The Patagonia Diaries: part II

Guess where I am right now? On another bus! I don’t think I’ve taken as many buses in my whole life as I have in my three months in Argentina, but they’re nice and I get to go to some awesome places so I guess it’s okay! Last time I wrote, I was on a bus from El Calafate to the trekking capital of Argentina, El Chaltén which is an interesting little town. It has mostly dirt roads and no streets signs so even if you have a map it’s a bit confusing, luckily its tiny. I’m pretty sure it’s only inhabited during the trekking season because pretty much every building is a hostel, a restaurant, or a tour company. I stayed in an adorable little BnB in the middle of town and loved it! (Nothofagus BnB if you’re ever looking). The hikes all around here lead up to the incredible Fitz Roy range, some amazing mountains that are tall, stark, granite peaks. There are a couple of main hikes listed in most guidebooks so I decided to start out with an ‘easy’ one, only 9km one way and leading up to Laguna Torre, a lake at the base of Cerro Torre. The hike was incredibly beautiful, I went through spooky forests and over hills and all of it was covered in absolutely amazing fall foliage, I honestly don’t think there could be a more beautiful time of year to visit than when I was there. Unfortunately, the clouds were out in full force that day and never cleared enough for me to see the mountain that I came to see. I got to the end of the hike and could only see clouds, and while I could have been very disappointed I made the most of my time up there and frolicked around beautiful rocks and trees and took a bunch of pictures. When you’re hiking by yourself, a lot of thoughts go through your head. I pretended I was part of the Fellowship of the Ring, on a mission like in the movie Stardust, and quoted no less than seven Disney princesses while musing to myself. One thing that I realized that I would like to pass on as life advice is that we should all strive to be ‘journey’ people as opposed to ‘destination’ people. If I had been solely focused on my awesome destination during this hike, I would have been super let down considering my ‘destination’ was nowhere to be seen. However, I had such a wonderful time looking at cool rocks, marveling at fall colors, and realizing how lucky I was to be hiking in Patagonia, Argentina! My advice therefore is to focus on the journey, no matter where you’re headed, because often the destination isn’t as great as you thought it would be, but if you had a great time on the journey it won’t matter as much. Also, I wrote this whole blog post in my head as I was wandering, and I probably should have just recorded myself because it was probably pretty amusing. 

 Sad because the clouds were covering the mountain...

 ...but enjoying the journey because it was beautiful

So Lord of the Rings!

The most I ever saw of Cerro Torre

After my wonderful hike, I met up with my friends from the glacier, Lauren, Stu, and Harry, who had arrived on the bus that afternoon and we had a great dinner and fun conversation. The next day we met early to start our hike to Laguna de los Tres, a hike described as a ‘bit more strenuous’ than Laguna Torre. This description was pretty accurate for the first 9km where we marveled at the view (not a cloud in the sky that day), took selfies, talked about our lives, and where the boys tried to sneak up on Lauren and I but their labored breathing kind of gave it away. Once we got to about the 7km mark, I noticed what looked like an insanely steep trail leading up to where we were going… yup the last kilometer was at least a fifty degree angle going up the mountain in traverses covered in rocks that were kind of like steps, but really uneven and hard to climb steps. We had covered 9km in about three hours and that last 1km took us about an hour and fifteen minutes, it was KILLER. Was it worth it? You might ask. Yes it was. I will let the pictures speak for themselves because I don’t think I can do them justice.

 If you zoom in you can see the crazy traverse part of the trail 

 Lauren was only one traverse above me if you can believe that

One of the most breathtaking views ever

I forgot the killer hike the minute I saw this view

Coming down from Laguna de los Tres was an adventure in itself, but I’m going to save the story for the next blog post… so stay tuned!

LP

The Patagonia Diaries: part I

Hola from Patagonia! That’s right, I have the privilege of being in Patagonia for the next TWO WEEKS! This part of the world has always been on my bucket list and when I found out that I had a two week vacation included in my time as an Argentinean volunteer, there was no question where I would go! As excited as I was for this trip when I planned it, I had a lot of anxiety leading up to it because things in Córdoba were going so awesomely. Ileana’s boyfriend Tony was in town and he was great fun to be around and Venetia had finally returned to Córdoba and we picked our friendship up right where we left it. I was loving my role at work, having lots of fun hanging out with my other volunteer friends and the night before I left we had a super fun birthday party for Ileana, all of which made me nervous about leaving and setting out on a two week solo adventure. However, the minute my plane landed and I saw how much this place resembles home, all my anxiety disappeared and excitement returned!  It is BEAUTIFUL here, especially right now since it is fall and all of the leaves are changing colors. Fall is my favorite time of year in CO and so to be in this incredible mountain climate during this time is so amazing. On Wednesday afternoon I arrived in El Calafate, Argentina and once I was checked into my adorable hostel/tiny a-frame cabin, I set out to explore a lake that’s part of a nature reserve and houses all kind of cool birds including flamingos! My stroll through town was enjoyable and full of fall colors and when I reached the lake, a sweet and shaggy stray dog decided to accompany me on my walk which I loved. Usually the reserve is open to walk through, but since I’m here near the end of the ‘season’ it was closed and I could only walk around the outside. It was really pretty and I did get to see some flamingos but only at a pretty far distance. Who knew flamingos like to hang out near the bottom of the world? When I returned to my hostel, I booked a tour for the next day which included viewing the Petito Moreno glacier and also included and two hour trek on the glacier! When I told my parents that I was going to hike a glacier, they both assumed I was just going to head out and do it alone… my mom worried and exclaimed about my lack of gear and experience and my dad gave me practical advice about avoiding falling into a fissure. Thanks guys but I was definitely with a reputable tour company and had three guides accompanying me and my twenty fellow trekkers. Among these other trekkers were Lauren from Australia, and Stu and Harry from England who are now my friends and are coming to meet me in my next destination of El Chaltén! ‘Solo traveling’ very rarely stays that wayJ Back to the glacier, it is incredible. It’s one of those natural wonders like the Grand Canyon or Iguazu Falls that you can’t stop staring at even though it doesn’t change and you feel the need to take the same picture at least 100 times, which I did and do not regret. It’s really an amazing site to behold and I was so lucky to be able to hike on it as well as look at it. The hike was awesome, being on a glacier is like being on the moon, the landscape is totally other worldly. The water is co clear and blue that often you can’t even tell it’s there! Our guide, Mariano, was funny and taught us all about glaciers and the Petito Moreno glacier which is actually really unique because it’s not at an exceptionally high elevation or an exceptionally low latitude and it is one of the only glaciers in the world that isn’t receding. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to do it! As I am writing this, I am on a bus to El Chaltén where I will spend two days hiking the Fitz Roy mountain range. I should be there by now but our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere and we had to wait three hours for another one to come. But it never did so our driver ended up fixing the bus and we are driving again. It’s all part of my ‘authentic’ South American experience and while its annoying at times, I love it!

 Happy Birthday Ileana!

The view of the nature reserve my first night in Patagonia

 My new friends and I at the glacier!

Thank you thank you thank you for your prayers, thoughts and support. They are working and I am having an amazingly awesome time right now. Look out for more from Patagonia, as I’m only two days in and have already had so many awesome experiences.

So much love from the end of the world,

LP

Two month mark!

Hola my blog reading friends and family! It’s been awhile since my last post but the last two weeks have been busy and yet much less adventurous than my two weeks of travel. I have been working at the equine therapy center every afternoon and I am now officially the ‘coordinator’ which means I am in charge of assigning tasks to other volunteers and making sure we get everything done that needs to be done. I still clean a lot but I also help teach classes and I make sure every group that teaches class is doing okay and is teaching up to Vero’s standards. It’s made my work days a bit more stressful and I do a lot more running around but I’m a natural leader and really enjoy what I’m doing!

Last Saturday projects abroad organized a ‘community day’ which is when volunteers get together and go volunteer at one of the placements that needs some extra help. This time we went to a street dog refuge that houses almost 500 dogs! Upon arrival I felt my heart sink because at first glance the refuge looks very poorly built and dilapidated, but as we began working to fill muddy holes and give love to the dogs I realized that every dog has a companion and a decent amount of room to run around. The few workers know all the dogs by name and each structure is well maintained to keep the dogs as comfortable as possible. This refuge is supposedly supported by the government but they very rarely receive the level of support that they need and they are very understaffed so it is a really positive thing that they partner with projects abroad and that we were able to go and volunteer our time. The street dog population here is a real problem and it is difficult to correct since neutering costs a lot of money in Argentina. However, compared to other developing nations I have visited, the street dog population here in Córdoba is relatively well cared for by the human population who leave food and water buckets out for the dogs when they can. I have two street dog friends who visit me often at the bus stop when I am leaving work, they live together near a supermarket and after being scared at first, love to be loved on. They are smart and never hang around too long, somehow they know that I am unable to take them home with me as much as I would love to.

Life in Córdoba has its ups and downs and sometimes I am directly reminded that I am living in a developing country. The other day the bus drivers went on strike and we had no way to get home from work. Another day our bus had to take a detour and we ended up jam-packed in an alley with three other buses and unable to move for ten minutes. Today I saw a taxi driver protest against Uber where hundreds of yellows taxis were driving down my street honking and waving Argentinean flags and signs against ‘illegal transport’. In other news, I have reached a bittersweet time in my stay in Argentina, sweet because I have settled in to the point that I have lots of friends and sometimes have plans five nights a week, this week I have already been out to dinner twice, done a tango class with other volunteers, and seen a live jazz band. Bitter because I am going to Patagonia for two weeks on vacation and then will only have a week and a half left in Argentina. Three months seems like a long time when planning a trip, but boy has it flown by for me! I am excited to head to Peru and get a change of scenery but I will most definitely miss my Argentinean life, especially my equine therapy work and my boss Vero, and probably most of all my host mom Ileana and our dog Negrita. The bar for living situations has been set very high here and I’m not sure if it can be matched! However, adaptation is a huge part of traveling and volunteering, especially when you are on your own so I will just have to do my best with what I get!

 Fun on a rainy work day

Dinner with other volunteers

                                         
                                                                       Making homemade gnocchis for dinner

                                                                      All of the volunteers at the dog refuge

Class with one of our students, Facundo

My next post will be full of pictures and stories of my two week adventure in Patagonia so be sure to look out for it! As always thank you so much for reading and sharing and commenting and praying and texting and liking and all the other things you all do to show your support!

Love from Argentina

LP