Tango, Futbol, Steak, & Wine!

After two weeks exploring Patagonia, we found ourselves back in Buenos Aires with yet another great experience to look forward to. Our friends from home, Harmony and Ryan, were coming to travel with us for two full weeks...and when I say full, I mean FULL!

We started with three nights in Buenos Aires...not wasting a second of our time there. The morning Harmony and Ryan arrived they hit the ground running. We walked through the artist market in San Telmo, clicked some pictures of the revolutionary Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (Argentina's version of the White House), feasted on empanadas, squeezed in a cat nap, and were off to try some of Argentina's famous steak and wine.

The following day we all decided there were two things we absolutely needed to see before leaving Buenos Aires...a tango show and a futbol game. Thinking we were on it...we bought a newspaper and found a tango show that would be taking place that night. After an afternoon of cashing traveler's checks, shopping, walking down the widest street in the world, and a celebratory St. Patrick's day beer on the sidewalk, we cleaned ourselves up and headed to the show. Unfortunately, the place looked pretty closed up when we arrived. A man in the restaurant across the street let us know that the place was only open on the weekends...oops I guess we should've called.

We didn't give up that easily though. We stopped into a nearby hotel and asked what other options we had to see a tango show. Armed with a map and showtimes, we stopped for and headed over to Cafè Tortoni to see a show. I guess we didn't keep a very good eye on the clock because we didn't get there until almost midnight and the last show of the night was almost over. All the doorman could offer us was a flyer with a phone number and to try again tomorrow.

The next day, we decided not to take any risks so we found a website online that had all of the up-to-date tango show information in Buenos Aires. Being the cheapskates we are, we were pumped to find a free show at the Recoleta Cultural Center that evening. After another day of checking out Buenos Aires and the Evita Peron museum, we wondered into the cultural center about an hour prior to the show. The lady at the information desk confirmed there was a show that evening so we decided to kill some time with a cheese and meat "tabla" and a bottle (or two) of wine. We were stoked when we found out that in addition to snacks we had stumbled upon a DJ spinning a mix of tango and electronic music in the plaza.

We returned to the cultural center to, finally, get a glimpse of a tango show. When we walked into the room it looked a bit strange for tango. It was two women on stage singing accompanied by a solo accordian player. It quickly became apparent that the name of the musical group had the word "tango" in it and that's how they were able to advertise on the tango website.

We cut our losses and headed back to Cafe Tortoni hoping we could get into a show seeing as how we were planning on leaving Buenos Aires to head for Mendoza the next day. We were greeted by the same doorman we had talked to the night before. Unfortunately, his response was the same...all shows were full call the number on the card to make a reservation for the next night. Luckily, one of the managers heard our reaction to this (not pleased) and came over to let us know we could get on the standy by list in case of any cancellations.

We had yet another drink in the cafe while we waited and, luckily, there was a cancellation and we were FINALLY able to get into a tango show. It was totally worth it! It was probably extra cool to us because we'd been trying to find a tango show for two days. You can't come to Buenos Aires without seeing some tango.

The next morning we figured we would hop on a plane to Mendoza...without reservations. When we arrived to the airport we realized that the week before Easter is a HUGE vacation time for Latinos and all the flights to Mendoza or any town close were booked until Easter Sunday. After a short-lived plan to catch the ferry over to Uruguay for a few days...boats booked full as well...we rented a car and drove out to the coast...Pinamar to be exact.


The first day yeilded great weather and we were able to spend some time at the beach. The following days were a bit more chilly, but we considered ourselves lucky because Buenos Aires was being hit by horrible weather...tornado included. Even though the beach wasn't on our original itinerary, we ended up having a nice, relaxing time...eating, shopping, and drinking wine. Brandon and Ryan even tried their hands at parilla...the Argentina's form of BBQ.


We planned to come back to Buenos Aires on Easter Sunday because we still had to complete our second objective...to attend a futbol game and the majority of games take place on Sundays. We rolled back in to BA just in the nick of time. A Boca Juniors game was starting at 4pm and we had about two hours to find a room, get to the stadium, and buy tickets.

We had been warned by the information office that it wasn't in our best interest to buy the cheap tickets in the "popular" section because tourists tend to walk out of these areas with lighter pockets. The only problem was that when we arrived to the box office and, finally, made a decision as to where we wanted to sit, the "popular" section was our only option. The man at the ticket window ensured us that we would be fine so we took his word (with a small grain of salt) and went for it.

We were glad that things worked out the way they did. The "popular" section was great! With standing room only, the crowd was energetic, but not out of control...thank goodness Boca Juniors was winning. There was another "popular" section at the opposite end of the field which looked a bit more rowdy...band and banners included. The fans cheered and sang different chants the entire game.

The only part that got a little bit dicey was the end. We thought we would beat the crowd by leaving just before the end of the game. We made our way over to the exit tunnel to find that the cops weren't letting anybody out. Turns out, they were keeping all of the Bocas Juniors fans in the stadium until the opposing team's fans were gone. Reason being, the opposition was seated in the tier above us and had been spitting and throwing drinks on people the whole game. I guess the cops wanted to give them time to run :)

It was a bit unnerving while we waited for the police to open the gates because you never know how a locked-up crowd will react. We probably waited for about 45 minutes until our section was the last to be released from the stadium. Fortunately, everybody behaved and we exited smoothly.


Our first week in and around Buenos Aires with Harmony and Ryan was action packed.

Whoa...get out the way!

The Moreno Glacier...making waves.

Moreno Glacier

Our last stop in southern Patagonia was El Calafate and the Moreno Glacier.

Wonder what the world's biggest ice cube tray looks like? At 30 kilometers long, this glacier gives you a quick crash course in the sheer power of mother nature.

We watched from platforms across from the end of the glacier. At 5 kilometers across and an average on 60 meters above the water level (170 meters below) this ice field is among the only glaciers that in continually growing.

As we sat and watched, this movement was very obvious. The glacier creaked and moaned continuously. Every so often a relatively small chunk would fall off followed by the thunderous
crash when it hit the water. When I say small chunk, at least the size of a car or school bus.

We were in exactly the right place at the right time (camera ready) to witness, front and center, the fall of a massive chunck about the size of a high-rise building. Actually, it was almost like the demolition of a high-rise building...looked like it happened in slow motion, but with explosive force. We estimated the resulting shore pound was probaly 6-8 ft high.

Now, we kinda get the idea of how tsunami is formed.

Definitely understand how Torres del PAINe got its name

After Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego, we took a bus up to Puerto Natales, Chile, via the Strait of Magellan (14 hours). From here, we planned to get back on the trail and backpack trough Torres del Paine National Park.

As you've read, all of the multiple day hikes we had done up to this point were guided AND we never had to carry EVERYTHING we needed. After assessing the situation in Puerto Natales, we decided it was time to give the whole ball of wax a shot. We rented camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, stove), shopped for the most filling yet lightest food possible, and decided to do the "W" trail in five days.

The morning we were to catch the bus to the national park we woke up to the unwelcomed sound of consistent rain. From the research we had done the previous day we had found out that like much of South America the weather in Torres del Paine can change like "that" ("that" being a snap of the fingers). We were hoping that this theory would work in our favor and yeild sun by the time we started hiking.

We arrived to the park about three hours later and the rain persisted. We waited for the catamaran that would take us to our starting point bracing ourselves for 5 days of wetness.

Miraculously, after the short half hour boat ride the rain stopped. We continued holding our breath for the first hour or so after it had stopped. Then, finally, the sun made its premier appearance for the day. AND the goodness didn't stop there...it continued to stay dry for the next two days!

In our first two days we hiked up and down the first line of the "W"...by the way, it's a cursive "W". In the first 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) we were introduced to spectacular views of glacier-covered mountains, iceberg filled turquoise lakes, and the seemingly neverending Glacier Grey. While the scenery was worth every step, we were wondering how our bodies were going to handle another three full days of walking...the dogs were barking.

The third day we were able to leave our big backpacks at camp while we hiked up the Valle Frances and back. While we were hiking up the valley we were lucky enough to see one big avalanche and few smaller avalanches...all from a safe distance. The absense of the extra weight was nice for a while, we still had to come back to pack up camp, put on our backs, and hit the trail for the next camp. Thankfully, we only had to walk 2 hours until we reached our goal for the day.
While setting up our tent we struck up a conversation with a couple of Americans from Colorado. Turns out, they got bored one day and decided it would be a good idea to hike from the equator in Ecuador to the end of South America...through the Andes mountain range. After 22 months of walking, they should be completing their stroll in about 2 months. They have a killer website...check it out...we've posted a link on the sidebar.

The fourth day we woke up to a steady rain, but luckily it was pretty light. We hiked from 9:30am to about 5pm when arrived in our last camp at the end of the "W". The selling point for making it this far was a 45 minute hike to see the actual Torres del Paine up close and personal for sunrise.

That night was freezing cold. We woke up at 6am to scramble up a bunch of boulders to see the sunrise reflect on the Torres. Unfortunately, on the way up it looked like the clouds would be too thick for the sun to break through.

Luckily, we were wrong. The clouds actually seemed to enhance the colors of the sunrise. For just about three minutes, the Torres del Paine glowed bright orange! Absolutely magnificent! I think we even briefly forgot how much our feet and legs were hurting for a second.

After the show ended, we were faced with the reality that we had to get ourselves back down the mountain. Fortunately, gravity was on our side and it only took us 2 hours.

Overall, we hiked roughly 90 kilometers (55.9 miles) in five days. We celebrated the successful finish of our first "real" backpacking experience with a few cold beers while laying in the grass at the bus stop.

Still aren't quite sure how it got the name Tierra del Fuego...in English, Land of Fire

We arrived in Ushuaia to the harsh realization that our skin had grown quite thin due to that last month and a half in tropical climates. We piled on almost every piece of clothing we owned and set out to get familiar with the "southernmost city in the world".

Our first day down south we checked out the town of Ushuaia and the surrounding Beagle Channel. It definitely had that "way out there" feeling. Ushuaia was initially founded as a penal colony...I'm guessing because any inmate would freeze to death or die of exposure if he attempted to escape.

The next day we decided we'd go for a hike the the nearby Parque National Tierra del Fuego. The weather was cooperative and we were able to enjoy a beautiful fall day at the end of the continent. This was a great warm up for both our legs and the camera for the upcoming 5 day hike in Torres del Paine, Chile.

Back in Argentina...Buenos Aires to be exact

After a great experience in Uruguay, we're back in Argentina. Same great country...fun new city. Thus far, Buenos Aires seems like a happening place...tango dancers, delicious food, a serious place for shopping. Tomorrow morning we fly down to Ushuaia to check out the end of the continent and Tierra del Fuego. But don't fear, we'll be back in BA in a couple weeks to see what else this city has to offer AND we'll be meeting up with our friends Harmony and Ryan.

Colonia del Sacramento

We cruised down the coast from Punta del Diablo hoping to find some more nice beaches. Unfortunately, the nice weather took a turn in the opposite direction. We passed through the beach towns of La Poloma and Punta del Este, but the rain and crappy weather continued. We decided to thrown in our beach towels and make our way to the city.

The city we ended up in, Colonia del Sacramento an old smugglers port, actually turned out to be a nice place to relax before crossing the Rio de Plata to the big city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.