Caio caio Patagonia

Hey! Sooo...I have arrived to Buenos Aires today. I think I left off in Puerto Natales, ohh yah, I went out that night until 4 am, bad idea. I was awoken at 640 because my bus to El Calafate was waiting outside for me. I hustled and got on the bus. This day I went and saw Perito Moreno, a glacier containing one of the largest supplies of fresh water in the world!! I went out on boat cruise and got really close to it.



Pretty neat stuff. I quickly, that very day headed to El Chalten, as seen. [P.S. Those two walls you see in town are the walls that I climbed]. El Chalten is located in the Glaciar National Park, and has a population of about 1,500 people. Yup, you heard me, 1,500 people. It was a very tiny town, and of course, expensive! The hostels were expensive, but I found this little place that was only 9 USD. WOO!!! NOOOO not wooo....I found for my fist time, drum roll.....BED BUGS, and in lieu, I lost blood. I have probably about 100 bites. All over my arms, fingers, back, chest, neck, and ears. Basically anywhere that was not covered. I feel so violated :[

Lets move on, El Chalten was, aside from the bed bugs, awesome. I hiked to a very famous mountain, Fitz Roy, a glacier, Cerro Torre, and I went, for my first time rock climbing! I want to make a little note here, that I actually tried to draw the images that I saw at Fitz Roy, and I thought of Joao the whole time...I am a scientist, not an artist, but I'll have this image drawn in my journal forever, kind of a joke... Rock climbing, it was harder than I thought. I climbed for about 3 hours, before I tried the hardest wall of the day, and failed. I cried. I was so mad/sad/disappointed in myself for not having been able to climb the last rock, but the guide insisted that it was okay. I mean I was standing there in the same spot for about 15 min, trying to find a place to put my foot, and pull myself up. My arms, just would not pull my body up, I was exhausted and freezing.Usually, people do this kind of thing in groups and take lots of breaks. Where I was alone, and took few breaks. On top of that it was a nasty day, very windy, raining, and freezing. My hands were numb, I could hardly write after I was done, my hands were kinda paralysed!! I did it though, and I do want to do it again, maybe in sunny, temperate conditions though :]

As I said, I am now in BA, and its very overwhelming, I leave a town with 1500 people and come to a city with 13,000,000. You can imagine the culture shock....In response to your comment mom, I did walk all of Florida St today, it was, again, overwhelming. SOOO many people, vendors, food, just not what I have been used to the last 3 weeks.

In addition, the people here are all dressed up stylish, and partying all night, I am just in a different mindset right now. I will stay here at least 3 nights, then head to the falls, northern Argentina, and then Bolivia..I am 3 weeks in and 5 left, wow how time flys. I want to thank everyone for their comments, it is nice to hear from you!

MISS YOU!!!

Cheers, Andy