Just Living on Floating Reeds

From Cuzco we went to Puno, a city known for its traditional dances and their wooden flute instruments. There are over 100 different cultural dances and each of them have their own costumes. That night we enjoyed a show and I finally got to try ginny pig. It is a delicacy in Peru, but I wasn’t impressed by the lack of meat and how scary the thing looked when it was served.

That next day we headed to Lake Titicaca which is the highest lake in the world at 2,000m. Now on the lake there are floating islands made of floating reed. Yes the island, the homes, and we even saw some boats, were all make of reed. We went to visit one village of the Uros people. They began their existence on the islands to isolate themselves from the Colla and Inca Tribes centuries ago. About 300 people live on the island, but people are always moving off to live on the mainland, Puno. All the village people were wearing their traditional outfits which they let us try on, and they discussed their life living on reed. I love this part, when someone decides they want to move off the island, all they have to do is cut the reed around their house and float away to another village. Also, if someone doesn’t like you it is possible to wake up and your home has been cut off the island. Excellent example of conflict resolution.

From there we went to Taquile Island which was a proper island aka. made of land and dirt. It was a beautiful day and there happened to be a big festival that day. All the villagers were dressed in these impressive band costumes (some of the outfits cost more then the persons actual home), ready to compete in a day of music and dancing. Beer was flowing at the celebrations while groups would have a ‘band off’ and compete against each other with their costumes, band skills, and dancing. It was great fun just to watch and take in the local lives and festivals of these people.

Walking like an Inca to Machu Picchu

The group arrived in Cuzco which is a beautiful colonial town with cobble stone streets and a very lively atmosphere. Most people will come to Cuzco to help them acclimate to the altitude before they embark on the Inca Trail, so there are lots of backpackers around the town. Coca leaves and coca tea are something that really helps with the altitude and we were frequent followers of ‘packing a chew’ during our trip. It is rather cold up at the altitude and there are lots of people selling alpaca and lama scarves, gloves, and sweaters. We stayed in Cuzco for a day to adjust to the altitude and to see the Scared Valley of the Incas. It is a lush green region that supplies produce to Cuzco. We do some hiking and you can really feel the altitude as we would get out of breath going up even the smallest hills. We also stopped at Ollantayambo, which is a fortress strategically situated over the valley helping the Incas guard the village. This was the first taste we got of the amazing planning and engineering that the Incas were capable of. Looking at the huge boulders that created the fortress, it was hard to believe that the Incas were able to get them from the mountain side to this area. We would be more impressed with the Incas as our adventure continued.

Early the next morning we began the four day hike on the Inca Trail that would lead us to Machu Picchu. We each had one duffel bag containing our clothes and toiletries for the next four days. There were ten of us in the group and we had 14 porters, 2 chefs, and one guide traveling with us. Our oldest porter was 55 years old and had been a porter for about 30 years. These porters would carry our bags, all our food, tents, tables, and everything else we would need on their backs. One porter was even responsible for carrying the propane tank on his back. Each day they would wake us up with breakfast prepared. We would head out on the trail and they would pack up our tents and run by us on the trail carrying all OUR stuff on their backs. When we arrive for the spot for lunch, it would already be prepared and waiting (and the food was yummy and there was lots of it). The same thing would happen in the evening, but our tents would be setup and snacks would be waiting for us before dinner was served. These men were our heros.

On our first day walking the Trail we were at an altitude of about 2,500m. All along the Inca trail we would walk by Inca ruins (destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors). On our first day we saw the ruins Llactapata and Wallabamba (the place where we camped our first night). When we thought there could not possible be any more stairs there always were. The trail was so tough because we were going up and down mountains at such a high altitude. The second day was one of the hardest because of Dead Woman Pass, it is called that because the side of the mountain looks like a woman. The Pass was at an altitude of 4,215m and was painful to get up. It was very hard to breathe, but at the same time amazing because you were struggling with all these people who felt the same way, pushing themselves with the same goal in mind, Machu Picchu. Mary and I did a little extra climbing at the top of the Pass, climbing the ‘boob’ as we referred to it. We also got to see Andrew's naked pose, which we would not be the last time we would see that naked bum shot. On the third day, the longest one walking 16k, we walked by several Inca ruins, some of them served as villages and others as fortresses. All of them were very impressive with the stone work and the sheer size of the boulders. We walked Runkuraqay Pass which was a beautiful stretch of jungle. Our last night was very cold because we were sleeping at 3,000m. We woke up at 4am to start our trek to Machu Picchu. We had a quick 2 hour hike to the Sun Gate that overlooks the peaks that surround Machu Picchu. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and we couldn’t see much, but luckily the fog cleared later that morning.

Finally after four days we arrived at our destination… Machu Picchu. And it is truly an amazing archeological site. The site was not “discovered” until H. Bingham in 1911 put it on the map for all the world to see. There is not much known about the Village because it was never discovered (or destroyed) by the Spaniards. In the village there were areas where agriculture was grown, areas of prayer, temples, staircases, windows, and sections for the rich and sections for the poorer people. There was a sundial that counted the passing seasons and gutters to collect the rain water to distribute it throughout the village. There was also a sacred rock that if you hold your hand over you can feel heat come off it. We spent several hours just walking around this wonder.

From there we took a train back to Cuzco, although we were tired we had to accept the ’24 Hour Challenge’ which meant that we all had to stay up until 4am that night. Luckily, Cuzco has an amazing nightlife with lots of clubs and we partied until the early hours of the morning.

The Peruvian Amazon

Months earlier, Sarah and I had signed up for a 14 day tour through Peru with GAP Adventures. In August of 2007, I had done a trip with them to Machu Picchu and was really pleased with GAP, so Sarah and I decided to give it another go. From my experiences, the tour is very well organized and the tour leaders are not only extremely knowledgeable about Peruvian history and culture, but very passionate about teaching. In my previous visit to Peru, I had hiked the Lares Trail and went to Machu Picchu, but I had always wanted to do the Inca Trail, plus there was so much more of Peru I wanted to see, so despite having already seen Machu Picchu, I was still really excited for the tour and to see more of Peru.

After our epic bus ride from Santiago to Arequipa and then Arequipa to Lima, we arrived in Lima to meet with the rest of the group. I won`t say much about Lima because there really isn`t much to say. In short, it is nothing special. I am not a fan at all. It was my second visit to Lima in 2 years - I have no desire to go back there anytime soon, and I really had no interest in seeing it again this time, but alas the tour began in Lima so I planned on arriving the same day the tour began to minimize my time there. We met up with our group and knew right away that we were in for a great 14 days - everyone was really outgoing, fun, friendly, and anxious to have a good time. The GAP tour leader, Walter, went through our itinerary and some other tour necessities before we all really introduced ourselves and started socializing. There were 8 other people in the group - Anita and Nadia (fun, sweet Uni students from UK), Una and Maria (hard-core hikers/rock climbers from Finland), Jan and Tara (mother-daughter team from Australia), and Andrew J and Andrew S (the staple lovable, crazy party animals from Australia). The Andrews were surrounded by 8 women. They were noticeably happy and schmoozing with all the ladies at our first dinner together!
After going through all the technical stuff with Walter we all headed to dinner and got to know each other a little bit, there was not one moment of silence as everyone was sharing travel stories. Sarah and I were excited to be with such nice, fun people for the next 2 weeks. We all went to bed early after dinner, as we had to be up at the crack of dawn the next day to start our journey.

We spent the first 3 days of the trip in the Peruvian Amazon and it was nothing short of incredible. We flew into a very small airport from Lima and hopped on a small riverboat that took us 3 hours to our jungle lodge...we were truly in the depths of the jungle. The lodge was actually really nice, basic as expected, but comfortable and cozy. There was a little hut with hammocks (screened in, thankfully, the bugs were evil) and a nice dining area. The place was owned by a crazy-Boho French woman who rescued a little spider monkey from the nearby jungle - its mother was killed by natives and she walked around with it wrapped around her all day. It was actually pretty to have this little monkey in a diaper running around the lodge and swinging from the wooden ceiling beams.

On our first day we did not arrive until about 4 in the afternoon, so we had some free time and then set off on our first jungle excursion - a night trek. It reminded me a little of my first night dive, I was a little nervous to walk into the creepy jungle in the dark but as soon as we got in there everyone was so excited and loving it. We armed with torches and the guides had machetes to clear paths for us. We were given knee-high rubber boots which were totally necessary - the entire jungle floor is 3 inch + deep mud. Our 2 guides were excellent, spoke very good English and clearly loved the jungle. They told us about all the different trees, plants, and their uses. We have always known this, but the rainforest truly has a cure for EVERYTHING - they showed us plants to cure asthma, arthritis, repel mosquitoes, etc. Truly amazing. Within minutes we encountered a tarantula that was easily the size of my entire hand, palm to finger tips, very creepy! One of the Aussie guys, Andrew S (nickname Strody) is terrified of spiders so he jumped back and kept his distance, but I must say that he handled being that close to a massive spider like a champ. The rest of us got pretty close for photos and to examine it. I had told the guides of my terrible fear of snakes and warned them that I was not joking - I told them that if they tried to be funny and stick a snake in my face that I would be truly furious, and luckily they took me seriously. We were walking along and one of the guides, Steban said ¨Mary, stay in the back¨. He came to the front of the group holding a foot long, skinny, white and brown striped snake. I actually remained quite calm but stayed at the back of the line. Gross, evil creatures. Luckily, that would be our only snake encounter in 2 days! After we survived our first night trek, we went back to our cozy rooms, enjoyed a nice cold shower (no one complained that there wasn`t hot water, who needs it in the scorching jungle?), and crawled up under our mosquito nets to rest up.

The next day we got up early and made our way back to the jungle for a full day trek. We were lucky to have no rain at all, dry season was approaching. We stayed dry, but again the jungle floor was all mud and there were times when we had to trudge nearly knee deep in rivers to get to the trail. So much fun. The jungle sounds were so peaceful and of course everything was GREEN. We saw tons of bugs (some with way too many legs), birds, lizards, and caimans (similar to crocs, but much larger - they can grow up to 5 meters long!). Strody bravely survived walking through spider webs and many encounters with ¨Jesus spiders¨ - they walk on water so even as we were trudging through streams they were all around us. It was HUMID and we were all covered in mud, sweat, bug spray, and sunscreen. It was an incredible adventure that I will never forget. We returned to the lodge for some relaxing and then a night boat tour of the river to try to find some caimans lurking along the shore. There were no clouds in the sky, and since it was so clear we saw tons of stars and heard nothing but crickets and birds all around. It was so nice to be away from cars, motorbikes, and other loud city noises. Unfortunately though, our mission to find caimans was unsuccessful. Oh well, at least we got to see some during the day.
I slept like a baby under my mosquito net that night. We were so lucky to be there. Our time in the Peruvian Amazon is something I will never forget. I just hope that we all do our part to keep the rainforest alive and thriving for future generations, it is the home to thousands of species of plants and animals that the world needs to survive. I was so impressed by how much our guides knew about the plants and animals living in the Amazon, but they were the first to say that there is so much more that they have not yet discovered...

Our group hopped a flight to Cusco where we would begin our Inca Trail trek, perhaps the leg of the whole trip that Sarah was most excited for.

At the Colca... Colca Canyon

Mary and I had to endure a looong 32hr bus ride from Santiago to Peru. (And I remember when I thought the 2 hr drive up to my grandparents house was long.) We made it and dare I say it wasn´t that bad, but it better be the longest bus ride I ever have. Peru was vastly different from the clean and organized Chile that we just left. People sat on every street corner either selling stuff or begging, cars clogged up the dirty roads, and finally things were cheap again. We headed up to the town of Arequipa to do a two day hike in Colca Canyon. Arequipa is a very cute little town with restaurants lining the balconies overlooking the central plaza. Once we got there we booked our trek and went to relax and get some food. Finally I got to have the pisco sours that Mary had told me all about and yes they are delicious and addicting.

Early the next morning we loaded our bus taking us to Colca Canyon. We had a puker on the bus which is never a good thing on a 3 hr bus especially for Mary because this smelly puker guy ended up sitting right next to her. She soon was able to tactfully trade seats and sit next to me. On our journey to the Canyon we stopped at Cruz del Condor, the famous cross overlooking the valley. We were lucky enough to even have a Condor, a very important symbol for the Incas, flying in circles above us while we were there. Slowly, we were getting adjusted to the higher altitude as Arequipa is at 2300m and Cruz del Condor is at 3500m. We would be in and out of high altitude areas for the next 6 weeks.
On our first day we were trekking 16km and the second day was only 7 km, but all up hill. We were hiking with two people from Argentina, Marco and Anna, that were on a short holiday to see Peru. The first half of our day was mostly walking down hill which was so hard on our knees and created blisters all over my feet. At the bottom of the hill we went to a local family house for lunch. They had a nice house, clearly funded by the tour groups, and were currently adding additional rooms onto their property. After lunch we still had a good 4 more hours of hiking to do, but this was much more pleasant. We walked through a few small villages that dot the canyon side. Our guide told us all about the fruit trees in the areas and the different uses all the plants have and as is it often the case, everything has a use and is not wasted. Eventually we reached Sangalle, aka The Oasis, where we stayed in a bug filled hut and enjoyed our coca tea.

The next day we rose at 5am to start our 7 km uphill hike out of the canyon. We each found our own pace with Mary leading the pack. I figured this trek would help me get in shape for Inca Trail as I hadn´t seen the inside of a gym or any physical activity in over 8 months. Although marathon girl (yes she found it necessary to wear the whole outfit, all one inch of spandex) beat us all to the top, Mary and I both made it in great time. We then went to the small town of Cabanaconde for lunch. On our way back to Arequipa our group made another stop at another dusty town where there was nothing to do. Since we had 2 hr to kill, Mary and I grabbed a bottle of wine, which we always think is a good idea, and sat down in their beautiful plaza to just enjoy the sunny day.

Guest Blogger: Andrea meets us in Santiago

Santiago was a special place, not only because Sarah and I would be meeting up again, but also because a close friend of mine from NY, Andrea, would be meeting us there for a week! My uncle is in the wine business and had put us in contact with a close friend of his, Pablo, who lives in Santiago and owns a vineyard about 3 hours south of the city. While we were in Santiago, Pablo took excellent care of us, constantly checking in to see if we needed anything and recommending places for us to see and of course, wines for us to taste...
Without further ado, here´s Andrea with a guest blog entry on Santiago, Chile:

Our first night in Santiago, we went to a college soccer game with a few guys from the hostel. It was so much fun! "Hinchada Hay Una Sola" The fans were PASSIONATE about their team! I thought Penn Staters were passionate about football, but this was a whole new level of intensity!

The next few days we were planning to do some wine tasting... The challenge was trying to taste as much as we could on a tight budget. Sadly, my tasting notes never made it to paper... and were a bit of a drunken blur by the end of the day, so I don't have much to offer in tasting notes.

Colchagua Valley, located three hours south of Santiago, is known for their Bordeaux reds. I wanted to visit Casa LaPostolle, but the tasting was too steep for our budget. Instead, we went to Viu on Pablo´s recommendation. The tour started with a lovely horse ride through the beautiful vineyards. With the cool, crisp fall air, we really enjoyed their warm tasting room that was heated by a wood burning stove. Our favorite wine was their Malbec Reserve. When our taxi driver picked us up, he was hosting a radio show (while driving us)! It was entertaining listening to him speak in the car and then hearing him on radio... We stopped at Estampa, and drank a bottle of their Malbec and Petit Syrah blend. It was delicious for the price! Finally, we made it to the last winery of the day, Bisquertt. Mary and Sarah loved the beautiful house filled with antique furniture and family pictures. Our favorite wine was the Casa La Joya 2007 Reserve, Carmenier. On the bus ride back to Santiago, the cute guy next to me starting talking to me. He didn't speak any English, and I don't speak Spanish. It was a funny conversation, and we all laughed. After a day of wine tasting, we were happy :)
The next day we went to Valparaiso, a cute, artsy tourist town two hours NW of Santiago. The town is located on steep hills by the sea... it felt a little strange... the streets were filled with dogs and graffiti... and everything was expensive. Some jewelry and clothing had 5th ave price tags! From Valparaiso, there was only one company that offered tours of Casablanca Valley, and they were rude and corrupt. Casablanca Valley is known for their white wines. Our tour started at Viña Mar. Sarah asked me about the strange looking riddling racks. So I explained how champagne was made, and the guide asked me to lead the rest of the tour in English! I really enjoyed Viña Mar's Sauvignon Blanc. citrius.. lemon... a fair amount of acidity.. muy bien! Next we stopped at Indomita. Their sommelier let me have a taste of the reserve chardonnay 2007, which was delicious, but the girls wanted to drink more Sauvignon Blanc. After the vineyards, we went had empanadas and went to the beach... what a great way to end the day :)
On my last night in Santiago, we cooked brinner (aka. breakfast for dinner), an old ritual we did often in NY. We started off with a bottle of Morande Sauvignon Blanc, and then opened up a cheap bottle of bubbly wine... and enjoyed huevos y queso. mmm!

Going South to North and to the NCAA Final Four

I was luckily enough to watch the amazing NCAA game where Villanova beat Pittsburg advancing the team to the Final Four for the first time since 1985. Scotty Renyolds made an beautifu last second layup to win the game. I was in a bar jumping, screaming, and yes some tears were shed when we won. Amazing game, amazing team, amazing University.

With that I will get back to New Zealand... After Queenstown, I headed out to see Milford Sound with two of my favorite English gals from the trip, Hannah and Amy. I had grown quite close to them during the trip and we would continue our journey together to the north island. Milford Sound is known for its numerous waterfalls that come off the cliffs that surround the Sound. When it is rainy it is said to be spectacuar, but we had a sunny day, so there were still waterfalls just not as many. We were on a cruise type ship and our general path was seeing: Dale Pt (the entrance to MS), Bowen Falls (161 m), Sinbad Gally (steep slopes of mtn on each side surrounding the Sound), Mitre Peak (one of the highest mtn in the world to rise from the ocean floor), and the elephant rock. On the drive from the Sound, I got to fill up my waterbottle from a bubbling brook nearby, that was mountain spring water at it best.

We were then off to the North Island and our first stop was Wellington which is a great city with a fresh and young feel. There is a very young population in Wellington and that can be felt with all the artsty buildings and active nightlife. There they have an amazing museum, Te Papa Museum, which has a large focus on NZs enviorment and how it has been affected by immigration. Very interesting. That night we enjoyed some life music and dancing at one of the cities clubs before we left on our day long road trip up to Auckand.

In Auckland I was staying with my friend Jake, who Mary, Hari and I all met in Koh Tao. He goes to University of Auckland and I got to become a uni student again for a few days (laundry room, ID cards, even cleaning). That night we all went out in Auckland to this club that had an amazing freestyle group that was so good we didnt even know it was live until we saw the two singers in the corner of the room. The group was really really good, creating fresh and innovative beats. Really good music. That next day, unfortunately Jake and his roomates were taking off on their spring break so Jake was good enough to let me use his apartment for the next few days before my flight. We were pretty bummed that we only got to see eachother for one day, but I was excited to have an apartment to use. Over the next two days Amy, Hannah, and I explored the city which feels nothing like the rest of NZ with its big buildings, busy streets, contempory and high end shopping stores. We checked out the National Museum, a Maori culture dance performance, local markets, and the harbor.

I also did a two day roadtrip up to the Bay of Islands, on the very northern end of NZ. We got in a full day on a boat checking out some of the amazing islands that dot the end of NZ. We even got in some dolphin and penguin sightings, snorkeling, kayaking, and sun tanning over those two days. I wish I had more time to see the North Island, but that seems to be the case for each country we go to on this trip. So, I hopped on the plane and made my way to my personal unltimate destination, South America.

Mendoza

Wine country. Hari and I had been enjoying the Argentine Malbecs in Buenos Aires and El Calafate and were excited to get to Mendoza so we could visit some vineyards. We took an overnight bus from BA to Mendoza and checked into one of the many of hospedajes in the main area near Plaza Independencia. Mendoza is a small city with wide cobblestone streets and lots of little parks. We planned on having about 4 days in Mendoza, which would give us plenty of time to check out some wineries, as well as drive along the PanAmerican Highway that goes all the way up through Central America to get some more views of the Andes.

Since we did not arrive in Mendoza until the early afternoon we spent our first day just walking around and figuring out our plan for the next few days. Our hospedaje was really close to the main park/plaza, Plaza Independencia. This plaza had so much charm and character, it is always bustling - there are artists oil painting the scenery, craftsmen making jewelery, musicians, and people just relaxing on the grass or in front of the fountains. We were lucky enough to be in Mendoza on a weekend when the craft market is on, so the Plaza was also lined with small booths of local handicrafts. We spent hours walking around and looking at the booths, and we stocked up on some souvenirs and gifts for friend and family.

Just a few hours away from Mendoza is Cerro Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America (one of the Seven Summits) and actually the tallest mountain outside the Himalayas. We would have loved to climb Aconcagua, but it is quite technically challenging and because you have to be properly acclimated, it takes 15 days to reach the 6,962 meter summit! We didn´t have enough time on this trip, but perhaps in the future we will venture back down to Argentina to tackle the summit...Despite the fact that we couldn´t climb the mountain didn´t mean that we couldn´t see it, so we decided to rent a car to drive along the PanAmerican highway. We got in our little 2 door coupe, hooked up the iPod speakers, and were on our way...almost. We were trying to get out of the city and onto the highway but were blocked by parked taxis on several of the main streets. There was some sort of taxi strike going on, so Hari had to maneuver through the hundreds of parked taxis and angry drivers to get onto the highway. It was an interesting experience, something like this wouldn´t have lasted 10 minutes in the US because the cops would be there threatening to arrest the taxi drivers if they did not move their cars. But in Argentina things are different and the cops didn´t do anything.

Our drive along the PanAmerican highway was nothing short of awesome...we were one of the few cars on the road and were surrounded by mountains. We only passed a few cars along the way, but we did pass a ton of bike riders - there was a bike race of some sorts going on so we passed hundreds of bike riders on the highway. We slowed down and cheered them on through our sunroof, I can´t imagine how tired they must have been! The road was windy, hilly, and LONG. Towards the end of the pack we saw a guy who was grabbing onto the side of a moving car to catch his breath, I probably wouldn´t have lasted one hour of that race. We made it to Aconcagua and stopped to walk around the area and of course take some photos. It was really windy, but thankfully not too cold. We could not get too close to the base of the mountain given where we were on the road, but we were still close enough to get an idea of its monstrosity. It was pretty remarkable to be that close to the tallest mountain in South America. We made the windy drive back to Mendoza and hit the sack early in preparation for our day of touring the vineyards.

From the center of Mendoza you can take a short 30 minute bus ride to the Ruta del Vino, or Wine Route. The most popular choice among backpackers upon arrival is to rent bicycles and bike along the 12k road to the many wineries. Hari and I decided that it would be wise to begin by biking the full 12ks to the beginning of the route, so as we drank more we would be getting closer to our ending point. The vineyards lining the road were unlike any vineyards I´d seen in Napa Valley, California, Austria, or Australia...the surrounded area was generally flat, but in the distance we could see the snow-capped Andes and 6000+ meter mountains. It was a clear, warm day, perfect for a bike ride. We made to the first vineyard, Carinae, where we did a tour of winery and tasted a lovely selection of their most well-known wines. Generally speaking, Mendoza is famous for its red wines, primarily Malbecs and Cabernet Savignons, but we did taste some nice Merlots and even some nice whites. We enjoyed our tasting in the vineyards, surrounded by grapes and toasted to Mendoza. Directly across the street from Carinae is an olive oil factory that offers tours to teach how olive oil is actually produced. We hopped onto a Spanish speaking tour (we were a little to impatient to wait for the English tour an hour later) and only really understood about 25% of what was said; however, at the end of the 5 peso tour ($1.25) we were presented with a huge tray of fresh baguettes, sundried tomatoes, olives, and of course, olive oil...so the tour was well worth it and pleasantly filled our tummies enough to get us down the wine road a few more kilometers before stopping for lunch.

We continued our ride and stopped off at a few more places just to take in the sights. We ate grapes right off the vines, and had a picnic lunch at El Cerno winery (Hari and I almost never went anywhere in Argentina without the necessary provisions in our daypacks: cheese, olives, and a fresh baguette). This vineyard is an excellent place to stop off for an hour or so, it has a beautiful garden and tons of bean bag chairs so you can purchase a bottle of wine and relax outside in the vineyard while enjoying it. Our last stop of the day was Tempus Alba, which was my favorite. We had an excellent tasting on the deck of the winery that overlooked the vineyards (the Malbec was especially great). Mendoza is a great place to kick back and enjoy some great wines at extremely reasonable prices - even at the vineyards you could buy a bottle for less than $15. Mendoza is a must stop place in Argentina, aside from the wines. I wish I could have spent a few more days there, but at the same time I was excited to move on...from Mendoza I´d take a bus to Santiago to meet up with Sarah again!

Extreem New Zealand

New Zealand is where extreme sports happen and Queenstown is the mecca. If you have some crazy idea, you can probably find someone in NZ to do it, wearing clothing is always optional. I took advantage and got to do some crazy things that I always wanted to do or never considered. Sky diving has always been on the top of my extreme list and I fulfilled it in Abel Tasmin, over the national park. Although I honestly didn´t appreciate too much of the view as I was falling from an airplane to my potential death (not really), but the thrill and rush is unbelievable. I had an awesome instructor, Jason, who was just a few jumps away from his 10,000th sky dive. I decided to get my hair-raising experience on tape and had a video cameraman jumping with me too. I was pretty calm and confident until about 10 seconds before I was to fall from the plane 13,000 ft in the air. We did a quick spin from the plane and then were off, falling... the air is rushing past you so fast that your brain cannot comprehend how high up you are or how quickly you are falling. It is shocking and terrifying, then amazing and exhilarating, then peaceful and beautiful. All those emotions in just about 8 minutes. There were about 6 of us that all went for our first time jump that day and we all got to share the mixed emotions together.

Probably my highlight of NZ was doing the glacier climbing in Fraz Josef. I did a full day climb and spent about 6 hours on the glacier, going into crevices, between the glacier walls, and over the melting ravines. The ice got so so blue the deeper and further into the glacier we went. It was spectacular to see and unlike anything I had been so close to or inside before. It definitely beats your daily ice cube. The ice in the glacier is always changing and everyday the guides need to find new paths to take people on, often carving through the glacier walls with their ice picks to get to new openings in the ice. As we got further inside the glacier the walls started to get smaller and tighter, many times we had to twist our bodies to get through some archways. As we continued our hike suddenly things came to a stop and after awhile we found out that we were stuck in the glacier and the guides couldn't get us through it. That meant that we were going to have to climb out of it. It was so cold just standing between two giant ice cubes that Team Sweden put on some music that they had on their cell phone. We all started dancing to "Poker Face" and it will always remind me of being in the glacier and dancing to keep warm. Eventually a rope was secured and we had to climb with our crampons up this wall of ice. It was an amazing experience, you could even say it was chilling.


I had never had a huge desire to bungy jump, but when in Rome... so I decided to take the plunge while in Queenstown. I jumped, really you run off, from "The Ledge" which is a 47 m drop on a ledge that is 400 meters above Queenstown. I was pretty scared right before I jumped and had a few false starts. I was not nearly as brave as my friend Paul who went before me in just his underwear. He isn´t the only clothesless guy that does this. When I finally went, in full cartoon style, after going off the ledge my legs continued to move like I was still running. We lovingly referred to it as the chicken legs move. Once I jumped all I could see was that the ground was so so far away, although I knew I wasn´t going to be falling 400m it was still so scary. A few seconds later it is over and I could hear all the cheering from my friends that came to see us "go off the ledge". After the jump we all enjoyed the go-carts above the city and the amazing views around us.

Queenstown offers lots of other crazy sports and it seems that sky diving was an option at almost every town or city that we visited. The craziest thing there was to do was jumping from one of the highest bungees in the world, The Nevis, which is a 134m bungy. We watched all of our friends DVD tapes of this and it is one of the scariest things I have ever seen. 8 full seconds of free fall with just a rope attached to you. Way too extreme for me. Queenstown is also a huge party town, with lots of bars and clubs that go late into the night. For most of us this was our last stop together and we took full advantage of the nightlife most of us going late into the morning at World Bar. Additionally Queenstown is home of the Ferge Burger, an amazing burger place offering hamburgers big enough to feed multiple people or one guy for the entire day. Good times.

Patagonia - Torres del Paine

Hari and I flew from BA down to El Calafate, a small town on the Argentine side of Patagonia. This town is a common starting point for trekkers who are interested in heading to the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and the famous ¨W¨trek that leads to Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia. We spent a few days in El Calafate to see the Perito Moreno glacier and to prepare for our trek. Hari had been wanting to trek in Patagonia for years, he was especially interested in the "W" trail in Chile that leads to Torres del Paine. The trail itself takes 5 days to complete and is in the shape of a ¨W¨. It is lined by glacier capped mountains, crystal-clear blue lakes, and lush forests. This trail is very popular for trekkers, as it leads to the famous Torres del Paine sandstone mountains that hover 3000 meters above a lake. Unlike many other mountains in the area, they do not gradually ascend in a classic upside-down ¨V¨mountain shape - instead they shoot up out of the ground in 3 abrupt, spectacular points. The photos I had seen plastered throughout El Calafate blew me away, I could not wait to see them in person.

Before heading towards the trail, we stayed in El Calafate for a day to see the Perito Moreno glacier which we heard was a must. It did not disappoint...it is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. The glacier itself covers 250 sq km, reaching nearly 60 meters high. As one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world, Perito Moreno moves a drastic 2 meters per day and these movements can easily be seen by eye. We arrived at the glacier and I was blown away at its size - of course I knew that 60 meters high is insane, but actually standing in front of it made it seem so much larger. The boats on the water near the glacier looked like ants. Within a few minutes of being at one of the lookout points along the water we witnessed our first calving, the breaking off of massive chunks of ice caused by the movement of the glacier. We always had warning that a calving was about to occur, as we could hear a crack in the ice as loud as thunder followed by pieces of the glacier as big as buildings crumbling into the water. These calvings happen about every 20-30 minutes. Some occur deep in the heart of the glacier and can only be heard, but when they happen along the shore the crowds at the lookout points go wild and try to quickly snap photos of the ice crashing into the water below. As the ice chunks hit the water they cause massive waves to dissipate to the shore line, it is really quite a show. We stayed at the glacier just watching and anxiously waiting for calvings for 4 hours, and neither of us were ever bored. We saw several calvings, one in particular was massive and Hari very excitedly caught the end of it on video. Like I said, it was one of the most beautiful and coolest things I have ever seen, so much more than I anticipated. It was an amazing afternoon, and the cherry on top - as we were heading back to El Calafate on our bus a rainbow formed over the glacier. Simply amazing.Now onto the trek. I guess you could say that we were a little bit unprepared for the weather. Having spent all of my trip in summer weather, I had only 2 long pants, shirts, and a fleece jacket. To this point, I had hardly used them but since we were now in the southern Andes, it was freezing. El Calafate is a tourist town, and since it is not exactly in a heavily trafficked area it is quite expensive. I picked up some gloves and a hat but skipped out on buying any other warm clothing - I figured that layering everything else remotely warm that I had with me would suffice. The 5-day "W" trek that leads to Torres del Paine does have some refugios along the way where you can sleep, but we wanted a true trekking experience so we decided to tough it out and camp. This meant that for the duration of our trek we would have to carry everything we needed on our backs - tent, sleeping bags/mats, clothes, and food. We rented the camping equipment and stocked up at the local supermarket on good trekking food: granola, energy bars, peanuts, instant soup packets, oatmeal, bread, cheese, apples, etc. We managed to fit all of our equipment into my large pack and Hari´s small backpack and were ready to go.

We took a bus to the Chilean border where we would go through customs and get to the starting point of the trek. I guess it slipped our minds that we were crossing a border and that you are often not allowed to bring fresh food from one country to another while Hari and I were stocking up at the supermarket. There were signs everywhere at the border stating that it was forbidden to bring any produce, or animal products/bi-products from Argentina into Chile. Oops, we had a bag of 14 apples, cheese, and salami in our big pack. At first we contemplated not declaring them but in the end our consciences told us to be honest on our customs forms. The result: all of our apples and salami were confiscated, but somehow the customs officer let the cheese go through. We were out about $10, no big deal, but this of course would mean that we would have to rush to another supermarket to replace the food we´d lost before we started our trek. Good thing we were honest, though...Sarah told us that when she flew into Chile from New Zealand that a guy on her flight had 2 apples in his backpack that he had forgotten about. He did not declare them, and was busted by customs officials and charged $100 per apple! Had Hari and I been busted, I would have had to cut my trip short, as the fine could have been thousands of dollars!

After the border incident, we made it to Chile and were ready to start our trek. We took a small boat across Lago Pehoe to the starting point of the trail and were already amazed at the scenery - we were surrounded by huge glacier capped mountains in every direction. We arrived at the camp late in the afternoon and would start trekking the next morning, so we pitched the tent and relaxed in the nice, warm refugio. The trail has refugios along the way, so even though we were camping we would luckily be able to defrost in the common areas of the refugios in the evening. We got to bed early, anticipating an early start for our first day of trekking. We woke up to the dreaded sound of rain on our tent. This was not a good sign. We put on all of our trekking gear and went outside to assess the situation - the rain was not that heavy, but if it held up all day we would inevitably be soaked. Being on a time schedule, we had no choice but to head out in the rain. Instead of packing up camp and taking all of our gear with us to the next campsite, we decided we would do the first part of the ¨W¨ as a day hike. We walked for 3.5 hours in the rain, so we were cold, wet, and pretty annoyed; however, when we reached Grey Glacier on Lago Grey we cheered up a bit - it´s pretty hard to be in a bad mood when you are standing in front of a brilliant, blue glacier. We snapped tons of photos, had our lunch, and headed back 3.5 hours to our camp. By the time we got there our socks and shoes were soaked through. We bolted to the refugio to warm up but knew in the back of our heads that there was no way our shoes would dry out overnight, so we´d have to wake up to wet shoes. Oh well, maybe the rain would stop and they´d dry as we were walking the next day...

The rain didn´t stop. Again we woke up to the sound of rain pouring down on our tent. We were not happy campers, but we tried to remind ourselves that we were in Patagonia and that things could be a lot worse. So we put on our wet shoes and headed out for another day hike, and luckily at this point the rain had slowed to a drizzle. While the surrounding views on the trail were beautiful, the trail itself was a wet, muddy mess. At some parts the mud was shin deep, so we had to try to find less traveled trails. Sometimes we were successful, sometimes we were not but our shoes were already soaking so a little mud wouldn´t hurt. This steep section of the trek went up the Valle Frances along a massive waterfall. Hari and I scrambled up the rocks and made the most of it - since we were already soaking wet from the knees down, we figured that we may as well have fun and slosh through the running glacier water...the water was freezing (obviously, it´s glacier water), but it is sparkling clean so at least our muddy shoes got a cleaning. On the top, we got some great photos of Hari faux hurling himself into the waterfall and on our descent, the clouds cleared and we saw our first hint of sunshine. The rest of the walk back to camp was dry, and the sight of the sun reflecting off the glaciers was incredible. The weather warmed up and our pants started to dry off, so things were looking up. The wind was so strong that I was able to lean my entire body weight into it and still be held up standing perfectly straight. In higher spirits, we got back to camp, hung out in the refugio, and hoped that the weather would hold up the next day.

On day 3 we did not wake up to the sound of rain on the tent, so we were excited to get up and get going. We got an early start to the next camp with the sunshine on our shoulders. This campsite was awesome, we could see the 3 Torres from our tent and the refugio was first-class - it had a really nice sitting area, bar, and wood stoves where we´d be able to set our (still) wet shoes in front of to dry. After our walk, we set up camp and relaxed in front of the nice, warm fire, as Hari wasn´t feeling too well. Being in the cold rain caused Hari to come down with a pretty bad cold, so when we woke up the next morning he didn´t have the energy to do a full day hike. Luckily despite the initial bad weather we kept a good pace and had a bit of extra time so Hari relaxed for most of the day and we just hiked around the area for a few hours. The next day we would complete the ¨W¨ and make it to the Torres, so we wanted to make sure Hari was well-rested and ready to go.

Thankfully we woke up on day 4 to a perfect day. There were no clouds in the sky and it was actually quite warm for Patagonia. We anxiously got ready and started our trek, which was the most physically challenging section of the trail. It was mostly uphill, but having the Torres in view made us keep our pace and we made it to the base of the Torres in great time. From the base you have to walk up a steep, rocky path for 30 minutes to reach the lake where the Torres begin. We raced up the trail and was breathless, the view was picture perfect. The Torres were 100x more beautiful in person than they were in all the photos I had seen. The sky was clear and the sun reflected off the blue-green lake. The lake is at 750 meters, and the Torres shoot up an additional 2000 meters into the sky. Hari and I were both speechless, we must have just stared at the perfect view for 15 minutes before we took one photo. Sitting in front of the Torres on this perfect day made it worth hiking in the rain for 2 days through muddy trails.

We sat for awhile, had lunch, and admired the views before we headed back to camp. As we made our way down the mountain, clouds started to roll in and we were very thankful that we made it to the top while the sun was still shining. We were both pretty quiet for the rest of the evening, as we were both reflecting on our adventure and the perfect views of the Torres. The next day we headed back to El Calafate where we indulged in a nice Italian dinner and a nice, hot shower at our Hospedaje. Patagonia was definitely a highlight of the trip for me, the air is clean and the whole area just feels so untouched. We flew back to Buenos Aires where we´d stay for one more day, then off to Mendoza.

Sweet As

New Zealand is beautiful. It is a place where on every turn in the road the scenery can take your breath away. It was a different kind of beauty then the sunny beaches and ocean I had been surrounded by for the last several months (not that I am complaining). NZ is truly gorgeous and an outdoor enthusiast and thrill seekers dream. I decided to focus most of my time in NZ on the south island which is known to be more beautiful with more outdoor activities to offer travelers.

I arrived in Christchurch which is a cute little town with a great weekend market that is very welcoming and brought a completely different vibe then Australia did for me. Much more chill, outdoor focused, and backpacker focused I thought. Mary and I had originally planned on renting a car and driving around the south island exploring it for ourselves. Since plans had changed I spent my first day in Christchurch checking hostel message boards and posting my own notes looking for people that wanted to roadtrip the south island with me. I also began looking into other options for travel which focused on the various groups hop on hop off backpacker buses that circled New Zealand. I decided to book a two week tour with the Stray bus because they focused on getting off the tourist beaten track giving travelers a more alternative, NZ cultural focused experience. Most of the travelers were a bit older then the 18 year olds high school grads that are usually drawn to the ´green f--- bus´(as it is lovingly referred to) backpacker bus. All the bus does is bring us from place to place and the accommodations we book and activities we do in each town is our choice. Luckily I ended up with a really great group of people who I stayed with almost my entire journey of the south island. I really loved my experiences in New Zealand and it remains one of my favorite countries of this trip.

After two days in Christchurch I boarded the orange Stray bus and we were off to Kaikoura where I took a beautiful hike all along the sea cliffs checking out the seals (got a little too close to one) and just enjoyed my first of many beautiful NZ days. The next day we drove up to Picton and took a boat trip around the Marlborough Sounds. We got an AMAZING dolphin show while on the boat, all the dolphins jumping, playing and swimming with the boat. Then it was too a local Scottish bar to catch some March Madness games. My other main focus during the trip was to catch as many college NCAA tournament games I could- specifically Villanova games. With a 21 hour time difference it was pretty challenging and required some bribes with bartenders, 9am games, and complaints from locals that wanted to watch something else on TV. If you have met me you would expect nothing less. Let me just say March Madness doesn´t have the same following in NZ as it does in the States. In Picton we had some interesting 70 to 80 yr old guy roommates in our dorm who announced, in advanced, that they all snore very badly and even offered us the extra earplugs they carry around for people staying in the same dorm as they are. Note- great earplugs are an essential backpacking item (thanks Snugs). That night to help us get some sleep we went to a local Irish bar the carried the best Guinness in NZ. I have do doubt that it was, even TJ, our resident Irish bloke, gave it the thumbs up.
The next day we were to change buses and met the core travel group that I hung with over the next week. My bus was filled with mostly English backpackers, a few Canadians, Team Sweden, and TJ. I was the token American on the bus and was reminded of it often. Our driver was B.P. which stands for British Petroleum because of a streaking incident through the BP gas station during his Stray driver initiation. He filled our long drives with hilarious stories as well as loads of New Zealand facts and history. He also used the phrase ´sweet as´all the time, as do all NZers. Basically ´sweet as´is used to say almost anything like- sure, OK, it was great, amazing time, let´s go. You can really just say it at the end of any sentence if you want.
Abel Tasmin was one of the most beautiful stops on my NZ journey. It is a gorgeous national park (one of many) set along the beach and lakes. We camped for two nights here, enjoying the nightly bonfires, huge Kiwi BBQ, fresh mussels from the sea, and the silence of being in the middle of paradise. During the day a few of us decided to do a beautiful 12 km hike through the Park to Anchorage Beach. Once on the beach we had a catamaran (Straycat) waiting for us to take us back to our campsite. On our journey back I saw my one and only penguin, more seals, and the impressive cliffs over the magical blue water. Sweet As.