Ice Ice Baby!!!!

CALAFATE: Perito Moreno Glacier


We took an over night bus (this one was 27 hours long) to El Calafate to the south of Bariloche.

Nat reading her kindle on the bus.

We were greeted at the station by a very cute, goofy, and charming girl with a free taxi to a nice hostel (Natalie made sure Bobby wasn't looking too hard at this girl!!). The hostel was super informative, thankfully, and we got to book our plans for the next day: Perito Moreno Glacier.

There are a few tours on this glacier about an hour outside of town, but only one company has rights to enter the National Park. Because of the weather/season, it was the first day of the tour we hoped to do: Big Ice. This is no whimpy glacier hike like the mini-trekking option. No No, this is Big Ice! and totally worth every one of the many dollars we had to pay. We got picked up early in the morning and once at the park we hiked to various viewpoints of the glacier from different decks across the water way.

Nat doing her Glacier dance.



Then we got fitted for crampons, and this is where we realized once again Bobby is too big for Argentina. The largest adjustments for the crampons still did not fit Bobby's feet; thus they had to rig it up with some wires to make it work. And then we began our hour hike up the land beside the glacier (the moreno)...we passed all those whimpy mini-trekkers on the way. We were not skirting around the edge of the glacier like those whimps. No No, this was BIg Ice (hahaha-totally joking about the mini-trekking-both excursions provided great views of the glacier making the high cost well worth it).

The hour long trek to the starting point of the glacier hike put us further into the glacier, whereas the mini-trekkers just hike for a bit around the front edge. Once on the glacier, our group of about 15 was further broken down into two groups, English and Spanish speaking groups.

Nat putting her crampons on for the big hike.

 After our group of 7 headed out we were surrounded by the never ending glacier for the entire 4+ hour long glacier trek. Sooo amazing.

Also amazing, was the new love Natalie found. Who would have thought that an innocent day of glacier hiking with her boyfriend would introduce Natalie to the man of her dreams!! Below is an exaggerated recap of the events in Natalie's head in the first 2 minutes after seeing him. It all started when we arrived on shore and were introduced to our English-speaking guide (Carlos) for a short introduction:

OMG, he is beautiful. He is like a younger Argentinian Daniel Day-Lewis...but he has an axe and crampons. Am i staring? I can't be the only one staring at this beautiful man. I bet he even stares at himself...he is sooo beautiful. Oh, you Argentinian iceclimber you...you crazy outdoorsman, you. I don't see a wedding ring. I bet he is such an outdoorsman and totally crazy that he hasn't found a woman worth giving up his dangerous lifestyle...I bet you're so dangerous and such a risk-taker...you Argentinian daniel Day-Lewis you.

About 2 minutes into his introduction speech, Bobby looked over at me and with a little smile on his face says, "you're in love wtih our guide, aren't you." He knows me pretty well! I smiled broadly at the love of my life and admitted, "a little." We both laughed.

This is for you Nat-can you guess which one is Carlos, if not-well its the dude on the left.

Yes we know, its Carlos.

We are enjoying some whiskey on glacier rocks at the end of the trek. (Carlos poured the whiskey)

These are a few of my favorite things....Dogs and Chocolate

So, there are several reasons why Bariloche will remain one of our favorite places we visited.
Here are some of the most important:
*We were out of Osorno

*It has snow-covered peaks good for skiing and a big lake good for lookin' at or boating
it's town square is the day-home to saint bernards and saint bernard puppies ripe for petting and pictures

*The hostels are actually clean with heating systems and water whose hotness can be controlled by the slight turn of the knob

*It had an authentic mexican restaurant...so good we ate there 5 nights out of the 7 there
the empanadas at our favorite lunch place were cheap and still remain our favorites to this date...we ate there 4 times

*They have grocery stores only for chocolate

*They have museums about chocolate

*Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

*You can walk to the numerous chocolate stores, act innocent and interested in buying, and escape with all your money but full of free samples

*If you buy the chocolate...it is damn good

*The chocolate is sooo damn good that we both left Bariloche a little pudgy around the middle

*Also, how could we forget the ice cream was great as wellIn short, Bariloche was a wonderful little town and a warm (not climate-wise) introduction into Argentina.

Border crossing into Argentina.

     Unfortunately, Argentina is the most expensive of the countries we have been to, so it was a struggle to find a place for a decent price.  However, we stumbled upon a hosteria very close to the square but on the less visited side and we stayed there for the duration of our trip.  It had TVs, beds that Bobby almost fit on (an improvement and a good breakfast (no eggs though).  We had almost hit the jackpot with the exception of our shower.  It was broken leaving the bathroom floor covered wtih water everytime one of us showered. Bobby even patched it up wtih some tape...sooo manly.

        The staff was great and we caught up on weeks worth of laundry.  We bought a foldable bucket and biodegradable soap at REI...so every now and then we put our hands to use and wash our clothes.

Not our hotel-we wish, but this is the famous Hotel LLAO LLAO.  So grand that you are not really even allowed to walk around the hotel grounds unless you are a hotel guest-well we sneaked around the property.

     Bariloche is a gift-givers dream.  Yes, family, that means the majority of anything you get, only if you were good of course, probably was bought in Bariloche.  The streets are lined with terrifically tacky gift stores: saint bernard stuffed animals, pins, shot glasses, and anything else you can stamp 'Bariloche' on.  Luckily, there are also some special antique stores filled with traditional 'gaucho' items and the indigenous peoples, the Mapuche, crafts.

    Each day we visited the Saint Bernards at the town square...Bobby just couldn't keep his hands off the them. They are pretty awesome, pretty huge, and pretty lazy.

Town Square

     We also went skiing for a day at the famous Cerro Cathedral slopes.  Natalie was sick (she is a total pain) so she went one day while Bobby went for a second.  The mountain was a cheap 30 minute bus ride from town costing all of 6 pesos ($1.50).  We got fitted with boots, were first in line to buy lift tickets, and were off to show Cerro Cathedral, the mountain, and Argentinians what REAL skiers look like.  Alright, that is a lie.  Bobby hadn't skiied in 8 years and although Natalie has had some recent trial sessions with snowboarding, she had put on skies only once before, when she was 15...this could be ugly.  It was only ugly on Natalie's part a few times.  She took some pretty gnarly falls but held her own (so she would like to think).  Bobby on the other hand was a total show-off.  Natalie was more in love with him than ever after watching his skills on the slopes: total stud.

Nat eating Bobby's sandwich.

Insert yourself here.

     However, the best part of Bariloche was the Mexican food and chocolate...yummmm.....
There was a coupon at our hostel for a free tiny margarita at a mexican restaurant.  Though we have been constantly dissapointed with the imposter mexican food while traveling, we gave it one more try.  We got nachos and fajitas....and then we got nachos and fajitas for the next four nights.  We received a personal hello and goodbye from all the staff because we were there so much.  It was almost embarrassing.  But when you constantly try to venture out like we had for over a month to almost always be disappointed in the food, when we found good stuff, we had no shame about sticking with it.

    As if our stomachs weren't satisfied wtih good mexican food, we ate enough chocolate to feed...well, the two of us!

    They take their chocolate very seriously down here.  They even have a museum dedicated to the history of chocolate-Amazing!! We both are ready to move here.



Outside of the chocolate museum

      Chocolate is not a novelty item in Argentina, it is an everyday item.  One of their main roads is lined with tons of large chocolate stores.  The best part, free samples!  Everyday, and at least once, we walked into each one, scratched our chins in an "i'm-interested-in-spending-money kind of way", and walked out with as much free stuff we could get.  But that was not enough for us and we also left with a few boxes of assorted chocolates.  When we found out that we had to stay another day in Bariloche becuase the bus to El Calafate did not leave on Sundays, we treated our sadness with even more chocolate.

Osorno...WARNING!!!

The only thing to say about this town is beware of the hostels around the bus station. Osorno was the jumping off point to get to Argentina; we got in late at night and left early in the morining. The intermediate hours were pretty horrible. No need for details, but we are pretty sure that the place we stayed was the town's gathering place for hookers and willing customers in the middle hours of the night.

We seriously considered burning our sleeping bags...


Finally on to......ARGENTINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

PUCON...is that volcano smoking????

Pucon was a little slice of heaven. Once again, this town is a meeting point for Chilean adventurers. The town is flanked by a large lake, impressive rocky hills, and its own personal working snow-covered volcano. NEAT.

This town was also amazing becuase we found that the main hotel (4 stars) had apartments for $40 US dollars a night...we gladly paid for the large room, kitchen, and beach view.

While relaxing in Pucon, both of us realized how big our sweet tooths really are. We found ourselves getting ice cream, cake, or chocolate every day.....at least once.

Day Trip to Valpo

Valparaiso was the largest port town in South America at one-point (nice description right?). Only about an hour from Santiago, Valparaiso is a coastal town with fifty hills covered with awkward hanging porches and brightly colored houses. 

Also, supposedly great sea food.  Once again, don't eat the chilean sea bass.


Next to Valparaiso is Vina Del Mar which is a more upscale resort type town. This place is full of gardens, castles, nice restuarants, and casinos. Once again, both of us fell victim to another fake Tex-Mex restuarant; we did not realize it was that hard to mess up cheese dip and burritos.

Nat getting a sweet tooth fix with some bon bons.