Okay. I was in the shower thinking about my last post, and I don’t want it to sound over dramatic in any way. I’m really having a great time trekking glaciers, riding boats, etc. In between all those other character-testing moments. Here’s a recap of the first half of my trip:

Bariloche - Loved it. Being a ski town, it felt a lot like Park City in some ways. I could live there. Maybe I should for a season, or at least visit for a couple weeks in the winter.

El Calafate - Straight down the Andes is Calafate. It’s the headquarters to Argentine Patagonia. The town is nothing special, similar to an ugly grey town you’d find in Alaska that’s surrounded by beautiful mountains. Here I went into Argentina’s glacier national park where I slapped on some crampons and trekked around the glacier.

El Chalten - About 3.5 hours north of El Calafate in a different part of the national park. This has been probably my favorite place this far. The town has only 600 habitants and is only 24 years old. The scenery kind of reminds me of Grand Teton National Park in WY (and i mean kind of) but about ten times prettier.

Ushuaia - the end of the world (do you notice how i keep saying that? Think about it! How cool is it thatg I’m at the end of the world.) This city reminds of Seattle. Water, boats, small surrounding mountains, even a ski resort. Rainy weather. Boats, bays, seafood. I’ve been unlucky with the weather as it has snowed everyday. But I came prepared for bad weather, and I’ve been pretty comfortable in the conditions. I’ve taken a boat ride out into the Beagle Channel as well as trekked thru Tierra del Fuego National Park in snow and mud. It was eerily beautiful, and I felt I was in the middle of a Robert Frost poem. Weird birds are everywhere, and I can see why Chsrles Darwin had a heyday when he came thru on the Beagle ship in 1832.

For those you wondering about my update on Torres Del Paine (the famous national park in Chile), I’ve decided not to go. I hear the park is absolutely amazing, but the weather is changing to winter fast and a lot of services in the park is shutting down. I could still camp my way thru the park, but considering the fact that I can count the times I’ve camped on one hand, I wasn’t up for renting camping gear and taking on the park on my own. Go read Jack London’s short story “How to Start a Fire” and you’d understand.

And last of all, the biggest highlights have been the people I’ve meet, but I’m going to talk about that in another post.