Recap of Patagonia with mis Papás

So I went South, more than a few hours South, down almost to the southernmost tip of South America! (Not quite, but you get the picture). It all started after my Dad and I flew back from Peru to Buenos Aires on Friday the 21st of January, and then early in the morning on the 22nd my Mom's flight from the States landed (also in B.A.) and then we spent a few days hanging out in the city, going to a lout of the touristy sights that I had yet to experience, and roasting in the hot Argentine summer. Don't worry Rothe relatives, we went to see the NFC Championship at an American Sports Bar in Buenos Aires. We toured La Casa Rosada, the Argentine equivalent of the White House; we toured some gigantic palace that belonged to Sr. Paz who thought he was going to become president so had a presidential salon installed and all; we ate some damn good food, and we split for Patagonia. We flew south on Monday morning to El Calafate, a city pretty far South in Argentina (see map)



and spent two half days and 4 full days in the region, making a trip on early Wednesday to El Chaltén, the trekking hub of Argentina, and spent 2 days there hiking before heading back to El Calafate. It was really nice because you don't need to have any sort of transportation to the trail heads, they literally are just steps out of the tiny little town. In Calafate, the first full day we took a catamaran tour of Lago Argentino to see 3 main glaciers in the region.


The catamaran tour

It was blustery to put it mildly and almost tornado force gales to put it more accurately the whole time we were in Calafate, and we enjoyed the glaciers even more on our last day in the region when we went hiking with crampons on the top of the Perito Moreno glacier. (One of the most famous glaciers in the world because it is in equilibrium and until recently the officials said it was still growing).


The rents, on the glacier (Perito Moreno)


Eating the local specialty, lamb cooked on the spit!


The lamb cooking up while we waited for our table.

From Calafate, on Saturday (1 week into my parents stay in Argentina) we took another flight to Bariloche, another patagonia town famous for its tourism, skiing, and chocolate. Needless to say Peter was in ice cream/chocolate heaven from there on out. He got addicted to the idea of the quarto (1/4 kilo of ice cream) that comes with 3 flavors of the customers choosing. The ice cream here in Argentina is quite good, its more of a gelato style than us Americans are accustomed to.


A quick shot of some ice cream

Anyway, moving on, in Bariloche we ate some more great food, took a day long excursion to Isla Victoria, a national park in the middle of lake Nahuel Huapi where we saw, oddly enough, a redwood forest......



Back around 1910 when some guys were trying to make the island ideal for rich foreigners, they brought in exotic plant species, trees mainly, to make the island feel more "homey" as a vacation destination for Americans, Japanese, etc. and the on the second half of the excursion we went to El bosque de los arrayanes,


Some damn tree-huggers in the arrayanes forest

a forest of a special type of tree, another national park, quite close to the first. My Mom thinks that they are related to Buckthorn and therefore an invasive species, but what can yah do. We then rented a car the coming day and drove through Villa la Angostura and ended up spending the night in San Martín de los Andes (these are both two small towns north of Bariloche - once again, see the map.) We saw some very beautiful lakes on the drive, la ruta de los 7 lagos, the 7 Lakes Route, but the road was 'less than desirable' to say the least.


One of the lakes along the way. Such beautifully colored water.


The cool white butted bees.

We made in back to Bariloche in time to enjoy a few more servings of chocolate and ice cream and on Wednesday of week 2 flew back to Buenos Aires.

In the city we had some AMAZING food, like when we went to a gastronomy restaurant and had a 16 fixed course meal that was to die for. We also had some great times just walking to museums and seeing a little more of the city before Saturday night when my parents headed home.


One of the 16 courses. DELICIOUS!

After they left I spent Sunday watching the Superbowl and being very excited about the Packers' victory and planning for my trip that starts today, to Chile. I have packed my backpack (so generously lent to me by my Aunt Betty) and have packed my smaller day pack and am heading to the airport in about 20 minutes. I will be gone for 3 weeks and am traveling the most solo I have ever traveled, so wish me luck!!