Hello
So I lied during my last entry…I have not danced my last tengo. Before leaving Buenos Aires I took an introductory a tango lesson. It was actualy a lot of fun and I would even think about trying it again in the future. And for the record I think that I only stepped on my partners foot twice and she stepped on mine once.
The rest of my time in Buenos Aires was spent going to the Evita museum (I still really don´t understand why she is so famous because the museum wasn´t very informative but do know that a bunch of government sponsored social welfare programs started by Peron were named for her…must be nice being the wife of the president.) I also walked around another street market and enjoyed all sorts of live street performances. My last event in BA before leaving was a soccer game and it was great. Both teams were from BA so the crowd was really into it…in soccer stadiums here there is always a section reserved for the visiting fans. So the chanting between the 2 sides started an hour before the game, went through the entire game, and continued for 15 minutes after the game. Very fun to experience such a great atmosphere…better than almost all the sports crowds that I have experienced in the states. Two interesting points…no plain fence separating the crowd from the field here…they had a full on moat filled with water plus a fence—they take their crowd control seriously here. They also let the visiting fans leave the stadium first so we were locked in the stadium until all of them cleared out which took about half an hour.
I know you are all impatiently waiting to hear how the the 20 hour bus ride went. Pretty uneventful (and quick) and it was so painless that I got another one on Wed night-Thurs. The long bus rides should be over for a while though…I hope. Did get to watch a couple of really bad American movies (American Pie 4???) and slept a fair amount.
My first views of Patagonia were a lot different than I expected. Puerto Madryn is technically in the Patagonia section of Argentina. Actually most of the 2 bus rides were spent getting around Patagonia. I had imagined mountains with lots of trees. Instead most of the time I was in some of the flattest landscape that I have ever seen (maybe even flatter than Kansas) and it was full of brown low lying scrubs and sand. Not very scenic at all. Luckily that has changed a little bit.
Puerto Madryn was my first stop after leaving BA. It is famous for being the winter home of southern right whales and orcas that beach themselves as they attack sea lions. Unfortunately all the right whales have migrated to Antartica for the summer and the orcas haven´t arrived yet so I wasn´t able to see any. Instead on our tour we saw elephant seals (they are very big), sea lions, a type of rabbit, guanacos (llama like animals), and penguins. I also got to watch a ceremony-parade honoring police officers for outstanding service—just another random event while on the road. Other than that tried to go to a museum which was closed and walk down a huge pier in town (which was also closed due to their being a cruise slip docked there),
I left Puerto Madryn and came to El Calafate which is in the heart of the Argentinian Andes. I can´t tell you how happy I am to be in the mountains finally. They are a little smaller than I expected but still pretty. There are also a ton of glacial feed lakes which are amazing shades of blue. The other day I went on a horseback riding trek up into the mountains…the weather wasn´t great so some of the views were obscured but I was able to see into Torres del Paines Nacional Park (where Chad and I will be backpacking next week) and to some other peaks. It was just a great day though and so much fun to be in the mountains. I also got to see a huge river with tons of oxbows…didn´t realize it but I really like rivers with oxbows…just means that man hasn´t altered the natural course of the river.
Then today I took a tour to see the Moreno Glacier. It is a huge glacier (about 150 to 200 feet tall above the water line and another 200 to 300 feet below the surface of the water). The weather was great and has warmed up a little bit (Patagonia is very windy and it has been cooler in the 50´s and 60´s) so the glacier was calving off huge chunks of ice all day. Plus the ice was brilliant blue in color due to the fact that the ice absorbs all other colors. I have seen some glaciers before but this was by far the most spectacular that I have ever seen and it was the first time I got to see one calving.
An apology to those of you who have emailed me in the past week…I will email you back as soon as I can…the web access here leaves something to be desired.
Tomorrow I head to Chile (Puenta Arenas and then to Puenta Natales) to meet Chad (my brother) and then we are off to do some backpacking. Backpacking in Terra del Feugo is one of the things I was really looking forward to doing on this trip so I´m excited to get there.
Love
Scott
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