Chile

It's been a while since I've done a country overview. Chile is the land of pisco, beaches and half of Patagonia.

The cities I plan to visit while I'm here are:

• Puerto Natales (gateway to Torres del Paine National Park)
• Coyhaique (the city closest to the marble caves)
• Santiago (capital of Chile)
• Vina del Mar & Valparaiso (beach towns famous for street art and surfing)
• La Serena (two observatories and trillions of stars)
• Easter Island (home of the Maoi)

El Calafate

This place seems like a dream. Turquoise blue waters with mountains set behind it. A group of flamingos standing there and my hostel looking out over all of it. This is a special place where people are super friendly and really laid back. This is also the current residence of the Perito Moreno Glacier. I took a tour to go check out this beast of ice and snow and it did not disappoint.

I went with a tour, which is unusual for me, but I'm glad I did because the guide loved what she was doing. She visited Calafate 10 years ago from northern Argentina and never left. I can understand the magnetism this place possesses. She took us on a long forgotten hiking path that to the lake across from the glacier. It was amazing. Just us and the group on this abandoned trail. It's like we had the glacier to ourselves.

We then got to the proper visitors center and area where they have pathways and balconies running everywhere. They span the length of the glacier and you can get various view of the ice. But it's not the view that's the most stunning part. It's hearing the sound of the glacier cracking and breaking in the hot sun and watching chunks falling off and making huge splashes and sounds as they land in the icy waters below. The ice is so blue. It's not like the ice we're used to. It's because it is such compacted snow that it absorbs every colour on the spectrum except blue.

After the viewing balconies, there was a boat that got within 200m of the glacier. It is so massive! At least 50m tall. Just puts everything into perspective looking at a massive sheet of ice and snow that has been around for a few millennia and will likely be around a lot longer.

It was a great visit to an amazing place. This trip has rocked my world.

Taking the long way to the glacier

View from our nature hike on the forgotten trail

Perito Moreno Glacier

Sea, Sky, Ice, Earth

Panoramic from the boat

Lifting glaciers is hard work!

Puerto Madryn

Wildlife galore! This is the place to be for all sorts of marine animals. Penguins, elephant seals, sea lions and whales. I flew because the bus ride is 17-20 hours and I'm done with that nonsense. The flight was two hours, that gives you an idea of the distance to cover, 700km.

Arriving in Puerto Madryn is like arriving in another world. The land is so flat and dry. There is only bushes and scrub as vegetation. There are no buses, the town is geared to tourism. Everything is expensive, but that's how it goes sometimes. The first day, I walked out and turned left to the Atlantic ocean and saw two whales sticking their head up and down out of the water! It was amazing. I stood and watched them for half an hour.

I ended up taking one tour and joining a couple of girls who had rented a car. We drove for 2 hours to Punta Tombo, the "famous" penguin colony of Patagonia. There are thousands of penguins here. And they aren't afraid of humans. We are supposed to stay 2 meters away from them and stay on the paths. But of course, no one does that!

P-p-p-p-p-p Pingu! Pingu!

We had a fight...

After the penguins, we were hungry and ended up going to the small town of Gaiman, only 5000 people live there. A lot of them of Welsh descent and that's why there are so many English tea houses. Who would've thought that after a day of waddling around with penguins, I'd end up having a full English tea service! The pastries were really good.

I like cake! Yummy Yummy Yummy!

That small blue speck close to the horizon is a whale...I swear!

Before heading back to the hostel, we went to a beach that is famous for seeing whales. And we saw them smacking their tails against the water. One even did a full breach of the water and came down with a huge splash! They are enormous and tranquil and fun-loving at the same time.

The second day in P. Madryn was for the elephant seals. A 4x4 picked us up from the hostel with two other people from France and our guide. That was it. After an hour and a half drive, we were there, Punta Ninfas! And the beach was ours. No one else goes here, because they prefer going to the more popular Peninsula Valdes where there is a greater variety of wildlife...but you can't get anywhere as close. Elephant seals are interesting creatures. The mothers raise the young only for 20-25 days, and then they are on their own. They have to live on their own and learn what they need to by themselves. The alpha males have a harem of varying sizes and there are peripheral males who try to sneak in and mate with the females when the alpha is sleeping or not paying attention! Pretty sure that's a crime in the human world.

Start of the Elephant Seal Adventure

Our guide helping the French ladies climb down

Halway down

Ahhh, that's why they call them elephant seals...

6 metres long!

What up seal?

Baby seal

Sea lion!!!

The long walk back

So tiring laying on the beach all day!

Last look

We descended down a 40m tall sandstone cliff to the rocky beach where there were loads and loads of elephant seals. We were really lucky and even saw a sea lion and his wife as well. We were so close, we could literally reach out and touch them. But we didn't bother the animals. This is an unprotected area and soon enough the Argentines will start charging for this too. But for now, it was just us and the seals. Amazing.

Iguazu Falls

Imagine Niagara Falls, now multiply it by 10 and plop it into the middle of the jungle. Even with your imagination's creative vision, Iguazu Falls would be much more than that.

It is absolutely incredible to be standing at the mouth of the falls and hearing the water rushing past, feeling the mist on your face, watching the swifts dart in and out of the water. On the day I was there, it was also raining a little bit. I had goosebumps all over. It was intense to be on the edge of something to massive and powerful. The picture will never do it justice. The videos will give a slight sense of how impressive it was. But this really is a must-see destination. It's one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

They have three or four trails cutting through the jungle that lead you to the upper portion of the falls, the lower portion of the falls and straight into the Devil's Throat (that's the name of the main falls). There's also another trail that leads through the forest to an amazing panoramic view of the jungle from on top of another waterfall.

There were butterflies everywhere! They landed on my shoulders, on my hat, on my shoes, on my ankles, even on my face! They weren't landing on anyone else. I feel special.

They have a boat that goes right into the heart of the falls. But this isn't your regular maid of the mist tugboat. It's a heavy duty craft with heavy duty motors to power into the middle of the raging falls and back out again. Definitely would be banned in Canada. This would be a top 5 highlight of my trip so far!

Boat to the falls

View from the boat before we went in

Devil's Throat

Devil's Throat

Devil's Throat

First Waterfall I saw

Mist everywhere!

Simply amazing!

Arts & Entertainment in BA

I took in some of the local culture in Buenos Aires. There is no blog post I could do that would do them justice. They were so good, so inspiring and so moving that all I can do is describe them, post some videos/photos and hope to do it some justice.

Show #1: Orquesta Tipico Fernando Fierro
This is not your grandpa's tango concert. These young, hip musicians are tranforming tango into something cool. You can see their passion and love for the music they create in every single song. The place looks just like a converted warehouse and is not a typical concert venue at all. It's dark with brick walls all around. The stage has a bunch of small cameras set up in front of the musicians which show a live feed during the concert projected behind them on stage. There's also a lighting spectacle which is timed with the music. Check out the video for a small portion of the amazingness!

4 accordians + 1 cello + 6 violins + 1 bass and a vocalists = one amazing concert experience. 

Sketchy Entrance...so?

Brick wall and light fixtures

Show #2: Fuerza Bruta
How do I describe this show? I really can't. I went to see it twice. Once on Friday and again on Saturday. It's that good. It's like someone got really high, then got some musical instruments, had a weird crazy dream and then made it into a show. This is a fully interactive show with the "actors" coming into the audience and making you feel like you are a part of it. There are no seats, you just stand and make way for the different props and sets that come into the floor space. There is rain indoors and a full dance party breaks out in the middle of the show led by the actors and the resident DJ. My pictures can't do it any justice at all, I'll just attach their video and leave it at that.

Show #3: Complejo Tango
These guys were definitely in it for the money. The show was twice as expensive as any of the other ones. Totally packed with tourists (the others were all locals) and there was hardly any passion in the dance. And after the first two shows, it was really a let down. They dancers were talented no doubt. But it's like the difference between a meal that was cooked really well and a meal that was cooked with love. There just is no comparison. These shows are a dime a dozen in BA. I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't go back.

La Boca and El Caminito

Tango was born in Buenos Aires. More specifically, it was born in La Boca, supposedly inspired by the Caminito area.It is the setting for the other biggest futbol team in BA, Boca Juniors. A well-known player called Maradona came from there.  I took a bus from my hostel to El Caminito and was not disappointed. It's a photographers paradise with colourful buildings, graffiti everywhere and a massive blue and gold stadium. I spent a good half day just walking around and enjoying the sights here. It was a look into the less privileged side of the city. The pictures do not do it justice.