Long time...

...no write. But here we are. Our summer break began on Dec. 17 and by Dec. 20 we were on the road, embarking on a monster Patagonia roadtrip that has today, Jan. 15, landed us in Buenos Aires, our beloved. Just about every single article of clothing that has been essential to us for the last month: fleece, hat, light down jacket, rain coats and pants, gloves, hiking boots, etc. are now completely irrelevant. AND, looking at the bin of food in the car and knowing that we won't be eating macaroni and cheese with tuna or rice with lentils for a week is rather satisfying. While the days of clif/lara bars for breakfast and lunch are not totally behind us, there is simply no need to engage in such pauper-y in BA. I am currently drinking an iced mate (using lemon-mint water--awesome), Justin has a Guinness (which is an odd choice for hot BA weather but seeing as to how it is the first time we have ever seen it on a menu in South America...) and a heaping tabla of meat and cheese just arrived. Dang! doesn't begin to cover it.

I can't post any pictures this time because we don't have a way to hook our camera to the computer until we're back in Santiago. We'll get them up at some point. So, how did we get here? Briefly:
Santiago > Bariloche, Argentina (Nahuel Huapi NP)
Bariloche > Puerto Bertrand, Chile (Northern Ice Cap)
Puerto Bertrand > El Chalten, Argentina (Fitz Roy)
El Chalten > Ushuaia, Argentina (Tierra Del Fuego)
Ushuaia > BA (loooong drive).

So, in the spirit of Tim Urban, a long-time friend of my brother and persistent blogger, I'm just going to make a huge list of things that I think will encapsulate our trip.

• Number of days on the road so far: 26
• Number of showers: 7
• Number of days I have worn my lululemon "stink-free" shirt: 20
• On a scale of 1-10, 1 being fine and 10 being the odor of dead, poop-smeared animals, the number which describes how odorous this "stink-free" shirt has become: 2. I'm not kidding. It's a modern freaking miracle.
• Number of nights in beds: 8
• Number of nights spent in our car on account of it being too dark and we were too tired: 1
• Number of nights spent in our car on account of it being too dark and we were too tired and it was too windy to pitch a tent: 1
• Number of nights spent in our car because we ran out of gas (30k from El Chalten) but it was too late for gas stations to be open so we decided that we'd just solve the problem tomorrow: 1
• Number of times we hitchhiked on account of above incident: 2
• Number of flat tires: 1
• Number of times we visited a gomeria to get a tire patched: 2
• Number of either mountain- or glaciar-surrounded lakes we have slept next to: 3
• Number of books on tape listened to (including the 24-hour final Harry Potter book): 6
• Number of times we turned back on a trail, because, quite frankly, we had no idea where we were supposed to go and only had food for one more night: 1
• Number of times we got off a brutal hike with huge packs to find a brewery sitting in the absolute middle of nowhere (they were there for the good water, duh, gringo): 1 (brave Berlina, bravo)
• Number of times we stopped at a random chocolate store in Argentine Patagonia: 5? 20?
• Number of glaciers traversed: 1!! Absolutely amazing.
• Number of adorable, wonderful, and unbelievably skilled Chilean guides taking us across that glacier: 4: Hector, Norberto (yep), Leo, and "Gringo" (why "Gringo"? Because he has blue eyes, of course--his real name is Andelisimo...way cooler).
  

• Number of times we thought of Sarah, who was supposed to be with us but instead got stuck in a blizzard in NYC, during our 8-day trek that included the above glacier and 4 guides: many many many
• Number of large, aggressive and biting flies (los "tabanos") that would land on your face if you didn't cover it (during the day) on the above trek: as many as could fit
• Number that would land on your crotch when you were trying to pee: 17
• Number that would try to forcibly invade our tent at any one time: 72
• Number that I actually managed to slap, but would only be momentarily stunned because they were robo-flies or something, and flew away only to resume their attacks: 51
• Number that I caught and threw live into the campfire: 20
• Color that we discovered repelled them: anything florescent
• Number of florescent articles I own: 1
• Number of florescent articles I brought with me: 1 (thank you, Pete and Lynda, for inspired color choice for my fleece last Christmas)
• Number of florescent articles Justin owns/brought: 0
• Number of bites Justin had on ONE shoulder: 56 (I counted)
• Number that ever survived for more than 1 minute after gaining entry into our tent: ZERO, suckas!!
• Number of whiskey on glacial ice consumed to ring in the New Year: 2
  
• Number of times we ordered lamb in Patagonia: 3
• Number of times we saw the lamb that would be our dinner selected from a herd, slaughtered via throat-cutting, hung up, and drained of blood in from of us: 1
  
• Number of times we ate dinner in a restaurant in Patagonia: 4
• Number of times we have crossed the Chile-Argentina border: 7
• Number of times we have thus had to get out of the car to enter a border-control office: 14
• Number of times we have been asked for a driver's license: 1
• Number of times we were kept from leaving Tierra Del Fuego due to social protests about natural gas drilling: 1
• Number of cliffs from which we jumped into a glacial pool: 1 (awesome!! and very refreshing)
• Number of hikes that, to our surprise, took us to a summit that gave us a 360 degree view of Tierra Del Fuego NP: 1
• Number of times the wind set off our car alarm: 2
• Number of dings in our windshield due to rocks flying up off of the road: 1 (this is shockingly low given the hours logged on non-paved roads)
• Number of guanacos, armadillos, nandus, foxes, woodpeckers, condors, and huemuls (last one is very rare) viewed: many
• Number of seconds that a startled nandu sprinted down the road 2m in front of our car as we passed from Chile to Argentina near Aisen: 30...really hilarious.
  
• Number of nights we will be in BA: 7
• Number of times we plan to eat steak for dinner: 7
• Number of times we have eaten steak or beef by choice, rather than because it was being offered and we'd be jerks to not eat it, since our last visit to BA: we can't think of any incident
  

That's all I can really think of at this point in time. Plus I just finished the last of the prosciutto and it's just about Malbec time. We'll post pictures and additional items later. We're due to be back in Santiago on Jan. 26 in order to depart for the US and visits to family on Jan. 27. Much love to all!