Patagonian Peregrination Part 8

The next part of my day yesterday was actually walking through the Los Glacieres Parque Nacional. It was so nice. It was raining but there was something about walking around the paths and woods alone hearing the cracking of the glacier that was just really cool. The flowers that were blooming because it is spring/summer here after all, were just pretty and the whole thing seemed like it was a scene out of some National Geographic movie or something.

While the park is mainly to protect the major glaciers in the area it also protects the surrounding woodlands which is pretty awesome. There is a station sort of like in the states where you can stop and get lunch, so of course I did. And guess what I had.....Calafate flavored ice cream. As I was eating I think I heard "look at that" and "he's crazy" in at least 5 or 6 different languages. I mean it was cold and windy and raining a little bit but I was not going to pass up a chance to try the local ice cream.....I mean c'mon..... It was really good actually.

It was fairly reminiscent of what I imagine blueberry ice cream would taste like. Delicious...

What else can I say about this part of my trip...not much that the pictures I post won't say so I guess I am just going to post them and let you see for yourself....I'll post the flowers first and then the landscape ones....

This is a picture of the El Calafate berry, doesn't it even sort of look like a blueberry!

This is some glacial ice falling into the water!

Just a beach shot because I couldn't resist!

I realized in re-reading both of my last two posts that it appears I am on some sort of a vacation to the Glacier National Park in Argentina. Let me assure you this is not the case. I actually had a lovely meeting over breakfast at my hotel with a nurse from Great Britain who was expounding upon her perceived differences between the Argentine and UK health systems. Additionally, while trekking through the park I had an on the trail discussion with two nurses from New Zealand to understand their view of their healthcare system and make comparisons between Argentina and the US. So I repeat this was NOT a vacation, but rather a trip to have some meetings and discuss healthcare systems with different nurses abroad.

Patagonian Peregrination Part 7

El Calafate is all about the GLACIERS!! That and the things that you can make from the el calafate fruit....but mostly the GLACIERS!! What did I do yesterday then?? Looked at Glaciers obviously! Well not Glaciers so much as one Glacier called Perrito Moreno. 


My first expedition was on a  boat to see the South face of the glacier. I will admit this was a little touristy, think the boat at Niagra Falls, but I got some great pictures and it was the first time I have ever seen a glacier so who cares. For those of you who have never seen a glacier and are unsure of what it actually looks like in real life let me assure you that it really is just a huge chunk of ice. I mean an ENORMOUS hunk of ice. Like think the size of a mountain, but made of ice. It's crazy!


The boat ride was actually really nice it was only about an hour or an hour and half but I got to see the whole south face. I even got to see some of the glacier splitting off and falling into the sea. 


For a little background on the Perito Moreno glacier. It is one of several glaciers found in Los Glacieres Parque Nacional....(for my non-Spanish speakers that would be Glacier National Park, but if you could figure that one out you probably can't speak English either). The glacier received its name after the explorer Francisco Moreno who actually helped explore Patagonia and then lay claim to the region and protect it from Chilean hands. Quite literally if you translate the name Perito Moreno it means like Expert Moreno. The Perito Moreno glacier is actually, if I am recalling correctly, the 3rd largest reserve of fresh water and is only one of 3 glaciers that is not retreating in Patagonia....yes that's right it is beating the Global Warming odds and simply staying stagnant in a process known as glacial balance, which basically means it grows and equal amount to what it ruptures....okay enough with the boring glacier information that I learned here are some pictures:

The company that took me on my boat trip.

The mountain leading up to the glacier.

I love this picture because it looks so fake the way the water transitions colors.

Yes that is ice just floating in the water....it was pretty weird seeing it.

Me in front of a glacier.

Patagonian Peregrination Part 6

So another plane, which was delayed...surprise surprise...I literally haven't taken a plane this whole trip that wasn't delayed, and I am here in el Calafate....so named after the berry bush seen here...

The whole place is very different from Ushuaia I am still unsure about how I feel about it. I think it seems to be much less touristy which is cool. My hotel is called Los Canelos and is very....let's go with rustic. I am still so unsure about how I feel about it. I think it is because I got here so late but it is very cool. Very different than the last one that's for sure. Well here are some pictures of the hotel, but I am off to bed because I am exhausted.

Christmas in el Calafate! 

Let's end with some of the weird pictures in my hallway!

Patagonian Peregrination Part 5

Enjoying my final day in Ushuaia I decided that it would be appropriate for me to have a post reflecting on my time here on this wonderful island. Well that and its raining right now and I have already checked out of my hotel so I am sitting in a café enjoying an Irish coffee and some medialunes waiting for the rain to stop and have nothing to do. Ushuaia....what can I even say....

Let me start with what I actually think right away....Ushuaia is just like Bali only cold and South American. I know that doesn't really make sense, but it does, trust me. Let me explain. Both are small islands that rely heavily upon the tourist industry to drive their economy. The locals, while clearly having their own identity, have a rather confusing past to an outsider. Not to them of course it makes perfect sense to them. But just as in Bali trying to remember who lived here first and who conquered who is no easy feat. Another way they are similar....they are both places of mountains and ocean. This is something I hadn't really experienced until Bali and haven't experienced again until my trip here. How one group of people can be so comfortable going for high altitudes on land to sailing the sea is beyond me but both the Balinese and local Ushuaians do it without a blink of an eye. Another similarity is how the island actually breaks down. Basically part of the island is completely overrun with tourists. Behind that some ways is the part of the island where most of the locals live and or work. Further back than that is simply uninhabited and remains a place to show off to tourists. Its fascinating to me how to seemingly very different places are so very similar in such fundamental ways.

Here is a picture that I think sort of truly represents Ushuaia....a combination of both see, that crazy hill, and the mountain beyond.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you think you are a genius?? I know this sounds ridiculous but I mean one of those moments where you think of something and are sure you are the first person to think of it which is absolutely preposterous but you still want to think it was your idea anyways.....well I definitely felt that way in Ushuaia....This place is the PERFECT place to start a green energy initiative. It is small enough that it would be easily manageable. The fact that everyone who is not in the tourism industry struggles to really make it working at some factory so there is an ample work force. They have the longest days of any place in South America because of their southern location. The winds here are crazy strong.  And they have a huge energy office here on the island. I don't understand why this hasn't happened yet. They could easily have solar panels that rival Germany and wind turbines unlike anywhere else in the world. I'm sure I am not the first person to think this but sometimes its fun to think you are a genius and are the only one who see the big picture. 

The most important thing I got out of Ushuaia though is the fact that I really am more comfortable here in Argentina than I thought. I have definitely taken a piece of Argentina with me. The fact that it is raining right now and I just decided to stop at a café to keep my computer and stuff from getting wet. The fact that English speaking tourists won't talk to me because they think I am Argentine and twice have spoken to me in broken Spanish to ask for directions. Even the idea that I am just perfectly okay with milling around one street while I wait for my 5:30 pick-up and drop off at the airport.....I really am taking a part of the laid back atmosphere home with me. Will I be as laid back as they are as a whole....absolutely not...my life dictates otherwise. But I will have the ability to calmly just enjoy a few hours doing nothing more than sitting drinking a coffee or sipping maté every once in a while. Well it has stopped raining and my computer is running out of battery life. 

Chau...tal luego....

Patagonian Peregrination Part 4

Finally the end to DAY 2 in Ushuaia.....what did I do to end such a thrilling day you ask....simple really, I went for a sail! That's right I got on a huge Catamaran and sailed through the Beagle Channel!! How freaking cool is that?? I saw sea lions, Cormorants, and PENGUINS!! This trip is how I justify this being NOT a vacation and part of my studying as well. For those of you who don't know in addition to my major in Nursing I also have a Minor in Marine Studies....so this jaunt through the Beagle Channel was not for sheer enjoyment at all. Having to sit aboard such a big boat and take pictures of beautiful scenery and see real live Penguins was all adding to my collegial education in marine studies...and that is my story and I'm sticking to it.


The Beagle Channel....where do I even begin....I have no idea! For my geography incompetent....no offense just a fact....the Beagle Channel is a strait of water that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is one of the first ways that early explorers found to get around the continent of South America. Eventually others were found and considered less dangerous so it got rarely used. Most famously the Beagle Channel is where naturalist Charles Darwin first traveled on his famous journey where he laid the foundation for modern Evolutionary theory and science. So was I excited to sail on the Beagle Channel??? ABSOFRIGGINLUTELY!


I got on the ship and immediately headed for the top of the ship. I have been on enough naturalist boats in my life to know that being on the top of the ship like that is really where you get some of the best views of everything, landscape and fauna. There I was on a fairly chilly day sitting atop a ship in the Port of Ushuaia....sometimes I really can't believe my life. When we finally took off I was so happy to once again be heading toward the ocean. It is quite a constant and true theme in my life that somehow I always end up back at the ocean. At the worst points in my life and the best I have always had the ocean....so I was sooo EXCITED that I did actually get to share my experience in Patagonia with the ocean.....okay I'm done I swear back to the trip. 


We finally take off and I couldn't help but snap pictures like crazy. It was just so beautiful, plus now that I know how to use the panorama tool on my camera I could get some great shots of the whole island and the mountains and the ocean.... 


Without further ado I guess here are the pictures:

These are NOT penguins....they are in fact a type of cormorant....although all of the tourists kept screaming "Penguinos" or "Pingon" or some other word that no doubt meant penguin over the captain telling us that it was los cormorones....It was at this point that I realized that penguin is one of those words that in almost every language sounds hysterical....I mean you get a pretty good image of what kind of a bird you are going to see just by the sound of the word penguin if you ask me.

Sea lions resting at the shore of the island.

I found this bird to be hysterical. I have no idea what kind it is but it just kept sort of bopping along on the boat right behind all of the people taking pictures of all of the other animals...I just got a kick out of it that's all.

Doesn't this look like it should be a painting out of Maine or something...well it 's not its a Lighthouse in the Beagle Channel in a picture that I took!

Me....I hate pictures of me....I attempted to get more of me in the last few days to appease a certain member of my family who claims I am never in any of my pictures (cough cough Mom)

These in fact are Penguins! Los Pinguinos!!! So cute!

Seriously the island was covered in them....and they swim so fast I was absolutely stunned!

A bigger picture of the whole island covered in penguins.

A final picture to end my sail in the Beagle Channel.....