From Chile to Panama!

We just realized today that is has been over a month since our last blog so I will do my best to catch up!

The remainder of our time in Chile turned out to be really special - we spent some time in Valdivia eating fresh seafood, in Villarrica with the amazing family of Jessica and Hartie, and Santiago with our good friend, David.

We ended up skipping Puerto Montt after our thirty hour, backtracking bus ride - we ¨jumped ship¨ at Osorno and made our way north to the college town of Valdivia where we experienced some of the freshest seafood that we´ve had in a long time! Afterwards, we weren´t quite ready to give up the mountains for the beach so we decided to head to Villarrica instead of our original plans of Valparaiso.

Upon our arrival to Villarrica we were met by Jessica who offered her backyard to us as a campsite. This turned out to be the best place ever! We spent the next four or five days cooking local dishes with her family and really getting to know the Chilean spirit. The time spent with them will forever be remembered - thank you again to Jessica and Hartie for so kindly opening your home to us!

Hartie & Mark Roasting the Pig

It was hard to leave Villarrica, but we knew we wanted to spend a few days in Santiago before leaving Chile. Luckily, we met David while in Villarrica and were able to spend a day with him exploring the city of Santiago - thank you to David for a great day in Santiago filled with lots of walking, laughing, a funicular, and rose-flavored ice cream!

Our flight to Bogota was a real treat compared to our hundreds of bus-rides previously taken - with lunch, wine, movies and more all included, we were tempted to stay on for the connecting flight to Miami! But, of course, we were also excited to explore the beautiful country of Colombia.

La Candeleria Neighborhood of Bogota

The Plaza de Villa de Leyva

For not being an originally planned destination, Colombia turned out to be an excellent last-minute decision! In total, we spent three weeks exploring the capital Bogota (thank you again to Joyce & her mom for such a wonderful day!), the colonial buildings of Villa de Leyva, the beaches near Santa Marta, the serenity of Palomino, and the historical sites of Cartagena. Something about Colombia and the people is truly special and you really feel alive there!

Beautiful Beaches of Palomino

Old Town of Cartagena

Due to real dangers in the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia, we were left with two options of transportation from South America to Central America: Fly or Sail. We chose the latter for the chance to experience the open seas and to check out the San Blas Islands! What started out as a five-day adventure quickly turned into nine days as we made our way from Colombia to Panama. We chose the Ave Maria sailboat captained by Paul and ended up with an amazing group of nine people to make the journey with.

Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong! We were without an engine after Day Two, seasick in bed for a good couple of days, without a toilet after about Day Five, and just about to run out of water and food by the time we arrived in Porvenir, Panama. But, despite all of this, we turned out to be the fortunate ones after hearing that another sailboat had actually sunk during it´s crossing (everyone survived, thankfully). Plus, how can you not have a good time when you are surrounded by beautiful scenery, fun people, and experiencing an adventure of a lifetime? If given the chance, we would do it all over again! Thank you to Paul and the crew for a wonderful (for the most part) nine days!

Miraflores Locks - Panama Canal

We have been in Panama now for one week and have visited Panama City and Boquete. We met up with our sailboat crew in Panama City for a night out and also spent a day at the Panama Canal (I wish you were there, Dad!). This Sunday, we arrived in Boquete and have found it hard to leave! The town is really beautiful and is situated between many forested mountains. So far, we´ve enjoyed a great coffee plantation tour at Cafes de la Luna, Finca dos Jefes and a zip-line tour through La Amistad National Park.

Boquete Tree Trek - Zip Lining!

Today, we are heading one hour south to David to spend the day at the International Fair, which is supposedly full of street markets and rodeos! We will return to Boquete for a few more days (for some hiking) before heading to the beaches of Bocas del Toro.

Our countdown to our return home has begun - we have less than one month to go! But, until then, we will be ¨living it up¨ in Central America!

Te Amamos, Patagonico!

When we first started planning our trip to South America, there were two things that we absolutely had to see: Machu Picchu and Patagonia. Now, we can check both off of our list and happily say that both places are absolutely amazing and worth the trek!

We left Bariloche on January 2nd and headed south to the small hippy-town known as El Bolson. While the town was pleasant and the artesanal fair interesting (the foodtrucks are the way to go, yum!), we still felt that something was missing. We stayed for three nights in a campsite near the town center and spent our days at the arts fair, exploring the town and Mark spent half a day at the Bosque Tallado forest.

After El Bolson, we took a 23 hour bus ride south to El Chalten. We arrived to a small town, nestled in the valley and surrounded by mountains - now, that's what we're talking about when we think "Patagonia"! The town is fairly spread out with one main road, San Martin. We walked towards the mountains and found a great campsite, El Relincho, right off the main drag. After fighting the winds, we finally got our tent upright and our bags inside. We sat, looked around, and smiled - we made it to the "real" Patagonia!

View of Fitz Roy and Cerro Solo from El Chalten

Our first night there we went to a Brewery called ¨La Cerveceria¨ near our campsite. We had some great draft beers, delicious and salty popcorn and our new favorite salad called ¨La Patagonia¨! 

We had planned on spending the next day in town and then heading out to the mountains the day after. However, we woke up the next morning to clear blue skies and, after talking to the Park Rangers, realized that these blue skies don't come around very often! So, around 11am we ran back to our campsite, went grocery shopping, and packed our bags to go out on the trail as soon as possible. By 1pm, we were on the Fitz Roy Trail and started the four hour hike to Laguna de Los Tres.

The hike in was fairly easy and had amazing views of Fitz Roy! We had lucked out with such a beautiful day and spent plenty of time at the lookout taking photos. Neither of us had expected it to be so amazing, but it truly was a jaw dropping moment when we first laid eyes on the entire beast.

Cerro Fitz Roy

The campsite ended up being three hours into the hike, so we set up camp, dropped our bags and continued the hike to Laguna de los Tres. The hike up was fairly steep with uneven ground so we had to pay close attention to where we were stepping. It felt great to have the packs off and we were rewarded with a closeup of Fitz Roy and a beautiful, crystal clear laguna! We spent about half an hour there before hiking over to the other laguna, which was a deep turqoise color.

We spent one night at Camp Poincenot before heading to Camp Agostini for our second night in the park. We got there at a decent time in the afternoon, set up camp, played some cards and then headed to the Mirador to check out Mount Torre. The whole time in the park, we thought we were looking at Mount Torre - we took a ton of pictures in front of it and thought it was the greatest thing! Come to find out, we were looking at Mount Solo the entire time and actually never even saw Mount Torre! Just goes to show, it´s good to do some research ahead of time so you know what you are actually looking at!

The next day we hiked out back to the town of El Chalten and quickly set up camp. We decided to treat ourselves to another night out at ¨La Cerveceria¨ and this time brought our cards too. After a few games and a ton of popcorn, we ordered dinner - this time Mark got ¨Locro¨, a popular local stew, and I stuck with ¨La Patagonia¨ salad. Another fun and delicious night out!

La Cerveceria - beer, popcorn, and cards!

We left El Chalten the following afternoon headed to El Calafate where we had plans to climb on the Perito Moreno Glacier. We ended up staying for about five days in Calafate due to the date restrictions for the climb, but actually really enjoyed our time there! We climbed on the glacier, met some great people from Argentina, and found our favorite Parilla Restaurant, which we went to twice!

Perito Moreno Glacier

From Calafate, we headed south (far south!) to Ushuaia, which is known to be at the ¨End of the World¨ and as far south that roads go on earth. So, just for that, we had to go! We decided to camp again in Ushuaia and lucked out with an amazing campsite, great staff and a warm cabin to hang out in. During our stay in Ushuaia, we decided to head to the Tierra del Fuego National Park for a day and night of camping and hiking. We hiked Mount Guanaco and, from the top, had the most amazing views of Ushuaia and the surrounding mountain cascades!

Cerro Guanaco

Since we had made it all the way south, we had only one way to go - back up! So, we booked a bus and headed to Puerto Natales, Chile. We have been in Puerto Natales for about a week now and have spent most of our time on a hiking/camping trip in the Torres del Paine National Park. Fortunately, it has re-opened despite the forest fire, but still parts of the park are closed. However, we were able to do most of the ¨W¨ trek, which we were very excited about!

We have spent the last five days in the park hiking to Campamento Cuernos, Valle Frances, Campamento Torres and to the amazing Torres del Paine. We spent each day hiking (long days!) and were taken away by the great scenery there. On our last day in the park, Mark convinced me to wake up at 4:00am to watch the sunrise on Torres del Paine, which turned out to be beautiful, but brief! We really enjoyed our time there and hope to return someday to complete the ¨W¨ trek once it re-opens. 

Valle Frances

Sunrise at Torres del Paine

All in all, Patagonia has completely met, if not exceeded, our expectations. We plan on returning someday, but with a much better camera next time! Patagonia, we will miss you!

We leave Monday morning to Puerto Montt, Chile. From there, we will head north to Santiago to catch our flight to Bogota, Colombia. We are saying goodbye (temporarily) to our hiking and camping days, and hello to beaches, scuba diving, bon fires, and rum! Needless to say, we have absolutely no complaints here in South America!

Studio Llao Llao

During our stay in Peru, we decided that it would be nice to settle down for two weeks during the holiday season. We found a small studio (in our price range!) with views of Lago Nahuel Huapi and located 23km outside of the big city, Bariloche.

After a short bus ride from San Martin, we arrived in Bariloche in the afternoon of December 19th. The city was much bigger than expected and not quite as cute as we had hoped for. But, the Swiss influence on the main street was beautiful and the city offered plenty of restaurants, cafes and supermercados. We found our bus, Bus 20, that would take us out to km 23. The bus ride to Studio Llao Llao took about 40 minutes from the city center.

We weren´t sure what to expect from our little studio, but fell in love the instant we saw it. With beautiful views and a big, comfortable bed, we were more than content! Having a kitchen of our own was definitely a plus and Mark was excited to make good use of it during our stay.

Studio Llao Llao and Lago Nahuel Huapi

Our two weeks in Bariloche were spent cooking, reading, relaxing and celebrating the holidays. We rented a car for a few days and drove around Llao Llao, to Villa La Angostura (unfortunately, it was covered in ash) and Mark taught me how to drive a stick too! We had a great time talking with our neighbors, bringing in the New Year (Happy 2012!), and BBQing in the yard.

View from Cerro Campanario

Our Christmas dinner was one to remember - we stuffed ourselves full of prime rib, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and Malbec Wine. And, as always, it was the best meal made by Chef Mark...I would have to say, eating dinner made by Mark is always better than going out to a restaurant!

Christmas Dinner 2011

During our time in Bariloche, we made a slightly impulsive decision to change our travel plans. Although we enjoyed laying low for two weeks, it was really hard for us to sit still when all we want to do is keep on moving, doing, and seeing! We started to think about our plans in Chile and how we originally planned on spending almost two months farming there. We had heard such great things about Colombia and felt that we still had more of the world to see - so our new return tickets go from Santiago to Bogota, Colombia! From Colombia, we will sail the Caribbean to Panama and then bus to Costa Rica. If we have more time, we will go to Nicaragua as well! But, to our past employers, families, and friends - not to worry, we will be back in the States by April 11th!

We are currently in Ushuaia, Argentina - as far south as roads go on earth! More to come on the next blog...