Cañuelas: Down on the Farm

For our penultimate adventure Katie and I landed near a town called Cañuelas, about an hour and a half outside of Buenos Aires, at a farm called La Farfalla run by a lovely couple named Matias and Mariana. While I've been using workaway to find my different volunteering gigs, Katie found this farm through WWOOF, the original work-travel site, exclusively dedicated to organic farms. It's pretty much exactly what you imagine a small farm to be like, full of animals, a vegetable garden, fruit trees, fresh air and good food.

We worked for six hours a day, three in the morning before it got super hot, and three in the evening after it had cooled down again. That gave us plenty of time to siesta, read, and generally relax after traveling at full speed for a couple of weeks. During our works hours we did a whole variety of tasks, from preparing new beds in the garden, to putting up chicken wire, to mowing grass, to, my favorite, wildly herding the sheep and chickens from one place to another. Nobody said farm animals were smart.

Another wonderful perk of staying on the farm was eating pretty much exclusively fresh, organic food, often harvested that day. Matias is a great cook, and consistently served up fresh bread and wonderful stir fries. Mariana spent some of the time we were there cooking down the gazillions of apples we harvested into preserves which of course were also amazing. The last day we were there, they actually decided to slaughter one of their sheep, so we had a massive asado which was delicious. Add in the fact that Matias also brews his own beer, and they produce their own honey, and it was some of the best meals I've had this trip. A really nice detox from the diet of carbs paired with ham and cheese that seems to be standard fair on busses and at hostels.

Additionally, while Katie is already a farmer extraordinaire, I as always, found it very interesting to learn some more practical farming skills, and to listen to Matias and Mariana talk about different problems and solutions they've encountered while growing their farm. Also, especially since Argentina has just elected a new president that a lot of people are not happy about, it was interesting to get their take on the political situation as well. The reality of how people feel about it is often at contrast to the dryer news reports.

All in all it was a great place to stay for a week and recharge for the last stop of my trip, Buenos Aires. It's kind of incredible to think that I've pretty much reached the end, but I am looking forward to seeing my family again after six months on the road. Stay tuned for one more city!

Mendoza: The Land of Vino

While we were in Mendoza with the express purpose of drinking wine, it also must be noted that it's a lovely city too. It's hot, but all the streets are lined with huge trees, giving you pleasant shade to walk in. There's five central plazas all will different statues or fountains and a nice pedestrian road full of restaurants and cafes. There's vineyards surrounding Mendoza for miles in all directions but the easiest to get to are in the neighboring town of Maipu, a short city bus ride away. There from a number of competing businesses, you can rent bikes, because the best way to get from vineyard to vineyard for a full day of drinking, or as the sophisticated call it "tasting," wine is careening around on a rickety bike navigating via provided free map that has no concept of scale or street names, right? Right.

Starting out strong 

Armed with our rudimentary map, we set out and managed to navigate to our first stop, a wine bar clearly marked with a gigantic purple bottle out front. There we pretended to know what we were supposed to be tasting and tried five different local wines before being gifted a full bottle of wine at the end. What a great start! From there we biked to a couple of really swanky vineyards, nice enough for us to sufficiently feel like we were in The Parent Trap, and acquired even more wine on each stop. By the end of the day both our bellies and backpacks were full of wine and we only had managed to stop at four places out of about twenty listed on our map. You could easily spend several days biking around trying them all.

After we returned our bikes, we hurried back into the city to catch one last overnight bus! This time we were heading for the outskirts of Buenos Aires to do a little bit of farming in the countryside. The second to last stop is coming up next in Cañuelas!

Neuquén: Another Dinosaur Land

After adequately filling ourselves up with  chocolate in Bariloche, we continued our Northward march by stopping in Neuquén to take a look at the remains of Gigantosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur ever discovered, bigger even than the famous T rex. After a brief set-back where all the tour companies were closed because it was the feast of the Immaculate Conception (who knew?) and we couldn't rent a car because neither of us knows how to drive stick (can someone please teach me?!), we were able to find a driver who would take us out to see the museum with the fossils and nearby dinosaur tracks for a fairly reasonable price.

After showing us the hydroelectric dam near the museum (strangely enough the second of my trip) we entered a small, but nicely curated museum. Typically the dinosaurs you see in the museum are replicas of the fossils mounted together so you can get an idea of the size and appearance of the dinosaur all together. This museum had these replicas too, but also the actual fossils of the Gigantosaurus which was super cool! The skeleton was 80% complete when found giving you a pretty good picture of just how big this dinosaur was. The museum also had a whole room dedicated to hydroelectric dams of Argentina in case that's your thing.

A little further from the museum were some fossilized dinosaur tracks which have unfortunately been mostly warn away by the Lake created by the dam. They weren't as numerous or as clear as the ones I saw in Toro Toro in Bolivia, but as always anything dinosaur is worth a look.

From our one day stop, we boarded another bus to bring us up to wine country aka Mendoza!

The Lake District: Argentina Edition

After finishing up our hike in El Chaltén, Katie and I boarded a bus to take us North out of Patagonia and into the Lake District. Though technically Patagonia in Argentina is a region that goes the whole way up to the Río Negro, most guide books separate the two regions out as they have very different characteristics. The Lake District is a more populated region and the landscapes aren't as stark as more Southern Patagonia. There's farms, forests, and of course the eponymous lakes.

Our first stop was in a smaller town called El Bolsón. El Bolsón is known as the town the hippies migrated to in the 1970s and still has a very laid back, crunchy feel to it. It's one of the first places I've come across in a while that actually sorts out some recycling from garbage which has been killing me a little for most of this trip. We also managed to time it so that we were in town for their craft fair that's held every weekend, where more really cool, handmade knick-knacks are sold than you could ever buy, along with a selection of local food and artisanal beer. The town itself is situated in a beautiful valley that has tons of hikes that we unfortunately didn't have time for and a couple of lakes for boating and swimming. It was definitely a place I would've loved to spend more time in, but bizarrely (at least to me) I'm actually working against a ticking clock now as my trip starts to wind down and we had to keep moving to keep to our schedule.

From El Bolsón we took a short bus ride to the better known town of Bariloche. This is the classic Lake District destination, and in my opinion, has suffered for it. While El Bolsón was charming, Bariloche has turned into an urban sprawl, although in a scenic location. Guide books had hinted that it was big, but I hadn't quite expected a full blown city. There was still hints of older charm, some of the buildings were still built in the tradition style and of course there was the main street full of chocolate shops, but it didn't really feel like a place to wander around in. Again, there is supposed to be some fantastic hikes and water sports in the surrounding area but we didn't have time to take advantage of them. I'm sure if we had had the time too, Bariloche would have been a more worthwhile destination, but just the city itself lacks charm.

If you're a faithful blog follower, you no doubt remember that I was also in the Chilean Lake District many months ago now. Of course when two countries have purportedly the same region, you can't help but compare the two. And really in a head to head competition, I think the Chilean Lake District comes out on top. Of course it has the advantage of being on the rainy side of the Andes so it's a lot lusher, and it also has a plethora of volcanos, a cool feature that the Argentinean side is missing. Finally, the old school German influence and charm is much more apparent on the Chilean side, giving it an interesting twist. So if you're ever in the position to choose one Lake District over the other, take it from the expert, Chile is the way to go!

Ushuaia: It's the End of the World as we Know It

And now for a bit of a backtrack to our stop in Ushuaia. After an incredibly long bus ride down from El Calafate that included a ferry across the Strait of Magellan and crossing both into and out of Chile, we arrived at the Southern-most city in the world, Ushuaia. It's where the Andes finally come to an end and it sits right on the Beagle Channel, where Darwin sailed through on his famous trip. It's where cruises to Antarctica leave from if you have a few thousand dollars to spare, which unfortunately we didn't, but it still has lots to offer besides that.

Ushuaia as seen from the Beagle Channel 

Our main goal in Ushuaia was to see some penguin, and to further that aim we booked a cruise of the Beagle Channel that among other attractions, such as sea lions and a light house, brought us to an island that several species of penguins inhabit. We saw a ton of Magellanic penguins and also a King penguin and a Gentoo penguin (all species identification is thanks to the informative guide). As stated before, penguins are the most hilarious of birds due to how awkward they are on land and the way they sleep like little logs. Additionally, it was very beautiful cruising through the channel and pretty interesting to think that the land which looks pretty identical on either side of the channel belongs to different countries (Argentina and Chile). Makes you think about what a human construct countries are really.

Magellanic Penguins hanging out 

We spent another day exploring Tierra del Fuego National Park then flew back up to El Calafate (turned out to be cheaper, not to mention much faster than taking the bus back) to get a bus to El Chaltén as detailed in the previous post. From here were heading North again to El Bolsón where craft markets and artisinal beer await us!

Glacier National Park: El Calafate and El Chaltén

As mentioned in my last post, I now have an awesome travel companion to finish out my trip with. The super cool Katie B. met me in El Calafate and after another day relaxing in El Calafate and arranging logistics for the next few days, we jumped right into what Argentinian Patagonia has to offer, with the first stop being the Southern section of Glacier National Park.

We booked the "alternative" glacier tour to glacier Perito Moreno through the hostel we were staying in. The only alternative part seemed to be driving a different way into the park which allowed us to stop and pat some tamed guanacos and take several very necessary guanaco selfies. Then the real tour got underway with several hours walking along the pathways in front of the stunning glacier Perito Moreno. The pictures don't really do justice to how immense it is and of course can't capture the sound of the ice rumbling and cracking and the thundering noise every once in a while when a large chunk would break off and plunge into the lake below. Currently the glacier has actually reached the whole way across to the peninsula and has blocked the channel connecting the two sides of the lake. According to our guide, one half of the lake is actually six meters higher than the other. Eventually the water will wear away at the ice block which will collapse in magnificent fashion (according to pictures from previous years) and the lake will even out again.

From El Calafate, we took a brief detour the whole way down to the end of the world in Ushuaia (which will be another post) before coming back north again to hit the Northern section of Glacier near the town of El Chaltén. El Chaltén calls itself the trekking capital of Argentina and that claim definitely has some merit. There are a ton of trails that begin right in town, eliminating the need to take a bus or taxi anywhere. Katie and I decided to take advantage of the free camping in the park and spent three days enjoying the beautiful scenery and unnaturally beautiful weather (it was actually warm and sunny for our entire trek!) under the shadow of Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torre. Treks around El Chalten often get compared to Torres de Paine (probably because a lot of backpackers end up doing them back to back)and while in my opinion, the hikes themselves don't offer the constant gorgeous scenery Torres does, the end points and overlooks of Fitzroy and Cerro Torre equal anything Torres has to offer. Definitely more than a worthwhile stop.

Mt. Fitzroy and it's range 

Lago de las Tres and Fitzroy

Lago Torre and Cerro Torre