Epic Escapades South of the Border

  Hola from Buenos Aires!   We arrived in BA Thursday night on a flight from El Calafate, 1700 miles south of here.  Yesterday morning was glorious - we got to stay in bed past 6 am.  What a luxury!  Last night we went to see a traditional tango show (at El Viejo Almacen).  The musicians were amazing and the dancers were unbelievable (and, in case I didn’t mention it already, super hot!!).  The dancers reminded Melanie and I a lot of what we look like when we dance.  NOT!  If I were a judge on Argentina’s Got Talent they’d definitely get my vote.  [Btw, next time I write a Travelogue from one of our trips I think I’ll bring along a copy of Roget’s Thesaurus to increase the pool of superlatives I can choose from.  For you young’uns out there who have no idea what Roget’s is, ask Siri 😎]. We’ll be spending the next couple of days checking out the sights here before jumping back on a plane on Monday.  But more importantly, let’s ...

Yesterday we wrapped up 5 days of pretty intense hiking in Torres del Paine National Park, considered the 8th Natural Wonder of the World.  We covered more than 50 miles amidst wildly varied terrains, and wildly different weather conditions, including the entire “W Trek” (in red on the map above), the most iconic hiking trail in the Park. The W Trek starts on Grey Lake which sits below the Grey Glacier, one of 48 glaciers in the southern ice field of Patagonia.  Though it is easy to track how the glacier is receding over time due to global warming (apparently nobody told the glaciers that global warming is fake news,), it’s still mighty impressive - covering 100 square miles and 300 meters thick at its deepest point!  Unfortunately, our itinerary did not leave time for ice hiking on the glacier, so I guess we’ll have to leave that for our next trip.  The glacier is known for its dramatic calving events where large chunks of ice - up to 100 feet tall - break off and f...

While we await the arrival of the rest of our 15 member hiking group here in Puerto Natales, Chile we took the opportunity to take a one day excursion into what is probably the most famous National Park in Patagonia - Torres del Paine (pronounced PIE-neh).  Our quick view of the park was amazing.  In addition to the spectacular vistas, we were fortunate to see some of the most unique wildlife that Patagonia has to offer, including: Guanacos:  a relative of the llama, alpaca and vicuña and a member of the camelid family (but without the hump).  Guanacos were an important food source for the indigenous tribes that inhabited the area, as well as the early European settlers.  Today guanacos are protected in Chile - though not in neighboring Argentina - so their meat is widely available in local restaurants.  It’s quite tasty! Andean Condors:  considered to be the largest bird of prey in the world with a wingspan exceeding 10 feet! Puma:  Better known ...