Catching our breath

Sorry we've gone so long without updating; we've been on the move so frequently that there hasn't been time. And we haven't had much internet access either.

Right now we're in Puerto Iguazu, a little town built around the tourist attraction of Iguazu Falls. We just arrived this morning; tomorrow we'll check out the falls (which are supposed to be bigger than Niagara).

Quick recap of what we've been up to: After El Chaltan, we took two consecutive 12-hour day buses to El Bolson. We spent a few days there, then just one night in Bariloche. From there we went to Mendoza and spent a week. After that, one night in Salta, then we rented a car and drove a 1200km loop over the course of 4 days. Obviously, we have a lot to catch up on.

Starting with El Bolson. Most people heading north from El Chaltan opt to go directly to Bariloche, a town that's famous for its chocolate and its supposed similarity to a Swiss village. But we'd read and heard good things about El Bolson (supposedly a laid-back hippie town with good trekking), so we got off the bus a few hours earlier than most of the rest of the passengers.

The town lived up to the hippie hype, and the weather was great to boot.



It wasn't quite as otherworldly as El Chaltan, but Bolson was plenty scenic in its own right.













We did one short-medium hike while we were in town, up to the "indian head." See if you can spot it.



View from the way down.



This was one of our favorite hostels so far. It's not unlike the Inn at Crippen Creek Farm, with a big great room on the main floor and much better kitchen facilities than you usually find.





El Bolson is part of Argentina's Lake District, so on our second day in town we rented mountain bikes and rode up to one of the lakes with Angela (pictured foreground), a woman we befriended at the hostel.









I'd like to say that we sat down to this after the ride, but it was some time later. Hot chocolate and Churros Rellenos (with dulce de leche, of course).



Awwww, poor Ash! Wait a minute....



The town reminded us a bit of Eugene... people relaxing in the park, a little market with lots of arts and crafts, plenty of Argentine hippies...



The things I try just so I can post about it here... this is a damn waffle with salami and cheese on it. It actually wasn't too bad.



Finally, onto Bariloche. When we arrived it was incredibly windy. The first thing we did (after booking a room) was walk down to the lake and check it out. We were surprised to find ocean-sized waves and whitecaps.



That thur's a real big tree hurrrrrrrrr? Seriously I have no idea why I'm posting this.



On our only full day in Bariloche, we hiked up to the refugio at Cerro Lopez. It was really steep, and the weather wasn't that great, but we were prepared. I'm pictured here with my cougar-smashing rock.



We still got some nice views along the way, even though it was cloudy.







Nothing hits the spot after a difficult hike like 8 beers. The sampler at Antares brewpub.



Liz basks in the afterglow of a downed pint and a bowl of peanuts.



When the mannequins don't have dog or tiger heads, they have this.



We finally broke down and went to a Mexican restaurant in Bariloche that had gotten good reviews. It was great; they even had homemade salsa and heaps of guacamole. But no chips.







The town mascot... one of those dogs with a bottle of booze around its neck. This one had a puppy sleeping on its back, but the owner was charging for pictures. This was the best we could get gratis.



There we go.



Finally, on our way to Mendoza.



On the bus we played Spanish bingo for a bottle of wine. So close!



Mendoza. Here's the park bench where Liz narrowly averted a scam designed to steal one of our bags.



More later! We have a billion pictures to catch up on, but we should have some down time in Buenos Aires.

Ice Ice Baby

As the weather gets warmer and the folks back in Portland recover from one of the coldest, wettest, grayest winters in recent memory (or so we hear), it's going the opposite direction down here in the southern hemisphere. We went from moderately warm and sunny days in Puerto Madryn to rain, snow, wind and freezing temperatures in El Calafate, El Chaltan, El Bolson and now Bariloche.

However, we're almost done with our Patagonian circuit; we'll be taking an overnight bus up to Mendoza (wine country) within a day or two.

So what have we been up to?

Hiking, biking, riding buses and living in dorm rooms, almost exclusively.

We left off in El Calafate, where we were stuck without enough cash to book a bus ride to the Perito Moreno glacier. Finally on Monday, the bank refilled the ATM and I attacked it with a vengeance (4 max withdrawls). We left the next morning for the glacier. Sunrise at the bus station.



And here's the glacier, the main reason to visit El Calafate.



These aren't photoshopped; the ice really has this intense blueness to it, apparently from the minerals frozen inside.



We decided against hiking on the glacier, mostly because it was really expensive and would have blown our budget for 3 or 4 days in one shot. It was a lot cheaper to take the public bus to the park and view it from the balcony.



I'm just going to go ahead and keep posting pictures of the glacier, because it was downright stunning. My expectations were somewhat low because it was snowing heavily on the way in and I thought the visibility might be bad. Fortunately it cleared up for about an hour right during our prime viewing time.



On a clearer day, there are also mountains visible on the horizon. Oh well.



Although it is incredibly massive in real life, the glacier is not one of the largest in the area.



It is, however, one of the most active. This sucker moves and huge chunks fall off all the time. See that splash? Every time a piece falls off, even a small one, it sounds like someone just fired a cannon. Amazing.







Ok, see the ring of ice going out into the water in the background? A huge chunk broke off while we were watching and created this giant wave, which quickly slowed down and sort of "froze," in a way. It was really bizarre.



It started snowing again just before we left.



Last two.





When you could peel your eyes off the glacier, the surrounding area was pretty scenic in its own right.



On to non-glacier topics. Back in town, we decided to give pizza another chance. This was the best one I've had in Argentina (also the first time I've found pepperoni as a topping here), but still poor compared to our favorites in America. Too much cheese, too little sauce. The crust was very good.



From El Calafate we grabbed a late bus to El Chaltan. It was a bumpy ride... the road was mostly unpaved... but we did stop at a rest stop that had a llama chilling inside.





El Chaltan. One of the most amazing settings for a town I've ever seen. It reminded me a little of Yosemite... the place is just ringed with amazing cliffs and mountains. The entire town is under construction; in 5 or 10 years it will probably be like Whistler or Vail or something, but for now it's pretty small-time.

Looking back toward the town at the start of a 22km hike.



And here's our destination: Laguna Torres. On a clear day the view here is sick... there are awesome spires (torres=towers) visible on the horizon... but unfortunately it started snowing and raining about 20 minutes into our hike.



It was a bit cold up there.





Mr. Burny Tree sez: "Only YOU can prevent forest fires... by not throwing lit cigarettes into my crotch!"



We missed winter this year, so we're making the most of our 3-week version.



We woke up the next day and it was clear. Unfortunately my hamstring also exploded, so Liz was the only official Viva Robusto representative on this hike.



I really missed out.







We've done 3 hikes together in the past week; two were supposed to be spectacular, but it was cloudy. We had good weather for the third, but the scenery was nothing like this. Man!



I believe this set of peaks is called Fitz Roy.



Liz met a Danish girl on the hike (who took this picture).



Just looking at these photos is putting me on life tilt. I see what you people are talking about when you say you can't read our blog at work.



omg



You can actually drink the water straight from the streams up there!



At least I got to participate in the ordering of dulce de leche waffles afterward.



Gotta run now. We have more photos but not enough time to post or write more just yet. You'll hear from us next in Mendoza.