By land, with a little bit of sea and lots of Tortugas

With an 8 hr layover in San Salvador and nothing else to do (at least we found a Star Alliance Club), I guess I should get around to summarizing our two weeks in the Galapagos.....This will be my attempt to try being "productive" in preparation for our return to the real world in only 10 days (well really more like 30 once we visit family).

We arrived on the island of Santa Cruz around lunch time and made it to our hotel.  Right off the bat we found a tiny baby sea lion walking along the sidewalks and marine iguanas EVERYWHERE!!  We spent a lazy afternoon reading (and watching the sea lion that was sitting in the chair next to us).  I quickly decided I could get used to life here!


















The next morning we headed out on 2 dives, just outside of the bay.  The first dive had pretty bad viz, but we did get to swim with a couple of sea lions and see an octopus, so it turned out pretty good.  I spent our surface interval trying not to puke as the waves made our little boat rock and roll....I know, I know, don't EVER forget to take the dramamine with you!  The second dive was cold, we figure the water dropped at least 5 degs.  Viz was even worse here so it was hard to see much, but we did see a couple huge schools of small fish.  After finishing the dive we headed back to the hotel for the first "activity" of our land package.  We ended up going to a beach about a 30 minute drive from town.  The beach was pretty, unfortunately the horse flies thought we were yummy, so it wasn't very relaxing.  After about 45 minutes we headed back to the hotel.  Had I known ahead of time I would have skipped this "activity" and gone to a better dive location....oh well, live and learn.



After breakfast the next morning we headed to the Darwin Station, which was only a short walk from the hotel.  Here we got our first glimpse of giant tortoises.  We also saw land iguanas that were really big.  It was fun to see the animals but it was set up very much like a zoo.  That afternoon we headed out to some lava caves and took a short walk through them.  It would have been nice to be able to explore them some more.  Our next stop was a farm with more giant tortoises.  I enjoyed this place because you just walked along looking for tortoises.  We managed to find about 10, most of the females were down at the beach laying eggs (it takes them 3 months to walk there and then 3 more months to get back).  This farm had a shell that we could crawl in and experience first hand why tortoises are so slow...it is because there shell is freakin heavy and awkward.  By this time it was getting really hot, so I was ready to head back to the hotel for lunch and some AC.

Pirate "caves"

After lunch we boarded a small boat and took the 2 hr journey to Floreana.  I was smart and took sea sickness pills this time.  Floreana is a much smaller island and we stayed in little cabins right on the lava rock beach.  That evening we hopped in the cold water for some snorkeling.  The visibility was awful but we were able to make out a a sea lion and 2 turtles during our 45 min swim.



We spent the next morning visiting "pirate caves".  They weren't actually caves at all.  The rock had formed an area of big walls which could easily be divided into rooms, which is why the pirates lived there I guess.  We also got to see some more giant tortoises.  Adam and I had a competition for who could spot the most.  He took a commanding 6-1 lead, and then I put on my turtle finding eyes and caught back up.  We ended up 9-9, not bad for 30 minutes of turtle hunting!  We were even able to find a baby tortoise (less then 5 years old).  There are only 2 in the entire area, so it was a pretty good find.

Blue Footed Boobies

It was now time to head on to Isabella Island.  After another 2 hr boat ride we arrived at a tropical paradise.  This island was beautiful, a huge bay full of sea turtles, penguins, sea lions and blue footed boobies was just sparkling in the sunshine.  We spent the afternoon taking a boat ride around the bay and then snorkeling.  While snorkeling we saw several penguins swimming with us (of course the Go-Pro battery was dead), which was a first for us.  The next morning we took a quick land drive on the island stopping off to see a group of Flamingos (would have been cooler had we not just been in Africa, first world problem I know) and another tortoise breeding center.  By this point we had about 300 pictures of these awesome creatures.  Our last stop was at Love Beach and then it was back into a boat headed back to Santa Cruz Island.

Bad day to be a little tortoise

After arriving back in Santa Cruz we had one day left before our cruise started.  We elected to go diving (of course), and this time we went a little bit farther away to another island called Santa Fe.  The diving here was SOOOO much better.  We could see 20-30 meters and there were millions of fish swimming everywhere.  It was hard to know where to look.  At the end of the first dive we saw 2 eagle rays, the first time we had ever seen them and at the end of the 2nd tank we saw a Galapagos Shark.  It turned out to be an excellent way to end our land based tour.  The next morning it was off to board our boat, Galaxy, for the next 4 days.  I will put that in another post because this one is already long.

Check out all of our pictures here

Peru, the visit that almost wasn't

Monastery built on an Inca Palace

How did they move these things!

So way back in January, when we were still in Australia, Julie and I decided that the obvious place to go after seeing the sights in Patagonia was Machu Picchu in Peru - and with that decision made we booked a flight from Buenos Aires to Cusco (we learned early on that booking a flight out of a country before arriving in said country is a good idea, read more about that in one of our previous posts by clicking here) .  Sometime after that Julie learned that late April is the right time to dive with whale sharks in Belize and so we booked a dive trip that would end up being the last stop on our great adventure.  With the end in sight all we had left to do was fill in the blanks and a trip to the Galápagos Islands sounded like a great way to fill in the gap.  With so many trips to choose from, and so many islands to see, we couldn't settle for any one option and instead booked a land based trip as well as a cruise.  We were now feeling really good about ourselves, and as Julie started to book all the appropriate plane tickets we soon realized that we only had 5 days to spend in Peru - shocking since we had bought those plane tickets so long before!

A more than perfect fit, no wonder they are still standing

Our five days were definitely action packed, starting with a 45 minute ride through the ghettos on our way to the hotel in Lima where we had to stay overnight before flying to Cusco the next morning.  We were glad to arrive safe and sound and very glad that the car didn't break down along the way! (We booked a night at the Double Tree using points in an effort to save money but with the $40 taxi ride each way we probably could have stayed much closer to the airport for a similar amount.) the next morning we arrived in Cusco and found our way to the hotel where we just wanted to relax for the afternoon - it was over 48 hours of travel including the overnight in Lima since leaving Peninsula Valdes in Argentina.

We started exploring in earnest the next day with the Cusco city tour in the afternoon.  We visited a Catholic Church that took over 90 years to build, an ancient Inca temple of sorts, learned about the history of the Incan empire, and visited three Inca archeological sights near town including Saqsawoman where we saw what some people consider the best Incan archetecture in all of Peru.  It was an afternoon tour that finished just in time for us to enjoy an outstanding dinner in the Plaza De Armas - the main square in the city. 

Sacred Valley of the Incas

The following day was filled with a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  We were lucky enough to have one of the premier tour guides in all of Peru, Raul Castelo, who has been featured in all of the major travel guides.  This proved to be a blessing and a curse of sorts because although we learned so much more about the history of the incas than we probably would have otherwise, we also didn't have much free time left to explore the sites after his lectures.  We visited two prominent inca sites, a market, and got to see a demonstration about how a group of indigenous people still make woven goods using the techniques of their ancestors - including using plants and bugs to dye their hand spun alpaca yarn.

Dying the Alpaca wool

We left early the next morning for Machu Picchu, starting out with a 1 hr 30 min bus ride followed by a very scenic 1 hr 40 min train ride (there was an issue with track repairs that prevented a train ride the entire way). We arrived in Aguas Calientes just before 10:30 a.m. and had a guided tour scheduled for 11:30.  We caught the bus up from town and had an ice cream outside th entry gates while we waited for our tour to start - it was much hotter here than it was at 10,000 feet in Cusco.  The tour was very informative and we spent a little more time exploring after it was over, but not too much time since it was hot and we planned on coming back early the next morning to catch the sunrise.  

After eating a late lunch in town - they wanted $40 per person for the buffet at the restaraunt near the park entrance, which was way more than we were willing to pay - we wondered to our hotel, got into our room and stayed there all afternoon.  I only ventured out briefly to get our tickets for the bus and entry to the park the next morning.  We awoke early to get in line for the bus, the first of which left town at 5:30, and the spots we claimed at 5:00 were the last two seats on the first bus - good thing we got there when we did!  As we climbed the hill in the bus we saw a spectacular mist in the valley below the ancient city.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to the top and they opened the gates the mist had enshrouded the entire area which meant no sunrise for us.  That worked out okay though, we walked one of the trails to an old bridge build on a cliff by the incas and had the place to ourselves.  When we got back to the city we sat perched up above the ruins and watched the mist recede and reappear several times, creating some great photo ops.  After we got bored with that, we walked along the Inca Trail out to the Sun Gate.  We got there just in time to see the mist clear and once again got some outstanding pictures.  We visited the rest of the places we didn't get around to the first day and headed back to town to wait on the train back to Cusco.  And because Machu Picchu was so stunning here are some more pictures....

Three windows temple

Entrance gate to the city

As the clouds roll

I think we are ready for some new clothes

Siesta at the Sun Gate

It was a fast visit, but we saw a lot and were glad we managed to fit it in.  See all our pics for Cusco here and Machu Picchu here

Our National Geographic Moment

After our fishing debacle we headed to Buenos Aires.  We did a day tour of the city, saw all the sites, and after a couple days it was time to say goodbye to Pam and Bry.  Upon arriving in Buenos Aires Adam and I quickly decided that we didn't want to spend our last week there. We did some quick research and found a place to stay in Puerto Piramides, which is on the Peninsula Valdez - a short 20 hr bus ride from Buenos Aires!

We learned of this place from a couple we met on our Antarctica cruise.  This is where Orcas come every Feb-April to hunt baby seals.  Professional film crews pay upwards of $250/day in hopes of videoing an attack.  Now I know it sounds really mean, but baby Orcas need to eat too...
What is remarkable is that the whales often beach themselves in the pursuit of the seals.  So with our destination decided we booked a hotel, bought our bus tickets, and made arrangement to take a tour out to Punta Norte where this event occurs.  We also upgraded to 1st class bus tickets which meant our seats reclined into a flat bed, so the bus ride was surprisingly pleasant.

Since we arrived too late to catch a tour on the first day we kayaked with some sea lions just outside of town.  I got some great go pro footage of them swimming just under our kayak.  We also walked out to the viewpoint to stretch our legs.

The next day we loaded up in the car for our tour and hopefully orca watching.  On our way we stopped by a colony of Magellan Penguins.  After Antarctica I was pretty penguined out, but these were slightly different and funny to watch.  We made it to Punta Norte a couple hours before high tide (the best time to see Orcas is 3 hrs either side of high tide).  We spent the next 4 hrs watching baby seals play in the waves and cry for their moms.  We began to wonder if the whales would show up (word on the beach was that they hadn't attacked in 30+ days).  All of a sudden we see 5 fins streaking through the water - the Orcas did show up!  We watched them swim parallel to shore, but they never made a move for any of the seals.  Seeing them swimming so close was still amazing.  After another hour not much was happening so we headed back to town.

We decided to try and hitch a ride with someone else in our hotel for the next day (so we didn't have to pay for a private car again).  Luckily we met Christian and Doris, a German couple, who were willing to give us a ride.  The next afternoon we headed out again, 3 hrs before high tide.  We spent the first couple hours talking with the professional photographers and volunteers who had been there for 5+ weeks every day.  I don't think I would have the patience to do that!  After 5 hrs we were beginning to think the Orcas weren't going to shown, and then Doris saw a fin!  It was a baby and momma and they swam within 5 meter of shore which got everyone excited.  For the next 30 minutes the Orcas stayed right in front of us, coming within a couple feet of the beach.  At one point the mom even kind of beached herself sideways.  Everyone held their breathe, maybe this would be the day!  Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are a baby seal) the Orcas didn't catch anything.  It was still a spectacular moment we were lucky to witness.  More pics here

Here is a link to a professional video of what is possible here

I was kind of sad to leave, it was so relaxing and slow paced there, a much needed break from our hectic travel the last month.  But alas, it was time to head to country number 16 Peru!

Sabrosa! Our wine country adventures

After finishing up our southern Patagonia adventures it was time to head north. We caught a flight to Buenos Aires, where we met up with my aunt and uncle who joined us for the next 10 days. We had a really long layover (7 hrs) and figured they wouldn't be to the airport until a couple hrs before the flight, were we surprised to see them checking their luggage right ahead of us (5 hrs before the flight). It turns out that they had more trouble traveling from Michigan to Buenos Aires then we have had in our 7 months on the road. Luckily, they had planned to get in a day early, so they didn't miss any of the fun stuff. Our flight to Mendoza was delayed, so when we finally arrived at 10 PM we were all ready to stumble into the hotel....none of us where prepared when the driver informed us that it was a 1 hr and 40 minute drive to Posada Salentein!! Luckily the long drive was worth it and we enjoyed our first bottle of wine with a meat and cheese platter at midnight. This late night adventure also resulted in the word of the trip “Sabrosa!” being coined by Bry, which means tasty but can also mean awesome, amazing or pretty much anything else we wished.

After a lazy morning the next day we headed to the winery for a tour and tastings. This winery was HUGE, they make over 16 million bottles a year. This was the first actual winery tour we have gone on, so it was great to see all of the equipment and storage casks being prepared for the harvest which was just about to begin. The tasting was a little bit different then the others we have done so far (only 3 wines), but all 3 wines were outstanding. After the tasting we headed to the restaurant for a 3 course lunch which wouldn't have been complete without more wine! At lunch we were each served approx half a cow (in steak form), some delicious empanadas and a chocolate dulce deleche volcano thing. All three were amazing (along with the 3 bottles of wine), after a couple hours we all rolled out the door, quickly meandered through the art museum and then headed back to the Posada for a relaxing evening. Dinner that night was again HUGE and by midnight we were all in a food/wine induced coma. I'm pretty sure I could have stopped eating after this and been set for the next 10 days, but of course no one in their right mind says no to amazing food and wine!

After breakfast the next morning (because their croissants and fruit were amazing) we headed over to another part of the vineyard to go horseback riding. The weather was perfect and we spent an hour riding around walnut trees, grapevines, and looking at the mountains rising around us. The saddles were definitely different from any I had used before, and we had a lot more freedom to ride then the typical USA trip (no waiver to sign either). An hour on the horses was plenty and we soon headed off to visit another vineyard. This vineyard grew organic grapes and the wine was good, but nothing compared to what we had at Salentein the previous day. We had lunch scheduled in a different restaurant, where they gave us copious amounts of food and we finished off another 5 bottles of wine! In Argentine tradition we didn't finish eating that meal until almost 5 PM. After all of the excitement (and food and wine) of the last few days I was beat, so I took a nice 3 hour nap and awoke just in time for dinner. Since it was Saturday the chef had prepared a traditional grill. I was so full I could only take a bite of each different kind of meat. The boys must have bottomless pits for stomaches because they kept taking more meat, round after round as the waiter brought out the tray. It was a great end to our stay in the Mendoza region, the next morning we headed off to Bariloche for fishing (we thought).

On a side note, the timing of our trip turned out to be perfect. The grapes were all overflowing the vines, with harvest to begin in a couple days. All of the leaves were beginning to change to brilliant reds and yellows before our eyes. Due to this I now have more grape photos then I could ever possibly need!

 

Fishing Camp! Or so we thought...

The trouble with expectations, especially in regards to accomodation, is that they are often too high and can lead to disappointment that bleeds unnecessarily into the remaining aspects of a particular trip.  The trouble with finding out that you have a totally inaccurate itinerary is that no matter how low your expectations were for a place, they go through the roof as soon as you find out there has been a change.

Imagine this scenario: you are supposed to arrive at a small fishing lodge on the banks of a beautiful river beneath gorgeous snow covered peaks and upon landing you are taken to a large hotel 3 kilometers outside of the city which is not on a river and not beneath snow covered peaks.  This is pretty much what happened to us when we got to Bariloche.  The four of us were met by a guide and a driver fully expecting a long drive but soon found out that the hotel was close and right along the route for our half day area tour (also not on the itenerary).  We checked in and dropped off our bags - the hotel was very nice, and under any other circumstances we would have been impressed by the place, but those darn expectations were getting in the way.  We piled back into the van and our guide, Paula, proceeded to show us around.  She was as confused as were were - originally she was supposed to take us 90 kilometers north of town to a small fishing lodge and now she was supposed to provide some sort of half day tour of Briloche and the surrounds.  We drove along the shore of the lake, took a chair lift up to the top of a hill, and drove around the most expensive hotel in the area.  She did a wonderful job and told us as lot about the area, but there just wasn't much to see aside from a couple of nice viewpoints.

Paula didn't know anything about our plans for the next few days (we were staying at the hotel for four nights) so we sent the travel agent an email and went into town to explore and look for some of the places she recommended we eat.  They happened to be building a giant Easter egg out of chocolate in the town square, and we got to catch a glimpse or two of the construction.  Chocolate is a big industry in Bariloche and apparently Easter is when they really show off.  We learned that soon the town would be flooded with people from all around Argentina and nearby South American countries who chose to spend their vacations coming to see the chocolate festival.  There would even be a chocolate bar that extended 5 city blocks along the main shopping street and at some point they would break the egg and cut up the chocolate bar and share free chocolate with all the locals and visitors.  Unfortunately, we would be leaving before the festival got started, but it was fun to watch the town get ready - we checked on the progress of the egg nearly every day.

We got back to the hotel and had a message that our fishing guides would pick us up at 8:30 the next morning - at least fishing was still part of the trip, even if we weren't staying at a fishing lodge.  After breakfast we met our guides Eugene and Nico before heading out of town.  We had to stop to buy fishing licenses (not part of the original itinerary, which said everything was included) before we got to the launch point for the boats on the banks of the Limay River.  They provided us with waders and fly rods and we split up - Julie and I on one boat with Eugene, and Pam and Bryant on the other.  As we got used to casting fly rods again Eugene gave us a few pointers and we floated along, me standing in the front of the boat and Julie sitting in the back.  After floating for a while and not catching anything (not even a nibble) we pulled the raft over and tried our luck wading along an island in the river.  I caught three "fish", each about 3 inches long, before we had to get back in the boat.  The only other action we got all day was Julie catching a nice fish on a spinning rig.  Bryant caught a couple of fish from the other boat and when we pulled ashore for the ride back into town we stood at a total of six fish (including the 4 minnows) between the four of us.

We left again the next day hoping for better luck, but we were floating another section of the same river so none of us were holding our breath.  We switched it up and the boys loaded up with Eugene while the girls went with Nico.  It was a slow start but eventually we stopped the boat in front of a run and Bryant and I each caught several minnows as the girls floated past.  It wasn't the big fish we had been imagining for the past year, but at least it was already more action than the previous day!  In the next run Bryant caught a nice fish and I reeled in one that Eugene hooked.  When we stopped for lunch the girls were still sitting at 0 fish.  After lunch we caught a couple more fish when we stopped to wade at another run, with mine being the biggest of the trip.  We continued to get bites in the boys boat but only landed one more before the day came to an end.  The consolation prize for our fishing outing is that we had an outstanding home cooked lunch each day and also got to drink some more great Argentina wine.  As for fishing, we got that down we'll have to come back some time and try catching instead.

Or last activity in Bariloche was a day trip to go rafting.  We weren't quite prepared for the 5 hours we spent in a van to get there and back, or the fact we were made to pay for lunch even through our itenerary said it was included, but the river was a lot of fun.  It was the narrowest river I have ever rafted and the rapids came quickly - there were nine over the course of 7 kilometers - and all were of the class 2 to class 3 variety.  We lost Bryant on the very first one (I might have helped him fall out when I was thrown into him from my side of the raft) but the rest of only went swimming voluntarily near the end of the trip.  We ended up stopping right at the border with Chile and got pictures next to a sign marking the division of the two countries.  

We returned to the hotel excited to hear about Pam's hike, only to learn that no one ever came to pick her up.  The next morning we were all more then happy to leave Bariloche and head to Buenos Aires.

Hiking...."Climber Style"

We had all morning to kill before leaving for Chalten, so we found a laundry place and used our minimalist spanish to ensure we could pick it up before our bus left.  We spent the rest of the time walking around the nice little town of Calafate and re-packing our things so we didn't have so much to carry while we were hiking.  The laundry and the bus ticket both worked out fine and by 9:15 that evening we were being picked up and driven to our hotel for the evening.  Much to our surprise we were given vouchers for dinner at a small restaraunt in town and enjoyed some meats, cheeses, empanadas, and local wine.  It was a great way to spend our only night in town.

The next morning we were met by our guide, Luis, and driven to the starting point for our 4 day hiking adventure.  Once again it was just the two of us and a guide.  We hiked for about two hours before reaching the Refugio where we would spend the night.  This one was much more rustic then the ones in Torres Del Paine (aka I would have rather slept in a tent). We dropped our heavy stuff and faced a decision - hike further up the valley on a relatively flat trail to a nice viewpoint or hike a steeper trail to an old basecamp for people climbing the peaks around Fitz Roy.  We chose the steep option and were in for a shock when we started climbing.  We gained 1,000 meters (3,000 ft) in the course of two hours, turns out this "trail"  made by climbers was straight up, no switchbacks, and lots of loose rocks.  I'm not sure the distance of the trail but based on what we did on the Colorado Trail I would say we were gaining close to 1500+ ft per mile, which is obnoxiously steep.  At the top we were rewarded with amazing views of Fitz Roy and also of the southern Patagonia ice field in the distance.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon and after we caught our breath we were glad we went with the steep option. The hike back down went faster but was much more painful on the knees and feet so we spent the evening relaxing while Luis made us dinner.

We left the next morning and back-tracked for a couple of hours before joining up with another trail heading South into the National Park.  We bouldered to an overlook of a glacier with Fitz Roy in the background (it looked much more impressive from this angle) and then continued on to another spot we could drop off heavy things before climbing yet another hill.  This hill wasn't as long or as steep as the last one but still proved to be a bear compared to the hiking we did in Chile (it was also full of people).  We were once again rewarded with outstanding vistas, and the view of Fitz Roy and its surrounding peaks from this angle might have been the best of the trip.  There were two lagoons beneath the mountains with glaciers hanging all around.  We enjoyed our lunch and watched all other tourists mill around before heading back down to grab the rest of our stuff and continue on to camp for the night.  We stayed in tents and this time Luis did not have to make us dinner because the people who ran the camp also did all of the cooking.  

We awoke the next morning to one of the prettiest sunrises we have ever seen and the day turned out beautiful once again. We made quick work of the first portion of our hike and by noon we had already dropped our bags at the next camping spot and continued on with only day packs.  We were headed to Glacier Grande and had to cross a river by "zip lining" across a couple of suspended climbing ropes.  This led us to yet another steep climb - today it was short, but we also had to go back down to get to our destination so we ended up having to climb both directions. The viewpoint of the glacier was beautiful but it was very windy and as we ate our lunch we watched the peaks of the Torre range get covered in clouds as it started to rain in the distance.  We took off so we would beat the rain and made it back to camp by 3.  Julie and I played rummy while Luis cooked.  We were the only people staying at this camp which is run by the various guiding companies and Luis told us that we were his company's last group for the season.  Because somebody brought up all the supplies from dinner earlier in the day, and it was only a couple hour walk from town, we got to enjoy a bottle of wine with our dinner.

Or last day was supposed to be spent learning to ice climb on the glacier we had seen the previous day, but we learned that it was too dangerous because of how quickly the glacier was receding. All trekking companies stopped offering that excursion two years ago.  We were a little disappointed in our travel agency - if that activity stopped being offered so long ago why did they include it on our itenerary? That made our last day of hiking very short, with just a two hour jaunt back into Chalten and it turned out for the better because it was raining heavily in the mountains when we got back to town!  We caught an earlier bus back to Calafate and I had a relaxing evening while Julie worked on planning the last few weeks of the trip (have me mentioned we have an end date chosen!).