Patagonia II and Tierra del Fuego

The week after my program was over Karen and I went to Argentina’s South. And not just anywhere in the South – we went to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. But before that we spent some time in the absolutely stunning southern part of Patagonia.

In the night of the 6^th of November, Karen and I took a flight to El Calafate (Patagonia), a city directly at the foot of the Andes. It seems like almost all my blog entries start like that, but the Andes are just too beautiful to NOT go there. And all the places are so different from each other!

The first day in El Calafate we spent walking around the town and finally relaxing after a few stressful weeks. The town is not very big and very touristic but we found a nice park next to a huge lake and spend a lot of time there.

The next day we went on a daytrip to the glacier Perito Moreno. This glacier is HUGE! The pictures you will see on here don’t do it justice – the part that can be seen above the water is up to 60m high! On the way to the glacier we stopped a couple of times so we had time to take in the beautiful landscape all around us and we also saw some Condors, other raptors, Guanakos, and loads of sheep and horses.

Our third day was probably a highlight of the trip: we went on a tour to El Chalten, Argentina’s trekking capital. Already on the way there we knew it was going to be a good day because the weather was just beautiful. Our tour guide told us, that the weather is only this beautiful for about 30 days of the year, so we were really lucky. We even took some extra stops to take pictures since the air was so clear that we could see the whole Fitz Roy mountain range. We drove through El Chalten to a lake that was about 30km into the trekking area. Here we were supposed to take a boat to the other side and go trekking through a forest for a while, but the boat was broken so we went on a different trekking tour. Our guide was pretty excited because he said he liked this one a lot more. After climbing up one of the mountains for about an hour, we all understood why he liked it so much more. We ended up near the top of the mountain right at the bottom of a small glacier with an incredibly turquoise lake. It was absolutely beautiful and worth the hour of effort.

Day 4 started out with packing and getting ready to change locations. Around noon our flight to Ushuaia took off. On that plane we meet some students from our university: Terese, who already went to Cordoba with us, Heather, who I had a class with, and Alex, a friend of them.

Ushuaia was cold. It is the last stop on land before Antarctica; I guess that would explain that. In Ushuaia, we found out quickly, there is not too much to do. You can go on a boat tour on the Beagle Canal, which connects the Pacific with the Atlantic and forms a natural border between Argentina and Chile. The other thing to do is hiking in the National Park. And of course there are some museums and shopping opportunities, too. But Ushuaia is very expensive, since everything needs to be brought from pretty far away.

The next day Karen and I wanted to go on a sailing boat out on the Beagle Canal, but the weather was way too windy so the trip got called off. The other three wanted to do a similar tour but theirs got called off, too. We ended up spending the afternoon together and went to an old prison, which is a museum now. Ushuaia used to be a prisoners colony in the beginning, we learned there.

Day 6 was still very windy and Karen and I went together with the others to the National Park. Here Route 3 ends, a road that starts in Alaska and goes aaaaaall the way through the Americas to the very end of the world, which is Ushuaia. The landscape of the National Park again absolutely amazed us. Argentina is simply a beautiful country! Unfortunately it got very cold towards the afternoon, so we went back to the city.

On our last day of the trip we got a lot more lucky with the weather. The wind was calm enough that we could go on boat tours! Not the sailing boat, but at least a motorboat. Karen and Terese took tours to an island with penguins and Alex and I went on a boat together to see sea lions, birds and the famous lighthouse of Ushuaia.

Later that day we flew back home to Buenos Aires.

And then it was here – my last weekend in Buenos Aires.

Saturday I spent mostly hanging around because I didn’t want to pack. (Most of you already know how much I hate packing.) In the afternoon I met Randy again for the last time. We already had a situation like that in Thailand, when we said goodbye without knowing when and where we would meet again.

Randy, thank you for everything. And let me know where you are headed next!

That night Karen and I surprisingly met Corinna and her boyfriend again, who was there to visit, for one last dinner at our favorite pizza place and afterwards we went out one last time.

Therefore Sunday was a little slow in the morning, but after pizza for breakfast (again at our favorite pizza place) we went to a market in San Telmo to buy a couple of souvenirs. When we got back home I REALLY had to pack.

The next morning I said my good byes and left Buenos Aires for good. The hardest part was saying goodbye to Karen, who really grew close to my heart. I guess one of my next trips will be to Mexico – it’s supposed to be beautiful ;)

It was an interesting and exciting semester! Thank you to everyone who was part of this! Again I learned a whole lot about a new culture, a lot about myself, and got a great time out from home. Buenos Aires is a very interesting city and has a lot to offer, but over the long run it was just too big and too busy for me. Even though right now I don’t think I will return to stay in the capital, there is a big chance that I will return to Argentina at some point.

Until then, there are still a lot of other places to discover!

And that’s why I didn’t leave South America right away

What I’m up to in the next weeks will hopefully follow soonish.