Scootering around Chiang Mai

Camilla and I left hot and sticky Bangkok for what is possibly hotter and stickier Chiang Mai a couple days ago. Chiang Mai has been on my list of places for a very long time though in fairness it's not the most charming place in SE Asia. It is supposed to be fun, easy to understand, full of people from all over and friendlier than Bangkok. So far all of that is true. Just coming in on our Bangkok Airways flight we met a lovely local, who owns a shop with some beautiful textiles, who gave us a bit of a crash course on the place and everyone we've met has been beyond friendly and nice. (Trust me we met a lot of people today while asking for directions).

We are spending a full 4 days here. Originally that was going to involve a lot of Wats (temples) and elephants. Both have been nixed. Frankly you've seen one Wat and that's a pretty good indication of the others, and we decided scooters were more fun than elephants.

Our first day was a pretty low key one - it was tremendously hot and the most I managed was the very confusing Chiang Mai Historical and Cultural Museum (basically non-thai people lived here first for a long time, then the Burmese invaded, then the Thai took it all back - or something like that. Unfortunately most of it was only in Thai). The only thing my heat addled brain could do after that was go check out the textile store, which turned out to be rather fantastic (Neema Studio) and full of great thai silk and thai designs (a nice alternative to the large amount of hemp and hippie-wear on sale here) and then go sit in aircon and eat a Thai style roti and drink lemon iced tea.

Camilla persuaded me that rather than go home and shower an evening of cooking would be more fun. She was of course right, though I spent a lot of it trying not to lift my arms to high. Then music and meeting people (at a great jazz bar!- North Gate bar), and a tuk tuk ride home, rounded out the day rather wonderfully. Today we decided to get out of town, and after rather useless negotiations with a taxi driver (big ring, big watch, big price) we settled on scooters. Shooting around Chiang Mai for these first time scooter riders was a thrill, but things got really exciting about 50 km out of town. I'll spare you the details, but everyone, and both scooters, made it home safe and sound and in one piece, but just remember to take it slow around steep wet corners. We are not discouraged though, one more day of scootering tomorrow!

Photos!

One night in Bangkok...

Well actually 3 nights, but I hope someone gets the song reference. If you don't go look it up, it's a very catchy tune. Arrived and met up with a new traveling partner, Camilla. We will be doing Thailand, Cambodia, maybe Laos together, before heading over to Burma and meeting even more friends. But for now, we have Bangkok.

This is a great city - full, bustling, best food in the world (in my humble opinion), fantastic new public transport system, and very friendly people. Camilla is a bit horrified but I stop at basically every food stall. It takes us a while to go anywhere because of this. All of it is delicious with your expected noodle dishes, soups, squid eggs and grass jelly. And so much more.

The highlight of the weekend has been Sunday afternoon at Chatuchak Market. Massive and full of everything, from silly tourist things, every day objects, the largest contingency of hipster boutiques I've ever seen (take that San Francisco), and food. We left in the dark and the place was turning into a night market for all the young things of Thailand to come shops.

Pictures below and tomorrow, Chang Mai.

Bagdogra Airport, or goodbye India.

I am sitting in the little, very old, still somewhat communist airport of Bagdogra (Union of Collectivist Workers run the small restaurant). The architecture is crumbling and though they do keep it clean and air conditioned, and that's a lot, it's no brand spanking new Delhi airport. Interestingly both airports have exactly the same very convoluted security checking protocols. Key here is to remember that it's gender segregated and never ever let go of your boarding pass for it will stamped and checked 7 times (counting my printed eticket to get into the airport). Oh and you are not allowed to bring Hand Granads or Marshal Arts Devices on board. Good to know.

Left Darjeeling this morning. Here are a few pictures to close out my time. I'm off to Bangkok.

Two leaves and a bud (and then no more tea references)

Today was the tour of the tea factory with the master tea maker, Sanjay Prakash. It was an education in tea and has made me a bonafide tea snob. This is a bit unfortunate because I'm already a coffee snob, a wine snob, and a water snob. Basically, drinking anything now is just an expensive exercise in hydration or intoxication.

Tea it turns out is as hard to grow and as fickle about 'terroir' as any self respecting vine. I always thought that what really made tea different was how you treated it once it was picked. Obviously that's true, but the underlying taste of tea comes also from how it has been grown and were it was grown and when it was picked. Sound familiar?

Just a couple of pictures today. One of the garden, always full of butterflies.

Why I may never drink coffee again

Today the sky broke clear with a spectacular sunrise at 5 am. I was up to see the sunrise because, like some something out of a misty past, there is a siren that goes off at that hour to wake all the tea pickers up. It echoes around the mountain, across 8 villages and 5,000 or so people. It is followed at 8 by a second alarm letting them know the day's work must start. So odd. So weirdly counter to my modern sensibilities but it seems to be part of the pattern of life here.

For the last 24 hours we seem to have stepped back into time. Into an age where the Raj is still going strong, where all the work is done manually, and to get to the closest town, a mere 40 km away, takes a solid 2 hours of driving over barely there roads. I walked through villages of Gurkhas who have been pickers for 6 or more generations, still picking leaves in the same way and from the same bushes their great-great-great grandfathers were picking from.

Lunch was an "Out of Africa" affair sans Robert Redford, but with the camp chairs and the table cloth by a roaring Himalayan river. (Note to self: come back with a Robert Redford look alike). We ended the day with a walk to a pedestrian suspension bridge built by the British in 1902, and never really updated since. It crosses the Rungdeep river from West Bengal into Sikkim. Apparently one needs a stamp on your passport to get into Sikkim (and with that its just been added to the Bucket list of places to visit), but we waltzed across and meandered through a little 'border' village. Well, waltzed maybe not, it was pretty rickety, with holes and broken boards and therefore scary, though the villagers on both sides use it every day.

By the way, first flush Darjeeling tea, which is served here at Glenburn this time of year, is like sunshine and honey. I have never and will probably never again drink such delicious tea.

Mountains of Tea

We drove first through the flatlands of West Bengal, which are beautiful, at least the little we saw. They, like the mountains of Darjeeling, are full of tea plantations (the substandard stuff according to the driver), betel nut trees (like tall skinny palm trees), and villages of brightly painted shacks. It's poor, that's clear, but its way more fertile than the area around Udiapur. The animals looked fatter and no one seemed to lack water.

The drive from Pheuntsholing (pronounced Pits-huling) to Glenburn Tea Estate takes about 5 hours. 3.5 of those hours are because you are mostly driving on unpaved or very poorly paved one lane roads. It's a fine in the flatlands, just bumpy. It's hair-raising going up and up on the side of a steep mountain at 60 mph, dodging and passing cars going that speed too. Honking here is the auditory equivalent of letting people know you are doing any number of the following things: passing, trying to pass, warning them that you are passing, that you have passed them, that they are in the way and better move over, that they shouldn't pull out because you are clearly driving by, telling them to hurry and just announcing Iyar presence sometimes. Only one driver so far actually used his rearview mirror. I guess why use it in a country where every car announces its arrival behind and around you?

We finally turned off to the estate and I got a bit worried we had a made a terrible decision. The road was optionally paved, less than a car's width wide, and wove between small villages of what must be tea-pickets and the tea plants they pick. It was rainy and intermittently foggy. Had we signed up for some sort of lost faulty towers type adventure and where we going to be trapped in a damp, isolated hell for 3 days? I could probably manage, but my mother? (Sorry Mum)

Fear not! We arrived as the clouds parted (actually parted) to a turn of the century English bungalow. Welcomed by an iced tea and a friendly face and shown into a fantastic and adorable room. I feel like I'm in a tropical version of England, which is want the Brits who worked this plantation must have felt they lived in when they were hear. This place is Raj-ostalgia to the highest degree and its fabulous.

Leaving Bhutan

I thought I would put up a post about our time in Bhutan. So many picture were taken that I can only put a very small percentage up on the site. We saw some wonderful things and have both left enamored by the culture and, though we were warned otherwise, by the food. Bhutan is set to change rapidly and probably radically as it continues to open up to the world. If you can go, go now.

Today we said goodbye to our guide and the peace and quiet of Bhutan and dived head first into the chaos of India. Quite the shock to the system after the Buddhist reserve to arrive in the frankly dirty and chaotic border town of Jaigon. After a fun half an hour getting all the appropriate stamps from the appropriate authorities we headed off into West Bengal to Darjeeling. We could have, by the way, just left Bhutan and entered India without anyone the wiser. It was only our attentive guide, and my realization we would have trouble leaving India if we lacked an entry stamp, that reminded us that checking in with the authorities was probably a good idea. The process in India obviously took longer, but I think that's because the poor guy sees so little activity he wanted to stretch it out and chat with us.

Pictures are of (1) road side stupas and Buddha, (2) the meditation room at the Zhiwa Ling hotel, (3) the hotel's carved and painted columns, (4) our guide being served Ara, (5), Mum and the local pig food, (6) textiles, (7) the national sport, archery, (8) only for tourists because no one can eat the food with as much spice as the Bhutanese, (9) a Hornbill, very lucky spot, (10) Mum and Kelsang at the final temple in Pheunstholing.

Dzongs, Abbots, and Ara

Bhutan is a tiny country wedged between much, much bigger ones. All the guidebooks compare it in size to Switzerland, but Switzerland isn't abutting an unfriendly China who a few years back casually annexed a nice little chunk of the northern mountains because "it used to belong to China". And by "used too", they mean sometime in the last 4000 years. I might be the only person who finds such geopolitical dynamics interesting so let's just jump to the sights, smells and booze of Bhutan. Oh fine, one more tidbit, the border with Tibet is closed. No going in or out, though Tibetans if they make it here can become Bhutanese. This is otherwise difficult to do - at least that's what I understand. Okay, okay, I'm done!

Yesterday was probably our favorite day - the weather cooperated, the sites where fascinating. We saw the 108 memorial stupas, the Punakha Dzong, the Fertility Shrine dedicated to what I can only describe as the cult of the penis, and wandered through a village where we acquired (buying it is illegal) some locally made sake-type wine called Ara. Our timing was perfect, for when we arrived at the Dzong we got to watch from above the chanting of a 100 monks celebrating an auspicious day in Bhutan, with the lead abbot (i.e. Bhutanese Pope) leading the whole affair. (No pictures allowed though).

Today we had to deal with rain and lots of it. Cold and rainy, ugh, but cold and rainy and terrible hotel the night before, does not a happy mother-daughter team make. Last night was the only wrong note in our trip so far. We had heard horror stories about Bhutanese food but frankly I've found it good. Not, Thai-level good, but tasty, varied, and healthy. Last night was why those horror stories exist.

Anyhow, after heading out early, we arrived in Thimpu, the capital. It's not the most attractive city in the world, but as far as new, developing country, city-on-the-up-and-up go, it's pretty damn clean, nice, and quiet. By law all the buildings must retain some trappings of the Bhutanese style, which looks homey and attractive on the farm houses and in the villages, but looks a bit heavy handed on five story buildings. That said, I think this is much nicer than a city filled with anonymous cement blocks that you find everywhere else.

We went to the oldest Dzong in the country on the outskirts, then the central market, then the main government Dzong. While standing in the pouring rain we saw... The King! Us, a handful of other tourists, and a few Bhutanese all waited by the temple entrance as he came with his ministers to celebrate the anniversary of the death of the founder of Bhutan. As my mother put it, "we saw the top three people in Bhutan - the King, the Abbot and the Prime Minister". Cool. (Again, no pictures).

On a more interesting cultural note, since today was a special and very auspicious day, we also saw many Bhutanese in their Gho and Kira (traditional clothes) walking to and from temples. Some had miles to walk in the pouring rain. It was rather picturesque and special to witness.

I'm done yammering on, now pictures.

Legends

Up and up and up we went into the clouds today to the holiest temple in Bhutan. Called the Tiger's Nest it is the location of a small but very important temple dedicated to Guru Rimpoche, the man who brought Buddhism to Bhutan sometime in the 8the century. The temple itself was built in the 16th century and, amazingly, completely rebuilt 10 years ago after a fire destroyed most of the buildings. Apparently the cognoscenti of the world helped to fund the reconstruction of the temple, including Seattle's own Gates Foundation. ​

All that is nice but what's really fascinating is that it's built in a tiny ledge on a tall cliff, and its as evocative and mystical as you imagine it to be. Appropriately no pictures are allowed inside the temple, which is lovely for everyone including us tourists. Magically we sat on the floor of one of the smaller temple rooms and listened to a group of Bhutanese and Taiwanese chanting. They chanted completely different mantras, mixing the deep throated vibrating Dzongha (the Bhutanese language) chanting with the furious and repetitive Mandarin of the Taiwanese. All in a cloud of insense and butter candle smoke.

The afternoon was spent at a ruined Dzong (monestary-fortress) built by the uniter of Bhutan and at a local farm where I tasted Butter Tea. I have a secondary bucket list comprised of things I'm curious about but would be fine not discovering. It's mostly food items and Butter Tea was on it. Strangely tasty, very rich, definitely I-hike-mountains-to-survive food. The highlight was the snack of popped and friend rice served like finger food. Crunchy and moorish.​

More photos to come. I've finally encountered some technical problems I can't easily resolve 

A sunrise, or back to business

Yesterday was a sad day.

We had arrived the night before in Agra from Jaipur, and though I'd heard horror stories about Agra from friends who'd been, I actually found it a nice change of pace from the bustle of a government town like Jaipur (seat of the Rajasthan state government). After a visit to Fahtepur Sikri, an 15th century abandoned palace complex, we had a night booked at the Oberoi Amervillas. Our room had an unimpeded view of the Taj which made me realize that I'm actually on a honeymoon... with my mother. Hmmm.

The next day, after a short wait in mosquito infested air to get through the gate (note: bathe in bug repellent before heading out), we rushed in to a breathtaking sight as the sun rose over the Taj. I was all prepped to be let down by the Taj - there are just too many superlatives that come with a description of the place. Nope. It's as amazing, peaceful, imposing, fragile, exceptional, and as beautiful as all the guidebooks, magazines, tourists (now me) gush.

We also went to the Red Fort of Agra later the same morning. As the Taj is beautiful, the Red Fort is fascinating. Akbar, Shah Jehan and his crazy, cruel son. Fun stuff.

Before I post the pics a few thoughts on my experience in India so far, especially since arriving in Bhutan. My lasting feeling about India, after one day away, is of noise, dust, yellow, red, smiles, horns and honking, dilapidated buildings, respect, corruption, sad, modern, and very very happening. There are way too many people but everyone knows that. Driving there makes any other countries I've been driven in (cause lets be honest here, I'm way too western to drive anywhere other than a small handful of countries) seem like the picture of germanic rule following.

One thing really sticks with me though - people are very optimistic about the future but no one, and I mean no one, seems to trust that the government will get it right and they all believe that corruption is a way of life in India. "They" being the ones I met. I found that dispiriting. But then again this doesn't seem to stop anyone from rushing forward. Exciting too.

Enough of me and my opinions. Pictures!

Hidden Kingdom, or oh so quiet.

Woke at 2 am for the 5 am Druk Air flight from Delhi to Paro, Bhutan. That's early and a good reminder that travel can be unpleasant sometimes. The flight itself was lovely, and though Mt Everest was overcast (I was imagining terrible storms) I still got my first glimpse of the Himalayas (Bucket list item, checked).

Unfortunately the weather is not cooperating but regardless it's been a fantastic first day. First thing that hits you is the reigning silence and cleanliness of the whole place. The air is delicious, even in town. I think I heard one horn all day. Wonderful. Cold though - I packed for tropics and deserts, oops.

Our guide picked us up and we headed straight for the museum and Paro Dzong (the monastery where they filmed parts of the movie Little Buddha), followed by a visit to a much smaller temple, and finally our hotel. There are apparently other tourists here but the only places I've seen them are in the airport and at the hotel. What a contrast and a relief after India. Bhutan has rather strict controls on tourism. First off its expensive, backpackers are categorically not allowed, all tourists must come through a tour group and use a local guiding group, you must either fly in or fly out, not simple border crossing here, and you must spend a minimum amount per day (that gets you a hotel and guide) of around $350 dollars. The return on investment? So far being a tourist here feels very personal, like you booked the whole country just for yourself. The highlight was a solo wander with our very well informed guide inside the inner rings and upper floors of a small Bhutanese stuppa. Just us, a lot of butter candles, fantastical wall paintings. No pictures of that, though. Which is frankly a good idea, let holy places be holy.

Las fotos.

Boston.

Seems silly to post something about the trip. Strange to be in India and so far away from the States on a day like today. My thoughts are with all the people who participated in and cheered on the Boston Marathon.

Jaipur, or the second part of the Golden Triangle

Yesterday was a sad day, but lets keep moving. It's the best way to win.

We drove from Jaipur to Agra the night before, and though I'd heard horror stories about Agra from friends who'd been I actually found it a nice change of pace from the bustle of a government town like Jaipur (seat of the Rajasthan state government). After a visit to Fahtepur Sikri, an 15th century abandoned palace complex, we arrived at the Oberoi Amervillas. Our room had an unimpeded view of the Taj which made me realize that I'm actually on a honeymoon... with my mother. Hmmm.

The next day, after a short wait in mosquito infested air to get through the gate (note: bathe in bug repellent before heading out), we rushed into a breathtaking sight as the sun rose over the Taj. I was all prepped to be let down by the Taj - there are just too many superlatives that come with a description of the place. Nope. It's as amazing, peaceful, imposing, fragile, exceptional, and as beautiful as all the guidebooks, magazines, tourists (now me) gush.

We also went to the Red Fort of Agra later the same morning. As the Taj is beautiful, the Red Fort's history is fascinating. Akbar, Shah Jehan and his crazy, cruel son. Fun stuff.

Before I post the pics a few thoughts on my experience in India so far. India (warning ahead: tres cliche) is a place of emotions and senses and these are mine: noise, dust, yellow, red, brown, smiles, horns and honking, dilapidated buildings, respect, corruption, sad, modern, and very very happening. There are way too many people but everyone knows that. Driving here makes any other countries I've been driven in (cause lets be honest here, I'm way too western to drive in any country where the lines on the road are optional) seem like a model of German efficiency and rule following. I'm not saying anything new here, of course, but damn if it isn't mind-blowing to us tidy, rule-obeying North American drivers.

Many things I will not forget, but one really sticks with me - people are very optimistic about the future but no one, and I mean no one, seems to trust that the government will get it right, they all believe that corruption is a way of life in India. "They" being the ones I met. I found that dispiriting. Is balanced out, for me at least, with how much is going on. This is not a place that feels sorry for itself. Unlike a unhealthy chunk of Europe.

Enough of me and my opinions. Pictures!

Udiapur

After dreams of James Bond (pleasant) breakfast was deliciously decadent and eaten on the edge of the lilly ponds outside in the morning sun. We are doing the traveler thing of eating a big breakfast and skipping lunch, which means I get to indulge in my favorite meal of the day. Today was dedicated to discovering Udiapur though we really only saw just a little of what I imagine is really here. The town is small by Indian standards, only 500,000 people yet, as one would expect, so densely populated it feels much more than that. I think the moment of the day I'll always remember is watching the traffic of motorcycles, auto rickshaws, and cars dodge and weave around a women walking through the main roundabout with her 4 donkeys calmly and slowly making their way behind her. No rope to guide them, they knew they had to follow and they were completely unfazed by the noise and speed of the traffic.

On a more touristy note we visited the City Palace (fabulous), the Crystal Gallery in the H.R.H hotel owned by the Maharana, and a lovely garden which had been the ladies garden. As we visited the Crystal Gallery our guide reminded me that there is a No Reservation where Anthony Bourdain is a guest of the Maharana. It's a good one, go watch it. As for what is the Crystal Gallery? It's a whole floor of custom made crystal items (decanters, cups, beds, sofas, etc etc), thousands of pieces, ordered by a Maharana in the late 19th century and never used. Strange and lovely and unfortunately not photographed by me. That said enjoy the snaps.

La prochaine étape, or my first time in India

If you've already been to India you will have to bear with my momentarily cliched reaction to this country. We've (will get back to who the "we" is shortly) arrived exactly two days ago and I'm in full run-of-the-mill awe of this place. Both modern India, which we caught fascinating glimpses off in Delhi, and the "oh my god is that a monkey/cow/man-with-way-to-much-on-his-motorcycle?" India really do live side by side. So far it's been beautiful, fascinating, sad, and delicious. I am sure that by the end both my suitcase and I will be, shall we say, closer to the intra-Asia airline weight limit than when we arrived.

The "We" is my mother and me. When I started planning this mid life travel escapade I mentioned to her that I would be stopping by India. A small trip to Darjeeling and maybe Delhi to see friends became a fabulous three week Grand Tour à la Byron (or rather more a la Henry James, I am traveling with my mother after all) because she has never been and we decided this was a great time to come. I was not going to say no to this.

Below are some of our first pictures. There are already about a thousand more, a record for me. The highlight is that we are starting our two nights in Udiapur, staying at the Lake Pichola Palace. Octopussy was filmed here. That is obviously very important, though of course there is a fascinating actual history to the place, but unless I go out and buy myself a vintage 1960s Austin Martin, ride it with the top down at dangerous speeds, and maybe install an injectable front sea, staying here is the closest I'll get to being a Bond Girl and frankly that rocks my world.

Enjoy.

(Places visited: Delhi - Juma Masjid, Red Fort, Gandhi's Memorial, Humayun's Tomb, Sikh Gurdwaras, Qutub Minar. Udiapur: just the hotel)

Prep work, the unpractical kind

Obviously, traveling requires some planning. Instead of reading guide books, travel websites, and all other assortments of things-one-should-do-before-setting-out-on-a-four-month-trip, I decided to make business cards. Such a nerd, I can hear you saying. Well yes, but so much easier to share your contact information with people you meet which I found to be something you do when you travel. And whatever, I also wanted something to help me pretend I'm doing something more than, well, not very much of anything.

Made at tinyprints.com. They did a good job, me thinks. 

Almost there

Departure is April 8th. Destination is, well, a whole lotta of Asia. ​

First Visa acquired is below!​

A painful process completed

Home sweet home, and a recap of Argentina

Gratuitous Picture of my self. Cause this was a solo trip.

Made it home so now its time for the trip recap. I'm going to post a few more pictures and provide you all with a list of the places I stayed, food I ate and resources I used. ​

​As with most travel, my three weeks in Argentina and little side trip to Chile, have among many other things, given me a desire to see more of both countries. I heard so much said about the north of Argentina that I've added a bunch of places to my list that I didn't know exited - Salta, Quebrada de Humahuaca, Jujuy Province. And some places I had heard of but now are must sees - Mendoza and the road to Santiago over the Andes. Chile is a whole land of possibilities too and it would take too long here to describe what I'd like to see, suffice it to say it would take much longer than 3 weeks.​

I don't have a favourite so I'll just head off that question. Each spot had beautiful things about, and as usual with travel, less pleasant aspects. Overall I found the people I interacted with to be charming and welcoming. It obviously helped that I speak Spanish (badly) but even with that, its a country that can be traveled quite easily with English. 

What guide books did I use? Only one - Fodor's Argentina (2012). Decent with some information being outdated. Guide books, though, are just an introduction. Most of the best information I got from local sources as you'd expect.​

Here is a little description of each place with details of hotels and restaurants.

Bariloche/Villa La Angostura/El Bolson - Villa Huinid. Friendly, simple but with touches of luxury. I didn't use the spa spending all my days outside. It caters to big groups of Argentines, Brazilians and families. The hotel is about a mile outside of Bariloche, which is a good thing. Bariloche isn't the most charming place so all the best spots are a mile or so down the road towards Llao Llao. The food in the restaurant, which I hit up twice because I was too tired to head into town a couple of nights, was good with a great wine selection.

Best food in Bariloche was ​Alto de Fuego. Delicious, friendly, beautiful spot. Just read the TA reviews. 

Favourite Spot in Bariloche: The overlook at Villa Traful. The sun cooperated and it was an unexpected find. ​​

Next stop was Torres del Paine. I had a day of travel between Bariloche to El Calafate with a stop over in BA which let me visit the Recoleta Cemetery. ​

Torres del Paine was extraordinary and no one has to do it the way I did. There are a few other places to stay there that are very nice and much less expensive (Hotel Las Torres, or the refugios in the park). Anyhow, here is where I stayed - Hotel Explora​. It was FANTASTIC.

One of my favourite picture: ​

After Torres del Paine, I went back to El Calafate and saw the Glacier. That was a trip and a wish long desired. Now here is where my plans changed from what was expected. Thanks to a tip from a lovely couple I left El Calafate to El Chalten and the Hosteria El Pilar. ​This place was a gem. ​

Now I'm home. Next stop: India and Bhutan starting on April 8th. Stayed tuned!​

Click here if you want to see the full album on Google+ (all 700 pictures, yikes!)​

El Chalten, Fitzroy and the cat of Hosteria El Pilar

Though I promised no more pictures of hiking adventures, I'm afraid I lied. In compensation, I will condense my three days in El Chatlen into one post too ease the boredom. That said a condensed post in no way reflects the pleasure of the three days I spent here. I heard about la Hosteria El Pilar from two guests at Explora and decided I had to go. They described it as a cute, hidden little house nestled in the mountains about 15 km from the tiny frontier town of El Chalten, and more importantly as their favorite spot in Patagonia. Lucky for me they had space for two nights (which turned into three it was so lovely). Didn't hurt that I discovered on my first morning that they had an adorable house cat called Coca.

El Chalten itself is a rather interesting place. It is Argentina's youngest town, created in 1985 to settle a bit of a border dispute with Chile. The town is in a national park which is a bit strange and was created so that the state could claim to have citizens living in an area that Chile was claiming as its own. Seems that Argentina won this particular border dispute, though I honestly don't know the whole story. I can tell you however that when you drive too and from Chile to go to Torres del Paine you have to drive through a sort of 8km bumper zone between the two countries. As to who actually manages this area I have no idea, but you could see that there were working farms in the 8 km area. Clearly, the two countries haven't finished this dialogue over who owns what yet.

The places to see in El Chalten are many but the stars of the show are the Cerro Fitzroy and the Cerro Torre. I got lucky on the first day and I got to the base of Cerro Fitzroy about an hour before the crowds from Chalten arrived and had the place to myself. The next day, another very long hike to reach the Cerro Torre but it was as they say here 'tapado', or hidden in clouds. Still a beautiful hike. Ended with dinner in the town at La Cerveceria and a late night pick up from the staff at the Hosteria.

Off today to Buenos Aires via El Calafate. Patagonia was everything I thought it would be and more.

Glacier hiking, or my first mate was on a glacier.

Bucket list item number... oh whatever I'm loosing count but you get the idea. One more checked off. This was accomplished by headed to the Perito Moreno glacier yesterday for what the excursion agency had called the "Big Ice" hike. They actually had an age limit could so that even if you are fit 51 year old, no glacier hiking for you. I am always a bit suspect of the age/health limits on these outings but I will say that this one may have been warranted. I made the wise choice to join the Spanish speaking group when we arrived since the majority of people where English speakers. Our group turned out to be small, gregarious and fast moving. A wise choice.

The star of the day is the obvious beauty and scale of the glacier. The Perito Moreno is one of the smallest in the area but its very accessible. It is part of the huge 300km long Patagonian ice field that lies kind of on top of the Chilean and Argentinian border. Go check it out on Google earth and be amazed. It's the third largest body of frozen fresh water in the world. The highlight was sharing the traditional mate tea with two lovely Argentinian women who clearly couldn't go two hours without a refill. Tasty and memorable.

Ended with a glacier ice whiskey on the boat back. Las fotos.

​I"m on a damn GLACIER!

​Glacier ice whiskey. Yum