Dear all!

Oufff, it has been ages since we last wrote something on our blog.... In fact, our last real update was more than 2 months ago and time has flown by since then!! Right now, we are in Sydney and our adventures in South America seem to be sooo far away already. Despite this, as promised we would love to fill you in on our peculiar, funny and unforgettable escapades and encounters in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego - The end of the world.

After leaving Torres del Paine, we travelled to El Calefate to visit the world renowned Perito Moreno Glacier and we must say it was breathtaking to see such a ginormous 'chunk' of ice!

El Calefate, the little town closest to the glacier where we stayed, was a bit disappointing and very touristy but as is was probably our last stay in Argentina, we indulged once more on steaks and wine at a local restaurant.

When we left Torres del Paine, we intended to do a few more days of hardcore hiking around the Fitz Roy mountain. However when we arrived in El Calefate we realised that we were totally fed up with walking and hiking, so we took a bus the next day to Ushuaia. Although the distance between the two cities is just a 6-hour drive, numerous border crossings between Chili and Argentina and the need to take a ferry increases the journey time to more than 13 hours, if you are lucky! To give you an idea about the bordercrossings:

So, we decided to cut our journey in half and stay an extra night in the glamorous Rio Gallegos. Here, tourists were still regarded as a rarity and we were gazed at as if we came from Mars (especially Thomas with his long blond hairs) and you saw everybody thinking: 'What the @#$% are you two doing here!!' An other phenomenon that we observed in Rio Gallegos, was the so called 'floggers' - guys that look as gay as can be, but are not (a huge trend in Argentina)!! Floggers wear these really bright (and tight) jeans along with v-neck t-shirts, huge sunglasses and abnormally funky haircuts (think gel in extreme), while their faces tend to have a lot of piercings. Just google 'flogger Argentina' and you get the picture. But just for you to get an idea:

In Rio Gallegos we stayed in this cute, but bit ramshackle motel/hostel and as such we were more than glad to leave the following day to Ushuaia, the self-proclaimed 'Fin del mundo - the end of the world'.

Ushuaia is at the southern tip of South America and the main port, from which all the vessels and cruises to the South Pole depart. In addition, it is the gateway to the Tierra del Fuego national park, which has - surprise, surprise - some great hikes and walking trails (right up our alley... jippee)!

Ushuaia is a great small city surrounded by some dramatic mountains and the bluest water. Views from all angels are unique and we were happy that we would spend the next few days here including Christmas!

At first, we stayed at the cutest place called La Casa in Ushuaia (http://www.silviacasalaga.com.ar)/, run by the very charming Silvia (she is an architect and designed and built her own house, which she turned into a B&B). We felt right at ease! Unfortunately, we had to leave earlier than we wanted to (she was booked out). Luckily, we found a still charming but less homy hostel across the road.

The weather changed dramatically when we went from El Calefate to Ushuaia. Were we still wearing shorts and t-shirts in El Calefate, in Ushuaia we needed all our gear, including heats and gloves to keep us warm and protect us from the gushing winds and blistering cold. In general, the climate in this region is very inhospitable and there are very few days without rain, slush, hail or snow! It felt just like Holland! In fact, the day before Christmas it snowed, turning Ushuaia and its surrounding mountains into a white Christmas-like setting. The one thing that is different and rather peculiar is that the sun rises at around 5am and sets at 11-12pm... bizarre!

Of course, we could not leave Ushuaia without visiting the world-renowned Tierra del Fuego national park. So we packed our stuff and headed for another day of hiking. There are several trails one can do; some follow the riverbanks and seashores while others lead into the forest. We opted to do a few with a good mix of everything and, more importantly, which would limit our hiking days to one! We were lucky that the day we went it was sunny with just a few drops of rain. The park is nice, but cannot be compared to Torres del Paine, which we found overwhelming, more rugged and less touristy. However, we enjoyed ourselves, saw a beaver colony, had some striking views across the bays and had another good workout!

However, the next day resulted in the one things we will remember most about Tierra del Fuego. Some kind of very small, but highly aggressive and ferocious animal had bitten Mischa's eye, resulting in a abnormally large oedema in her eye!! Initially, she was not able to open her eyes and when walking on the streets people would look at Thomas like he had beaten the crap out of her (a bit like Cris Brown hitting Rihanna)! So, she just put on her most charming and biggest sunglasses and headed to the nearest pharmacy to get some heavy drugs to reduce this THING on her face (even the assistant in the pharmacy went like: 'Wow!!' and was a bit scared of her (and Thomas of course who she must have thought needed some anger management sessions!!). Luckily, the swelling reduced, but as we went for dinner later that evening, the waiter recognised Mischa and told her she looked much better.... Very embarrassing!!

We had a few very good dinners in Ushuaia, including a very romantic and divine Christmas dinner in supposedly the best restaurant of Ushuaia, Kaupe (http://www.kaupe.com.ar)/. We munched on some exquisite king crab and some lovely sea brass in 'papillote', while drinking a bottle of our favourite Zuccardi 'Q' (remember Mendoza?). In addition, we soaked up the atmosphere at Bodegon Fueguino and enjoyed another excellent steak at one of the local eateries. We also spend some hours at cosy Tante Sara (Dutch??), drinking coffee, having nice lunches, while reading La Nacion (one of the largest newspapers in Argentina) and the local gossip magazines.

And then we were off back to Chili, to Punta Arenas, the city where we would spend New Year! But the bus ride to Punta Arenas turned out to be an adventure by itself. Again, we had to go through two border-crossings and a ferry to pass the Mallaghan Straight. After leaving Ushuaia at 5 in the morning, the weather turned viler and by the time we reached the ferry at Porvenir, the wind had picked up and 5 to 10-meter waves made it sheer impossible to cross the channel. So there we were: packed together with literally hundreds of other stranded travellers in this little bistro with no idea whatsoever when we would leave and reach our final destination. The little bistro had anticipated the numerous people and stocked up on food, water and drinks. The very nice sandwiches with meat were to ones first to be sold out followed by all other sandwiches (cheese, tomato etc.), leaving just cookies, chocolate and water to eat and drink..... brrrr... Luckily, after a more than 6 hour wait, the sign 'all clear' was given and the ferry service came back to live. At 12 in the evening we were thrilled that we could finally lay our heads to rest in our Hostel al Fin del Mundo (www.alfindelmundo.cl) - mmm, we thought we just came from there?!?!?!

Punta Arenas is a city known for its large air force base (men in uniforms were seen across the streets) and - more importantly for us - its still very vibrant reggaeton scene. Large groups from all over Chile flock to this southern city to go for a night of Latin hip-hop and reggae infused partying at one of the many café's, bars and discos. We knew what to do here - P.A.R.T.Y!!! Unfortunately, we totally mistimed our partying. In fact on the day before New Year's eve, we decided to go for a small drink. We soon found out that we had chosen to have a drink at one of the most popular cafes in town. We were the only tourists there as the bar filled with more and more people, dancing on the tables and in the mood to sing along with all the to us unknown songs played by the band. They had the best time ever. And so did we!!! Eventually, we ended up at the Kamikaze Club, the local reggaeton dancing hotspot where we danced until the whee hours. The next day was New Year's eve and we had a legendary hangover!! We ended 2008 and entered 2009 in bed and fast asleep......

On the 2nd of January, we flew from Punta Arenas back to Santiago de Chile, where we had another nice dinner and spend another night at the Rio Amazonas hostel. On the 3rd our adventure took us to the remote and far away Easter Island! Our last chance to savour South America....snif snif.

Lots of Love and Hasta la Pasta!

Thomas & Mischa