I am still using both this blog and our new Apple blog for pictures. The pictures from our trip to Argentina can be found through this link:
http://web.mac.com/tedcorbett/iWeb/Ted%20Corbett%20and%20Erin%20McMonigal%20photos/Argentina.html
Ted
Photos
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Argentina
Time to fire up the old blog again. Life in Seattle must not provide much to blog on, or maybe this really is just a travel blog. Before the memories fade too much, I want to write down some of the fun we´ve had the last two weeks. We left Seattle on Saturday, February 9th and after 16 hours on airplanes via Chicago we arrived in Buenos Aires. We spent one night in Buenos Aires before jetting south to Patagonia.
El Calafate
El Calafate is a small tourist town in Patagonia in Southern Argentina. It is almost literally at the end of the earth. The town is on the edge of Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina and third largest in all of South America. It is this amazing aquamarine color that is created from melted glaciers on one end. Most of our time in El Calafate was centered on the lake and glaciers.
Boat Tour
On our first day in El Calafate, we went on a boat tour of the lake. After an early pick-up at our hotel, we were driven an hour or so to a launching point of a boat tour. We were a little skeptical when we arrived along with 30 other giant touring busses and all stood in line in a strong cool breeze waiting to board giant catamaran, ferry-like, boats. Erin and I brought the average age down from 66 to 65.4 and we started questioning our decision to take the boat ride. Boy were we rewarded. About 30 minutes into the boat ride, we started seeing small icebergs floating by. Soon we were completely surrounded by icebergs. Massive chunks that were the most amazing deep blue colors. The trip took us to see three different glaciers, each wider and higher than the last. The boat stayed near the edges for us to all pose for pictures and watch big chunks break off creating thunderous splashes. Really, really cool. Pictures to be added when we get home.
Horse back riding
The second day we went horseback riding near our hotel. There was a small outfit about a block from our hotel. We made reservations through the hotel and told them we could walk down there when it was time. They insisted that we would be picked up when it was time and we should relax. We waited in the lobby for an hour before a taxi arrived and drove us a block. All a bit silly, but since our spanish is so bad, we had a hard time telling them anything different.
Once at the stable we signed our releases, and with the help of our classically outfitted gaucho´s mounted-up for our three hour ride. It started out as a typical horseback ride with a horse who knows the trail better than you and refuses to do anything but follow the horse ahead of him. Very boring. Suddenly as we neared the top of a ridge, one of the horses started trotting...suddenly we´re all trotting up the hill. Bouncing around like crazy. The smile on Erin´s face getting bigger and bigger the faster we went...while my general feeling of dread set-in. Before I knew it my horse was running. Completely freaked me out as I was bouncing like crazy and suddenly as the speed increased, the bouncing slowed down. It was totally surreal and I made the horse stop. Erin literally left me in the dust. Apparently we weren´t supposed to run though and one gaucho got in trouble by the other. The rest of the ride was more of a stroll with an occassional trot. Now that I´m a few days removed from the experience, I think I look forward to doing it again.
Big Ice
The third day was the best part of the trip to El Calafate. There were a number of different tours we could take but the best looking one was called ¨Big Ice¨. It included a trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier, a boat ride out to a trailhead a two hour hike up to the glacier, 4 hours on the ice and 2 hour hike back to the boat. There were also a million warnings including ¨very strenuous¨and ¨must be between 18 and 45¨and ¨very strenuous¨. Sounded perfect, but scared us both a bit. We signed up and found out where to go rent all of the gear we needed. We rented waterproof pants, winter gloves, winter coats and a backpack. We were ready.
I´m not sure words can do justice to just how amazing an experience this was. There were 21 of us on the trek from all over the world. We weren´t the oldest, but were close. The oldest were also the fittest. We felt a little better when one of the guys was from Mexico City and was wearing jeans and a wool trenchcoat and an extra 30 lbs...plus he forgot to bring lunch. When no one seemed too concerned about him on the trek, we figured we were fine.
As soon as we were off of the boat, we started hiking. We hiked for about an hour...straight up on the side of the glacier. The views were amazing and no one could wait to get on the ice. We stopped at one point for everyone to be fitted with cramp-ons. Our size was assessed and we were handed a pair of heavy steel cramp-ons to add to our packs. We wouldn´t need them for another hour. I think they just wanted to give us a better workout. The hike continued...straight up again for another 30 minutes. Fortunately since there were 20 others no one could whine much. Just follow the person ahead and hope the guy behind didn´t mind the pace. The guides set the pace and it was brisk. Every once and awhile we would stop for a two minute water break...but not often. 30 minutes after the cramp-on stop we stopped to be fitted for harnesses. They told us we couldn´t go any further without having a harness. We were not tied together with rope but were told that it was in case we fell in a crevasse, they could then tie a rope to it...¨it´s never happened....but better to be safe¨. We agreed and started to get scared again. 15 minutes more hiking onto the glacier and when we got to the edge we all put on our cramp-ons. We were given a two minute rundown on how to walk with them...Keep your feet apart or you will fall (I fell once).
And we were off, 21 people and 4 guides traipsing across a glacier. There was no trail anymore, just the guides looking for good paths and interesting things to see. We walked and walked and walked. It was all amazing...the views, the ice, the weather, the rivers, drainage holes, everything. We walked for a couple of hours and then stopped in the middle of the glacier to eat lunch. While we were all exhausted, sitting on ice for lunch was a relief for about 10 minutes...until walking sounded better than having a frozen ass. And we were off some more.
No one had any major falls or other incidents. We walked down the mountain and were all proud of our accomplishment. On the boat ride back across the lake they served scotch on ice...advertised as the one time the ice was older than the scotch...300 year old ice in 10 year old scotch. Nice end.
Back on the bus and we all passed out for the ride back to town. Truly an awesome experience.
More soon on food, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls.
Ted (and Erin)
El Calafate
El Calafate is a small tourist town in Patagonia in Southern Argentina. It is almost literally at the end of the earth. The town is on the edge of Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina and third largest in all of South America. It is this amazing aquamarine color that is created from melted glaciers on one end. Most of our time in El Calafate was centered on the lake and glaciers.
Boat Tour
On our first day in El Calafate, we went on a boat tour of the lake. After an early pick-up at our hotel, we were driven an hour or so to a launching point of a boat tour. We were a little skeptical when we arrived along with 30 other giant touring busses and all stood in line in a strong cool breeze waiting to board giant catamaran, ferry-like, boats. Erin and I brought the average age down from 66 to 65.4 and we started questioning our decision to take the boat ride. Boy were we rewarded. About 30 minutes into the boat ride, we started seeing small icebergs floating by. Soon we were completely surrounded by icebergs. Massive chunks that were the most amazing deep blue colors. The trip took us to see three different glaciers, each wider and higher than the last. The boat stayed near the edges for us to all pose for pictures and watch big chunks break off creating thunderous splashes. Really, really cool. Pictures to be added when we get home.
Horse back riding
The second day we went horseback riding near our hotel. There was a small outfit about a block from our hotel. We made reservations through the hotel and told them we could walk down there when it was time. They insisted that we would be picked up when it was time and we should relax. We waited in the lobby for an hour before a taxi arrived and drove us a block. All a bit silly, but since our spanish is so bad, we had a hard time telling them anything different.
Once at the stable we signed our releases, and with the help of our classically outfitted gaucho´s mounted-up for our three hour ride. It started out as a typical horseback ride with a horse who knows the trail better than you and refuses to do anything but follow the horse ahead of him. Very boring. Suddenly as we neared the top of a ridge, one of the horses started trotting...suddenly we´re all trotting up the hill. Bouncing around like crazy. The smile on Erin´s face getting bigger and bigger the faster we went...while my general feeling of dread set-in. Before I knew it my horse was running. Completely freaked me out as I was bouncing like crazy and suddenly as the speed increased, the bouncing slowed down. It was totally surreal and I made the horse stop. Erin literally left me in the dust. Apparently we weren´t supposed to run though and one gaucho got in trouble by the other. The rest of the ride was more of a stroll with an occassional trot. Now that I´m a few days removed from the experience, I think I look forward to doing it again.
Big Ice
The third day was the best part of the trip to El Calafate. There were a number of different tours we could take but the best looking one was called ¨Big Ice¨. It included a trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier, a boat ride out to a trailhead a two hour hike up to the glacier, 4 hours on the ice and 2 hour hike back to the boat. There were also a million warnings including ¨very strenuous¨and ¨must be between 18 and 45¨and ¨very strenuous¨. Sounded perfect, but scared us both a bit. We signed up and found out where to go rent all of the gear we needed. We rented waterproof pants, winter gloves, winter coats and a backpack. We were ready.
I´m not sure words can do justice to just how amazing an experience this was. There were 21 of us on the trek from all over the world. We weren´t the oldest, but were close. The oldest were also the fittest. We felt a little better when one of the guys was from Mexico City and was wearing jeans and a wool trenchcoat and an extra 30 lbs...plus he forgot to bring lunch. When no one seemed too concerned about him on the trek, we figured we were fine.
As soon as we were off of the boat, we started hiking. We hiked for about an hour...straight up on the side of the glacier. The views were amazing and no one could wait to get on the ice. We stopped at one point for everyone to be fitted with cramp-ons. Our size was assessed and we were handed a pair of heavy steel cramp-ons to add to our packs. We wouldn´t need them for another hour. I think they just wanted to give us a better workout. The hike continued...straight up again for another 30 minutes. Fortunately since there were 20 others no one could whine much. Just follow the person ahead and hope the guy behind didn´t mind the pace. The guides set the pace and it was brisk. Every once and awhile we would stop for a two minute water break...but not often. 30 minutes after the cramp-on stop we stopped to be fitted for harnesses. They told us we couldn´t go any further without having a harness. We were not tied together with rope but were told that it was in case we fell in a crevasse, they could then tie a rope to it...¨it´s never happened....but better to be safe¨. We agreed and started to get scared again. 15 minutes more hiking onto the glacier and when we got to the edge we all put on our cramp-ons. We were given a two minute rundown on how to walk with them...Keep your feet apart or you will fall (I fell once).
And we were off, 21 people and 4 guides traipsing across a glacier. There was no trail anymore, just the guides looking for good paths and interesting things to see. We walked and walked and walked. It was all amazing...the views, the ice, the weather, the rivers, drainage holes, everything. We walked for a couple of hours and then stopped in the middle of the glacier to eat lunch. While we were all exhausted, sitting on ice for lunch was a relief for about 10 minutes...until walking sounded better than having a frozen ass. And we were off some more.
No one had any major falls or other incidents. We walked down the mountain and were all proud of our accomplishment. On the boat ride back across the lake they served scotch on ice...advertised as the one time the ice was older than the scotch...300 year old ice in 10 year old scotch. Nice end.
Back on the bus and we all passed out for the ride back to town. Truly an awesome experience.
More soon on food, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls.
Ted (and Erin)
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