Towers of Pain

We set off for Torres Del Paine today and will be gone for about 9 days. We're both super excited and can't wait to get on the trail.

There are a number of options for trekkers, but one of the most popular ways is called the W. Basically, trekkers dip in and out of the best areas and the path forms a W shape. The W takes about 4 to 5 days.

Instead we're doing the full circuit, and in a way a bit longer than the traditional way. We'll hike in from the administration center (see the yellow trail marker) and hike in a counterclockwise direction. The path that we will take will form a Q shape, hence it is called the Q.

Estancia Helsingfors

Helsingfors is a beautiful place. It was the windiest as well.

Cerro Torre

Cerro Torre is an awesome peak with a storied history. The Compressor Route and Ferrari Route are the main ways up the tower. The tower is tough to see due to the weather but we had some luck, albeit from afar. Here it is zoomed up.

Hace frio - we must be in Chile

Adrian and I left Elisabeth and Angela in El Calafate - a sad goodbye, of course - and headed into Chile.

We arrived in Puerto Natales with one mission in mind: Torres Del Paine. We expect heavy winds and probably some rain, but hey, it's Patagonia.

We intend to do an 8-day trek of Torres Del Paine and so we will be out of touch for awhile.

Cheers!

Giants in the rock world

No I'm not talking about Slayer. I'm talking Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, amazing peaks located just a hop, skip and jump from El Chalten, a curious burgeoning, little town that is a speculators dream. Ór at least was several years ago.

After leaving Helsingfors we took a transfer into El Chalten, located on the other side of Lago Viedma. El Chalten is riddled with trekking shops and loads of restaurants, pubs and hostels. It seems like everyone who lives in town operates a hostel or restaurant. The town is still putting in the roads and to date there are no ATMs or banks.

During our two-night, one-day stay, Adrian and I set out to see Cerro Torre, about a 3-hour hike into the national park, which lies at the edge of town. The trailhead was maybe two minutes from where we stayed.

The peak was shrouded in clouds most of the day. As we finally turned to leave, she showed her face and man, was it pretty and a little scary.

Where in the world are we?

After departing Ushuaia we traveled to El Calafate, a burgeoning town in Patagonia that is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Or at least that's what I thought when we first landed. The town itself is filled to the proverbial brim with tourist shops and adventure travel agencies. The main destination for travelers here is Perito Moreno, a glaciar that is still advancing and therefore calves about every 15 minutes or so.

After visiting the glaciar and tooling around town we took a four-hour transfer to Helsingfors, which is really in-the-middle-of-heavenly-nowhere. The working estancia is located on the southern shores Lago Viedma, perhaps a 30-mile long glacial lake. The estancia, tucked amongst stands of enormous pine trees, only has eight rooms and an old time Colorado ranch feel. When we arrived a small fire burned in the fireplace and the bar had little snacks set out. Within an hour we served gourmet lunch with freeflowing wine.

The following day Adrian hiked up to Laguna Azul, while Elisabeth, Angela and myself rode horses up the valley to the glaciar, which is perched just above an amazing blue lake. Hence the name, Laguna Azul. The whole trip including lunch took about 7 hours.



Then it was onto El Chalten. More on that later. Cheers

Penguin mania

I've never been an organized-tour type of girl. And while Adrian cringes at the sight of the giant tour buses that we encounter absolutely every where, he is still partial to those trail talks the park rangers give back in the States. I know, what a nerd - he wants to actually learn things.

But there is a point to all of this. In Ushuaia to see the best stuff - meaning the penguins - you have to sift through about a dozen or so companies that offer tours. Thankfully, Alejandro Galeazzi, the owner of Galeazzi-Basily B&B, where we stayed, knows the owner of Harberton Estancia, the oldest home in the area on a massive track of land on the Beagle Channel. So we drove out to the ranch, the photo above shows how windy it is there.

The tour company that operates through Harberton also happens to be the only ones allowed to land on the island where the penguins come to breed.

Yup, that's right we got to walk around an island with thousands of penguins. At one point I sat on the beach and a big honker of a guy walked right past, maybe two feet away. A museum equiped with researchers are also located on the estancia an they spend their time studying the penguins and compiling, cataloging and constructing marine skeletons.

Missing the election

I planned on holding back and not commenting about politics back home during our adventure through Argentina. Not that I have anything against politics. I love it, but I figured people are tuning in to a read travel blog, not Happy Furry Puppy Time with Norbizness.

But today's the primary election in Wisconsin and well, it's all about timing, right?

I had high hopes that I would be able to vote in the primary election. I even made arrangements to have my absentee ballot sent to me in Buenos Aires. Not surprisingly, sending a ballot was a bit too tricky for the City of Delafield and I never received it.

I will be unable to vote today. But that doesn't mean the rest of you can't. Everyone else - hit the polls.

El Fin del Mundo

Within four hours, we had gone from the hectic and chaotic streets of Buenos Aires to Ushuaia - a bustling little tourist town at the end of the world.

We've spent the past few days hiking and roaming about town as well as taking a couple of boat tours. On one tour we traveled through the Beagle Channel and to an island of sea lions.

I know everyone is looking for photos and more updates, but the Internet time is slim. I will add some more photos soon.

Buenos Aires - la parte tres

Adrian's mom, Elisabeth, and her friend, Angela, arrived Wednesday after a long flight from the U.S. After they settled into the hotel we walked around the city a bit - visiting Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada (or pink house), which houses the presidential offices.

Later that night, we went to Siga La Vaca, or follow the cow, an all-you-can-eat parrilla. It was a little touristy, but the food was good.

On Thursday, we visited the cemetery - a crazy place that everyone should spend some time in. Everyone goes to see where Evita is buried, but there are other amazing crypts within the cemetery's walls.

Later, we took a city tour in one of those open buses, then hopped a cab to San Telmo for lunch. After lunch we went to La Boca.


The neighborhood is interesting although its touristy on the main streets and pretty dodgey outside of the main area.

We then capped the night off with a Tango show at CafeTortoni.

Buenos Aires part deux

Our first night in Buenos Aires was great. We met up with Mike, a guy from California that we met in Mendoza. He lives in B.A. now so we met out for a drink in the Palermo Hollywood neighborhood.

We met some of his other friends at a bar called Acabar and later had an amazing Chinese fusion meal.

Hace frio

Adrian and I arrived in Buenos Aires, after a 10-hour bus ride from Cordoba, on Tuesday morning. I made a crucial mistake when getting on the bus and failed to grab a fleece or even pants.

The bus didn't have blankets and I froze the whole way to Buenos Aires. We arrived in the morning and checked into Hotel Bel Air in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It's a nice boutique hotel and located in a beautiful part of the city.

Nuestra Señora de Lourdes

On Feb. 11, as I mentioned before thousands descend on Alta Gracia to go to the grotto of Nuestra Senora de Lourdes. This is a replica of the one in France. As we drove into the town it looked pretty quiet - until that is, we arrived at the bus station.

The grotto itself is located about three kilometers outside of town and in those kilometers there were dozens of vendors selling food, trinkets and of course Virgin Marys. In the photo below, on the right side, you can see people standing in line. People waited about two hours or more to walk up to the grotto and be blessed. They often brought their Virgin Mary statues with them to be blessed as well.

Hundreds of children were playing in the river and families set up little campsites alongside its banks. Later, we walked into town to visit Che Guevara's boyhood home and it was practically a ghost town. A tour group visiting the town's sites would never know that less than 2 miles away there were thousands of people on a pilgrimage.

Stumbling onto a religious pilgrimage

Leave it to a couple of Americanos to decide to travel to a small town on the day of one of its biggest events and have absolutely no idea.

`Gee, Adrian, why are there about 500 people waiting for the bus to Alta Gracia?`
Hmmm ... must be a popular place.

More on this later, but about 70,000-ish people arrived on Alta Gracia's doorstep on Feb. 11 for an annual pilgrimage to a grotto or cave on the edge of town. People stood in line for hours to be blessed and bring their Virgin Mary statues to be blessed. Many crawled on their hands and knees in prayer for sick or disabled family members and friends.

Cordoba - city of scholars

Adrian and I had a great time in Cordoba. When we first arrived I was pretty destroyed from lack of sleep on the bus ride from Mendoza. The buses are very nice, I just couldn't sleep.

When we first arrived I was more focused on napping than anything else. But later .... I realized how young and vibrant the city is. There are 7 universities here so lots and lots of students. Plus the architecture and history behind the city is amazing. The photo below shows one of the pedestrian walking areas and some of the amazing trees that shade the area.

Tango rating

Tango gets * stars. Location: Cordoba

I think this hostel could be fine depending on who the guests are. Basically it's a small hostel and when a group is partying it means the whole hostel better join in or be prepared to be annoyed. The staff seemed nice, but again in our case, sort of failed to take control of their own hostel.

They do have Internet (a VERY slow connection) and they so organize tours. It was hard to assess the cleanliness of the place because one staff member spent the day cleaning up from the party they had the night before and after 5 hours at the task it didn't look much better. I think those partiers put some serious miles on the place.

How many drunks does it take ...

Here's the philosophical question of the day ... How many drunks does it take to force you to check out of a hostel? Does the type of alcohol consumed make a difference?

Well, yesterday in our case the answer was 8 drunken Englishmen and Australians drinking Fanta and Vodka for seven hours while cranking the hostel's stereo system past its limits with every Rolling Stones song ever produced.

We arrived at Tango Hostel in Cordoba on Sunday morning. They had accidentally given away our double. But no mind, we're flexible so we said dorms are fine. At about that time, a young chap arrived with energy drinks and vodka for his friends (this was about noon) in an effort to shake off the hangover from the previous night.

When we came back to the hostel at 5:30 p.m. it was like we had walked into the Lord of the Flies. After an hour of breaking glass, ridiculous mumblings, rantings and ravings I seriously thought I might actually witness Piggy's demise.

I'm all for partying but this got so out of hand - and with no staff in sight and other guests contemplating their leave - we bailed.

Hostel Lao rating

Hostel Lao gets ***** stars. Location: Mendoza

I just edited my previous review from 4 1/2 stars to five because I remembered a few other details where the staff was especially helpful.

The price was right - 35 pesos (or $12 USD) , I think for dorms. They also have an array of double rooms from 90 pesos ($30 USD) to 120 pesos ($40ish USD).

The place was immaculately clean and had a great vibe. The pool was cleaned everyday. The staff were among the most helpful and endlessly patient with my many requests. The free wine at 8 p.m. didn't hurt either.

The inclusion of towels and fresh bed linens (virtually every day for dorms) was an added plus.

Should I go on? The place was secure and I never felt like my stuff would get ripped off. The breakfast was pretty standard, rolls, little croissants and mate, cafe etc. The kitchen was great to cook in.

Hotel Aconcagua rating

Hotel Aconcagua gets *** 1/2. Location: Mendoza.

This is a more expensive hotel. I stayed one night out of necessity and was pleasantly surprised. It was $120 USD. Nice location, nice layout and a clean place.

The staff was helpful and the pool and restaurant help push their rating up. The food was excellent.

Big disappointment was the single Internet terminal. Granted they had Wi-Fi, but one terminal for a big hotel seemed like an oversight of the times.

Quinta Rufina rating

Quinta Rufina gets ** stars. Location: Mendoza.

I really want to give them more stars because they were incredibly nice people. But for the price - and as a self dubbed bed & breakfast - I can not give them a higher rating. The rooms were fairly clean, but the vibe was well, sort of non-existent.

The breakfasts were OK, basically some breads and one kind of jam, plus coffee and juice. The rooms were nice and mine had a private bathroom. But some couples complained of the lack of air-con in their rooms. My shower didn't work too well, meaning the cold water didn't work at all.
With a little sprucing up it could be great. The location wasn`t bad, just west of Belgrano near lots of great restaurants.

Hotel Nutibara

Hotel Nutibara gets *** stars. Location: Mendoza.

It's considered a two-star hotel. We stayed there one night and it was $88 USD. The rooms were nice, location was good, they had four Internet terminals so that was great for us and they had a nice breakfast.

Known as a climber/mountaineer hotel.

If the place was a touch cheaper I would kick it up to a *** 1/2 star rating.

Chimbas Hostel rating

Chimbas gets *** stars. Location: Mendoza.

Staff helpful and organization of the business seemed to run fairly smoothly. The staff was always cleaning although the bathrooms could use a slight update because of the heavy use they get.

The double room was nice but didn't have air-con, which wasn't a big deal. One of the dorm rooms seemed a bit dodgey because there was a staircase in the room that meant people were walking up and down the stairs all night while people were sleeping.

Vibe was good. Location was a bit far for me. It's by the bus terminal, which is nice when you first get there. But everything else is a good 15- to 20-minute hike. Overall a decent value.

Kicking off the rating system

So Adrian and I have decided to start rating places where we've slept and major places where we've ate. We've excluded some cafes and such because it would mean constantly updating the blog.

The way we will rate hostels, hotels and such will be a star system with five being the best and zero being the lowest. Hotels and hostels will be rated based on cleanliness, location, staff and organization, vibe (stop snickering) and overall value. You might say, well how can you possibly compare the super upscale Hyatt to a hostel. Trust me you can because when it comes down to it I got amazing service and a wonderful room at a hostel that in my opinion is a better value then spending $300 USD at the Hyatt.

The eateries will be similary rated for staff-service, cleanliness, vibe, overall value and quality of food.

Adrian and I will each comment - albeit briefly - on each place within on post. If you don't see Adrian's comments right away its because he's out running while I am sitting in this Internet cafe getting fatter.

Trekking

I did do other things aside from take Spanish classes, ass about Mendoza and drink wine. Last Sunday I went on a trek to the summit of Cerro Arenales, about 3,900 meters high. The scenery was great and I met a very fun-loving Brasilian couple.

This is an absolutely horrible photo of me on the summit, but it's the only one I've got. The little scruffy dog that tagged along for the 5-hour endeavor is aptly named Stinky.

Gringo catchers and parks

Mendoza is famous for it's trees, which line virtually every street and create a canopy - a ferngully of sorts in the middle of a dry and arid region. The photo below was taken from a high point in Parque de San Martin, a huge park that is located on the city's west end.


The trees and the hundreds of tiny canals or acequias that provide water for them define the city. The acequias are essentially open ditches made of stone or concrete located between the road and the sidewalk. Hence the name gringo catchers, where many a drunken gringo has ended up. The acequias are great except when they are filled with trash, then it rains and the streets are inevitably flooded. The photo below shows the entrance to Parque de San Martin.

A last word or two about Mendoza

There were a number of posts I never made - that I wanted to make - about Mendoza.

First of all during my time there I stayed at number of hotels and hostels. Most for just a day or two. I stayed the longest at Hostel Lao. During my time there I met some fascinating and great people. Below is a photo of Wim, Celeste and Mike. Celeste and Mike own Hostel Lao and put on an asado for Wim's birthday. More about hostels and how they rated in later posts.

Mike prepared 700 grams of meat for each person. (Sorry Americans you've got to do the metric conversion on your own.)This last photo is of me and Charlotte, a lovely English girl, who is traveling with her husband, Pieter, for I think for 8 or 9 months.

Leaving Mendoza

Well the time has finally come to leave Mendoza. We left late last night and took a 10-hour bus trip to Cordoba, the country's second largest city. We have tons of photos of Mendoza and will post our last day there tomorrow.

It's going to be tough to beat the Mendoza. It was relaxing and great fun, plus I met some amazing people.

For Matthew

A tiny piece of Matthew's spirit - what an adventurous one it was - is now on top of Aconcagua. Thank you Matthew for being the kind of friend that we all try to be and most of us fail to become.

Photos from Aconcagua

I'm sure you're all excited to see some photos of Adrian's trip to Aconcagua. Here are a couple showing the approach and of course the summit. The photo below is of Adrian and Leandro, the base camp chef.



The second photo is of Adrian on summit day with the rest of the team. And the final photo speaks for itself. As my brother told Adrian before he left for the climb, `Dude, you're going to dominant that shit.`

Success on Aconcagua!!

I just got back from Aconcgua and am very happy to say the expedition was a success! I stood on the top of the highest peak in the western and southern hemisheres. Since the Himalayan season has not started yet, it is safe to say we were the highest people in the world for the little while on top.

We battled snow and high winds every day and were the only people to summit on Ground Hogs Day, Feb 2nd.

Some thanks are in order:

To Kirsten, thanks for helping me train when I didn´t feel like it and for all the support. You are the best wife and best friend in the world. I missed you very much.

To Tanya, Sierra, Karina and Cormac, without your support and help, this would never have been possible.

To my Mom, what can I say? I love you and thanks for EVERYTHING.

To the Selbys, who are taking care of our affairs while we are on this trip. Without you, we´d have a lynch mob after us, not to mention the IRS!

And finally, as the Bar Fly would say, "To all my friends!!!!!", especially the climbing buddys. There are too many to mention here.

I´ll be back to post up a trip report and some photos soon. Now I have to find Kirsten in this city of 2 million people!

Chau!
Adrian

Tech issues

OK folks. Internet connections in South America can be fast and then there are times like these when it slows to the speed of well, speed isn't the word I would use.

Photos will be uploaded as soon as possible.

Single women travelers

Since my return to Mendoza I've occupied myself with more Spanish classes and the occassional excursion. I've also managed to meet loads of interesting people at the hostel. I met some interesting women from all backgrounds and ages who are traveling by themselves. Here it's quite common to run into women traveling by themselves, but they've all said that back home their families and friends were concerned or just didn't really understand.

So, all you chicas or even the chicos out there ... What do you think of traveling by yourself? Would you do it? Are there places you might not go and why?

Summit!

Well it's been a few days and so much has happened. First and foremost, Adrian appears to have summited on Saturday at about 2:15 p.m. I say ``appears`` because the e-mail I received from the guiding company only described it as the team. I can only assume that means everyone.

Lead guide Christian Santelices phoned the guiding company from Piedras Blancas high camp and reported quite a bit of fresh snow and difficult trail-breaking conditions.

Their plan was to descend to Base Camp Plaza de Mulas on Sunday and trek out to Pennitentes today. I have always understood that it takes three days, but maybe it will be shorter. Based on what the guiding company said that would bring Adrian back on Tuesday afternoon.