up with two buses, several cars, and a few trucks. the strait of magellan stood between us and the land on the far side. pretty cool to think of two oceans meeting.



big waves (6-8ft) played into my general fear of wavy water, so it wasn’t the most comfy ride ever, but the views were nice and we even saw some swimming penguins and dolphins.


a few hours later we stopped at a random restaurant for a 30 minute break. people pour off the bus, order their food, and hope to get it before the bus leaves again. actually, the drivers are pretty good about making sure everyone gets back on the bus – thankfully – as we were among the last to order.

finally, arrived in ushuaia which is arguably the southernmost city in the world. it is also the most touristy spot thus far on our trip and quite a large city. well developed port industry, lots of shops along san martin avenue, and really just a lot of houses and buildings spread along the winding coastline. the cool part is that just in the town’s backyard are mountains with low elevation glaciers (~3000ft).


lots of colorful lupines too. at first, near bariloche, we thought we had seen all the lupine colors (purple, violet, white), but here, there were many more (red, orange, yellow, pink). who knew? not the same kind of lupines you find in WA’s mountains, but close enough to certainly be relatives.


we did the town walk thing, got some groceries, and had drinks and food at a cozy little pub. really good stout beer here (beagle fuegian).

average costs:
stout beer (1L): 15 pesos ($5)
sandwich at random bus stop restaurant: 12 pesos ($4)
all photographs: https://picasaweb.google.com/mlh4480/HoneymoonDia38

honeymoon dias 34-37 – torre del paine

well, after the big fire in the national park was put out, officials were quick to open it. an updated blog post said “the north part of the park is open.” not fully knowing what that meant, we went in person to find out.

we had planned to do the “W” trek – basically a couple of hikes strung together that form the shape of a W. each takes you up different valleys all leading to torre del paine (TdP). one sees a big glacier, another some lakes, another really nice views of TdP. two of the legs of the W were still closed when we arrived. at least the weather was spectacular that first day and we were able to do the “right leg” of the W.

most people do this leg as an overnight trip, staying at a refugio. we, despite not starting the hiking day ‘til after noon due to another bus ride from puerto natales, opted not to do that: 1) because it’s only 4 miles to the refugio and you’d sit there all day, and 2) it’s more fun sometimes to hike light and fast. and we did. carrie again rocketed off and passed people like they weren’t even moving. nice sharp valley walk with a gushing river and occasional nice forests.




like with fitz roy, the last section up to the really nice viewing area is chock full of warnings. stay on the trail! danger! stuff like that. cruised on up and, unlike fitz roy, had a nearly completely calm day to view this gem. after hanging out where everyone else did, we again broke a national park rule and went off the trail along this cool moraine ridge that paralleled the lake. awesome ridge. surprisingly exposed given that it was all sandy rocky moraine material.



got to a nice stopping spot and watched the hundreds of small waterfalls sheen down from the glacier above. much better view than the standard one. on the way out, we picked up an old trail and followed it to where it connects with the main one. sneaky national park management!



came back to town to start the second leg of our TdP trek – the northern part of “the circuit.” the other popular trek here is the circuit – basically walking around TdP through a series of valleys and occasional traverses. since this was our only other option available, we chose it!

kind of disappointing actually. you walk an old road for miles and miles. not that great of views. in fact, it’s 12km before you get to anything worth seeing. since our day was running late (bus + first hike + second hike), we lost motivation to reach the official camping area – campamento seron. so, yet again, another not so legal camp. given that we pitch the tent a few feet from where the cows have beaten in a path, there’s probably not too much impact.



our goal for day 2 was refugio dickson – a refugio at the junction of two valleys with a huge lake and a nice glacier view. only 22km to go. my feet weren’t happy with me again, so it was rough. so rough i declared the trail the “worst ever” – which in part is true due to the nature of the road walking to start and just how poorly planned it was. however, it did have some redeeming characteristics such as 5 miles of walking through endless fields of daisies. or the really bright green colors of these spiky bush plants. and of course the huge lago was good too. still, it was a tough day for me.




when we got to the refugio, we were pleasantly surprised by a showering facility. nothing elaborate. just some warm water and a waiting line where onlookers can watch you over the low hanging door. set up the tent and moseyed over to a nice little ledge looking over the large lago dickson with a large glacier hanging over it. as we made dinner, we marveled at the calmness of the lake given its size and the reputation of patagonia. 20 minutes later, the wind was howling and the lake had whitecaps. amazing shift in the weather here!




day 3 found me in a non-hiking mood because of my feet. carrie still had energy, so she headed off towards campamento los perros – basically a continuation of “the circuit.” 19 km total for the out-and-back. a nice forest, good perspective on nearby glaciers, and a little rain was reported back to me who lazily slept in the tent for most of those 6 hours.



packed up, and retraced our steps back towards the start of the hike. the trail wasn’t as punishing this time around, so maybe it was just fatigue and painful feet. this time, we actually made it to and stayed at campamento seron. the temps plummeted as we neared the camp. rain and sleet pattered the tent throughout the night. never very heavy, but enough to quiet down the otherwise inconsiderate fellow campers that wanted to talk all through the night.



the morning brought just enough sun to dry off the tent enough to pack it up. several hours later, and more fields of daisy, and we were back at the start of the hike. we waited for a couple hours for the bus, boarded, and began the journey back to puerto natales.


we checked into the hostel, which was extremely charming with a cuddly, cute cat,, and then headed out to town for some food and drinks. we scored a sweet happy hour deal on calafete sours – which are pisco sours combined with the calafete berry; 2 for 1! those hit the spot quite well. after that, we found a restaurant serving fast, cheap food with lots of locals – always a good sign. at dinner, we were serenaded by a senor with a poncho, hat, and a guitar.


average costs:
dinner: 6000 pesos chilean ($12)
calafete sours: 5000 pesos ($10)
all photographs: https://picasaweb.google.com/mlh4480/HoneymoonDias3437