Home safe and sound

We arrived home yesterday after smooth flights from Buenos Aires (via Dallas). We'll post a few more thoughts and pics from the last half week in Argentina. The biggest challenge -- believe it or not -- was getting pictures off my iPhone and onto my laptop. The regular camera battery died at the worst moment -- right as stunning Mt Fitz Roy came into full view on our Friday hike.

Anyway, it took an hour to figure out that I needed to clear some "ghost" USB device plug-ins from the laptop (I guess I now know you should wait for those "safe to remove" messages) and reinstall the iPhone USB driver. I'm still not sure why it started working. I followed the same steps on a comment board and it magically worked the third time. No chickens were sacrificed, but we were close. I've learned not to question these small victories. More soon!

El Chaltén

We took a bus on Monday from El Calafate to El Chaltén, a small mountain village at the base of Mt Fitz Roy. We were lucky to have clear weather and snapped a few shots as Fitz Roy greeted us. It's like the skyline of Patagonia.

We signed up for a trek on the Viedma Glacier, the largest in Patagonia. We took a one hour boat ride across Lake Viedma to where the glacier met the lake.

The boat docked and let us off on the rocky shore next to the glacier. We climbed for about 20 minutes before putting on crampons and hiking onto the glacier.

From our trek:

Bailey's was a fine reward after a couple of hours of trekking on the glacier. On the rocks, provided by the glacier, naturally.

Day two started with cafe (sin leche!) y media lunas.

From town, you can just see the peak of Fitz Roy.

We set out on a trek to a base camp for climbers. Incredible views along the way before clouds rolled in.

Our trek concluded at Laguna Torres, a lake formed by ice melt from the Grande Glacier. You can see how clouds rolled in to obscure views of the peaks.

A rope crossing signalled the end of the trail for us. The 20 meter crossing over rushing ice-cold water with no net and a sign to not make the crossing without a park-sanctioned guide and proper equipment also factored in the decision. 

So we snapped another self portrait and headed back to town.

Seven hours of trekking earned us a couple of microbrews. Salud!

Patagonia: Parito Moreno Glacier

We flew to El Calafate in southern Patagonia on Saturday and we'll have a week to explore. It's a long way down here -- we're now further south than we've ever been. We'd hit 45 degrees south a couple of years ago in New Zealand; this checks in at 51 degrees south. The sun is up all the time. It was still light enough to be golfing at 10p last night, and it was bright and sunny for our 7a alarm.

Here's some pics and video from exploring the Parito Moreno glacier. This glacier is about the same size as the city of Buenos Aires and has been a constant size since first measured in 1917 (notable with most glaciers currently shrinking).

We started with a boat ride to get up close.

A load moan from the ice signalled the first big chunk to fall in. I spun the camera and caught the splash.

After the boat ride, we headed to the "balconies", a series of catwalks to explore different views of the glacier.



Exploring Palermo

We stopped back through Buenos Aires for a couple of days before heading down to Patagonia. We stayed again in San Telmo, but set up lunch on Friday with a friend of a friend who has an office in Palermo. We took our first ride on the Subte for all of $1.10 each. That's pesos, so it was barely more than a quarter. Very easy; trains were a lot like the el in Chicago.

We explored a lovely park,

then met Juergen for lunch. Juergen's originally from a small town outside of Munich, met our friends Sandy and Eric while living in the San Francisco bay area, and has lived for the past four years with his wife and two kids outside of Buenos Aires. Lunch was great, and we enjoyed learning more about the country and the culture from someone who's living it.

Iguazú Falls

Iguazú Falls are located in the northeastern corner of Argentina, right at borders with Brasil and Paraguay. It's a tropical jungle here: hot, muggy, and prone to sudden and massive downpours. The downpour last night was so strong that a passing motorcycle stalled out.

Here are a bunch of pics and videos. Hopefully they give you a sense of the place. It's on the short list of the new seven natural wonders of the world.

First look:

Panarama view from the Lower Circuit trail:

We took a boat ride that went up the main channel towards the Devil's Throat, and around San Martin island to San Martin falls. We were beyond soaked by the end.

The Devil's Throat -- the biggest of the falls -- is barely visible from water level due to the mist. Just wait until we get to the overlook...

Finally, we took the long walk to Devil's Throat. Here's a shot as we get close to the falls.

No commentary for the final video -- I think you'll hear why.