Patagonia, Buenos Aires, and Iguazu

The earthquake hit so early in the semester that we never had the chance to make a post of our last big trips of the summer: Patagonia and then Buenos Aires.

We started by flying into Punta Arenas and taking a boat to a penguin ("pinguino") colony on an island called Isla Magdalena. Walking around with pinguinos = hilarious. Everywhere we went there were tiny little penguins waddling around in pairs, and lots of times with unruly little baby or adolescent pinguinos in tow. This picture gives an idea of the number of penguins on the island:




From Punta Arenas we took a bus north to Puerto Natales and then on to Torres del Paine. Torres del Paine ("Towers of Paine") is one of the better-known parks in Chile and has a hiking trail called the W that wraps around the mountains and into the three valleys. It took us about 4 days to cover the entire trail. We had all sorts of weather, but here are some pics from the sunnier days:


We also ran into our friends Ian and Lissa on the 3rd day:


Some llamas and then nandu (ostrich-like birds) we saw near the park:



From Torres del Paine we took a bus back down to Puerto Natales and then on to Calafate, Argentina. From Calafate we took a trip to the Petito Moreno glacier:




After a couple days in Calafate we took another bus north to El Chalten, Argentina. El Chalten has mountain tower-peaks similar to those in Torres del Paine (the most famous is called Mount Fitzroy), but the clouds never lifted while we were there and so we never actually had a glimpse of the peaks. Here's a shot of the town of El Chalten from one of the trails:


From El Chalten we spent a day in Puerto Natales before heading back to Punta Arenas. Puerto Natales is known for the fossils of Giant Sloths that have been found in caves near the beach.



We caught a flight from Punta Arenas to Buenos Aires via Santiago. In BA we met up with Kris and Terry - Kris had found a couple of great apartments for us to stay in throughout our time there. The first was in Palermo Soho and the second was right in the middle of Recoletta.

Kris and Claire with new bags from a store in Palermo Soho:


From BA we took a flight up to the Iguazu Falls and checked out what seemed like miles and miles of waterfalls from every angle imaginable. Some incredible views:










Some of the animals in Iguazu:



On our second-to-last day in Buenos Aires we took a boat to Colonia, Uruguay for the afternoon. It was a cold and rainy day in Colonia and so we spent most of the afternoon sampling Uruguayan cuisine - here's the traditional sandwich, called a "chivito". Pretty intense:

The summer couldn't have been better, and we feel extremely fortunate for all the traveling we were able to do.

We truly appreciate all of the messages and well-wishes that people have passed on to us over the weeks since the earthquake. We miss you all, and we send our love!