Peruvian Adventures: Ancient Ruins, Amazing Places, Awesome Experiences

Ok. I'll admit it - I've been a slacker. I've been in Peru for almost 3 weeks and have no blog to show for it... In my defense though, we've been super busy traveling and exploring and going from place to place. You know, the rough stuff. Anyway, the wait is over!!! I know you're dying to know what I've been up to :) You might want to grab a snack or a cup of coffee (or 2) - this is going to be a long one. Enjoy!

The last days in Buenos Aires were bittersweet - we were sad that we were leaving a place that we were finally used to and comfortable with, but excited to be going to a brand new one! We took our last final (I got an A in my Traditions & Cultures class), went out for the last few times, packed our things and got ready for Peru! The day we left for Peru, we had to meet at 5:30am - that's in the morning people! A group of us, therefore, decided it would be a brilliant idea to stay up and out all night long and go home in time to grab our things and head to the bus. ...Ok, so maybe it wasn't so brilliant - but it was fun! We made it to the bus on time - and I think I was sleeping on the bus by 5:31.
We arrived in Lima and were greeted by the directors of the ISA program here. Maria Elena and Lucia welcomed us with big smiles, warm hugs, and a cool, made-in-peru bag for each of us! (mine is red). Afterward, we were off to meet our families! Let me just tell you, I LOVE my family here! I live with Jessi from my program, too. They are probably some of the nicest people on earth:
Nancy = stay-at-home mom, amazing cook, avid gardener
Carlos Miguel = dad (with a broken leg - he's on crutches, so we had a little heart-to-heart about all of that), comedian - his jokes are hilarious, animal lover - he literally won't kill a fly
Ketty = youngest daughter (25), graphic designer for Clear Channel, unbelievable artist...in her free time
Caroline = middle daughter (30), sweet as can be, happy all the time
They have another daugher too - Karla - but she is married and lives in a different country. I forget which one right now...
Rocky = bulldog, 10 yrs old, sooooooooooo cute and so mellow
So far, the people in Peru are so hospitable, no matter where you go. And every single one of them can cook! ...ok maybe not every single one, but close. The food here is incredible!
The first night we were in Lima, Ketty and her boyfriend, Alfredo, took Jessi and I to a pisco bar to try our first pisco sour (the drink of Peru). Pisco is an alcohol made from grapes, and a pisco sour is made from pisco, lemon juice, sugar and egg whites. They're delicious!
We had about 3 days in Lima where we were kept busy with orientations, intercambios and tours and then that following Tuesday, at 4am - we were on our way to Cusco for the week.

We arrived in Cusco at about 7:30 that morning and met Edi (Edilberto) - our guide for the week and the director of ISA in Cusco. This guy knows everything about anything when it comes to information about the Incas, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and all the places in between. He speaks 6 languages, lives in Urubamba, and has walked the Inca Trail over 230 times! (fyi - it takes about 4 days each time to walk the trail) We pretty much determined that he's Superman by the end of our trip.
The first thing we did when we arrived was buy some coca. Yes, that's what cocaine is made out of, but here it's actually legal! ...but it's not a drug - yet. The coca leaves actually are said to help with altitude sickness, which many people get when visiting Cusco because it's at a high altitude (11,600 ft)! The leaves come in all sorts of ways - tea, candy, plain - you can just chew on them. I drank my body weight in the tea because it was so good, and the caramelos were delicious too.
The first day, we visited the town of Pisaq and wandered around the ancient ruins, which are just incredible. It's amazing to see first-hand the structure of the land and the buildings and the meticulous thought that was put in to each and every detail. At one point during our trip, we made a stop and got to play with llamas and alpacas!! Afterward, Edi took us all to his home in Urubamba for an authentic Peruvian lunch. With fresh trout, chicken, green & lima beans, tomato, rice and 2 different kinds of soup, it was absolutely delicious! With full tummies, our next stop was the town of Ollantaytambo. It's another small town full of culture! That night, I even saw a monkey on a dogs back! A MONKEY!

Day 2 of our trip started at 5am (notice a trend here...). We took a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, and then from there a bus to........MACHU PICCHU! Machu Picchu is unlike anything I've ever seen. One of the Wonders of the World, not only are the ancient ruins incredible, but also the mountain ranges surrounding it. Machu Picchu, meaning Old Peak, is actually a mountain. The hillsides and valley below is where the ancient ruins of the Incan city are located. The Incans absolutely worshiped the land. They constructed areas for worshiping the sun, moon, water and mountians. Their architecture is incredibly detailed, from constructing a perfect compass to shaping the rocks strategically to help cushion the buildings during an earthquake. The landscape surrouding the valley gives the area a sense of tranquility and ethereality. The other 2 famous mountains that are often seen in pictures of Machu Picchu are Wyanapicchu and Huchuypicchu. I hiked up to the top of Wyanapicchu, and after doing so came to the conclusion that the Incans were studs (or at least had GIANT legs). This mountian "trail" was pretty much straight up and narrow - I don't think I've ever climbed so many stairs in my entire life. The view at the top was worth every bit of it though.
We also went to the Puerta del Sol (The Gateway of the Sun) at Machu Picchu. This area was actually on the mountain of Machu Picchu and required a little less physical effort than Wyanapicchu, but was still a trek. It offers the view from the opposite direction - complete with Huchypicchu and Wyanapicchu in the background. It's no wonder the Incas chose this area, full of mysticism and beauty to be the center of their civilization.
History Time!
Machu Picchu sits about 8000 feet above sea level and was built by the Incas starting in the 1460s AD, but was abandoned when the Spanish conquered the Incan Empire about 100 years later. It was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham and soon became known worldwide. The Incas never wrote anything down (which I'm guessing pissed off alot of historians) and so the history of the people has to be interpreted through artifacts, construction, ruins and mummies.
The buildings are created out of a technique that the Incas mastered, called ashlar: stones are cut, polished and molded to fit perfectly together without mortar. It's said that not even a blade of grass can fit between them! Also, this area is accustomed to earthquakes, so the Incas had to make sure that the stones could shift during them, preventing the buildings from collapsing. The history of Machu Picchu (and simply of the Incas) is fascinating! (I even bought a book about them...on Amazon. That's how much of a nerd I am.) If you have a chance, check out some of the info about them -- http://www.crystalinks.com/machu.html.
Day 3 of our trip started a little later - at 8am. We traveled back to Ollantaytambo and visited some of the ancient ruins there. I also got to see a wild tarantula! I think it was just a baby though...but it was still big! After that, we traveled back to Pisaq where we visited their giant market. There is everything you could ever possibly want hand-made from the wool of alpacas, as well as other crafts and artistic works. Being in an area with all of these incredible landscapes and things to purchase, it's difficult to remember that this is a developing area where the people have little to nothing. They bargain to sell the things that they have made and created, just so they can feed their children and themselves for one more day. Thinking about this, it's difficult to hear tourists trying to get the venders to lower their price "just one more sol," which would be about the equivalent of 33 cents in American money. I think it's important for people to understand these issues. I also know it can be difficult, because being the tourist, you are an easy target to be taken advantage of. For me, going to the market was definitely a humbling, but enjoyable experience. And yes, I did buy gifts. :)
Another plus of the market was that I got to try choclo. Choclo is this GINORMOUS steamed corn that they have here. It comes with a piece of cheese and you eat it just like that. It's delicious!
Day 4 was a free day for us - yay for sleep! We wandered around Cusco and got to know the city a bit. We also visited some of the museums, churches, and other historic sites, including El Templo de Saqsayhuaman, El Qoricancha, and La Catedral del Cusco.
Day 5 was our last day in Cusco. We enjoyed as much of it as we could and headed back to Lima.

That following week, we started classes. We're going to the University of the Pacific - and yes, I think we're the only Americans there...However, we don't have classes with Peruvian students - which is a bummer. I'm currently taking 2 classes but will be starting a 3rd (starting tomorrow actually). I'm taking Peruvian Art & Culture, and History of Latin America in 18th & 19th Centuries. The other class that I'll be starting is another intensive spanish reading and writing course. So far, the classes are interesting and the professors are entertaining.

Our first week of classes was a short one, however, due to Semana Santa (Holy Week). We had Thursday and Friday off so we did what any good student studying abroad would do: WE WENT TO THE BEACH! We spent 2 days in a beach town called Punto del Silencio. The sandy beaches, ocean waves, and beautiful sunsets were just the things we needed after a grueling first couple of weeks...haha. We spent one day at the beach in Punto del Silencio and the other a few miles away in Punto Hermosa. It was wonderful :)

So far, I can't say enough about Peru (after reading all of this you're probably thinking 'oh yes, you can'). But really, this country is beautiful, the people are so wonderful, and the food is incredible - my stomach took a week or so to agree with my mouth, but I think they're on the same page now. They have an abundance of fruit here - papaya, mango, a million different kinds of bananas (I even had one that tasted like apple!), passionfruit (my new favorite), lucuma - a native fruit to Peru which I don't really care for, tuna - fruit from a cactus, granadina, melons of all shapes and sizes, and so many more. There's definitely more American influence with the restaurants here - they have Papa Johns (pronounced Papa Yons - 'js' are silent in spanish), Dunkin Donuts, Dominoes, Hooters, Chilis, and the usual fast-food places.
The drivers here are, dare I say it, even more crazy than the ones in Argentina. It's true! And the taxi drivers scare the poop out of me. Oftentimes, they won't know the city very well and will have to have you give them directions on how to get where you want to go - difficult if you're new to the area...AND you have to bargain the price with them before you go anywhere!

There are so many other things to tell, but you're probably on your 6th cup of coffee by this point. If you made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks for sticking it out. The following blogs should be much, much shorter...unless I don't write them for another month :)
*Phew* that was a doozy.
Happy late Easter!

LOVE!LOVE!LOVE!

IGUAZU - the land of waterfalls! ...and my last days in Buenos Aires

Butterflies everywhere!

Just a few waterfalls

La Garganta del Diablo

Misty

Life is tough :)

My 'artistic' photo

Rainbow!

Palm trees & gorgeous waterfalls! *sigh*

la garganta del diablo from a distance

I went rapelling down that!

A Coati

They were huge!

Pretty

The one to the left - I went under that in a boat!

Amazing

The Jungle

Safari truck!

Reflection

Probably one of my favorite pictures!

Crazy looking bird

La Garganta

Again



Butterfly

A Cayman!

Ok, so I have some catching up to do.

Iguazu was gorgeous, as expected! But then again, any place that has almost 300 waterfalls in a national park has got to be pretty sweet!
The largest waterfall there is called La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat) - and let me just tell you, this sucker is HUGE! It measures 490 by 2300 feet (thank you wikipedia) and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. It is definitely an experience in and of itself, especially when you're being sprayed by the mist that is caused by the force of the waterfall hitting the river below; it also creates a mystic (get it - haha) ambiance as it's visible in the air and makes for almost a foggy view through the valley below.
The first day we were at the park, we went on an 'ecological' tour, where we went down a river on a blow up canoe with one guy rowing about 10 people. Needless to say, he had some guns (referring to his arms...). Anyway, it was a relaxing ride and we were able to get some gorgeous views of the jungle and natural life from the river.
Later that day, get this, we went UNDER 2 different waterfalls in another boat!!! Of course, we didn't go directly under the waterfall all the way - I clearly wouldn't be writing this if that were the case - the force of the water coming down would crush anything that was underneath it. All the same, we got soaked. It was incredible! After that, we hiked the 2 different trails that lets you view all of the waterfalls that you can on the Argentine side. I didn't get the chance to go to the Brazil side, mostly because I really didn't want to end up in a Brazilian jail due to my lack of a VISA, but I seriously considered it :). I finally decided that seeing Brazil from a distance was good enough for me. Besides seeing the waterfalls, I also saw a large turtle, several gigantic spiders, birds with crazy colors, thousands of butterflies that would just randomly land on you and hang out for a bit, a cayman (it's like an alligator, but not really - it's smaller), Coati's (which are like a raccoon with the face of an anteater - I don't really know how to explain them), and a bee who had it out for me one day and literally chased me around the park and made some failed kamakazi attempts at my head - but don't worry, I outsmarted it.
The second day, we hung out at the pool for a while. Oh yes, our sweet hostel had a pool. However, around 2 in the afternoon, one of those giant, green safari trucks rolled up to our hostel to pick us up for our afternoon adventure. Lucky for us, it was completely empty and sounded like the equivalent of a monster truck on steroids, so we only attracted a little attention as we took off in our sweet ride - and by 'we,' I mean 3 people. And our guide - Roderiguo. Eventually we picked up a bunch of other people and off we went. You'll never guess what our 'activities' were for that afternoon, so i'll spare you the suspense: we went rapelling down a waterfall & we went on 3 different zip lines - IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE! It was amazing! After going on our mini safari ride through the jungle in our green safari monster truck, we trekked down a path to get to our first stop. Rapelling. Rapelling is where they hook you up to a harness and you go to the edge of a cliff, or in our case a waterfall, and after putting your feet on the very edge with your heels hanging off the side, you lean back and you jump down the cliff/waterfall while somebody at the bottom feeds you slack as you go down. At first, I did pretty well. And then I hit the water. Let me just tell you, I could NOT get any traction on that slippery rock and therefore pretty much fell as gracefully as I could down the side of the waterfall, while trying not to smack myself against the rocks more times than was necessary. One of my finer moments.
On the third day, we went back to the park and went to San Martin Island. It's this island in the middle of the park where people can swim in the river, sun bathe or hike and see more view of the waterfalls. We did all 3. It's almost surreal when you're swimming in a river and waterfalls are litterally no more than a football field away from you. All in all, it was gorgeous and completely worth the 18 hour bus ride!

As for my last days in Buenos Aires, we finished our classes last Thursday (3/26) - and I just found out today that I got an A in my class! Hooray! Anyway, we also had some amazing dinners, went dancing, went sight-seeing and spent some quality time in the city. On our last night (Friday) I didn't sleep - our bus for Peru left at 5:30am on Saturday morning, so we really didn't see the point. I'm definitely going to miss Buenos Aires and Argentina. The time feels like it's flying by - I can't believe that it's already been 2 months! It's bittersweet though, because I'm so excited to see what Peru has in store for us!
I arrived in Peru yesterday, and so far (in one day) it has blown my mind. I couldn't be happier with it! I'll give an update tomorrow :)
XOXOXOXOXO

Argentine Culture Crash-Course

I've spent almost 2 months in Argentina and realized that despite detailing all of my adventures and travels thus far, I haven't really given any insight of Argentine culture and some of the main characteristics that distinguish it from home.

Wow, that sounds like the start of a very dull, information-packed, sleeper of a blog.

Take 2:

ARGENTINE CULTURE: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE LOCO!!

*Whew* that was a close call!

Ok people, here we go. I'll start with my favorite part - the FOOD! (of course).

I am throroughly convinced that to truly be Porteño (a person from Argentina) you must:

1) like coffee (done and done). But not like it in large quantities. When you order a "coffee" here, you generally get a portion roughly the size of half a cup - measuring cup that is. The coffee here is stronger, it's more like espresso - but come on, a 1/2 cup?! Now, if you order a café con leche (coffee with milk) it will generally be bigger - if you're lucky, you'll get up to a full cup! The sweet thing that comes with ordering a coffee - the restaurants will usually bring you a little something to munch on. Maybe a small cookie or brownie or a couple - which is always a plus!

One of the things "to do" here is to go to a cafe at ANY time of the day or night, bring a paper or a magazine or something important-looking, sip your miniscule-sized coffee, nibble on your cookie, give off an aura of non-chalance and pretend that you rule the world. And that's not even a slight exaggeration.

2) drink mate. The cool Porteños go to a cafe and drink their little coffees, but the really cool Porteños drink mate. AND they can carry it around with them all day! Trust me, some of them do. Yerba mate is similar to a loose-leaf tea drink. The way to drink it is in a Mate cup, of course. This mate cup is generally a dried out gourd that has been decorated. You'll also need your metal bombilla, or straw, specialized for drinking the mate so that you don't suck up any of the mate leaves.

People will carry their gourds and straws and mate around with them - and a thermous of hot water so that they can have it whenever they'd like to during the day. Even in the middle of summer you can see people drinking their hot mate! Mate link: http://www.noborders.net/mate/index.html

3) incorporate empanadas into your diet as it's own separate food group. The best way I can describe an empanada is like a pastry filled with meat, cheese, veggies, really whatever you could want. And these things are everywhere!!! The majority of them are fried - and they are pretty much all delicious hot or cold. There are stands dedicated to the art of perfecting the empanada and then selling it for a whopping 3 pesos or less (less than $1). Glorious.

Argentina is known as the land of beef, so if you don't like red meat, you're screwed. Ok, maybe not so much, but there are Parrilla restaurants everywhere. These are grills where you can get almost any type of meat (and from almost any part of the animal) that you want. Most times a good thing, sometimes you'll be surprised by what's on your plate - not always such a good thing.

Dining is an art here. There are restaurants everywhere. If you don't eat out, it's sacreligious. These people love wining and dining and cafe-ing. No joke. I have never seen so many restaurants in one area at one time. And they always have people in them! The people here also love their sweets - they have some of the best bakeries I have ever seen with anything you could possibly want or imagine. It's hard to believe that Argentina is the leading country of anorexia and bulemia problems - it's true. Argentines are also proud of their invention Dulce de Leche. They could put this stuff on anything. They eat it for breakfast on toast or bread, fruits, they make desserts out of it, put it in coffee, probably eat it by the spoonful! I, on the other hand, cannot. It's good, but rich - like caramel but thicker. I think the sweets here have killed the tastebuds and pallet of the Argentines. Why? You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, find spicy food here to save your life! Everything has flavor, but when it comes to spicy, it's non-existent. And for me, that's a problem. Even if you do find "spicy" food, don't expect to need an extra glass of water. Oh well - I just plan on drinking a bottle of Cholua when I get home. Also, tap water does not exist - you have to pay for bottled water at restaurants, sin gas, of course.

Ok so the food part is huge - I'll just briefly point out some other things so you don't have to read a novel.

·Electricity here is expensive. You don't leave lights on or computers or any electronics unless you absolutely have to.

·The economy here is even worse than in the U.S. The exchange rate right now is 3.6 pesos to the dollar. Good for me, bad for Argentina.

·The nightlife here is crazy - it is uncommon to go out to dinner before 10pm, and you're the nerdy kid if you show up to a club before 1am.

·I don't know how they do it, but the people here love to shop! There are stores everywhere - mostly clothing, but others as well. You can always see people walking down the street holding the bags of their recent purchase.

·Shoes are unbelievably expensive. Enough said.

·"Fast-food", or comida rapida, isn't really heard of. Yes, they have McDonald's and Burger King, but these places are like legit restaurants. You go in, order, and sit down to enjoy your meal. And they're CLEAN!

·Time isn't really a big issue for people here. You'll get there when you get there. Don't make plans, things just spontaneously happen.

·There are dog-walkers everywhere. It's a profession, I swear.

·Don't drive a car or ride a bike here ever. Unless you have a death wish. (I think I mentioned this in a previous post).

·Pop/soda is called gaseosa, which, let's face it, could be funny.

·In every store and cafe you're almost guaranteed to hear American music - and way more bad 80s music than there should be. Don't worry though, sometimes they're remixed to a latin beat.

·These people love their mayonnaise.

·Tango is gorgeous! It's so fun to watch!

Overall, it's a pretty go-with-the-flow kind of culture, with a few curveballs here and there. I know I left out alot of stuff, but that's what I can think of for now.

I leave for Iguazú in 3 days so look for updates about that! Iguazú is a giant waterfall (one of the biggest in the world) that borders Argentina and Brazil!

Besos!

Top That! (You can't. I guarantee it) *Best Spring Break EVER!*

Cerro Fitz Roy...you can't see it b/c of the bad weather :(

El Chalten. A one road town. Literally.

Glacier water stream

It was a little cold at the top...and windy.

WE DID IT!

Scary bridge. Yes, we did go over it.

Drinking glacier water.

We saw a perfect rainbow!

Glacier, rainbow & mountains?!?!

Awesome =)

At the base of our 8.5 hour hike

The views were gorgeous!

It was huge! (Glacier Perito Moreno)

Glacier Perito Moreno

Me on the boat

Amazing.

Pretty much heaven on earth.

SPRING BREAK 2009!
Let me just start off by saying it was absolutely incredible. Whatever I write in this blog will never be able to bring you the feelings and the beauty that I felt and saw during my last week in Patagonia.
Day 1 (Monday): We all wake up bright and early to start our spring break off right. We are at the airport by 9, ready to catch our first flight at 10 to El Calafate. Everybody is half asleep on the flight, that is until we start to fly over Patagonia. Even the view from the plane is unbelievable. The first place we fly in to is Ushuaia (You-shoe-why-ya) in Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire - known for its active volcanoes), also known as the southern most city in the world! I could almost see Antarctica! ....almost - ok maybe not even close. But I did make friends with a penguin! ok I didn't do that either - I can always dream. Everything here is gorgeous! And this is just the view from the plane and the airport - we are only here for an hour...sad. But if this is any indication of Calafate, I'm all for it. The cold air is definitely welcome after the intense heat and humidity of Buenos Aires. It actually kind of reminds me of home.
Our hour of arctic weather is up and we're on another plane to El Calafate. We finally fly into the tiny airport there and catch a bus to our hostel. This place is sooooo pretty! El Calafate actually reminds me of Estes Park, almost identical! Except that the people here speak Spanish. El Calafate is known for a couple of things: 1) Calafate, which is actually a fruit that very closely resembles a blueberry but is still very tasty. 2) The National Glacier Park! Oh yes, we are going on Day 2. To finish up the night at our hostel, we all have somewhat of a hostel room party in one of the rooms! Yay for the start of spring break!

Day 2 (Tuesday): Another early morning for us! We are on a bus by 9 to go to the National Glacier Park. During our drive, we stop at a couple of places that have gorgeous views of the landscape and distant views of the mountians. My pictures don't even do the colors justice. Everything is so pure and vibrant here. We finally arrive to see the famous (yes, it is famous) glacier of Perito Moreno. This thing is ginormous! And just an (I'm already running out of adjectives) incredibly breathtaking sight. I can't even begin to really describe it. We got to take a boat out to get a better look at the glacier - we could almost touch it we were so close! ok that's another lie - but amazing all the same. Don't worry - I have about 100 pictures. No joke. After that we got to wander around the glacier park and get different views of the glacier. Every once in a while we would hear a loud *crack* which was actually part of the glacier breaking off! It was so cool to actually see it! Even the smallest chunks are audible! I can't even begin to describe the beauty of this thing - you can learn about these natural phenomenoms, but to actually see it is something else completely.
After we get back to the hostel, we try and figure out what to do with our 2 days of freedom - we have nothing planned, but would really like to do something while we're here. One of the guys that works at the hostel suggests that we go to El Chalten and hike to the base of Mount Fitz Roy - another glacier. A group of us are all for it! The kicker: it's 3.5 hours away by bus and the next bus leaves at 6pm. It's about 4:30 right now. So what do we do? Call the bus company to see if they have room and book a hostel of course! THEY DO! So we quickly pack a few things, run to the grocery store and make our bus with a whopping 3 minutes to spare. One the way, the bus makes a stop at Hotel La Leona http://www.hoteldecampolaleona.com.ar/history.html (check out the history on it - it's pretty sweet). We finally arrive to El Chalten at about 10:30 or so. El Chalten is a tiny town. And I mean tiny. We're talking a 1 road town here. No joke. But it's so quaint and cute that I immediately am in love with it. And the view of the stars and milky way out here are just the icing on the cake.

Day 3 (Wednesday): Another early day (notice a theme yet??)! We're all up and ready to go by 8am. At about 8:30 we start our trek. The trail is supposed to take about 4 hours each way - so we're all prepared for a long, glorious day of hiking. The weather looks promising to start off, but half way up, it's clear that it won't stay that way for long. We get caught in rain showers here and there, but our spirits are high. We even see a rainbow end to end over a lake! A group of 7 of us are on this journey. Again, the sights are unlike anything I've ever seen and it's hard to believe that they can be more incredible. But they can, and they are. We make several stops on the way up to take pictures, take in the sights and keep reminding ourselves that we are really here, really living, and yes, we really have a long way up to go. We go through water, over tiny bridges, through mud and trees and bushes and rocks; through wind and rain and sleet and snow. And no, I'm not joking. I would have to say that one of the many highlights is that the water from the streams is drinkable because it's glacier water. So of course we have to give it a try!
The last 500 meters of the trail was pretty tough - there was even a sign warning us that it was difficult! The trail was barely a trail and it was pretty much straight up. But when we finally got up to the top, it was all worth it!
The glacier wasn't too visible because of the bad weather but it was still such an adrenaline rush. At the base there was another lake, so we went down and walked around that as well. We did get caught in a brief sleet/ice storm when the wind picked up and blew the snow off the top of the glaciers. Slightly scary and very cold. Don't worry, we survived.
About 3.5 hours later, we were back down at the base: Cold, tired, hungry and so fulfilled and accomplished! :)
We caught our bus back to El Calafate by 6 that night. Again.

Day 4 (Thursday): Didn't do much that day. Took a loooooooooong nap. Did a little shopping. Ate some great food that I cooked with Lauren (girl in my group) at the hostel!!! Orange chicken anyone?! Went out for our last night and just had a good time with everyone.

Day 5 (Friday): Back on a bus by 10am to go to the airport to go to Buenos Aires. Due to some apparently bad weather, though, we got rerouted. 4 airplanes and 16 hours later, we finally made it home at about 4am (we were supposed to be back by 7pm the previous night).
But hey, no complaints. For an extra 9 hours, I'd do it all again.

That was my trip to Patagonia. Check out this website to see El Calafate, El Chalten, Perito Moreno, and Cerro Fitz Roy. http://www.calafate.com/Ingles/index.htm
I'll post pictures soon, I promise!

That Sunday I also survived my first Futbol game. And when I say survived, I mean it. I have never seen such a display of athletic enthusiasm and intensity and just complete and utter loco-ness (spanglish people)! Those are insane! Don't worry, I'm hoping to go to another one next Sunday that's supposed to be even more out of control. I'll be sure to put my football pads on - I'll probably need them.

XOXOXOX