Month: February 2019

Day 105: We Found Bagels in South America! And A Tour of Santiago

Day 105: Monday, January 14th

Santiago, Chile

Stayed at Air BnN with Dad, Josh, and Jason!

Dear Obiwan,

OBIWAN, GUESS WHAT. I ate a BAGELS today! For the first time in over 3 months! Dad researched and found a bagel place in Santiago! I think Santiago might be a perfect city!

However, the bagels were…okay. They were okay/pretty good Obi! Definitely not an actual PHILLY bagel but not as bad as when bakeries SAY they have bagels and it is just a piece of bread with a whole in it. Dad also bought a ton of cream cheese from the store, which were pretty good as well.

Also, Josh arrived!

Obi, I know you hate him, I know if you were here you would hiss and growl and swat at him with your nails out. So, sorry, but he will be in pictures and my blog for the next few days.

But it was so great to see Josh!

And then soon, we were off on a tour! This tour was with a different agency that my parents had found online. This tour was a city tour of Santiago.

The tour was…alright. I think we were spoiled with Fran and Sebastian from iloveChile tours yesterday. I mean, it was beautiful what we saw and fun at times. But it was long…a ton of walking. Some of the things were saw were beautiful and interesting, but some…were not. For example, we went to a stamp museum, it was very cool! But it felt like a long time to be in a musuem about stamps.

But here are some photos!: (Obi try not to get to angry looking at Josh, your nemesis)

Also, he took us to get coffee at a place called ‘Cafe con Piernas’ or ‘coffee with legs.’ There are places like this all over Santiago, you order coffee and the women who bring it to you are wearing these sexy outfits that show off their legs and bodies…and all women were very tall and gorgeous. And our tour guide told us there are two different kinds of ‘Cafe con Piernas’ the kind we went to that you can walk into on the street and has windows…and another kind that has dark windows…because the women are topless or naked.

And I don’t know if it was because I was with my Dad and brother? Or what, but it made me uncomfortable…out of all the cool cafes in Santiago, we stopped at one of these!? I don’t know, cool cultural experience but…I think it would be better if they were objectifying NO ONE or BOTH men and women. Why aren’t there men walking around showing off their sexy bodies? Huh?

Obi look- CATS!!!

Anywho…after this I had baños helado- which is how to say in Spanish- ice cream dipped in chocolate! Baños helado actually translates to ice cream bath!

In the end we ended up at the top of this famous hill in Santiago that has a Virgin Mary up top. It was beautiful!

We had dinner at another traditional Chilean restaurant.

View from our Air BnB!

And guess what Obi…I TRIED OCTOPUS. OCTOPUS! Never ever in my life would I thought I would be trying OCTUPUS one day, but I did! And…it actually tasted good! It looks TERRIFYING, but kinda tasted like chicken! And the texture was super supple.

On the left is the OCTOPUS!!!

Then one of us ordered chouchoufis for dessert which were these GODLY DELICIOUS round hollow cookie sticks fill with dulce de leche and white and dark chocolate, and had Nutella drizzled on top!

Yummm.

Alright lampchop, goodnight,

Love Tú Madre,

Carly

Day 104: Horseback Riding In The Mountains of Santiago With My Dad, A Vineyard, And Some Winning and Losing

Sunday, January 13th

Santiago, Chile

Stayed at Air BnN with Dad and Jason!

Dear Obiwan,

We went horse back riding in the mountains of Santiago today, Obi! It was a wonderful day.

Unlike the majority of my trip, which has been unplanned and mostly winging it, this next week in Santiago with my Dad was very organized. My parents had found an incredible tour agency, iloveChile tours, to take us on 3 tours this week. They also booked another tour with a different agency for tomorrow.

So today was our first of four tours!

We got picked up by Fran and Sebastian who created iloveChile tours. And wow, they are so warm, friendly, funny, and know everything about Chile! From the moment you get in their car, you feel like a family.

Here is Fran!

We drove to Maipo, which is in the mountains near Santiago and on our ride over Fran told us some history and facts about Santiago!

Once at the horse ranch we met our group we would be riding with, and Dad knew two of the people there! He met Sam and…(mom’s name) at the Sheraton 2 days ago. They are a mother and daughter traveling together and their from Mexico. They’re both so warm and adventurous!

While we were waiting for our horses to get saddled, we met this adorable puppy!!!

At the ranch our cowboy, a real cowboy Obi, only spoke Spanish. And…very fast Spanish! As we were standing there listening to his directions, I am hearing NOTHING, it is way to fast, so I turn to Dad and say, “uh, I hope he isn’t saying anything important!” (Laughing face). I am supposed to be his translator and I had no idea what was gong on!

Sam and her mom helped translate, he was telling us to let him know if our stirrups were too long or too short and then he would fix it.

Finally, we were off riding! It was a beautiful trail up a small mountain to a view point. The ride wasn’t too long and since it was steep you couldn’t ride the horses too quickly. The ride was also hilarious because Dad’s horse, La Mancha, would eat all the time and hold up the line or take Dad slightly off course.

After a little while my horsee, La Colorada started eating too! I hope these horses are fed well?

Also, my horse, La Colorada kept wanting to be first, so even at small passage ways, La Colorada was walking around other horses so she was first!

Sam and I had both wanted to gallop and we were told that at the end, after the hill, we were allowed to gallop back to the ranch. So finallllyyy long awaited, we were almost back and then we both directed our horses to gallop and BOOM. We were galloping through the mountains of Maipo! It was exhilarating Obi! I knew La Colorada had it in her!

After this we had a delicious local lunch and we were back together with our guides, Fran and Sebastian and also with these two Dutch guys who were with us on the drive to Maipo this morning.

We ate at Agora Pebre, or this famous Chile hot sauce. By this point in my trip, I love spicey food and I was excited! However, Chile DOES NOT LIKE SPICEY- at least…not like Colombia does. So this place had the most spiciest hot sauce they have in Chile…and it was hot…but not too hot, but still delicious! Dad ate this corn dish that was DELICIOUS, it has yummy corn and is filled with meat and stuff. I had shredded beef in some sauce with rice, also delicious!

Here are some sites from the cute town square we had lunch in:

But most importantly, we played a traditional Chilean game, Empoque!

Now, Fran told us that there was a PRIZE for the winner. And as um…you and anyone who knows me is aware, I can get a tad competition with seemingly pointless games.

So, the game is, you have to get the top on the stick, and Fran kept suprising us with smaller and smaller Empoque’s!

AND I SUCKED OBI. I couldn’t get them…until the last one, which Fran said is more of a joke because it’s impossible…but OMG…

OBI I GOT THE IMPOSSIBLE ONE, LOOK Dad captured my face!

Since one of the Dutch guys had gotten 2/3, they said we were tied…and then we both had one more shot…and I lost. 😭 It’s okay IT’S JUST A GAME.

After this we drove to the Concha Y Toro Vineyard for a tour! This vineyard WAS HUGE, I have only been to a few vineyards in my life, and this was the biggest!

We tried three wines, a Savingnon Blanc (LOVED), Carmenere (pretty good), and Cabernet Sauvignon (a little too dry for me…and when Dad drank this one, he almost coughed it out!). The vineyard was beautiful and we were given wine glasses to take home!

After our wonderful day with iLoveChile tours, we were back at our apartment and met up with JASON! My brother Josh’s best friend since…I think they were 6 years old? Josh arrives tomorrow and Jason arrived today! It was so great seeing Jason, I haven’t seen him in years! He just got back from learning how to BAKE IN FRANCE.

But don’t worry Obi, we had our priorities straight…Jason had researched and we went to a restaurant that was playing the Eagles playoff game! The restaurant had DELICIOUS nachos and a pretty good quesadilla. It was good food which helped us swallow the Eagles losing.

What a day Obiwan!

Goodnight my Jedi,

Love, T Madre,

Carly

Days 101, 102, 103: A Sad Announcement Regarding Cuica the Monkey and Leaving Patagonia

January 10th, 11th, and 12th

Dear Obiwan,

The next three days were just full of busses and planes. On Thursday, January 10th, me and Kelsey said goodbye :(. It has been so amazing to travel with her and have someone from home with me!

But we said our goodbyes and I took a flight from Ushuaia to El, Calafate Argentina. Before leaving I made sure to get my passport stamped with this:

So cool Obi! Don’t ya think so?

After this I took a bus from El, Calafate to Puerto Natales, Chile.

And, so I have a really sad announcement regarding my travel companion monkey Cuica. You remember him Obi? Well, I noticed after leaving Puerto Natales as few weeks ago that my monkey and my neck pillow were missing. I contacted the hostel and they said they found my neck pillow, but no monkey.

I had been holding onto hope and delaying this announcement until I arrived back at The Singing Lamb in Puerto Natales. But alas, he is gone. I am quite sad…I got him with my friends in the CLAW game back in Philly, right before I left! I had snuggled with him every night and tried to take some cute pictures of him. He was supposed to be with me the whole trip and then back in the USA.

But he’s gone. I’m so confused too…if the place found my pillow, all I can think is that someone must have taken him. So, if someone did take Cuica. I hope that means they are loving him, and taking care of him, and treating him the way he deserves.

After that awful announcement, here are some pretty pictures of the drive:

The next day, day 102, January 11th, I took a bus from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas. I returned to Sol de Invierno where I stayed a few weeks ago. The rest of my stuff was here and also it was so nice seeing Rodrigo (Khal Drogo) again!

Some doggies I saw on the way to the hostal

This hostel really makes you feel at home, just as it did my first day a few weeks ago when the Louisiana man made everyone Jambalaya. Tonight we ordered Dominos, which honestly, in the moment, was the best pizza of my life. We also played Super Nintendo! We played Mario Kart and some other amazing games. It was a perfect night after traveling so much.

And lastly, Day 103, Saturday, January 12th, I took a flight to Santiago, Chile! On the way to the airport I spotted A RAINBOW ON THE GROUND! It was actually touching the ground Obi. It was huge and beautiful and magical! Obi, please explain how rainbows can be on the ground…with no rain? It’s okay if you also don’t know how this works, but if you can look it up for me, please do!

Also, I bought a penguin stuffed animal to replace Cuica…I mean, nothing can replace him! But, now this cutie will be with me!:

After an incredibly easy experience at the airport, I was in Santiago! Look at Santiago from the plane!:

Oh side note, when buying my new penguin pal, I didn’t realize until landing in Santiago that I left my POSTER THAT I BOUGHT 3 WEEKS AGO IN PATAGONIA, in the damn souvenir shop. I had been, hiking and carrying that poster for 3 weeks and it just needed to last one more day, until TODAY, but alas, it is GONE.

But all is well Obi, now I met up with Dad! He is here in Santiago! And our Air BnB is BEAUTIFUL! And it such an incredible location. We had an amazing meal at the Sheraton next door, including the most incredible dessert, ever. It was these…pistachio? I think, crepes FILLED WITH CHOCOLATE. Holy cow, I mean wow Obi, so amazing!

Look!:

Well now I’m heading to bed Obiwan, 3 days of transit is exhausting!

Love you,

Tú Madre,

Carly

Day 100: Walking With Penguins!

Wednesday, January, 9th
Ushuaia
Stayed at Antarctica Hostel

Dear Obiwan,

Wow, today marks the 100th day of my trip! I never thought I would traveling for this long, well I never thought any of this would be happening in the first place.

But it is! And I am SO grateful!

And what a perfect way to mark 100 days of traveling with WALKING WITH PENGUINS OBI!

Today’s entry will be best with pictures!

On the road to the boat to penguin island!

This was a sign in the bathroom 😂

In summary, we took the Piratour which is the ONLY tour company that let’s you WALK ON THE ISLAND, while all other tours are only driving by in boats!

So if you want to WALK WITH PENGUINS- take the Piratour and also, get in advance! It was sold out a few days before when we were there, I can’t imagine how disappointed I would have been, but thanks to Kelsey, we booked this months ago!

We had a nice group on our boat and our tour guide David was great, he took my joke seriously…I asked if I could pet the penguins and he said, “no! And you need to be at least 3 steps away because they like to bite a lot!” Also, there are so many it is likely one might be VERY CLOSE TO YOU.

I have never been more excited for something to bite me in my entire LIFE.

Anywho, we had to take a 1.5 hour minivan to Estancia then took a Zodiac boat to Isla Martillo- the PENGUIN ISLAND.

Finally, we were there! Oh also, just a few days ago THERE WERE KING PENGUINS HERE, they are rare, but it might happen! If not there are 2 breeds of penguins here, the Magellanic- which I saw in Punta Arenas (BUT IT NEVER GETS OLD) and Jentoo penguins- WHICH I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

Look at the penguins!!!:

Some facts: there are about 8,000 Magellanic Penguins and about less than 1,000 Jentoo penguins.

They are the CUTEST:

THEY ARE THE FUNNIEST:

And there were BABIES EVERYWHERE! But…more like pre-teen penguins. So many nests! And it takes years for the penguins to shed their baby fur…they can’t go swimming and fish on their own until their swim fur comes in!

Also, it was so beautiful here! Look at the background! The mountains, clouds and sea!:

Eventually, we had to leave. It was tough to leave but, it was so amazing on the island. And just as our guide told us, there are so many sometimes they cross your path, look!:

And you could get so close, it was incredible!

After this we boated to another island where you could pay to get some hot chocolate and chocolate cake…I obviously did.

Then we went to a bird and sea museum! Our tour was led by this young and amazing marine biologist! At this location they are constantly finding incredible bones that wash up on the shore and they slowly put them together!

Unfortunately, the smell of the bones…(which I found out later on the tour was actually smell of FLESH STILL DECOMPOSING) was too strong for me and I had to leave the tour of the museum early. But it was very interesting what I saw!

Lastly, we had a van ride back to the center of town in Ushuaia. But before we got back we stopped to see a famous tree? I forget the significance, but it was a cool tree, look!:

After our amazing day we went out to dinner and I HAD THE BEST FOOD I HAVE HAD YET ON THIS TRIP. It was called plow or slow disk cooking? I don’t know but it was a pepper streak in this AMAZING SAUCE. The best steak YET OF MY LIFE!

Oh and we bumped into our roommate from El Chalten!!! THIS IS THE 3RD TIME WE SAW HER POST EL CHALTEN!

Our evening ended with heading to the Hard Rock Cafe to meet up with Maël, Chris, and Thiago! It was funny going out to a Hard Rock in Ushuaia, but it was with good company.

WOW WHAT AN AMAZING DAY OBI!.

Goodnight my lamb,

Love Tú Madre,

Carly

Day 99: Train At The End Of The World and Ice Bar

Tuesday, January, 8th
Ushuaia
Stayed at Antarctica Hostel

Dear Obiwan,

Obi, me and Kelsey rode the rain at the end of the world today! The train was an old style train and had mock-prisoners on board. The reason they had these mock-prisoners was because of the history of the train!

So in summary, this prison was for “very bad guys,”…which in reality it was both people who did heinous crimes AND people who were put there for political reasons that actually didn’t do anything wrong, but just disagreed with the leaders of the world at that time. But some of the facts I can poorly remember are: the river is named after a prisoner who tried to escape and then froze to death! One person who was a prisoner there was know as “Midget Ears”…or something, and he murdered his whole family. Another prisoner set of a bomb and killed someone political…somewhere?

And also, the railroad tracks were made by the prisoners! Imagine that, building a railroad track to the prison you are staying at. Also, the prisoners chopped wood for the WHOLE CITY and you could see the tree graveyard while on the train and you could see by the height of the tree-stumps-where the the snow stopped that year.

They had both usual and cruel and unusual punishment for the prisoners. Usual being cutting wages or food portions. But some unusual punishments included only eating water and bread for weeks and one where- you are LEFT OUTSIDE IN A DARK ROOM IN WET CLOTHES! But this was ruled as mal treatment sometime later, and was not allowed to be used anymore.

This park- Tierra del Fuego, is the only national park in Argentina that has forest, mountains, and the sea!

Once off the train, our first stop had a beautiful waterfall and souvenir shop, I bought a penguin snow globe! After this the train stopped at the beginning of the park. I chose to get back on the train and Kelsey chose to explore and hike around.

The train I took back was different, it was smaller but still so beautiful. I was told on the train back that there was a legend about the Calafate berries, if you eat one, you will return back to those lands! I ate one in Torres del Paine…so I guess I will return there one day?

After a sleepy train ride back I realized at our pretty hostel and then Kelsey returned! She said she went to the post office at the end of the world in the park! So cool!

On our way to lunch, LOOK WHO I MET:

We then headed to a bunch of museams in Ushuaia!

Oh, ha, see those penguin mannequin heads? I accidentally knocked one over and it went FLYING across the gift shop, I had to chase after it and put it back on Obi!🙈

And I WANTED EVERY SOUVENIR OBI BUT I COULDN’T because I would break it or it can’t fit in my bag but look!:

Back at the hostel we met Tim, this really awesome guy from Tennessee. He laughed and felt so bad when I discovered it was HIM who snored very loudly last night and woke me up. He apologized and told me he owed me a drink.

Look at our hostel Obi…yes, that is a cat, but he is not as cute as you don’t worry!:

While chatting with Tim, these two chefs (yes both are CHEFS) from Switzerland came to the hostel who Tim had already met. The chefs were Chris and Maël and were friendly and funny. Lastly, another one of our roommates Jerimi, from…France? I think, joined us as well.

A few hours later our new crew were off to go out in Ushuaia!

Some photos on our way to the ice bar!:

Our first stop was the famous Ice Bar. This place is an ACTUAL ICE BAR. I have been to a bar where the bar was made out of ice…but never an actual, like, IGLOO!

How it works is you pay one price and they provide those ponchos with fur hoods and mittens, and then you have 30 minutes to drink as much as you can! So the first thing we did was, take shots! It was so much fun here Obiwan. All these guys were so nice and fun.

Get ready for a bunch of Ice Bar Photos Obi!:

A

After this, on our way to dinner, LOOK AT THIS AMAZING PENGUIN MURAL!:

We then we arrived to our dinner restaurant. It was a nice and comfy restaurant. We had a few bottles of wine for all of us and a lot of food. Tim and I shared our food which was perfect, I got Pasta Alfredo and he got steak and eggs and friends and we shared all of it.

OH AND GET READY OBI. Guess what food I tried tonight, crab…something? Cold Seafood bowl? Lobster bowl? I don’t know…But I liked it! It didn’t look like a crab and that’s so much easier to try!

After our amazing dinner we headed back to the hostel and had more drinks and played some card games. On the way back from the hostel we met Thiago who was from Brazil, who was also at our hostel. He was super friendly, warm, and funny. Our group just kept getting better.

After playing Kings, of all games! We went to bed.

What a wonderful day Obi.

Goodnight my Jedi,

Love, Tú Madre,

Carly

Day 98: The Famous Lighthouse…Wait…Oops- USHUAIA Day 1

Monday, January, 7th
El Calafate, Argentina —> Ushuaia
Stayed at: Antarctica Hostel

Dear Obiwan,
Obi today we went to the furthest south place in the WORLD besides Antarctica! USHUAIA! Pronounced: YOU-SH-WHY-UH. It is known as, ‘The End Of The World!’

Pause for important picture of a dog walking in the bag belt at the airport, he was in training! Sorry, I know you HATE dogs Obi, but get ready for a few adorable dog pictures!

And these two:

Oh wait, one more. I petted this cutie once we landed in Ushuaia and he followed me for a while!

Look at some of the sights on the way to the docks:

Once on Ushuaia we immediately went to the tourist center and docks to see which boat tour we might want to take tomorrow!

However, we arrived and they told us that the sky just cleared up and, “you never know when the weather will be this great, so go on a tour right now!” Both me and Kelsey jumped on it and went to every single hut.

We had different criteria for our boat today. She wanted to see the famous lighthouse and found a cool boat tour that also served unique beer!

My criteria was: Sailboat! And to see the famous lighthouse or penguins…or both.

We both picked out boats and parted.

Now, I thought I chose a boat tour that said we will see the lighthouse, but I didn’t know about it before so I wasn’t as determined as many other tourists are. But it’s supposed to be really cool- it’s the farthest lighthouse in the world but not really? I don’t know.

But I thought my boat was going there. I also understood that this boat did NOT have penguins. But I thought it was a sailboat and sees the lighthouse, and we go on the BEST penguin tour in 2 days, so thought it will be worth it!

The sailboat travels were me, a young man from Morocco, a couple from Italy, and a couple from Argentina. It was a small group, which was perfect! Also the sailboat wasn’t too big.

Soon we were off on our sailboat adventure!

But, my dear Obiwan. The moment we climbed onto the boat…big clouds rolled in and the sun was gone…and it quickly was cold and windy.

But the wind was against us so we couldn’t use the sail for a while. We could sit up top and it was fun!

But freezing, so eventually all of us were in the inside of the boat. I had some truly incredible conversations with the Italian couple.

They are both Life Coaches! And they are both DIVERS and met diving! He had not been able to dive due to having a cold, and he met her and she encouraged him to come with her and she told him, “today we will see hammer head sharks”- they are a BIG DEAL in diver world. He went with her and said it was an awful dive, didn’t even see one fish! But towards the end of their dive they both felt it, just something powerful was around them. And then they looked up and it was A SCHOOL OF HAMMERHEADS! He said after that moment, he never wanted to leave her side. 💜💜💜

Any who, our tour was good. The issue was the weather, it was cold and rainy. But we did see a lot of amazing birds! Including Camarans, which can dive up to 50 meters (164 feet) under water!

We also saw an island of sea lions! A bunch of the females we’re pregnant! Also, sea lions live in colonies with 1 male and a bunch of females!

We then walked on ‘H Island’ which this tour company is the only one that can actually walk on this island…I completely forget why.

But Frederico, our Argentinian tour guide guided us away! He told us the history of the island. So, ready Obi for some history?

Tierra del Fuego means ‘land of fire’ and it used to be called ‘land of the smoke.’ This all had to do with the ancient people, whom are commonly known as the Yamana. Darwin found that their arms are way longer than other humans, this is due to them using their arms as paddles of the boats!

The most facinating fact about the Yamana was that, they were naked! And Obi, IT IS FREEZING HERE! How the Yamana survived was- by using fire all the time! They were naked all the time because they were always swimming and getting king crabs, clams, and other sea animals to eat. It was difficult to dry off and they didn’t have animals to get fur from SO THEY WOULD USE FIRE! They would heat up and dry off by fire! They even would have fires in THEIR CANOES!

So hence their name…LAND OF FIRE!

But, Obi, their story is so sad. Once colonized, they were given clothes to cover up their nudity and…they ALL DIED AS RESULT OF DISEASES. And it was believed that being clothed quickened their deaths.

On our way back to the boat Bileva bent down by the ocean and…shoved his HEAD in the ice cold water. I asked him why did you do that? And he explained, “because..I wanted to be one with the sea.” Alrighty.

Once back in the boat I was so excited to see the famous lighthouse!

BUT OBI READY- this BOAT DOESN’T GO TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. Our handsome tour guide had to explain to me that we don’t go there, it’s too far for the sailboat 🤦🏻‍♀️!!!

Somehow I really thought we went there, but oh well. I must have just…imagined it? Sometimes we imagine what we want to happen, and sometimes- this works! But this time, no…nope…no lighthouse. But it’s all good Obi, hard to be too bummed about missing something I didn’t even know existed till TODAY.

Also, I asked our tour guide if I was missing something INCREDIBLE and he goes, “Honestly? No. It’s just a light house…people only like it because it’s in pictures and also people think it’s this famous lighthouse, like the last one that this sailor wrote about but it’s NOT that’s another one.” So that made me feel better!

Also guess what, we got to have the sail up on the way back! It was freezing, but amazing!

Alright my dear Jedi, I’m exhausted,
Goodnight,
Love Tú Madre,
Carly

Days 96 and 97: Welp, I Broke A Window…And A Waterfall in El Chalten

Day 96: Saturday, January, 5th
El Chalten, Argentina
Stayed at Rancho Grande Hostel- night 3/3

Dear Obiwan,

Today was a needed rest day for me and I’m so grateful for it. Kelsey left early in the morning for a hike and I headed to find breakfast a few hours later. I found an adorable restaurant up the street from the hostel. The restaurant was perfect, it was warm and had lovely brown paper placemets with a beautiful map drawn if the town on it. The food was okay but the atmosphere was wonderful.

After this I went to a coffee shop. I had asked our awesome hostel workers, “where can I find good coffee, but more importantly, comfy chairs?” One of the guys took me seriously and told me he hadn’t tried out all the chairs of every coffee shop in town…wait you haven’t?! 😂

After a very cold and windy walk to the coffee shop, I was inside and man, Obi, these seats were comfortable! Also this cafe was also a hotel and an art gallery. Beautiful paintings all around and some hand made sculptures as well.

Oh look at this cool house!:

A little later Kelsey met up and told me the hike was okay, it started off sunny but then turned into windy chilly cloudy time. She said she finallyy felt the Patagonia winds, the wind was so strong they almost knocked her over! I can’t say I’m not grateful I didn’t go 😂.

Before dinner we stopped at ‘La Vinería’ which was a wine place and it was so cool! It was a wine bar but felt like a dive bar back in Philly- felt homey, warm, full of friends, and lots of flannel. I also had some meatballs here that blew my mind! So delicious!

We then had dinner at Ahonikenk, at this point I was dying from exhaustion, but I had a nice dinner with Kelsey.

But the bathroom was funny, Obi:

And then…when we returned to our room.

Um, Obi do you remember that yesterday I opened the window in our room because it was so hot at night?…and then found out the next morning that the window was broken?

Well. We got back and unlike last night (when our room was a sauna) tonight it was FREEZING. I tried to sleep but it was WILDLY WINDY and SO cold. As I was lying in my bed, freezing, I looked over at the other bunk bed and saw Kelsey and our other roommate, who was from Hawaii, just sleeping so soundly and pleasantly.

Eventually, I couldn’t handle the cold or wind anymore. I had to confess that I broke the window and ask for help! I first asked house keeping, they were very friendly…but never came back?

I then went downstairs and just confessed to the guys at reception, I told them I opened it last night and didn’t know it was broken.

He immediately said, “well yes, there’s a sign saying not to touch it!” 🤦🏻‍♀️

But he came to help and walked into the room he said, “IT’S FREEZING!” He initially was worried because he couldn’t shut it. He left and returned 5 minutes later with a trash bag and lots of tape.

He then shoved the trashbag into the cracks and then taped it over with duct tape and somehow it worked. He saved the day Obiwan! Legit IS MY HERO. He then turned the heat up full throttle. A few hours later it was an INFERNO. But, at least it wasn’t an icebox!

Here is the sign…I didn’t see it last night in the dark Obi!:

And here, look at his amazing fix!:

Day 97: Sunday, January, 6th
El Calafate, Argentina
Stay at Folk Hostel

Today we hiked to see a waterfall Obiwan! I ate at Panderia and Cafe had the ‘La Nana’ which is this delicious flakesticky sweat croissant with ham and cheese, scrambled eggs, and toast with butter :D.

After breakfast we walked the easy hike to the waterfall, which is suggested to go any day! Because the weather doesn’t effect it’s beauty!

Look how beautiful our hike was too the waterfall Obi!:

Waterfall!:

Views from the hike back:

After this we had dinner at ‘La Cereseria.’ Kelsey got some amazing stew called ‘Locro’ and I had pancetta pizza that was one of the best pizzas I’ve had in all of South America! It had SAUCE and a firm crust and yummy smoked bacon and good cheese! Then for dessert I had a delicious nut brownie with ice cream and Kelsey had wine dipped pear drenched in chocolate and cinnamon.

On our walk back to our hostel the wind was so strong and was pushing us head on! If you turned the wrong angle you could almost fall over!

We said bye to the amazing hostel worker, Ari, and walked to the bus stop, but this direction the wind helped pushed us there!

Then on our bus to El Calafate we had an amazing view of Viedma Lake and it had ice burgs, it was a beautiful bus ride Obiwan!

Well until the next adventure Obiwan,
Miss you terribly,
Love Tú Madre,
Carly