I’m back home, with the travel bug. But happy to be here 
Thank you all for the comments and traveling with me via this crazy technology we have now!
So until my next adventure, see ya!!
An Interesting Encounter
Standing face to face with a shirtless man covered in tattoos, surrounded by 100´s of Chileans slowly starting to circle us, I look around to see flashes of cameras pointing towards us and a low murmer of astonishment and giggles. I stop for a second and think to myself, why me?
I should actually be glad he chose me- it was an experience to add to the glory of traveling.
Today is Columbus Day in Chile, so from the moment I walked out of my hostel I could hear the loud chants coming from the nearby streets. Oh, goody, this will be exciting to watch, I thought to myself. As I approched the main street, I couldn´t believe how many people were there.
As I walked down the street next to the parade, I came across what seemed to be another parade, or protest, separated from the first one. Strange. Everyone in this group (also hundreds) had dark clothing on with bandanas around their faces or full masks hiding their face. Anarchy flags were being pronouncly displayed and large sticks were banged together as the crowd echoed a strong chant in unison. As they barricaded the street I look to my right to see more than 10 military vessels. Huge bullet-proof trucks with their sirens blasting and a speaker in which a Spanish man spoke something, obviously of warning. I thought this looked pretty interesting so I decided to stand on the side for awhile.
A man who had removed his shirt and who had many tattoos across his body was an apparent leader of the group. He ran up to the army trucks, screaming, flipping them off, shaking and spanking his butt and flying his large flag with the Anarchy symbol. I´m still not sure exactly what this protest was about, but I got the jist.
After about fifteen minutes, the leader of the group ran towards the rest of the group and apparently spotted me. He stopped in his tracks, looked straight at me as I pretended to be looking past him, and from that moment I knew I better start practicing my Spanish in my head. Quickly.
He pointed at me and said something and immediately started strutting over. He was obviously a nice guy, so I wasn´t too nervous. Well, nervous enough. Anytime I get somewhat put on the spot, people always say, ¨wow Ellen, your face is soo red.¨ Well this time I could feel every inch of blood in my body flowing directly to my face.
He started talking in Spanish, more like a low scream, and I said, ¨lo siento, hablo muy poquito espanol¨. As he started talking to me about how ¨el policia es muy mala¨, the crowd started closing in on us and the news reporters started flashing their cameras. ¨Por que?¨ I asked. He continued to try and tell me why, but I obviously didn´t understand. He looked around to the crowd yelling, ¨como se dice en ingles!?¨ ¨que habla ingles!?¨no one made any recognition, not wanting to get involved. He was a bit pissed at this point, but continued to try.
After a while, some people had chimed in english words here and there, such as ánarchy´or ´damage´and ´fight´, but he got the point across explaining that I needed to leave this street because they were going to fight the police and I may be arrested or hurt. I explained how I wanted to watch and see what he was standing up for and then he asked me to join the protest. I declined. He told me his name, Eduardo, and asked for mine, asked where I was from, (ooOOOoo California!!) then gave me a huge kiss right on the cheek. At that point the crowd burst into laughter. He persisted in getting a kiss from me so finally I put my cheek against his and kissed the air. (As many do to greet eachother here).
Finally we said goodbye (just like that) and we went our separate ways. I waied around for a bit longer but nothing as interesting as that was happening, so I headed back down the street.
That made for an interesting day.
Relax, don´t do it
I´m alive! Internet everywhere has been either really slow or non-existent, but today I took a bus from Mendoza, Argentina (wine capital) to Santiago, Chile and I will be on my way home in but three days. Who let it be October already!? I´ll write a better post tomorrow or the next day but I thought I could check in.
Opposite from the beginning of my trip, the last week has been so relaxing I have barely done anything besides sight see, eat and simply chill out. It is quite nice. Well I am watching the first english-speaking movie I have seen in a long time, with the girl working the hostel, so bye for now!
The cooking continues
So we wern´t able to go on the bike ride because the weather has been not-so-great here, but on the plus side I have been practicing my culinary skills. Tonight for dinner I cooked up some ´carrot´ burgers that ended up being surprisingly good! My first one I put on some bread..
And my second one I made into a lettuce wrap
Since pretty much the only thing I have done today is read The da Vinci code and cook, I´ll talk about my cooking for a bit…
I diced carrots and boiled them for about 10 minutes till soft. Then I put them in a bowl with celery, onions, crushed corn flakes and eggs (and spices) and mixed and mashed. Then I put a little oil on a pan, and poured some of the batter on to make mini patties (kinda like pancakes). I melted cheese on top and slapped it on my fesh baguette with some oh-so-famous mayo. It was quite delish! Then I went and got helado. (Argentina´s version of gelatio which is not an option to pass up).
Maybe my next blog will be a cooking one!
Besides walking to the bus stop about 4 km away, that´s about all I did. It was a very relaxing day. Tomorrow I am off to San Martin de los Andes, a town similar to Bariloche but not as touristy.
Patagonia Paradise
This place is made for me. At least the scenery. Maybe not so much the touristy vibe in the town. Today I hiked up Cerro Campanario to see one of the most unbelievable views I have ever seen. No, ever imagined.
There is a chairlift up to the top, but I think the views are even more gorgeous if you have to work to get to them. I jumped on the local bus this morning and got off when I saw a sign that read, ´km 17´ …even though it was in the middle of nowhere. These types of things seem to happen to me a lot, I read one person´s blog about an adventurous thing to do in a touristy town and this is where it leads me. Though, after I walked around aimlessly for about 20 minutes, I figured it out! The hike wasn´t very long, but it was extremely steep the entire way. But like I said… definitely worth it.
Did I mention the view from my room in my hostel?
Since I have been so inspired to cook the past week, I took up the challenge and decided to attempt to make a home-made vegetable soup and lay off the meaty meals I have been indulging in lately. I went to the market, picked up some carrotts, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes and squash and it looked quite lovely after cutting everything!
The store didn´t have broth, so I improvised. All you cooks, listen up so you can critique me: I grilled everything except the tomatoes in oil and garlic for about 7 minutes. Then, (since I didn´t have broth) I added water to the huge pot and put in some veggie seasoning I had found at the store. I brought it to a boil then added the tomatoes last. I let it simmer for about 30 minutes then added pepper and salt. I heated up some bread with butter, spooned a bowl of soup and dug in. It was suprisingly fantastic! I made so much I had it for sinner tonight too and I will tomorrow. This hostel always smells so delicious of people cooking. As I sat down with my dinner, I looked up and out the window….
Back to my first story about the hike… At the top I met a guy from Australia and we decided to walk down together. He is an extreme adventurist and did not want to go down the way we came, so we decided to take a different path. Wait, scratch that. A different side of the mountain. There was no path. The terrain was very sandy so he got excited about being able to ski down the slope of sand since the ski resorts are now closed. So thats what we did. Half way. Once we hit trees, there was no more ´sleding´ to be done. So we started down, through thick forest. After trudging through the forest we finally found a little opening of no trees so we sat and took a water break.
We looked around and realized we needed to find a path, but there was no path to be seen. We decided to hike back up the mountain a little, to find a path and I should have been filmed to be on Man vs. Wild or something. We turned into human weed-whackers, army-crawling under branches that may or may not have had poison oak/ivy on them. At one point I said, ¨this is ridiculous, I´m taking a picture of you¨
I assure you, this picture does not do justice.
After what felt like hours of looking for a path, we finally found one which led us right to the top of the chairlift, where we were able to ´ski´ our way back to sanity. I am going on a 60 or so km bike ride with him tomorrow morning, so keep your fingers crossed.
It is so surprising the amount of ash on everything here! It is all here from the Volcano in Chile and it still is on everything. Including, now, my hair. So, time to go take a shower and rest my tired legs.
Unil then, Ciao!
Penguins in Puerto Madryn
I´m currently staying at La Tosca Hostel.
Puerto Madryn has such a different atmosphere in comparison to Buenos Aires. But I love it here. I have met a wonderful group of girls who are staying at the same hostel as me and we are all traveling solo! One girl from Australia, one from Holland, one from Germany and one from Wales, who´s birthday was yesterday, so we went out for a delicious dinner last night (The girl from germany was taking the picture).
We started with the ever-so-popular wine of Argentina and then went on to the best ever appetizer I have ever tasted in my entire life.
After that, our meals came, another unbelievably great meal. I cant even explain in words how spoiled I have felt lately.
We even lit a candle and sung happy birthday to Zoey (the girl from Wales)
These girls are all fabulous cooks, they have been giving me recipes and have inspired me sooooo much to cook a lot when I get home! I really hope my inspiration stays with me, I´m almost excited to just to be home so I can start cooking
Earlier that day I went to a colony of penguins on a beach about 180 km from Puerto Madryn. The scenery on the way there wasn´t too spectacular, I hadn´t realized how flat Patagonia is, apparently it all used to be under water as part of the ocean. When we arrived, there were thousands of penguins roaming around everywhere, or hiding in their holes, avoiding the rain.
Most of the penguins didn´t mind if you got pretty close, but we tried to keep some distance not to disturb them too much. It seemed like they were just enjoying life, standing often times with their eyes closed, basking in the sun when it popped out. Who knew penguins liked sun?
In the morning it was really cold and raining pretty hard, luckily later in the day the clouds cleared and the sun came out! A man who lives in puerto madryn was telling me that it is extremely rare for it to rain here. So the first two days I was here, of course it rained 
The cutest part about seeing the penguins was when they walked and did their call. I think it is a mating call, but it was cute none the less.
The rest of the day I went to Gaimen, a small town near Puerto Madryn, which is well known as being a welsh town. Zoey was with me, so she knew a lot about Wales and the welsh culture so she taught me and showed me a ton of stuff! There wasn´t too much in the town besides small parks and a bunch of te and cafe shops.
Well now I am about to walk down the 500 meter pier and hope to see some whales, we will see how my luck is today. Tomorrow at 9:30 pm I am heading to Bariloche, pretty excited for that. Until then, adios!
The Bustling Capital of Buenos Aires
Sorry about being MIA for a few days!
I have used Metros and Subways in a few different places now, yet they always seem to confuse me at least a little. England, Boston, Vancouver… well I had never tried it in a different language before. What a freakin´ challenge. I got off the bus arriving in Buenos Aires, walked about half a mile to the ´Subte´ station, only to realize an hour later, that that was only the A Line station. Each line had their own staion. AGHHH is that normal!!? So I got back on the busy street, walked a few blocks and sure enough there was a green Subte sign rather then a red one (the colors also cordinate with the letters). Knock on wood, but I think I have pretty much got every line down. I have been living on the Subte, It´s ridiculously cheap and half the time people hold the gate open so I don´t even have to pay.
I´ll start with a picture this time…
Buenos Aires is such a different experience from the rest of South America that I have visited. The city, as beautiful as it is, has such a European vibe to it. Besides the language, I don´t even feel like I´m in Argentina anymore. Yesterday I went to the renowned Buenos Aires Sunday markets. They were even bigger than I expected. I would be willing to bet that there were at least a hundred blocks of just one of the markets. Everything from antiques, to clothes, to massive amounts of empanadas, to jewlery and of course, mate (a cup that all of the locals use, everywhere I have been so far, in which they put their herbal leaves and hot water and it has a special metal straw that is used so it doesn´t suck up any of the leftover herb, only the flavor left in the hot water). The markets had such unique things to look at, I could´ve spent hours there… oh wait, I did.
It´s been really nice here in the city but I think if I ever come again, I will bring lots of friends and a party-ready mind set.
There was a big festival going on yesterday, celebrating some sort of Argentina pride.. Sorry I don´t actually know what it was, but there was a big stage with loud music and women dancing.
On Saturday I found a sweet miniature bouldering gym, so I climbed with the locals for a few hours (who can pull seriously hard!!) and before I had walked the shopping streets of the famous Outlet Stores. As I was walking toward the Subte station on my way back to the hostel that day, I looked to my left to see a sign for a Waldorf School. haha! Who woulda thought.
Did I mention that multiple times a day now, people approach me and start speed talking in Spanish, asking me questions? I must be blending in at least a little bit. I even translated for a woman awhile back. She was trying to communicate with an elderly Asian couple who were completely oblivious, so she grabbed my arm, talked a lot, and by the few words I knew (and thankfully numbers) I told them as much as I understood and it all worked out I actually might have told that story already, I can´t remember.
Last night laying in bed, one of my three male roommates (a guy from Taiwan) and I layed in our bunks and talked from midnight to about 4 in the morning. What did we talk about? You name it. Customs in our Countries, experiences, our travels (he lost 2 of his bags and got in a car accident), relationships, family, school, careers. It was funny when he asked about fraternaties and sororities in colleges based on the ´Hollywood Movies´ he had seen. I even learned that in Taiwan it is common for the eldest male son to stay at home with his parents his entire life. This meaning that when he has another family, they all live at his house as well. I wonder what happens when a gay couple gets together and they are both the eldest male son…. Just a thought.
Well, in about an hour I am headed to Puerto Madryn, an 18 hour bus ride to a peninsula south of here, filled with penguins, sea lions, whales and who knows what else! I can´t wait!
Hasta Luego
From Desert Flats to Jungle Cats
Although I sadly did not see a jungle cat, rumor has it there are many jaguars around here. You just have to be lucky to see one. I am here in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, small town of the absolutely amazing Iguazu Falls.
I have been travelling with Sarah, the girl from Australia for about a week now, and as our bus got closer to Iguazu, it was suprising how deep into the jungle we really are here!
Yesterday morning, before heading to the falls, I finally got to do my laundry! I have been in one outfit for about three weeks, so it was about that time. Sarah even lent me all her clothes to wear so that I could wash all of mine. Here I am at the laundry place…
The falls were spectacular, but I wasn´t expecting so much development from humanity. For example there were actual paved paths that led you to the falls. That was a bit of a downer, I was hoping to have to trudge my way through the jungle. Either way, the view was absolutely stunning.
But you really cannot fathom how much water there is until you watch the video (beneath) It is incredible the amount of water that is constantly flowing. All day, everyday.
Here is me and my friend whom I have been travelling with, at the top of the falls, pretty much the closest you can get.
In the jungle the animals are so exotic and they´re everywhere!
One even landed on my shoe- that´s good luck right!??
Had a great night hanging out with the others in the hostel last night and today I´m off to Buenos Aires, Argentina at 5pm!
It Takes Two To Tango
For my last night in Salta, I had quite a good time. Dinner was a different mixture of rice and chicken and after we finished that, about 8 of us hung out in the hostel until around 2 or 3 am. Since Buenos Aires is the capital of Tango dancing, we figured we better get our skills up to par. So Robin, a guy from Amsterdam, pulled up a youtube video, we all grabbed a partner and taught ourselves the Tango, taking up the entirety of the entrance hall to our hostel. It was quite a scene.
There are so many Dutch travellers! And apparently Amsterdam is only a ´drug town´for tourists. The majority of the locals barely partake in any of it… supposedly.
Back at home, a lot of people comment on either the amount of food I can eat, or the fact that I will eat pretty much anything. Last night, the two men from Holland started talking about how they thought it was funny how much I enjoyed all the food in the hostel. Everyone kept complaining about dinner, ´oh the rice isn´t cooked well enough´. ´Ugh, the chicken is too chicken-y´. But I thought it was an absolute delicious feast. This morning at breakfast I was eating with another girl from the States, and right when I said to her, ¨Oh man I just love the breakfast here!!¨ I hear in a dutch accent, ¨of course you do¨. I look around to see my two friends from last night. They started laughing and sat down to eat with us. Hey, at least I´m not picky!
Today at 3:15 my bus to Iguazu Falls takes off. A grouling 20 or so hour bus trip. Luckily I have enjoyed most of the buses so far because simply looking at the scenery passing by is amazing.
TTFN
You´re Never Alone
As worried as I was about getting lonely, being alone and all, the phrase ´solo traveller´should really not ever be used. No matter where I go there is always someone asking if I would like to join his, her or their group on some excursion.
Granted, there are some people that I would rather not spend my entire day with, but going to lunch or the market with someone is always nice.
Funny story from today: so back in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, it was time to pay for the night at a hostel when I suddenly realized I was out of cash. I had no time to go to the ATM and back because I had to catch my bus within the hour. Luckily, a couple from Holland offered to pay for my room as they were planning on walking to town around the same time I was, so I would pay them when we got there. Very nice. We arrive in town to find all 3 ATM´s are ´fuera de servicio´ (out of order). Crap. Alright, should we meet in Buenos Aires? No, they gave me their account number to transfer money. Big hassle, but oh well, no time to worry, gotta catch my bus. The past few days we have been e-mailing back and forth trying to get the transfer to succeed. Today, (3 days later) I was on a walk to the market and I ran into them. YES. We greeted eachother with excited surprise, I gave them the money and we were on our seperate ways again… for now.
Salta, Argentina is a bustling town, but not on Sundays. Every store I have walked past is closed and there is no one on the streets. The 50 meter market was the highlight of the activity today. I did take some pictures of around town though.
Last night´s free dinner was actually really good. It makes me a biut nervous because one of my roommates feels sick today and she also ate it, but I feel A-Okay. So I´m going to try it again tonight and hope for the best. It was rice, some sort of vegetables and chicken:
I walked to the bus terminal today and bought my ticket to Iguazu Falls for tomorrow. The $477 Argentinien Pesos (approx. $100 USD) was the sadest moment of my trip so far. That took a lovely chunk out of my pocket and I know it is only going to get worse the more south I go. Oh well, I´m here and might as well enjoy it for every penny, right?
