Experience South America!

This is it. Sitting in my room, in Montréal, I am reading my posts and can't believe it's already been 5 months, can't believe this is already over. I've been to so many places and I've seen so many things, but at the same time I feel like only a few weeks have passed by. 5 months. Nearly half a year.

I've been lazy with this blog, again. I can't seem to keep it updated.

This trip was, once again, a truly amazing experience. It wasn't always nice and easy, not at all. But it was always a challenge, something that makes you realize a bunch of things, even if it's just that your life isn't so bad, after all.

I've seen incredible things, I've met amazing people that I really hope to see again. Feeling that you've known someone forever after only a few days is something that only happens to me when traveling.

I've been happy. I've been sad. I've been at peace with myself. I've been fed up. I've been ill. Sometimes I wished I was home. Sometimes I wish I could travel my whole life.

Argentina. Its breathtaking scenery. Its very long bus journeys. Its handsome boys. Its cities, beautiful and full of life. Its people drinking mate, all day. Its dulce de leche and media lunas. Its waterfalls, mountains, glaciers and lakes that I'm not about to forget.

Chile. Its breathtaking national park, Torres del Paine. My first 10 day trek, totally independant. Its carretera austral with awesome scenery along the way. Its tiny little villages. Its people speaking very, very fast.

Bolivia. Its huge salt desert. Its Amazon jungle with monkeys, tarentulas, coatis, parrots, butterflies, wild pigs and more. My 3 week volunteer work at an animal refuge, and all my monkey friends. My first 6088 meter summit, Huayna Potosi. Its wonderful people, it's surprising culture. Its poverty. Its 50¢ huge fruit shakes and fruit salads, it's 15¢ banana bread. Its painful bus rides. Its bustling cities.

Uruguay. Its chilled out capital, Montevideo. Its music scene. Its lovely people. Its green fields and gaucho life. One of the coolest horse rides I have done.

5 months, 4 countries. More than 10 000 km on the road.

Once again, I'm back home, jobless, pennyless and not knowing what to do with my life.
But I know it's only another beginning.

That´s it. I am no longer in Patagonia. Que PENA.
El Bolson was fantastic. I had a really good time there. I went trekking for 3 days in the mountains with 2 guys. We stayed in fantastic mountain refugios. They were tiny, all made of wood, in the middle of nowhere, and we were obviosly the only guests. So we got the whole place for ourselves, drinking mate and warming up in front of the wooden fire. Priceless. And I had the best shower of Patagonia, half outdoor half indoor, lit by candles, with a floor of cut tree trunks, dirt and mushrooms growing. Water heated with the fire. So much pressure. WOW.
We also rescued many animals. There was a number of abandoned cats in the refugios that were already closed. It made me want to cry, I just wanted to take them back down to the town. But all I could do was give them powdered milk, cookies and bread, so they could live a few days longer. The poor kitties were so hungry they would have eaten anything. I have never seen a cat jumping on a piece of bread so quickly.

So after El Bolson, Bariloche. Bariloche.... what can I say. I also went on a 3 day trek with my italian friend, and on the first day we met a couple from France and Switzerland, really cool people. That trek was absolutely fantastic, for me as good as Torres del Paine in Chile. First day we got to refugio Frey, with a fantastic setting in front of a mirror-lake, and rocky mountains, snow capped... postcard-like. No, way more beautiful than a postcard.
Second day was pretty hard. We went up and down 2 mountains, trekked in the snow and in dirt and rocks. But the views we had were..... wordless. The second refugio, Jakob, was also in front of a lake, even more beautiful than the first one. The next morning, the light was perfect, the lake reflected perfectly the mountains, you could not even tell if it was the reflexion or the mountain itself. Absolutely amazing.
The third day was in the forest, it was harder because we were a but tired, and at the end we hitch hiked to get back into town, and we saved 1 hour of walk on a dirt road.

Then we rented a car to do the Circuit Grande which is a road that goes around very nice lakes and into towns (villa la angostura, to name one). Very nice.
Then we went to Cerro Campanario where we hiked for........... 20 minutes up. Haha. The view on top was very worth it though. And we also went to see some Cascades which were very pretty too.
The hostel in Bariloche, La Bolsa, was probably the best one I stayed at. The staff was soooo friendly and nice, the place was spotless, the breakfast was fantastic (pancakes made to order, normal coffee, hot chocolate, dulce de leche, awesome bread...)... Loved it.
And the chocolate in Bariloche---- what can I say. The best I have ever eaten! Mamushka is THE place. I went crazy in there. Litterally.
I could have stayed much longer in Bariloche. I dont know why I did not. I am always scared of running out of time.
So my 3 friends and I all went to different places. I took a 18 hour bus to Mendoza. And here I am.
Mendoza is a big city, but a nice one. I like it. But I am so used to trekking on this trip that its the only thing I can think of. I want to go trekking. So I really wanted to go to Cordon del Plata. After trying to get some info, which is very very hard since nobody here seems to go there, I found out that all I could do was go on a 525 pesos 2 day tour. After having done so many trekking without paying a penny, I cannot accept to pay that much money, I think I would rather skip it. Terrible. I havent decided yet what I was going to do. Ill think about it. Over and over again.

Ciao ciao beautiful Patagonia....

After Coyhaique, where I went to the National park which was pretty crappy, I hitchhiked (yes!) to Argentina with a Pollish couple, and we got a ride after 2 seconds (really). I stopped in Esquel, 2 hours mas o menos from the border. Cool city, very nice hostel, and people! The following day I went to Los Alerces national park which was amazing. I did a 5 hours trek to CERRO i-dont-remember-the-name-of-it, the hike was steep but nice, the view on top was SPECTACULAR. So worth it. We, Marco the italian chico and I, had a picnic on top of the highest rock on the summit. Amazing.
I am now in El Bolson, kind of a hippy town in the mountains, very very nice people, nice place, nice everything. So much trekking to do. I am hoping for good weather. XXX

Ok, I am terrible at keeping this blog updated. I will do my best to summerize what Í have been up to so far.

USHUAIA: So after having my camera stolen and hanging around town, I flew to Ushuaia, the second most southern city of the world. I met a Belgium guy and we hung out for a few days. We went for a hike at Laguna Esmeralda. It was pooring down rain so the lake wasnt that impressive. We were freezing cold, but we still had a good laugh.

Then, that guy convinced me to fly to El calafate. That was very stupid of me, but I went. We went to see the glacier PERITO MORENO, which is absolutely fantastic. We went on a tour (mini trekking on the ice). The trekking itself was not that exciting since I had trekked a glacier before, but the scenery and the view we had on top was worth one million pesos. Incredible. Surreal. The weather was perfect: blue skies, not a cloud.

After that, I went to EL CHALTEN, where I did 4 days of trekking. First, I went to LAGUNA Torre, where I had crap weather again. Still, it was pretty nice. Second and third day, I went on a trek to LAGUNA TORO. I had my big backpack, my tent and everything. The weather was perfect. I could see Fitz Roy perfectly. It was 12 hours walk return. I got there at like 5 PM. I was all alone, the camground to myself. I watched the sunset over the lake, had cold rice and garlic for dinner, and just ran around everywhere taking photos. Priceless. And fourth day, I went to LAGUNA DE LOS TRES, where I met a nice american guy and we ended up trekking together. We got to the lake, wonderful deep blue waters, and it started sleeting, raining, the wind was crazy, oh my God it was cold. It could have been SO BEAUTIFUL, it was still nice but I mean... Anyways, I can say I saw it in real Patagonian weather.

After El Chalten I made my way to Torres del Paine, south of Chile. I trekked for 10 days with an Australian couple, Katie and Chris, and Osvaldo, a Chilian lawyer. Definitely the best trek of my life. The first few days were extremely hard. I am not used to carrying my house and 10 days worth of food on my back. But I made it, and I am quite proud of myself!! We were prety lucky with the weather. Only a couple of shitty days. But the nights were extremely cold, I had to sleep with all my clothes, including my jacket, my hat, my winter gloves and 2 pairs of woolen socks. And still, I was FREEZING. And there were so many freakin mice. One night they ate my tent and got in. They were running all over me all night. HAHA.

After Torres, I made my way back to El Calafate and from there I went to a town called Perito Moreno, from which I was hoping to go to Perito Morino national park. Unfortunately, I couldnt make it. No transportation. Shoot. And seriously... what a hole!
Then I went to Los Antiguos, a little green town, and I crossed the border to Chile, in Chile Chico, another small village, but quite cute.
And from there, loneliness started. Every town I would to go, I would be the only tourist. I made my way up north on the carretera Austral. The road from Chile Chico to Puerto Rio Tranquilo was stunning. Worth all the fuss. Then, many little towns of around 500 habitants. I tried really hard to go to the national parks or do some horse riding, but its low season and since I was the only tourist, they wouldnt take me on excursions or organize transport for me. What a shame...
I am now in Coyhaique, Chile. wow.. PEOPLE! a CITY! a SUPERMARKET! I have never been so excited in a supermarket. After a week of eating tuna sandwiches, I can say that my bowl of pasta and fruits and chocolate were MORE than welcome.
Tomorrow I am going to La Junta and from there I am hoping to cross the border to Argentina very soon to Esquel, El Bolson and Bariloche.

Ok, hasta la vista!

Ok, I have to admit that this isn.t really what I expected.
First day in Buenos Aires. I.m peacefully walking on a busy street with loads of shops. I am carrying my day backpack. I take my camera out, take a picture of a Havana shop (I.ve never seen so many flipflops in my entire life!) and put it back in my bag. I swear, 2 minutes later, a guy taps my shoulder and tells me: Cuidado! Your bag is open.
Ok, I.m telling myself that the zip must be a little open... OH dear. My bag is wide open. At that moment, I knew exactly what was going on. Someone saw me take a picture, thought my camera was cool (HELL YEAH it was) and followed me, opened my bag without me noticing (he was a pro) and left.
So I spent the day at the police station, waiting, talking to the policemen to make a statement. A spanish one (!). Which is pretty useless since my insurance is crap. But anyways. That was day number 1.
Day number 2. I spent it with a very cool south african girl, we just walked around for the whole day, we almost saw the whole city.... on foot. We must.ve walked for about 5 hours. And then we went for dinner in a really nice neighborhood, Palerma. Or Palermo, can.t remember.
I cannot say that I love buenos aires. I liked La Boca, a nice area, full of artists and colourful houses. And people dancing tango on the street. Typical!
Today I took a flight to Ushuaia, and here I am! The view on the way was totally amazing, I wanted to cry. But now, it.s pouring down rain, it.s absolutely freezing, and I really cannot imagine myself going camping right now. Hell no, I think I would die of hypothermia.
The thing is, Argentina is so expensive. So far anyways. Dorms are like 20$ for 1 night. Is this South America?

Anyways, I am just hoping the weather gets better, because I am here for trekking and exploring... I decided to skip Tierra del Fuego national park because apparently, it is not worth it and it.s quite expensive. I saw pictures of a Belgium guy of Torres del Paine... MAGICAL. Hopefully I will have good weather because apparently, it can be hell, litterally.

Ok, See ya =)