Patagonian Adventure

It's hard to believe that it has been almost a year since my trip to Argentina. It's also hard to believe that I've been working at the job that sent me there for over two years. After thinking about it, I really should appreciate the opportunities that I've been given over those last two years, because it is a blessing that I've been able to do some of these things at the beginning of my career. Yes, there have been a lot of challenges and frustration - but any job can get stressful at some points. There's a lot to learn from dealing with these interpersonal relationships on a quasi-professional level. But I suppose that there are coworker-related challenges no matter where you work, unless you have no human interaction at all. And that's not exactly ideal either.

Some of the best memories I've made over the past two years have been while on work trips; I've made some really great friends that I wish lived much closer to me and that I could see more often. I've gotten to see Amsterdam, Paris, Oslo, and Buenos Aires. And there's no way I could have afforded to visit all of those places in such a short time span if I hadn't had the opportunity to visit through work.


View Argentinian/Chilean Vacation in a larger map

One of the most memorable trips was to Argentina in August 2010. I spent about a week in Buenos Aires attending the Standing Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) meeting, and I used up a week of vacation time to travel around Patagonia once Michael arrived. From Buenos Aires, we drove to Bahia Blanca, and then west across the entire country. Argentina is vast, and much of it is remote. Outside of Buenos Aires, the roads listed as highways on the map are one lane in each direction, which is always fun when drivers are passing huge trucks on the wrong side of the road. It's definitely an adventure to drive in Argentina.

Los Alerces Parque Nacional

My parents had booked their timeshare for us to use in Esquel, and our first stop was Los Alerces National Park. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous -- huge mountains as a backdrop against a huge lake. Pictures honestly don't do it justice. It's so remote that there are only dirt roads in most of the park. There are also a few people who live inside the park and farm sheep and cows.

Our next stop was San Carlos de Bariloche, or just Bariloche. It's basically like the Aspen of Argentina -- some very high end shops, and definitely not where you want to be if you are planning on taking advantage of generally how cheap it is to eat out in Argentina compared to the U.S. Bariloche is a town/city on the edge of another beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. We ended up finding a very authentic German restaurant for dinner, which was delicious.

Bariloche

From Bariloche, we began our adventure to cross into Chile. I won't go into too much detail about our frustration, but we had a very hard time crossing the border. The only person working at the border who spoke English was very helpful/friendly - but oddly enough, his English was very good because he plays online video games with Americans - that's his only practice at the language. I thought it was a bit odd that he was using curse words as every third word until I realized that he probably thinks that all Americans talk that way. It's just a product of the people he has learned English from. So, after finally making it across the border, it was pretty amazing to see the change in the landscape. Apart from an ominous-looking volcano at Puyehue National Park, the land in Chile is very fertile with lots of farms and rolling hills.

After a quick stop in Osorno, we headed to the coast -- upon reaching the dock at the little town, I asked a random old man for any good restaurants in the town. It was very exciting when he suggested the little seafood place right next to where we were overlooking the bay, which was run by his son and his son's wife. And the food was absolutely amazing. Although there was a bit of a communication issue when the lady kept saying what we were eating was called "loco". The only thing "loco" means to me in Spanish is "crazy"... not a type of animal. The word wasn't in the Spanish dictionary, either, so I just ate it - and it was delicious. Very fresh. And after returning home, I found out that loco is a type of Chilean abalone.

Once we were done with dinner, we realized that we wouldn't be able to make it back to the border with Argentina before it closed. In this area of Patagonia, there are a ton of little cabanas along the road, so we stopped into a few to ask about vacancies. We finally found one that was available for the night, and we stayed in a very cute cabana with two bedrooms for $25/night.

We headed back to Argentina the next morning. Deciding to see as much of Argentina as possible, we took a different route back to Buenos Aires, through Trelew and Puerto Madryn. The part of Argentina we drove through was breathtaking - basically like driving through a version of the Grand Canyon due to its vastness, just less deep.

I've never driven so much in a short period of time as this trip. For some reason I have the ability to not fall asleep while driving, even taking the "graveyard" shift... so I was always driving from around 2-5AM. Our rental car was very interesting... and not in a good way. It had no airbags, and it made this incredibly annoying high-pitched whining sound all the time. I'm fairly certain that I can no longer hear noises at that pitch, but I guess I had to have some kind of memorable "battle wound" from such an adventurous trip. After driving for about 24 hours straight (switching off with Michael), our trip ended with an exhausted half day in Buenos Aires before my flight back home.

Yum, pera.

There is a pear soda you can buy in Argentina that is absolutely refreshing and delicious. I really wish they sold it in the U.S. -- it's called Aquarius Pera. Argentinians definitely love to eat meat -- so I'm not so sure it would be an easy fit for vegetarians. The highlights of most menus were red meats -- beef and lamb, especially. The food is delicious, though. Argentinian wine is very good, and it's very cheap when you buy it locally.





As you drive along the roads, there are a bunch of little shrines along the side with little statues like this one. Our Argentinian friend at the border explained that some of these are just for prayer, but many of them are set up in remembrance of someone who has died at that location from a car accident.

I think the thing I love most about Patagonia is that it seems somewhat untouched. There are very few tourists (especially during the winter, when we were there). It just has this feeling like it is unexplored. Even though we were foreigners and rode into some poverty-stricken areas of towns at 2AM, we never had any dangerous experiences. Everyone I asked for help went out of their way to do so -- like the police officers who let us follow them to where we were staying in Esquel, or the shopkeeper in Cholila who patiently waited for me to ask him the same question over and over in Spanish and then repeat what he said back to him to make sure I understood.

If you're looking for a location where you can learn about a completely different culture, meet incredibly friendly and patient people who won't get frustrated with your limited Spanish abilities, and spent an ample amount of time in a country where you can really get your money's worth, Argentina is the place to go. Some of the meals I had would have been 2-3x as expensive back home. Buenos Aires has the feel of a European city without the price. The Argentinian countryside is amazing and incredibly remote. I've never seen as many stars in the sky at once as when I was there. I saw sunsets with colors that do not have a name.

A selection of more from our thousands of pictures from this trip, and some from Buenos Aires, are available here.