Category: RTW Trip

I had finally made it to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the whole world. I really like it here. the city is fairly small, right next to a bay and surrounded by snow covered mountains on all sides. anywhere you walk around town, you have beautiful scenery in all directions. the city itself is fairly chill which is nice. tourism is very big here and many of the streets are lined with hostels, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. heh, Ushuaia really plays up its “end of the world” theme, and you can even get a stamp in your passport here saying you’ve been to the end of the world. this is definitely the kind of town where it’s nice to just walk around and take in the atmosphere.

I’m staying at a hostel here and decided to make use of the kitchen, since it’s cheaper to eat that way, and plus it’s been ages since I’ve actually cooked anything. I went to the grocery store, and wow… food here is so cheap! for only 5 dollars, I bought enough steak for two dinners, instant mashed potatoes, milk, butter, chimichuri, and cornflakes. so basically, food for 2 dinners and 2 breakfasts for just 5 bucks. wine at the store sells for as little as a dollar a bottle! so, for the next few days, I didn’t go out to eat at all, just cooked in the hostel.

the next morning, this guy Richard from new Zealand and I went on a boat tour of the beagle channel (named after Darwin’s famous boat). the tour was pretty cool with fantastic views of the mountains jutting out of the waters. we made a few stops on the tour. first we stopped at a couple of islands where there were tons of sea lions. we watched some of them lazily sleep on the rocks while others lumbered into or out of the water while barking furiously. man, those sea lions smelled like crazy! next stop was an island filled with these black and white birds called rock cormorants. the last stop was to see this famous lighthouse which is one of the symbols of Tierra del fuego. it was really cold being out there in the bay, so even though we really enjoyed the sights, eventually everyone had to hide inside the boat to stay warm.

gears on the boat

after the boat tour, we went to coffee w/ some Dutch and German people we had met on the boat. I ordered this type of tea called Mate which is the traditional drink of Argentina. it’s supposed to come in a special cup with a weird straw to drink it (the straw has a strainer to keep out the leaves), but for some reason this place just served the tea in a teabag so I didn’t get the full experience. oh well guess I’ll have to try it again.

the toughest hike in the world

the next day we had decided to do a hike in the Tierra del fuego park. this park has lots of trails to hike around, and as far as I knew, we weren’t really sure which one to take. but, I guess Richard had already decided where he wanted to go. he woke me up in the morning saying that we better get going since the trail takes 4 hours up and then 4 hours back down. 8 hour round trip hike? well, cant be that hard, right? I threw together a lunch, and we set off to the park.

at the park, we had to put our names and passport numbers down so that someone would know if we never returned. hrm, that’s odd. so we start hiking. the beginning of the hike was easy and down a small trail next to a small lake. the forest and mountains all around us were really beautiful. after a bit, the trail started sloping upwards. and then more upwards, and then more. pretty soon, the trail was pretty damn steep. my heart was starting to really race and I was panting like a dog. this was some fairly tough hiking. I joked to Richard “heh, wouldn’t it be crazy if the whole trail was like this, all super steep the whole way!” “um, actually, the whole trail is like this. it is uphill the whole way. actually, this isn’t even the toughest park. the toughest part is in the end, when we get to the snowline”. “oh.” hrm, I was beginning to wonder what I had signed up for. as we kept walking, Richard asked me “so, do you do much hiking or trekking back home in san Francisco” “heh, no, most of my time back home is spent sitting in an office or sitting around outside of the office. what about you?” “oh yeah, I actually go trekking all the time.” “oh”.

pretty soon, I was having to stop fairly often to catch my breath. I was totally exhausted. I told Richard to just go on ahead since I didn’t want to slow him down. he started walking and pretty soon he was out of sight. I kept trudging up the hill. eventually, after a long time, I ran into another guy coming down who said something to me in Spanish. “no hablo espanol” I say, and he replies “UP. 3 more kilometers and nothing except up, up, and more up.” great. the guy had given up before reaching the top. so, I kept pushing my way up the hill. the “trail” was a bit hard to find a lot of the time. I was walking through dense forest, and the trail markers were just these skinny yellow sticks that you would see every now and then. often I had to scan around and try to figure out if I was even going the right direction, and there were several times when I would realize I had been going the wrong way and had to go back and retrace my steps. there were trees everywhere and some of the time I had to climb over/under fallen ones.

after what seemed like forever, I made it out of the forest and trail leveled out for a bit. this part of the trail followed a stream and I had to be careful not to sink too deep into the mud. finally, I reached the snowline, and the trail started going steeply up the mountain again. going up a mountain in the snow isn’t easy. you could never tell how deep the snow was, and every once in a while my feet would plunge through the snow and I’d be knee deep. when this happened, snow came in through the top of my shoes, and soon my socks were completely drenched. not only that, but from all the exertion, I had been sweating like crazy, so my shirt was drenched too. the wind was fierce and freezing cold, and I had somehow managed to forget my windbreaker on the bus to the park. was cold, wet, and tired, but I kept pushing on.

near the snowline, the trail markers ended. there wasn’t any indication of which way to go up, so I followed the footprints in the snow that were left by Richard and/or other hikers.

soon, I got to a place where there was a break in the snow and I was walking up crumbling slate. this part of the trail was even steeper than before, and I had to rest almost constantly. this is when I started worrying about the bus. we had started the hike at noon, and the last bus out of the park leaves at 7pm. if I didn’t make it to the top of the mountain by 4pm, I would be screwed. my pace had been becoming slower and slower, and I was kind of unsure whether I would actually make it on time. the slate that I was walking on was crumbly and slippery and often I would find myself sliding down on it. a few times I fell over and cut my fingers on it as well. in the next photo you can kind of see the squiggly trail in the slate.

eventually, I got back onto snow. this part was really tough. I was hiking not just upwards, but towards the right as well, so I had to hold my feet at an angle with every step. the snow was quite icy and slippery so unless I punched each step down fairly hard, my feet would completely slip out from under me which happened quite a bit. I looked down the mountain and saw Richard hiking back. he must have taken some alternate route back down, since he was below me for some reason. eventually, as the snow got more icy, the footprints I was following got more and more faint, and then disappeared altogether. crap. where the hell as I going. by this point, I didn’t even know if I was going the right way. there hadn’t been a marker for at least a kilometer. I started wondering to myself, should I even keep going? I was SO tired. I was SO cold. my hands were numb from all the times I had to cling to the snow so as not to slide down the mountain. why the hell had I even decided to do this hike?! the problem with me though, is I don’t like to give up. I had started this hike, and I was going to finish it. despite everything.

as I kept going up, the snow would alternate between totally icy so I was slipping and falling, or deep powder so my feet were getting soaked from it. but I was close. I could see the top. I knew that if I pushed myself just a bit more, I’d be there. so, I pushed and pushed and then made it to the top…. or so I thought. CRAP! this wasn’t the top. I hadn’t been able to see from below, but there was still a long section of trail heading off to the right and higher up.

I was on the ridge of the mountain now though, and the views from here we absolutely incredible. I could see hella far in all directions. this would have been a great place to take some time out and enjoy the views, but I had no time to spare. there was still more walking to do. after what seemed like another eternity, I made it to the top. there at the top was a lonely yellow stick, the only trail marker I had seen in ages. I sat down to eat a quick lunch. I had been looking forward to eating this lunch for hours now, but now that I was finally doing it, I couldn’t enjoy it that much. at the top, the wind blew from all directions and it made it all the much colder. I sat there shivering, trying to defrost my hands and eating my cold sandwich.

I finished my food, and it was time to make my way down. nice! this would be the easy part right?! I didn’t see any footprints in the snow, so I assumed that Richard had slid down using the slate… probably quicker and easier than working your way though the snow. so I did the same. I kept half hopping half sliding down the mountain sending showers of chunky slate in my wake. I had to be a bit careful cause if I started sliding too fats, I probably wouldn’t be able to stop. I kept cutting down and right, down and right. as I kept going, I searched in vain for the trail markers that would lead me back to the forest. ummmm. there weren’t any. I kept going and going, but there were no trail markers to be seen. I was starting to get worried. I had no idea how far down or how far to the right I had gotten. nothing looked familiar. how far did I have to go still? or, had I passed the spot?!? there definitely was a good chance that I could have totally overshot it and gone too far to the right. I looked at my watch. 5pm. and I had no clue where I was.

I started getting worried. what if I missed the last bus? or, what if I never found the trail at all? crap. I kept going, and eventually reached this crazy bog. every step I took was squishing through mud and water. my shoes were a total wreck, and my pants were hopelessly muddy. this area was completely unfamiliar, and I hadn’t walked through anything like this on the way up, but I thought this was just cause I had come down too fast and still had a long way to go to the right. witch each step my feet were sinking deep in the goo, and I was totally soaked. at other points I was scrambling on top of thorny bushes, trying not to fall onto them and trying not to get stuck in the patches of super deep snow I would cross once in a while. the mush curved upwards. a bad sign… I should be going down not up. where the hell was I?! I scanned the horizon frantically. not trail markers to be seen. which way should I go? keep going? turn back? I decided to plow ahead and try to get to the top of the boggy part to see if I could see anything from there.

at the top of the little hill, I finally saw a yellow stick far off in the distance. I have never been happier to see a yellow stick in my life. I hurried over to the stick, and then started making my way towards the woods. I got to the river I had walked along before, and promptly slipped in the mud, getting myself even dirtier than before. finally, I got to the woods and plowed down the trail as fast as I could… which wasn’t all that fast as my knees were aching and plus it’s not the best idea to go too fast down a step hill.

finally, at 6:30, I made it back to the bus station. I couldn’t believe it. only then did I stop to think about how cool it was that I had made it to the top of the mountain. this was a hike that was really pretty far beyond my skill set. I’m not much of an outdoorsy person, and hiking isn’t my forte. I really shouldn’t have even attempted the hike, and probably should have at least given up halfway. but I didn’t. I pushed myself to the top, despite everything. all in all, it was totally worth it. of course, the next day, I was totally sore as hell, but I guess that’s the price you pay…

*v

after seeing the penguins, I took the 18 hour bus ride down to Rio Gallegos. luckily, I was tired so I slept through most of the night. in the morning, looking out the window, the scenery was mostly the same as the day before. dry with grey and green splotchy bushes everywhere. most of Patagonia is on a huge flat plateau, so everything around you in all directions is perfectly flat as far as the eye can see. just flat, flat, and more flat. eventually, I got to Rio Gallegos, found the cheapest hostel I could find which ended up being pretty far from downtown, checked in, showered, and made the long walk into town. it was raining, but luckily I had an umbrella. unluckily though, I snapped the handle to the umbrella 5 minutes later. doh!

I was staring when I got into town, but it was late afternoon and all the restaurants were shut for the break between lunch and dinner. I walked up and down the street for a long time. no luck. I would have to wait. in the meantime, I killed some time online. eventually, I went to eat. what I wanted was a steak, but to save money, I got a hot dog with some mashed potatoes for 3 bucks. after eating, got back online, and then when I realized it was way too freezing to walk all the way back to my hostel, I caught a cab. the guy didn’t know how to get to my hostel. apparently, he also didn’t know how to read maps, because even though I showed him exactly where he needed to go on a map, he still was confused and dint take me to the right place. the whole time, he kept talking to me in Spanish, even though I had told him I don’t speak it.

it was midnight when I go to the hostel and all of a sudden I remembered something: they hadn’t given me a key. to make matters worse, this place had this insane doorbell. one of those super annoying ones that plays a song that goes on and on for like 20 seconds at a million decibels. crap. I totally didn’t think I could ring that bell at this hour. I peaked inside the window and all was dark. oh man. I could just picture them coming to the door all angry and slamming it in my face. so I knocked quietly, hoping not to wake everyone. then louder. then louder still. luckily, finally someone came to the door and I never had to ring the bell. I snuck into my dorm room and, seeing that someone was in there sleeping, didn’t turn on the light. but I guess I woke the guy up, cause all of a sudden a hear all this yelling and he flips on the light. oops! he wasn’t angry though, and then, like everyone else, he started talking to me in Spanish even after I told him I didn’t speak it. I don’t know why everyone does this. eventually he stopped talking and we went to sleep. in the middle of the night, I woke up to insane snoring. seriously, it sounded like this guy was choking in his sleep. so annoying.

the next morning, it was off on another bus ride. this one was 12 hours. if you look closely at the southern tip of south America, you’ll see that the bottom tip isn’t actually connected to the mainland. so, in some ways, I guess Tierra del fuego is an island. both Chile and Argentina wanted to own the island, and eventually they ended up dividing the island into sections, with Chile owning the west half, and Argentina owning the east. the problem though is that to get to the Argentinean side, you have to drive through the Chilean side. here’s a map to have it make a bit more sense. yellow is Argentina and orange is Chile:

so, we drove south from Rio Gallegos, then in Punta Delgado we got out of the bus to have the Argentineans stamp our passports. then we got out of the bus to have the Chileans stamp our passports. then the bus was loaded on this huge ferry that hauled us across the straight of Magellan. after driving a few hours, we got to the next border. we got out of the bus to have the Chileans stamp our passports. we got out of the bus to have the Argentineans stamp our passports. then, we drove to Rio Grande where everyone had to get off the bus and get on another bus. basically, this bus ride involved us getting on and off the bus over and over. not to mention, now I have 4 new stamps in my passport and I’m a bit worried that it’s gonna fill up soon!

as we kept driving farther and farther south, the landscape slowly changed. it got colder and colder. soon, everything around us wasn’t flat anymore, there were mountains everywhere, and eventually snow on the mountains. there were now trees and forests. and finally, as the sun was setting, we arrived at Ushuaia… the city at the end of the world. I couldn’t believe I made it. but I was also exhausted. in the last 4 days, I had been on 3 bus rides: 18 hours, 18 hours, and 12 hours. ouch!

*v

trying to figure out what to do near peninsula valdes was really hard. i wanted to go whale watching. but i also wanted to see penguins. the problem was that the prices for activities here were wayyyy more than the guidebook had predicted. to go see whales, although the boat tour costs 20 bucks, you also have to pay another 12$ to get into the reserve, and then another 40$ to take a tour to get you there. so, i wold basically have to spend 72$ altogether. my budget for argentina was set at 30$ a day. hrm. going to see the penguins would cost 40$ for the tour, 6$ for the reserve, and an optional 20$ if i wanted to go see this rare species of dolphin that lives only off this coast of argentina. doing both activities would just be too much money, so in the end i opted for the penguins of course, but decided to throw in the dolphin thing too.

got up the next morning and was ushered into a van w/3 other people who didnt speak any english. the poor guide had to say everything twice, once in spanish, and then in broken english. after an hour´s drive, we arrived near the shore where we had to wait for an hour till the boat was ready to take us out. the people had warned us that although the dophins are seen on 90% of the trips, sometimes none are seen, so i was a bit worried that i might end up being unlucky.

i didnt need to worry. as soon as the boat left the river and got out to the ocean, we started seing the commerson´s dolphins. tons of them. these things were so damn cool. first off, they are fast. super fast. trying to take a photo of them was nearly impossibe, ad tons of my photos ended up showing nothing but ocean. these guy love to play in the boats wake, so as we would speed along, they would folow the boat, gliding on the waves, and leaping out of the water. seriously, this was like being at a show at marine world. the dolphins would surface, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups of 2 or 3, and then either just pop out of the water and resubmerge, or they would literally leap out of the water. they would make this funny little puffing sound “pfft” as they surfaced and blew air out. all around us, these streaks of black and white and constant “pfft! pfft! pfft!”. i snapped away like crazy w/ my camera, and then took some video as well. i was SO glad that i had decided to take the dolphin option. i think this was way more exciting than it would have been to see whales… and then to my shock, we saw a whale too. the cool thing was that we were in this small little boat, so we were abe to approach the whale hella close. it was crazy being in the middle of the ocean, just a few yards away from this MASSIVE thing. the whale would suface, and then submerge, and then come back up and stick just one of its flippers out… and during this whole time, commerson´s dolphins are flying through the air all around us. surreal.

we then went back to shore, and it was off to see the penguins. i was hoping that i hadn´t made a mistake by coming too early in the season. eventually there would be a whopping 400,000 penguins here on the beach, all of them coming ashore to breed. but, this was still early. breading season had just started. the office of tourism had told me that there were ony 100 pengins there so far!! but others had said numbers like 1,000 or even 100,000. who was right?

once again i needn´t have worried. when we got to the reserve, there were plenty of penguins. thousands of them. so many! penguins *everywhere*! at this time of year, the penguins all need to some ashore to make babies. the males come first, and if this isn´t their first time breeding, they´ll come and find the same nest that they used in the previous years. they wander ahout, pick up twigs, bury in the dirt, and fix up the nests to get them ready. then the females arrive. the males make these crazy sounds that kind of sound like a braying donkey to alert the females, and the females come and find the same male that they mated w/ the previous year. it´s kind of crazy to see this faithful monogamy going on in the animal kingdom. then they mate, lay eggs, and take turns sitting on the eggs while the other goes to eat, and then they switch off.

so the shore was full of these penguins, all making their nests, laying around, and… something i never would have wanted to see… having sex. it´s weird because when i imagine penguins, i imagine them floating around on icebergs or all covered w/ snow. yet here were penguins, chilling on the beach and chilling under shrubs… not exactly the kind of environs you associate w/ penguins. the penguins were insanely adorable. i totally love the way they walk all funny. i even got a video of one jumping (they cant really climb over obstaces, so they do this funny little hop). the penguins, when not building their nests or mating, spend a lot of time cleaning themselves and keeping their plumage nice. i dont know if it´s because of that or what, but all of the penguins on the beach kept sneezing a lot. it´s pretty funny to see a penguin sneeze, and they´d often shake their little tails afterwards.

honestly, i think i could have been entertained for hours just walking around and watching the penguins. plus, it was really cool to learn so much about them. did you know that penguins dont have any natural predators? the only things these guys have to fear really is mankind. any kind of oil in the water can get on their plumage, and it messes up their insulation. they become too cold to stay in the water, so they have to go and huddle on land, where they eventually starve to death cause they cant go back in the water to catch fish. so sad!

on the way back, i flipped through this book about the birds of argentina. it turns out that there are all sorts of different types of penguins. the ones that i saw were magellanic penguins, but now i want to see all the other types too. unfortunately, i´d have to go to either antarctica or the falkand islands for that. *sigh* . one totally crazy penguin i found out about was the rockhopper penguin. these guys have this crazy yellow fruffy stuff on the side of their heads. check ot a photo!

after the tour, i got dropped off in Trelew. from there, i hopped on an 18 hour bus down to Rio Galegos, near the south of argentina. this time, i took the third class seating instead of second class. the seats were so much less nice!! oh well.. gotta save money.

sadly enough, after getting to Rio Galegos, i found out that there is one island off the coast of argentina where you can see these rockhopper penguins, but it was somewhere along the 18 hour strecth of road that i had passed. damn!! well, maybe on my way back up north, i can make a detour to see them…

oh, and since everyone asked… here´s the picture of the super penguin, as far as i can remember how to draw it. dont laugh… i was a little kid when i learned to draw this!

*v

my decision to come here to Puerto Madryn wasn´t completely haphazard. there actually was a point to coming here. I came here because I was hoping to see my favorite animal (well, technically bird) the penguin. there is this area a little south of here called Punta Tombo where the penguins come ashore to breed, and there are supposed to be tons of them. it’s funny, I’ve actually really been psyched on penguins ever since I was a little kid. I don’t know what it is about them, but I’ve just always thought they were really cool. when I was at day camp, one of the camp counselors taught me how to draw a penguin, and from then on penguins were the only animal in my meager (and god awful looking) drawing repertoire. I could draw a stick figure person, a stick figure house, a stick figure tree, and also a penguin. for some reason, the penguin would often be drawn with a cape, a kind of super penguin, possibly to help the poor little flightless bird to get from place to place.

the bus ride to get here was 18 hours long. normally, that would be a total pain, but the buses here are *nice*. no, I mean REALLY nice. you know how when you board an airplane, and glare w/ envy at the plush luxurious seats in the first class section as you walk back to your crummy shoebox sized seats in the back? well, the seats on the bus were like the plush airline seats… but *better*. the seats were spread really far apart, so they could lean wayyyyy back. there was a diagonal, lazyboy type footrest that comes out of the bottom so your legs comfortably lay on it. the whole thing is super cushy. I usually have huge problems sleeping on buses, but not this time.

it doesn’t stop there. they brought us food, just like on an airplane. there were in-flight, errr I mean in-drive, movies. we got unlimited wine w/ dinner. seriously, this was the best bus ride ever! of course, all of this wasn’t exactly cheap. 45$. but when you consider that you get a 18 bus ride, a free place to sleep for the night, two meals, and entertainment for that price, all of a sudden 45$ seems cheap!

after sleeping comfortably throughout the night, we still had 5 more hours to go after I woke up. I stared out the window at the scenery passing by. the lower third of Argentina, Patagonia, is a huge expanse of space and is very scarcely populated. according to the guide, there is more than 1km of space per 1 person here! looking out the window, I could easily see how this is true. huge expanses of nothingness were everywhere. as far as the eye could see there were only shrubs. gray shrubs, green shrubs, brown shrubs. it was like an impressionist painting where the artists did nothing but make gray, green, or brown splotches with his brush. on an on and on, splotch, splotch splotch, under a pale blue sky.

near the end of the ride, they passed out bingo cards for people to play bingo. struggled as hard as I could to listen to the numbers as they were called out. numbers are practically the only thing I know in Spanish, and even then I have to listen carefully and have the other person speak slowly. a few days ago, caryn and I bought a “learn Spanish in a few short weeks!” book. I’m determined to learn the language as it’s probably the only foreign language that’s really useful back home. we’ve done a few of the lessons, and I know a handful of words now: to be, to have, my name is, stepmother, tenderloin steak… you know, the basics.

it never ceases to amaze me how crucial language is. language is everything. they say knowledge is power, but there is no knowledge without the language to express it. no matter how smart you are, even if you are a genius rocket scientist, if you’re thrown into a place where no one understands you and you don’t understand anyone, you’re basically reduced to a 4 year old level. it’s hard traveling places where I don’t know the language. I feel so stupid sometimes. people ask me the most basic questions, and all I can do is shrug. in Japan, I struggled for almost 15 minutes trying to get a coffee maker to give up its contents… it’s not that I’m a dumbass who cant use a coffee maker, I just couldn’t read the labels on the buttons. not knowing the language keeps you ordering things off the menu that you didn’t want, buying the wrong bus tickets, and walking into the wrong gendered bathroom. and I’ve found that the more advanced a country is, the less English they speak. in places like Kenya or Thailand, everybody speaks English, while in Japan or Argentina, few people do. if you live in a country that is doing well, you don’t have to play by Americas rules and learn their language… you’re fine w/ your own.

after I lost at bingo, we soon arrive in Puerto Madryn. I grabbed my stuff an braced myself for the onslaught. I’m used to being attacked when I get off a bus. I’m used to touts yelling, crowds forming, and people literally grabbing my backpack off my shoulders to pull into their cab/rickshaw/hotel. if you’re not prepared when you get off a bus, you’re dead meat. but I got off the bus… nothing! emptiness. wow… Argentina really is so different! I cant say enough how much this feels like Europe.

I think that the key to meeting people on the road is to stay in hostels. if you’re shy like me, and are afraid of approaching strangers, nothing helps like being forced to share a room with them. the first step of meeting people is done for you. so I went to the nearest hostel and checked in. sadly enough, it was a ghost town. I don’t know if there are any other guests but me. funnily enough, later that night when I stopped by another hostel to book a tour, I saw this other place had a huge common room, FULL of people hanging out. dammit!

Puerto Madryn is on the coast, so I went down to the beach to have some food. it’s a nice town here. it kind of looks like small town USA in a way… clean, quiet, nice homes. I had a great steak with mashed potatoes for just 6$. looking out towards the ocean while I ate, I saw… whales! several of them! this town is famous for its whale watching, and amazingly enough, you can actually see whales right from shore!! I couldn’t believe it! sure, they were still a distance away, and who knows if I could have even seen them if I hadn’t had my glasses, but still it was cool. they would pop out of the water, lifting their flippers into the air, or lifting their whole bodies out of the water and splashing down. quite a sight!

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what to do about tours. I was hoping to go whale watching the next day, but it turns out that Monday is the only day of the week that the bus doesn’t run, and I’d have to take a tour that costs 70$! seeing as my budget is only 30$ per day, that was kind of out of the question. then, booking the penguins was a dilemma too. one person I talked to said it wasn’t really season yet and there was only 100 penguins in so far. another said it was 600. another said 1,500. oh well, I decided to go fort it anyway. it sucks, later on in the year, there are apparently about 500,000 penguins in Punta Tombo!!

penguins and whales aren’t the only wildlife here. there are interesting animals to see on land as well. weird looking ostriches, armadillos, sea lions, elephant seals, and something called a Guanaco. I’m not sure what this guanaco is, but the pamphlet I got at the hostel had this cryptic description: “they are seen in groups along the road. identify them and let it know. they are scary but at a distance you can watch them run and stop.” I haven’t a clue what that could mean, but if I see something “run and stop”, I’ll have to assume it’s a Guanaco!

*v

i´ve spent the last few days in Buenos Aires, Argentina. i´m technically in south America, but in reality, it feels like i´m in Europe. buenos aires is a totally modern bustling city that has all the pluses of a fun European city but at a fraction of the price. the city has good hotels, efficient public transport, nice restaurants, and tons of shops. it´s been a wonderful place to take a break and relax for a few days. unfortunately, i had plenty of errands to run and stuff to catch up on, so i didn’t get to see any sights yet or to enjoy the wild nightlife here (which doesn’t even start till 1am and then goes till dawn).

i´ve spent most of my time here walking up and down Florida avenue, one of the main pedestrian streets in town lined on either side with shops and cafes and filled in the middle with browsing shoppers, street performers, and people doing the Tango. the huge quantity of cool shops has really made me want to buy hella stuff, but i´ve resisted temptation as much as possible. money is still tight and a shopping spree, even if things are semi-cheap, is out of the question. in between errands, i´ve tried out some of the restaurants here. Argentina is world renown for its beef. it allegedly has some of the best steaks in the world, and to make them even better, they´re dirt cheap. a *huge* fillet mignon, i´m talking something that would be a double portion back home, here costs about 8$.

the hotel we´re staying at costs 15$, about the same as we paid for places in Africa or in Indonesia sometimes… but for that price, the hotel is a million times nicer than they were in Africa. the place is super clean, huge comfy bed, nice bathroom (hey, the toilet actually has a seat?!), our sheets/towels get changed daily… basically, all the nice conveniences that we have been without while traveling in the 3rd world, yet for a price that is way affordable. i could definitely get used to this kind of life. i could easily just chill in buenos aires for a few weeks… but instead, i´m leaving tonight and will spend more time exploring this town in 3 weeks when i return here.

for the next 3 weeks, i´m traveling alone. as i´ve mentioned before, there´s definitely something so be said for solo traveling. it´s easier to meet locals that way. in fact, it´s easier to meet people in general that way. and, it just gives you a sense of freedom that you don’t have when you´re with someone else. you´re the master of your own destiny. you plot your own course and set out wherever you want and see where your path takes you. life is choose your own adventure, and the outcome is totally and completely up to you.

so here i go… off into the world.. all by myself. but first, i have to figure out one thing. where the hell do i wanna go? argentina is huge. 8th largest country in the world in fact. i only have 3 weeks to see as much as i can before i must be back in buenos aires to meet Caryn. what should i do w/ that time? what should i see? i´ve been reading my guidebook a bit for the last few days trying to decide. a 3 week jaunt through a enormous country needs to be planned carefully… but that´s not how i want to go about it. i hate planning carefully. i don’t want this to be organized. i like following whims, trying out hunches, and just doing whatever random thing pops into mind. doing so has usually worked out well for me. the first time Caryn and i split up, i went to Croatia, when i knew *nothing* about the place, and i ended up totally enjoying it. in Myanmar, i took off on this random boat trip w/ some locals, and it ended up being amazing. yes… if there´s one thing i´ve learned, it´s that you shouldn´t think too much, and should just go for it.

so i´m going for it. i´m going to the end of the world. the small lower chunk of Argentina, the one that looks like it broke off the end, is called tierra del fuego, “the land of fire”, and at the very uttermost bottom tip of that is the southernmost piece of land outside Antarctica and it is known as the “end of the world”. it´s as far south as you can possibly go without taking a boat. a land of snow, glaciers, and stunning natural beauty. it sounds so awesome! well, at least as much as i know about it, it sounds awesome. other than that it is indeed the end of the world, i don’t really know what to expect out of it, and what there will be to do. that is still to be seen…

of course, the thing is, like i said… snow, glaciers, ice, etc… and the warmest thing i own is a fleece sweatshirt. it´ll be interesting to see how this pans out. at the very least, i think i´ll need to buy some more clothes! at the very worst, i might have to turn back around and head north again. we´ll see.

the thing bout the end of the world is, it´s far!! hella far. i don’t necessarily want to go all the way there all at once, because the bus ride would suck, and it seems like it would be nice to see some stuff en route. so, i chose peninsula valdes as my first stop on the way to the end. i didn’t really research this destination ll that much, but just went ahead and bought the ticket. after buying it, i scanned the lonely planet message boards. there´s a ton of posts there about peninsula valdes… and almost all of them say to just skip it and that it is a waste of time and that it´s boring as hell. nice.

so, tonight, i´m off! off into the unknown. off into the lower reaches of Argentina. off to see the end of the world. all i have to do is check out this boring waste of time peninsula first!

(oh, and btw, caryn and i thought it would be more fun if neither one of us knew where the other was going until we met back up in 3 weeks, so dont mention where i´m going to her, and vice versa please!)

*v