Big Break Trip 2010

These are my notes I started after Mendoza that cover traveling through Argentina, down through Chile, and then up and over to Uruguay. A lot of them probably won't make any sense, but these are all the little things I remembered along the way that seemed noteworthy at the time...Enjoy!

El Bolson, Argentina = awesome hippy town nestled between mountains, artisan fair, dreadlocks, jauja ice cream, artsenal beer, hike, rio azul, head of the Indian, jumping pictures, almost missing bus, apunto (A.) - great restaurant, entire fish for dinner, great hostel coffee

Brewery - Delightful!


Center of town right by the Artisan Fair - best market ever!


Rio Azul


Cabeza del Indio


Argentine bluebonnets!


Bariloche, Argentina = awesome!!!!!, great city by the lake with backdrop of mountains, marcopoloinn, tronador day trip, black glacier, waterfalls, 5 hour bus rides on twistiest roads ever, smoky bar, new Zealand couple, rafting!!!!!!, super cute guides, rat tails, ridiculous video on Chaya's camera, alphabet game, Aussie Davids, night out, Malabar, Wilkenny, Dusk, Argentine boys, dancing, sketchy car ride, chocolate, el vegetenario, seeing old friends, meeting new friends, cheap laundry, nicest staff, chillin at a park, drum circle, Mexican food, fugazetta pizza, bread, bread, bread, prepping for ferry, what else do we need to get? flipflops, free dinners, hot water, repacking, shasha and moshy, getting 10 random people to go out with us, ass-plosion, oh snap!, seeing that makes me really want to get braces

First view of Bariloche


Isla Corazon (day trip to Tronador)


Pasture where we all had lunch..on our way to THE Black Glacier


Black Glacier


Drum Circle in the center of Bariloche


Sooooo excited for rafting!!!


Rafting - so fun!


Rafting - still going strong!!!


Feeling awesome!


Even more so!!!


Little artisan market in Bariloche - the views were delightful :)


Puerto Montt, Chile = best bus ride ever...so scenic, also sweltering hot, sang song puerto montttttt, tea WITH water, bug splattered windshield, miles of green landscape, cows, bombarded by people while getting off bus, sketchy at night, family owned hospedeja that was at first cute but turned scary when Chaya showered...

Sights around town


Glacier cruise, Chile = Navimag, corridor bunks, hot shower, Jefe from Valpo, Eric the Frenchman, Paul the Aussie, Daniela the Swiss corridor-mate, David the Swissman, vino, beautiful sunsets, stars, wind blown hair, piscola, massages in the pub, learning to play poker, Chaya in bed for 18 hours, boat rocking, GLACIER!!!!!, glamour magazine photo shoot, jumping photos, vino, vodka and coke, trying to open the vodka bottle, bingo, Christian the entertainer, dance party!!!, salsa dancing and feeling like my legs might come out of their sockets, raining outside, love 'em and leave 'em - not my style, parallel parking the cargo ferry, hanging out outside waiting to disembark and playing the alphabet game yet again, waiting for Chaya's suitcase before our wonderful hostel in Puerto Natales

Navimag - our home for 4 days


Up on the deck


Sailing through the Chilean fjords


Beautiful sunset on the first night


Rough day at sea


Stunning scenery


More beautiful views


And more!


Pio XI!


Up close and personal with Pio XI...never thought I'd get so excited about a glacier!


Off the boat...loved it!


Puerto Natales, Chile = best port town by far!, cozy hostel with TV and down comforters...wonderful!, Little Charlie's restaurant with cruise-mates, day trip to Torres del Paine, sooooooooooooo windy and being pelted with rain, Cueva Milodon, giant milodon and posing for pictures, La Mesita Grande, Bagueles, meeting up with Valpo friends and laughing uncontrollably, searching through the brush, realizing our flight is actually tomorrow, all day Skype session with travel agency only to realize our flights were exactly the same, NEW NEPHEW!!!!!!!!, yay for the George family and my sister! xoxoxox!

Rainbows on the way to Torres del Paine


Cuevo Milodon


Looking out from Cueva Milodon


Torres del Paine!!!


Rolling hills and gorgeous sky...ahhhh bliss :)


Waterfall- quite the adventure to get out there!


Lago Azul and Cuernos del Paine


One last shot...


Punta del Diablo, Uruguay = sticky, hot mess, best/worst hostel room ever, great beach, interesting nightlife, umbrella days for all, umbrella days for me, no water for showering, reggae concert, chancho, seeing James and Niki again!, sleeping in the hammock, billions of bugbites, sleeping terribly, Cabo polonio, sea lions, cooooold water, jellyfish sting, fresh squeezed oj mimosas, tractor ride up top, stinky bus ride, reclined seats in our faces, alphabet game again, burp, we could leave!, all sleeping outside, our moist and uncomfortable room, basically beyond ready to leave

Beach time!!!


The 3 amigas :)


Loved this little nook!


Friends at Cero Stress - love them!


Sunset walk home


So beautiful!


Daytrip to Cabo Polonio


Sea lions at Cabo Polonio


More!


Tractor ride back - crazy, rocky adventure!


Punta del Este, Uruguay = upgrade!!!!, Serena, noquis dinner, free champagne, huuuuuuge shower, beds on the beach, cabanas by the pool, infinity pool, rainstorms, complimentary nail polish remover, ac, 1949hostel, hot and sticky yet again, golf with truth or dare, good Mexican food, calamari, mimosas, fingers coming out of the beach, avatar, este cafe, so ready to go home, wireless on the bus, mcd's at the airport, brie sandwich at the airport, headed home!

Serena- a dream come true!


THE hand!!!


Last sunset of vacation - sunset from 1949 hostel


Such a great adventure!!! Loved, loved, loved it! Now just to get back in school mode - it's gonna be tough after all that! Besos all :)

Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, Mendoza, Maipu, and Cachueta

Valparaiso = port town, slightly sketchy, very colorful, a "photographer´s dream", WONDERFUL food (La Concepcion), good hostel, fun new friends, card games, vino, graffiti, jail, etc.

Favorite graffiti


Vina del Mar = beaches!!!, tons of people, 6 min bus ride from Valpo, bus ride where I almost got stuff swiped, freezing cold water

Beach (obviously)


Mendoza = wine country, wonderful

Maipu = where we actually stayed (suburb of Mendoza?), so quaint and wonderful, awesome B&B, tommy the dog, bicycling to wineries and olive oil farms, wonderful empanadas, relaxation, beautiful!

View out the window at B&B


Vistandes Winery (very modern)


Chaya biking on our way to a winery


Vino!


Cachueta = thermal springs, super relaxing day, massages, crazy, delicious buffet, MUD!!!!

The Thermal Springs (random people in pic!)


So far so good...more to come later (obviously ;)). In Bariloche now and already in love!!! mil besos xoxoxox Sending hugs to you all and praying for those with family or friends in Haiti. much love, much love.

Santiago, Chile

Not at all what I expected, but soooooo great! The day started with a little jaunt in the wrong direction, but Chaya and I didn't care...we got to see more of Santiago on a beautiful day! So after realizing that we were headed in the wrong direction, we headed back to Bella Vista for lunch at Patio Bella Vista at a great little French restaurant. Then we were off to the funicular for an amazing ride up San Cristobol where you could see the entire city..it was awesome! Lastly, we took the metro to plaza de armas and saw the cathedral of Santiago and the governmental palace. Santiago is a great city that is ridiculously clean and has the friendliest people I have met to date in South America. I highly recommend it to any and everyone!!! Off to rest before finding some Thai food (it's supposed to be great here) and then off to Valpo tomorrow!!!! Chau chau :)

Lunch at Patio Bella Vista


Funiculuar Ride


Top of San Cristobol


View of Santiago


Cathedral of Santiago


Plaza de Armas


Governmental Palace

Wonderful Trip Home and now back to South America!

First, I had an AMAZING time back in the states!!! It was so unbelievably good to see my family and friends...just what I needed! Much love to you all xoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxox

And now, onto life back in South America....

So, Chaya and I met up in Orlando to begin our trek back to South America where I met her parents (so great!) and got to catch up on all our stateside experiences. Then we were off to Houston where we had 5 or so hours to kill. We ended up at Pappadeux where alligator was sampled and we ran into Tim and Molly!!!! It was so great to see them. So good in fact, that we were sorta pushing it to get on our long flight to Buenos Aires. The 10-ish hour flight was pretty uneventful until close to the end when they were serving us breakfast and we got called Double Trouble. And then, when the flight attendant came around again I was greeted with, "Hey Trouble!" Dude, why me?! hahahaha....it's all good!

Anyhow, when we got off our flight there was a little bit of chaos and Chaya and I were sort of oblivious thinking, "Well, we still have 4 hours to kill." Well...little did we know that our connecting flight was actually impossible to get on - it left before we even landed...not our fault (continental took full responsibility). Soooo, a few hours later we ended up at an awesome little hotel/inn near the international BA airport that was not at all what we expected. We knew we were home when a wall of vino greeted us at the door :) But seriously, this was a great way to start our month-long trip around South America...there was a power outage, a crazy computer-crazed man, great food and wine, and completely inappropriate English rap songs on the speakers at dinner that we were dying laughing to as non-English speakers just ate away. Oh man, if this is just a little detour, who knows how the rest of the trip is gonna go!!!! Can't wait!

Gonna try and blog along the way...at least little tidbits so it's my own journal if anything. Stay tuned and can't wait to catch up with you all! xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox