Jessica in Argentina!

• 2012-01-22

  El Fin

  Salta turned out to be a nice city. It felt less commercial than Mendoza or Cordoba and the weather was much cooler so I enjoyed it! There is a cool Archaeological Museum (MAAM) there where they have 3 Incan children that were found frozen on a mountain. Other than that small museum, there is not much to do in Salta! But the people are nice, and there are nice things around. Sonia and I took a bus (that was an adventure in itself) to a nearby artificial lake, Dyque El Caldera, met some nice dudes traveling from Buenos Aires, and all eventually made it to a beautiful spot on the lake for lunch and swimming in beautiful, calm water next to grazing horses, cows, and birds. Here is Sonia and the lake.

  The other thing to do in Salta is go out for dinner at a Pena and see a Folklorico show. We saw a really good one with great live music, and dancers who changed costume 3 times and brought people on the floor with them.

  Dinner was good too, I am really glad I got to see the North of Argentina because it is quite different than the rest! Here you can find different food like humitas, tamales, and a stew called Locro. Sonia had been to Bolivia before and she said the culture, food, and dress where we were seemed to be a mix of Argentina and Bolivia. Argentina is very homogeneous in general, so when I find something different I am always excited.

  The northern landscape is very distinct and very beautiful. We were in the desert, but we had good luck with the weather; it was pretty temperate the whole time. We went a few hours further up north to a small town called Tilcara. There we saw the Wayra Caves that are nearby in the hills, and visited the Pucara pre-Incan ruins. The trek to the caves is not well marked, so you have to go with a guide. This time I ended up glad for this, because the caves were cool but the guide really made it. I think her name was Mariana and she was great. We went through one of the caves with candles and then at one point we blew them out and sat in the total darkness and silence for a minute.

  After, we moved on to another small town, Purmamarca. I liked this place a lot! There is a trek called Paseo de los Colorados that starts right from the town and lets you walk all over the gorgeous, colorful, hills.

  From Purmamarca you can also access the Salinas Grandes (Great Salt Flats), which were very impressive and great in contrast to the Great Salt Lake, which I had been to in Utah.

  I am in Santiago once more. I got sick a few days ago and am still recovering so don’t have much energy to do anything but it feels nice to be here. I managed to go on a walk in search of dinner (soup and sorbet.. I have a sore throat) and confirmed my previous like of Santiago. I have tomorrow and the next day and then back on a plane to California! I will definitely be sad to leave South America, but as I have to go home for school and such, I am definitely happy to go home to San Francisco. I love my city and I have great friends there, so it’s not so sad! Thanks to anyone who read any part of this or even just looked at the photos =) 

• 2012-01-11

  Valparaiso!!! Lives up to it’s name! “Paradise Valley”

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  After Christmas my next destination was Villarrica, Chile for two reasons. There is an active Volcano there I’d heard everyone talking about (one couple said it was “on level with Machu Picchu” and I met a family in Torres del Paine who invited me to visit their termas (natural hot springs spa). When tourists come to this area they usually stay in Pucon, but the family advised me to stay in Villarrica because it’s less touristy, but you can still easily access all the attractions and I think this was great advice. Not to say there was a ton to do in the town, it was quite small, but I stayed in a really nice Swiss-run hostel with the most delicious breakfast ever and really nice staff. They also had a sink in the backyard where they not only allowed, but encouraged, you to wash your laundry (the opposite philosophy of all other hostels), so I washed nearly all my clothes by hand. It took like an hour and a half, but it was free. The town, like Bariloche, also had a ton of ash from Volcano Peyehue’s eruption. Enough that when I got off the bus, the directions to my hostel said “walk 3 blocks towards the volcano”. “What volcano?” I thought. It’s not a complete illusion though, because I climbed it the next morning. The weather was actually quite nice up there, but the view looking out was definitely a bit diminished. It was 5, easy hours up, (you have to go with a group, so we kept a slow pace), and then 1 hour sliding down the snow on your butt. So fun! Volcan Villarrica is active, with smoke coming out, so peering into the crater at the top is incredible. Up until 2 years ago, you could see lava as well, but there is some other volcano to the east that is stealing all of it right now. I haven’t been to Machu Picchu yet, so can´t say how well it compares, but I would definitely recommend the trek. 

  The next day in Villarrica I was a beach bum at Playa Blanca, and then the next I went to visit my friends at Termas Geometricas. Beautiful spa with at least 12 pools of different temperatures. The springs are natural but are regulated and the pools are paved, so there is no Sulfur smell. I don’t want to know how much it regularly costs, but my nice friends brought me there for free and even fed me lunch! They have a cute and awesome son named Konan who I played with in the pools for hours. They were such a nice family they even wanted me to come stay with them at their house for the night for a bbq, but I had already bought my bus ticket and hostel for Santiago and Valparaiso. Normally I don´t plan so far in advance, but Valparaiso is the major place to be for New Year´s, so I had to if I wanted to be part of it.

  I spent one day in Santiago and really liked the city. It is beautiful, very diverse, and has delicious food from lots of cultures. The only major downside is the pollution; there is heavy smog and I met one dude from the city who said just living in the city is like smoking one cigarette a day. 

  Valparaiso for NYE was absolutely perfect. I think it replaced El Chalten as my favorite city! I stayed in the best hostel, Casa Kreyenberg, with Felipe, the most awesome dude from Santiago who will drink Piscolas and talk music with you on the beautiful deck through the night, but still wake up early, feed you delicious breakfast and keep everything spotless all by himself. Seriously in all the hostels I´ve stayed in I never felt so comfortable. All the other guests in the hostel were great too; instantly made lots of good friends to enjoy NYE and the beaches with in the following days. It was really funny how much Valpo looks similar to San Francisco, with the views of the water, the houses on steep hills, and even some fog! Luckily, their fog always clears up by midday, so we had clear views of the amazing fireworks over the bay at midnight. Felipe organized a special BBQ for NYE for his guests that was so extravagant and amazing! It was free so I expected it to be pretty minimal, but him and his brother went all out and we had tons of good food and then all the champagne, wine and Pisco we could drink. Afterwards, a good group of us headed out in the sea of people flooding the streets of Valpo. We found a great dance party in an alley just down the street. Stayed there a while, but wanted to get further into the town, so basically spent hours slowly walking through hoards of people. Seeing fights break out, stepping over tons of broken bottles, and pondering the cars that were actually trying to drive through the mess. Actually one driver caused such a mess that the police used tear gas to break up the crowd. Quite a night, and though we were mostly just spectators, luckily I had some great people to share the New Year with. 

  In the next few days Valpo quieted down a bit and we got to explore more of it. Went on an interesting city tour led by a dude originally from Kansas, who visited Valpo for NYE some 10 years ago, fell in love, went back to finish school, and now has been living there 8 years. This story doesn´t seem at all crazy to me because I could easily see how Valpo was that kind of place. Another highlight was seeing the poet Pablo Neruda´s house. There´s a dude I´d like to have an asado with.

  I might still be in Valpo if I didn´t have to bus back into Argentina to meet Leanne in Mendoza. This city is known mostly for it’s wine. We did a really fun bike wine tour and also I went river rafting for the first time! Mendoza was a good time, but I didn´t fall in love. Good for a few days. Then Leanne broke my heart and left me once again! haha to go back to California!! I had plans to meet up with another girl from our program a few days later in Salta. I bused it up north, stopping in Cordoba for a couple days on the way. Cordoba was a bit better than Mendoza, and though I´d heard a ton about how beautiful it was, didn´t fall in love there either. I did the touristy churches and museums for the first time in a long time and they were pretty nice. Today I am in Salta, waiting for Sonia to arrive so we can plan what to do next! Getting good vibes here, but excited to venture out and see a few more major sights in my last two weeks….

• 2011-12-28

  Noche Buena

   In Calafate we made it to what originally drew me towards Southern Patagonia, Glacier Perito Moreno. It is gigantic and beautiful. And even though it is a huge tourist attraction, I didn’t feel overcrowded like I did at Iguazu Falls. There are lots of different senderos (trails) on wooden walkways that you can take, some are harder than others with a lot more stairs to go up and down, so if you go off on one of those it’s easy to get some alone time just you and the giant glacier. We spent about 5 hours there, which goes by quick since you’re doing the trails and pieces of the glacier are constantly breaking off so it’s entertaining to watch.

  

  Besides the glacier, there is nothing to do in Calafate so we had to leave the next day. The problem was we hadn’t decided where we were going. Back up north and maybe into Chile or further South and into Chile to visit the Torres del Paine National Park, which we had been hearing everyone talk about. Leanne went to take a shower and planned our route back north. Meanwhile, Dorian from Texas convinced me over a couple of beers that we need to go South. So in the morning we got on the earliest bus to Puerto Natales, Chile. Instantly fell in love with Chile and we treated ourselves to a delicious dinner of Rabbit, Crab, and Fish! Foods you cannot find in Argentina! We rented equipment and camped in Torres del Paine for 3 nights and 2 days. We more or less completed the W circuit, but there is also the Big Circuit, which takes about 8 days and which I need to come back and do.

  

  Cerro Torres

  

  Camping

  After our camping trip, Leanne absolutely had to go back north to meet her parents and go hike the Inca Trail. I had fallen in love with Austral, which means Southern and is what they call this part of Patagonia and decided to ditch Leanne for the last couple days (sorry) and go a little bit further south into Punta Arenas, Chile and then to Ushuaia, Argentina, the Southern most town in the world. Punta Arenas is a fairly big city, the capital of the Magallanes region, and I really liked it. I visited the Otorno penguin colony and met some nice dudes from Santiago.

  

  Ushuaia the town was a bit too touristy for me, but the surrounding mountains and lakes were spectacular. The National Park had so much wildlife; tons of geese, rabbits, hawks, everywhere! Major downside to Ushuaia is it is hard to get to.. 12 hours by bus, which really is nothing by Argentina standards, except that you have to cross the Chile/Argentina border twice, which is time consuming, and means that you can only travel by day. So you have to waste a day getting there and another getting back. (Unless you fly, but you can only fly to Buenos Aires from Ushuaia, and then make a connection.) To add to the fun! When I arrived to Ushuaia I followed the advice of all the other travelers I’d met along the way and went straight to the bus terminal to book my ticket out, because these can fill up quick. This did not help me though, I arrived on a Friday, and there were no buses out until Wednesday at the earliest. This complicated things for me because 1) There is not soo much to do there 2) It’s super expensive there 3) I had a bus to catch in Punta Arenas to head back up North on Tuesday…. long, frustrating story short I ended up hitchiking and backtracking a lot but made my bus on Tuesday! And made it to where I wanted to go.. El Bolson, Argentina by Wednesday! Yay! And as you can probably guess no one axe-murdered me hitchhiking, everyone was really nice and I had a great experience.

  El Bolson was another really nice town with good hikes that you can do directly from the town. One day, I took a cheap bus to Lago Puelo National Park and that was awesome. The lake was actually not so freezing and I went swimming and even got a little sunburned. Big change from Austral and the glaciers. El Bolson is famous for their Artesan Beer so I defintely enjoyed some of that along with their ice cream, fresh cherries, and jam.

  Then on the morning of Christmas Eve I took a short bus to return to Bariloche. It was a good choice for Xmas. The hostel served us a traditional dinner of pizza and beer. I meant a group of Spaniards who adopted me for the holidays and we went out and fulfilled more Xmas traditions like drinking Fernet and Coke and dancing to Argentine National Rock in the boliche until 5am. For Christmas day, we lazily went down to one of the beaches and enjoyed more Cerveza Artesenal, swimming, and sun. Great Christmas.

• 2011-12-14

  Austral

  Okay I have some free time to write a little more in detail about where I have been the last couple weeks. Which I need to do mostly for myself or I´ll forget the names of everything! Couldn´t possibly foget what I´ve seen though because the beauty is incredible.

  December 1st I got on a bus from Neuquen to Bariloche. Met Leanne Pfeifer, another girl in my program, on the bus and we went around together the last 2 weeks. Had a great time with her!! Had only met her briefly in Buenos Aires before but we got along great! She is originally from the Santa Cruz mountains so I´ll probably seemore of her back in CA. So we got to Bariloche and stayed in Marcopolo Inn for 2 nights. Great hostel, that thankfully let us store our unneeded luggage for free! So I´ll be going back there! The town has a lot of German and Swiss influence so there is good beer and chocolate and it is gorgeous, right by a big lake. The first day we arrived in the late afternoon so just took a lot of walks around the town, bought groceries, and made dinner. The next day we took a bus to a trail (I already don´t remember the name). It was short but steep and led to beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and lakes. Met a dude from Isreal who was really interesting and knowledgable about the area because his monther is from Argentina. He was just out of the army, which is mandatory in Isreal, and afterwards it is common to take a big trip. I´ve met tons of people from Isreal doing the same. Boys serve 3 years and girls 2. Anyway, since that hike was short we had time to go on another to a waterfall named Casada de los deundes. It means Waterfall of the Dwarves. Pretty, easy, lakeside hike with two short waterfalls at the end.

  The next morning we got on a bus bright and early to head very far south to Nacional Parque de los Glaciers. The bus broke down pretty early into the trip, but only for a few hours and they bought us lunch so not a big deal. We arrived in the small town of Perito Moreno to sleep (kind of a waste of time in a way, but it was nice to not have to sleep on the bus, AND the bed was probably the most comfortable one I have slept in this whole trip). Leanne and I struggled to find an open grocery store in the morning to get some fruit and vegetables so as not to eat gas station empanadas and sandwiches only. Found a place that opened at 10am.. which was the same time our bus was scheduled to leave, so we ran in, grabbed whatever non-rotten fruit we could find.. and ran out. Luckily,nothing really happens on time in Argentina. It can be a real challenge to get fresh fruit and veggies in the small towns.. many only get deliveries once or twice a week. Needless to say, our diet has consisted mostly of bread the last couple weeks, but that is the diet of a poor traveller I suppose.

  That night we arrived in El Chalten (on the northern side of the park). I am pretty convinced this is the best place on Earth! We stayed in a nice hostel with good atmosphere for meeting others. It doesn´t matter where you stay in the small town because everywhere is central. And all of the trails are accessible by simply walking out your front door, you don´t need a costly bus or anything like most other towns. In the morning Leanne and I did the Laguna de los Tres hike with another girl, Kathryn from North Carolina, whom we met on the bus down. It was 8 hours round trip but only steep at the very end. We had a beautiful clear day and when you get to the top you can see Mt. Fitz Roy and the ice-covered lake below. Then, you climb another small hill and see Laguna Sucia, which is a beautiful turquiose lagoon. Almost all the lakes I´ve been seeing are created by glaciers and so you also get to see the glacier on the mountain above and see tons of tiny waterfalls trickling into the lake. This hike was so great I feel like I could do it again and again and not get bored of the beauty at the top.

  The next morning, Leanne and I signed up for an excursion to go “mini-trekking” on Glacier Viedma. First, we took a bus to Lago Viedma, and then had about an hour boat ride on the lake. The boat ride was really nice as you see many icebergs on the way as you get closer and closer to the galcier and there are moutains all around. We were able to go up on the top deck for better views but there are crazy winds that come out of nowhere so you have to be careful. Sometimes, we were forced inside. We landed, and started to trek up some rocks (crazy because only 10 years ago the rocks used to be part of the glacier, it is receeding quickly) to get to the glacier, but unfortunately there was a strong, constant wind and so the rest of our excursion was canceled! Apparently this happens like once a month, so we got unlucky. The company is really great though and allowed us to go again the next day without paying anything extra. And gave us free coffee on the boat ride back. May not sound like much, but Leanne and I were super stoked on the coffee.. we got up really early for that excursion. So, the next day, repeat all the stuff about the bus and the boat except this time we actually get to walk on the glacier! They give you crampons to attach to your shoes and it´s pretty easy to navigate. Glaciers are much more up and down than I imagined though.. Not flat at all! It was a great experience. Glacier Viedma is gigantic, you get to see tons of deep craters and the terrain seems endless. We walked to a few different viewpoints for about an hour and a half and then the staff, who was great! Friendly and very informative, had a surprise for us.  They busted out a bottle of Bailey´s and we drank it on ice from the glacier. Delicious.

  In El Chalten we did another short hike to Mirador de los Condores (but saw no condors) and another long one to Laguna Torre. Fun hike and at the end you get to a viewpoint of Cerro Torre. Other than hiking, in El Chalten, we ate Cordero (Lamb.. yum!) because Southern Patagonia is famous for it.. and also got taken a bit of the beaten path by Fernando, one of our guides from the Glacier trek who was nice enough to show us some lesser known parts of the town, let us try out the slack line in his front yard, and make us pizza! Great hospitality, and it was really hard for Leanne and I to leave El Chalten!! Hard, of course, because it was such a beautiful place, but also literally difficult, because in town there is only one ATM machine that gets filled randomly once a week and then runs out of money quickly since the town is filled with tourists. Oh and no one takes credit cards. So at first we didn´t have enough $ to pay for our hostel but we got lucky and visited the ATM right when it was being filled. So, we had to go and see the main attraction, Glacier Perito Moreno is Calafate, about a 3 hour bus ride south.

  Ima end it here so this is to be continued…..!

• 2011-12-10

  PATAGONIA!

  This will have to be brief as I am paying for this. In an internet cafe in Puerto Natales, Chile. First day in this country! Going to Torres Del Paine National Park tomorrow. I have seen so many amazing, beautiful, indescribable sights in Patagonia.. I am pretty sure it is the best place on earth! Meeting lots of lovely people along the way. Finally bought my ticket to return to the US. January 25th I will be seeing lovely San Francisco Airport. Just have to try not to run out of money before then! Things are relatively cheap here BUT traveling and sight seeing is always expensive. I have quite a bit more time here so endless possibilities! Maybe I will find some sort of temporary job, who knows. Try to update more soon. But do yourself a favor and google image places in Patagonia.. and then try to image seeing them in real life.

• 2011-11-30

  Pehuenia

  This weekend was a long one and on Saturday my host family surprised me with a spontaneous trip to Pehuenia. A small town in one of like a billion national parks in the area. This was a great opportunity for me because most toursits do not get to see this place as it is small and only accessible by car. It was so incredibly beautiful that looking back on my photos simply do not do the place justice. We hiked up the extinct and snow-capped Batea Mahuida Volcano. There were amazing rock formations and you could see the volcano’s turquoise water-filled crater below. You could also see many surrounding volcanoes on the landscape including Volcano Lanin, a crazy 3 day climb, and Volcano Villarica in Chile, which is active. We were able to see steam escaping from the top! After the hike, we drove down to one of the lakes and picnicked and sunbathed. What an amazing day to have gone rock-climbing, sunbathing, splashed around in a lake, and slid down a snowy hill all within 12 hours. Oh, and the next day I went kayaking and swimming at another lake at the invite of one of my coworkers and grilled an asado in the sun! Hard life down here. Tomorrow morning at 7am I depart on a bus to Bariloche, another (much more toursity, mountain town famous for  it’s beauty and it’s chocolate) with another girl in my program, Leanne. We will be traveling together for about 2 weeks! I’ll keep you posted.

  Me and my host mom, Monica, on top of the volcano. Crater below.

  

  Sledding on my butt haha

  

  My brother Joaquin in the lake.

• 2011-11-28

  VICTORIA!

  My host mom’s niece who lives across the street. Normally, I love talking to kids because they speak slowly and simply enough for me to communicate with. Victoria, however, speaks a mile a minute while giggling continuously. I don’t understand a word she says but she makes me smile =)

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  Thanksgiving

  For Thanksgiving at my Institute I drew hand turkeys with the really young kids with all the older kids, we decorated a big box and every student wrote on a piece of paper what they were thankful for and put it inside.

  Then on Thursday I made dinner and the staff from my Institute came over! We can’t get turkey here so we bought roasted chickens and rolls, but I made everything else! We had: Green beans with rosemary and sliced almonds, white wine dressing (aka stuffing), brown sugar sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, corn.. and in place of cranberry sauce, a beet salad. Everyone liked everything! Which I was pleasantly surprised by. For dessert I made pumpkin pie from scratch using a butternut squash because apparently you can do that. It turned out well I think though I am not a pumpkin pie enthusiast myself. The Argentines, however, do not like this dish at all. I think it is too weird for them because they usually incorporate a lot of pumpkin into their diet as a vegetable during lunch or dinner. Having it as desert is too weird for them. All in all, a success though.