estoy perdido

Here we are in BA, nearing the end of our journey. Its hot and humid, you could breath the humidity as soon as we got off the plane. Arrived at our hostel, a great looking place on a busy street, what´s new? Yesterday began with a short walk to the subway and over to some parks to the north of us. From here we bagan walking and there is something to see everywhere you look again, how many times have you heard this. Rio Gallegos was supposed to be a real bore from everyone we spoke to and I think we could have spent two more days there quite easily. Where does one begin, the zoo was awesome and we burnt four hours before we knew it and that was missing a lot of or we would still be there. The Japanese garden were the same, all manicured perfectly, the fish are like pets following along the paths as you walk. The street are something to see. Sitting on a bench beside them is a show in itself, 12 to 14 lanes one way, the drivers and buses are crazy, fast and reckless and its quite comical to watch what appears near misses, but nothing major ever seems to happen. We did decide that 8 out of 10 cars have some kind of scrape but I am sure that if there ever was a fender bender they don´t stop anyway cause then you would get run over. Meandering our way back to the hostel, KR is now on mission to find a shirt for tango night, don´t ask me where a mens store is yet they all seem dressed. Womans clothing and shoes seems to be the hot items, I suggested he rent a suit, it would be faster, he disagreed. Back to our room we are to get ready for tango, Adrianna (I hope I spelled it right) and a few friends have came to pick us up and go for some drinks and food at a local favorite pub, but KR has not been feeling well since lunch and is fading fast, we decide to call it a night and will attempt to tango tonight. I think he will do nothing short of hypnosis to get better so he can tango. So there is another day in a nutshell, I must go find him something for his sore little tummy, he is a tough Canadian and will not be down long. Take care everyone, enjoy the photos and there is a ton more still in the camera....... JD out 

Hello again all, we are now in Rio Gallegos on the east coast waiting for our flight tomorrow, I won´t tell you what we did today to keep you in suspence. A lazy day on Friday organinizing our next destination, get rid of the car and other stuff, then KR and a French couple decided to start opening wine...again, and I didn´t think it would be healthy to see him consume all of it by himself and get sick so I helped him.......till 3:00 am. Saturday morning, up and at it for a 7:15 tour of the Perito Moreno glacier, Big Ice it is called and is it ever, glacier as big as Buenos Aries and we are going hiking on it. We start with a stop at the view point, an amazing site to see, ice breaking off sounding like blasting going off and over 2 km wide. We go back to the harbor, board a boat and cross the channel, a short briefing of the day and we begin a 1 km hike where we are fitted with crampons and safety harness, another 2 km hike to where we install our gear and on on to the ice four 5 hours of the most incredible clear water, cracks, water flows and crevassses that nature can produce. The guides are awesome, informative and give us one of the highlites of the trip so far, a 12 km hike by the time we get back to the base of the trail. Free coffee back at the base and we then board the boat where we are served a shot of Rye served over glacial ice..........this just sucks! and a tour of the face of the glacier while on the water followed by a return on the bus where I think everybody fell asleep. Once again many new friends, Belgium, L A, Quebec to name a few, and the local guides, supper and lites out.

 

Sunday....another slow day, we were going to fish but it seemed to be an on again, off again decision, it is very pricey but we are too late to arrange it, drug our feet a little too long, no big deal as all turns out well. Thumbing thru KR´s book we find some penguin info near Rio Gallegos so we buy our tickets and off to Rio we go, 4 hour bus ride. we fly out of here on Tuesday anyway to BA so why not go a a day ahead. This morning we head straight to the travel agency, us and 3 other people to purchase our tickets to go watch big birds that do not fly, are they really birds? okay, another day on that one. The bus picks us up and we head out again on... you guessed it.....130 kms of gravel road, and rougher than ever, I think KR and I have just about had enough dirt for awhile. Today´s new friends are all from Holland. Into the reserve we go and instantly the curious little gaffers are poking there heads up out of the bushes where they are protecting their chicks......just like on TV. Walk a little further to see more and more........and more and more, there is 1000´s of them, bushes, beach, some going, some coming, some swimming, a real site to see, and if you sit real still and low they will almost come right up to you. From there we come back out of the gravel but there is a volcano crater turned into a lake up another road, as KR and one of the other girls talk to the driver he agrees to to take us there as well for a few more bucks, not much to say here as the pics say it all. KR is busy loading some beside me right now but there we only be a few for now as it is getting late and we need to eat yet, things are closing soon. Tomorrow  we will be in BA, its tango time KR says, this should be good in our smelly hiking boots, real chics magnets we will be, Take care all, we will try and get some more pics on from Buenos Aries............KR, JD out    

Hi There  Here we are on line again, setting records for finding the fastest internet conections; there is a taste of the pictures we have so far and the good news is that it only took 2 1/2 hours to upload them. This is the one thing I do miss about home, the connections down south are slower than my dial up at home, that is hard to believe.  Well with what time we have left, we made a decision on what to do, tomorrow we are going on a trek called Big ice. We head to the Glacier and look around and then cross the lago and go for a 6 hour walk across it and the  next day we have booked a tour on a boat for the north section of the park. to view all of the north ice falls.  We changed our mind on the fishing ,it is just to expensive for one day and JD says he wants a guarenteed big pesca and the guy will not agree to it.  The Towers of Paine will need to wait, just not enough time to do it all and after looking at the route, I know you need to have at  least 7 days to do the full loop, even in El Chalten, we barely touch what the area has to offer, it is all a learning trip and we have learned alot, there is no substitue for being and learning the ropes, internet can not to do it all. There is a party tomorrow night and we are going to check it out even through you all know we are not very much of the party type people, we will sacrifice our bodies just so we can tell you all about what it is like to party in the patagona, are we not just the greatest friends you guys have?   

Take care and we will talk to you soon

KR & JD out...going bike riding in El Calafate

Just arrived here in El Calfate, its been a few busy days, and KR and I give our apologies for those of you following this site and not updating it, there have been many attempts along the way to do it but you simply cannot imagine the speed of internet down here. Go down in the basement and bring your first computer you ever bought and hook it back up to experience our frustration, just getting the site to open is usually a challenge, adding pictures would require many beers. The mountains and rain forest thru Chile was breathtaking, mountains one minute, rain forest the next and sometimes the change that fast. an interesting excursion it was but with 300 kms of some of the worst gravel road we have seen, a good place to be from. Unhappy people, grouchy border guards, we happy to get out and back to Argentina and see smiles as soon as we entered Argentina, their border guard was more interested in trading for Canadian music than our entrance. South we turn from there to drive the dreaded Route 40......so they say. Widen our best gravel road by 60 feet and drive 70 to 90 kms. The desert was flat and fun, cool valleys, mound formations of different colors and wind, lots of it, it never stops! We finally see some local wildlife, rabbits that probably weigh 20lbs minimum, ganapas, look like llama almost, and armadillos on the road, a story in itself, I m not sure what was more fun, watching the armadillo or KR running after it trying to get a close up photo only to see it outsmart him again, I think the last one finally gave up and just posed. A hostel in the desert was our next stop, a town of 150, an old and run down home but clean and friendly, these people are proud of everything they own, supper was on, the fireplace was lit, yes fire! the wind is blowing thru this town about 40 kms an hour and the evenings are cool in the desert. Wine and dinner with a couple from Brazil and one from Germany, more friends are made, a handshake and on our way in the morning. We conquer the route 40, haha! and the next stop is El Chaten and the Fitz Roy Range, packs on our backs and into the mountain to camp below Fitz Roy Mountain. A short hike the next morning takes us to base of the glacier to see an incredible peak and gusts of wind that knock you over if not prepared, KR,s toque literally blown off his head and found  a 100 feet away on the way down. We return to town to relax in a very nice hosteria, a welcome site after a walk down in the afternoon rain, supper an early evening. Today we have spent a few hours relaxing, its laundry day, we are both commando as we have nothing left that is clean or tolerable to the nose. Short drive to El Calfate and here we are, checking out a fishing trip for Saturday, glacier trekking on Sunday and thats it for now in nutshell, the stories and memories are endless and both of us hope to tell them all, bye for now, thanks for watching, we hope to try some pictures soon if we can find a computer that is faster..........JD and KR out

Hola every one   while JD is pecking his way along writing all that has been happening the last week, and let me tell you lots has been going on. We have a ton of stories to bore you with when we get home and the landscpace down here is unbelievable, one minute you are looking at the end of the ths sky line that is 30 kms away and then before you know it you have drop in a valley and you have all kinds of different animals running around. I find myself constantly wishing for my SLR and its 300mm lense, the little digital camera just does not cut it down here.  The crafts down here are amazzing too, and this morning I was looking at a hand crafted set of the cutest tea cups you ever seen  a set of six with a wooden tray for 45 pesos, You just want to cry when you walk out with out them but living out of a back pack, I have no choice.  Not  looking forward to coming home after hearing the weather today for Lumby and BC. I have climitize very nicely to the 25 - 30 c weather, just rubbing in in bit.  Well I´m going to go JD says he is just about done, we are going to find a camping stop and then fishing and some glacier walking, we will down load some pictures of every thing soon, oh and if the person who has my shirt is reading this I would like it back, thanks KR

Take care everyone and we will seen you all soon.

KR out...