My travels with my mom and brother
were incredible. It might just be the
best vacation I’ve ever been on. El
Glaciar Perito Moreno was probably the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen and
Iguazu was maybe even cooler than the first time. The pictures will truly tell
the story of our trip but I’m going to sum it up for you.
Joel and my
mom arrived probably the craziest time they could. It was my last night with my
host mom and so I arrived late to the hostel so they were talking to a man who
spoke very little English for an hour. Woops.
On top of this, they arrived on the night of the largest anti-Cristina
(Argentina’s president) ever. There was
also a garbage strike earlier that week so they were wondering why it stank and
there was garbage everywhere. If this wasn’t
enough, there were power outages in large portions of the city so that people
had started protesting the night before since it was 90+ outside. This included our hostel so that night we had
no air conditioning. However, 3 bus
lines run down our street and these buildings are old marble so the sound
reverberates. The effect was a sound
like a jet liner taking off on our street.
I’m not joking: we had to stop talking when one drove past because we
couldn’t hear each other. It was so hot
though I eventually had to open a window. When I woke up for good in the morning though
I first looked over to see the cords of earplugs hanging out my mom’s ears and
then look at my brother and he is dead asleep with one finger still plugging
his ear. I still can’t believe I didn’t take
a picture.
The
wildness continued through the next day though. It started off hot but in the
afternoon the temperature plunged and it started pouring. Then the subways flooded and we waited out on
a street trying to take any bus back to the house. We were freezing cold and soaking wet in the
rain and had to wait about 45 minutes.
When we finally did get on the bus though, everyone wanted on. I sat on Joel and my mom’s laps and as the
bus took off, three guys in suits start running after the bus. The first one jumps in the open door, hanging
slightly out, the second one somehow grabbed on and was hanging out more and
then the third guy somehow jumps on and is fully out the door and we are
driving down 9 de Julio (aka the widest street in the world). The bus driver is yelling at the guys that it’s
not safe and they’ll die and meanwhile we’re just hysterically laughing. “Welcome to Argentina.” Protests, flooded subways, garbage strike, power
outages, and people hanging out of buses all in the first 24 hours.
The rest of
the tour of Buenos Aires went much more smoothly. We went to the Caminito, the famous street in
La Boca neighborhood. We saw Plaza de
Mayo, famous churches, my host mom’s house, Recoleta Cemetery, Recoleta Fair,
and so much more.
After
Buenos Aires, we went to El Calafate, a cute little town on the edge of a
beautiful lake with mountains in the background. It is also probably the farthest south I’ll
ever be. Further from the equator than
anyone in the continental US. We stayed
in a nice little bed and breakfast run by this extremely nice couple. While here we went to see Perito Moreno
Glacier and even went trekking on it and drank some fresh water off it. It was fantastic and undoubtedly worth
it. The pictures really tell the
story:
We also
rented a car for a day and traveled to El Chalten where we hiked to see an
overlook of Mount Fitzroy. This was also
very beautiful. The overlook was a gorgeous
mountain lake from which you could see other mountains, Mount Fitzroy, and another
glacier. This trek was extremely steep though….huge inclines for the first hour
at least….easy way back though J
Next, we
traveled to Bariloche, the lake district.
And lakes it was! Everywhere was
more and more lakes! We hiked around El
Circuito Chico, took a boat around the lakes to a few ports and went hiking to
see more lakes and waterfalls. The last
day Joel and I went horseback riding at a family-owned ranch.
Feeding the seagulls from the boat!
Our last
stop was Iguazu. I thought Iguazu was a
great site the first time but this time was even better I think. It was different in that this time, there was
much less water and the water was so much greener rather than brown. With less water, there was less mist and we
got some spectacular views of the falls. We also got to go over to the island this
time for more viewpoints and swimming since it wasn’t too flooded. It wasn’t as powerful by any means and the
sound wasn’t as impressive but I was glad to be able to experience it both ways
because they were very unique experiences.
I was so
glad that my mom and brother came. I was
thrilled to have them to travel with me and experience some of what I have been
experiencing for the last four months. I’m
glad they got a view of my life in Argentina and I will now be able to better
share things when I’m home since they can relate. This vacation was definitely a highlight of
my trip to Argentina and I sincerely hope everyone has the opportunity and will
to travel like I have this past year.
You won’t regret it.
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