Monday, December 29, 2008

What a trip: "Cold" Summer Break

I´m back where I started, in the same hostel in Punta Arenas I was in December 10th. Since then I´ve been here and there. From here we went to Ushuaia, which is the official, End of the World. In fact I got my passport stamped with a stamp that says, "fin del mundo, Ushuaia Arg" So I guess that´s quite official. We did a hike from town up to a glacier, and walked around the coast another day. From what I´ve seen in pictures, the place reminds me of what Alaska could be like. From Ushuaia we basically bussed up to Puerto Natales, which took two days to get there because of bus routes and schedules. From there we headed into Torres del Paine National Park for eight days. This was the main reason for my 20 days in Patagonia, and I loved every minute of it from the freezing nights, snow flurries in the morning, 18 mile days, rainy days, sunny days, windy (every)days, drinking straight from the glacial rivers, relaxing, and just enjoying time away from it all, and enjoying the camping lifestyle. After the hike, we dried off and made some great food in Puerto Natales for Christmas Eve, and on Christmas we took a bus to El Calafate to check out a gigantic glacier. It´s something like 200 feet high and apparently, all of Buenos Aires could fit on top of the glacier. It was actually kind of a let down for us because the weather was rainy and finally broke 20 minutes before we had to leave. Plus in Torres del Paine we walked up and over a mountain pass(3.5 hours up, and 3 down) and had views of the 3rd largest glacier not in Antarctica on the way down from the pass. That, was an amazing view. But nonetheless, it was an impressive glacier and if the weather would have been more agreeable, it probably would have been special. Instead, we all read in the restaurant, and all three of us finished our books that we started the previous day. Since El Calafate, I´ve been traveling solo without Steve and Kaleah because they continued north, and I´ve met plenty of people already, and today, I tried to go visit a penguin colony with an Italian I met here, but with 70 mph winds, the boats were not leaving. So we walked around town and took pictures of all the "penguins" we saw around town. Tomorrow I head back to warm Santiago, and I´m ready. I know this wont sound too crazy to all you northern dwelling residents, but I haven´t worn shorts or a t-shirt since December 9th because it´s been windy, cold, windy, cloudy, windy and drizzly for the last three weeks. I checked what the weather should be like the next ten days, and it doesn´t look too bad, high of 89, low of 56 and sunny. I didn´t check for Boulder Junction, WI, but I´d assume it´s just slightly cooler. I´ll post pictures when I get the chance, and plan to upload all of them into a photo album.
Love to all.

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