Hola! Happy New Year to everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous one!
Now as per usual, I know its been a while since the last update and I've packed so much into that time that there is no way that i can put it all down in an email, or you'll all be bored to tears by half way through. So I'm going to do what I promise to do each time (and never actually do it) and try and make it quick, i'll skip parts and just give a general outline of the crazy stunts i've been up to this episode...
Christmas was spent on the beach in Bahia Inglesia, Chile, and it was a fabulous celebration which spanned 2 days and 5 countries, where copious amounts of alcohol were consumed for us and all those at home, and there followed many crazy antics as you can imagine including the Budget Expeditions Christmas Olympics where the prize was a bottle of rum, just incase we didn't have enough! So it was a Xmas like no other before and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate really! After Xmas was more beach time at La Serena and a couple of days in Santiago before heading into the mountains to Pucon where we spent New Years camped beside a lake underneath beautiful snow-capped peaks. I even managed to climb a live volcano on new years eve, in the ice and snow to get to the top, to not be able to see any lava that day coz there was too much wind and too much thick gas blocking our view, bugger. It was terrifying, but at least I can say that I've done it right? Although I think i'm quickly working out that i'm more of a beach girl that a snow girl... So New Year's was a repeat of Xmas really, another 2 day affair with much silliness, practical jokes, and laughter. It poured with rain at midnight and everyone got saoked but it didn't ruin the party, just made me feel at home really!
Since NY's, we've been travelling through Patagonia by way of Argentina, from Bariloche (chocolate capital of Argentina - heaven!) through El Chalten, and El Calafate, all the way down to Ushuaia, 'the end of the world', the world's southern-most city. In that time as well as getting steadily colder and colder and colder, I've trekked my butt off, completing an insane 40km trek to Torre Glacier and back, in one day! It was pure madness and I loved every second of it, I trekked to the glacier, had to pull myself across the river on a rope and then continue the trek to reach the front of the glacier where we spent a couple of hours walking over the glacier before repeating everything just in a backwards order! I don't think my feet have quite recovered still weeks down the track...and I was wondering why there were only 2 of us that wanted to do the trek, hmmm.... We saw the Merino glacier, one of the most active glaciers, watched the huge chunks of ice come crashing down into the water in front of us, very cool, and in Ushuaia trekked for a day in Tierre del Fuego National park where I saw heaps of beaver dams and real woodpeckers that looked just like Woody Woodpecker!
Leaving Ushuaia, I was more than happy to be heading back up north, thinking that at least I'd be starting to get some heat back in my bones after a consistant 4-10 degrees, but I was mistaken. We went back into Chile to Torres del Paine National Park where we spent 4 days camping and walking. The first day it poured with rain and we spent the day all crowded into the one shelter in our camping area playing cards and drinking rum to stay warm and thankfully for the days after that the weather cleared up. So it was off to trek the Grey Glacier, another beautiful walk and beautiful glacier, although there were moments where the wind was so strong we were getting blown off the track! I spent the next day horse-riding, weaving in and around trees through the forest, crossing 6 water-crossings where the water was up to the horses saddle and taking in the beautiful scenery around me of Torres del Paine, one of the most beautiful parks I've seen here.
After Torres, we did start to warm up a bit, staying in Puerto Madryn for a couple of days, lying on the beach, soaking up the rays, I was the only one not complaining about the heat for the first bit! Now that I'd got the chill out of my bones i was happy as Larry and ready to take on Buenos Aires which was next on the agenda and wow, what a fabulous city it is! We danced all night long at club 69 to the crazy transvestite show they put on, took in a Tango show at the famous Cafe Tortoni, enjoyed a bike tour around the city - definitely recommended why to see the sites, as well as shopping til we dropped! The Recoleta cemetery where Eva Peron is buried was incredible, like a city all of its own with proper cobbled streets and mausoleums instead of houses, and scraggly cats running around everywhere, and the Pink Presidential Palace was looking fabulous for us, underneath a layer of scaffolding and netting! Not a good time for renovations when I want a photo! But I loved Buenos Aires, it would have to be my favourite city here in South America easily and was most upset to leave...until we got to our next stop on way to Puerto Iguazu which had a swimming pool in the campground! Most exciting when its over 30 degrees and humidity is around 80%! We're now in Puerto Iguazu where this campground has a pool too, so really, you're lucky i'm writing an email at all! We're off to see the Iguaza falls tomorrow which should be fab and then its a sad farewell to Argentina, I have loved it, and into Brazil for the final countdown to Rio Carnaval in little over 2 weeks, hooray! I can't believe it'll all be coming to an end so soon, but its been a blast so far and the last few weeks are only going to get crazier, bring it on!
Hope everyone is well, love to all, keep the emails coming!
Senorita Ronita xxx
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