Update

We are alive and well heading to La Paloma, Uruguay today. After Puerto Piramides we spent a week in Buenos Aires where we celebrated my birthday and there is obviously so much to write about Bs.As. that I,ve been avoiding it. From there we went to Concordia, Arg - Salto, Uruguay - Montevideo, Uruguay - Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay y now we,re at the bus station waiting for our buses to La Paloma. We have two more laid back beach stops in Uruguay before heading into Brazil, a land where they speak Portuguese. I have "bloggers block" as Nate says but will start writing again soon.

The Southern Right Whale

What was once a town of 2,000 inhabitants over 100 years ago is now a dwindled population of roughly 400 souls. When salt was a commodity the town thrived but you would never know it. No historical evidence remains except for the foundation of the train that would transport the salt down to the foundation of the pier that can only be seen at low tide. Now, the one road town which you can walk from one side to the other in 15 minutes is half trailer park half up and coming tourist destination and at this stage in it´s development it is simply wonderful. We walked down the end of the road still being laid with bricks and it turned into beach. We walked across the beach which paralleled the road across town in search of the advertised ¨huge campground, which I assume is jam packed during the warmer months but this time of year just looked like half vacant lot half sand dune. We wandering through some tiny, tiny campers which were all in use and into a guy who said we could camp anywhere we liked and that it was free! We set up, excited to have our first opportunity to use the new tent and fell asleep under the stars.

We awoke with the sun, ate breakfast as the gas station (they love their gas stations in Argentina) and were going to walk to a sea lion colony when I expressed interest in going on a whale expedition. For 120 pesos ($30USD) I pushed us to go. Donned in our winter gear and Expedition Company poncho y life jacket we waddled our way to the beach and onto the boat. For now, the tour companies all agree that to have less impact on the environment they don´t want to build a pier so they have tractors haul the boats in and out of the water all day. The shoreline, once underwater a million years ago, is filled with fossils and living ecosystems and the water remains a clear blue green. Our expedition out to sea was worth every peso. We saw the sea lion colony we were going to walk to along with lots of birds, seals playing and leaping out of the water and then lots and lots of Southern Right Whales...

and now a break for some fun facts: (I was so enthralled by the day that I hung onto every heavily accented english word that came out of our guides mouth - I swear I could have gave the next tour.) Named so because they were the ¨right¨whales to hunt and kill, they would swim right up to the boats and stay afloat after they were killed. The population had dwindled until they were considered endangered and it became illegal to hunt them. Now, their numbers are up to 20,000 and they continue to be protected by law. Due to markings on the head and body that they are born with they are able to identify, number and track each whale. Unfortunately they are also able to identify them by big holes being eaten out of their backs by seagulls who for some reason have recently become the whales only predator with this behavior. The presence of seagulls have caused the whale to position itself differently when above water with just it´s head and tail sticking out while it arches it´s back under the water. When they are not occupying Antarctic waters the population of 20,000 divides and make the journey to 3 different breeding grounds - south of Australia, off the west coast of Sud Africa y h ere, in the Golfo Nuevo off of Puerto Piramide. The same whales return to the waters they were born in. Babies are born early in the season (June because we saw them!) and come December they leave with their mothers to return to Antarctic waters. When it´s time to return a year later this is the last journey the baby will make with it´s mother. She will let her baby go after a year of showing it how to survive and the way to and from the breeding grounds. It will travel alone for the majority of it´s lifetime.

...Everywhere we looked there was at least 3 whales in view, easily spotted by sprays of mist, splashes from jumping out of the water, an elegant cola, or just a black floating island. We stood in the front with the wind whipping at our faces the entire time and loved it. For 2hrs we cruised along the coast from whale to whale, it was an amazing experience in a beautiful place. I wanted to stay another night and go out again tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon until the shuttle back to Puerto Madryn was spent walking down the other end of the road until it too turned into beach. Even from there you could see the whales from afar and I yearned to go back out again. We waited around at the gas station until it was time to board the bus. As I sat there and observed the close group of family y friends keeping the owner company I began to think that this wouldn´t be a bad place to live.

No Sleep ´til Puerto Piramides

We awoke early and starred out the window overlooking the end of the earth for a while waiting for the shuttle to Rio Grande to come pick us up. When it finally came we walked out into the deep snow, climbed into the van and anticipated another wild ride. The daylight brought the scenery and we were able to see what we couldn´t 2 nights prior. Snow covered forests (finally, trees!) lakes, steep cliffs we could have easily sailed off of all came into view. They made one stop in Tolhuin at this excellent panaderia which sold delicious empanadas y rows of popular South American pastries. 3.5hrs later we were back in Rio Grande only to discover that the bus to Puerto Madryn didn´t leave until 8:30 the next morning. We bought our tickets and walked ten icy, icy blocks to the cheapest hostel in this drabby town. Since there was nothing to do we found the grocery store and bought dinner for later, seven 40´s of beer, preceded to get drunk for the rest of the afternoon and passed out wicked early.

After waking up at 3AM since we passed out so early the night before, we waited around until a reasonable time to walked the 10 icy, icy blocks back to the bus station. 8 hours later and one much calmer ferry ride back we arrived in Rio Gallegos. We sat around, observed all the street dogs that were running around the place, used the internet and kept ourselves somewhat busy until our bus left at 20:15. 20hrs, 3 meals and 3 movies later we arrived in Puerto Madryn. Our destination was actually Puerto Piramides, a nature reserve famous for being a breeding ground for the Southern Right Whale on a peninsula 1.5hrs Northeast of Puerto Madryn and as soon as we got off the bus we decided we would go right then. We bought tickets to Puerto Piramides, used the ATM, threw our bags onto the collectivo and hoped on the bus right before it pulled away at 16:00.

World´s End - Ushuaia, Argentina

A half hour later we found a cute hostel at the top of a hill that overlooked the town, the mountains and the Beagle Channel. A private room with a window for a wall we pulled the mattresses off the bunks and slept on the floor. A cat would often frequent my lap as well. Our only day at the end of the earth was spent like any other. Excursions to Puerto Williams or to Parque National Tierra del Fuego were unfortunately too expensive so we entertained ourselves. We walked to a cemetary that was unlike any other in South America. Covered in snow with no walkways to visit the graves we basically walked down an unshoveled stairway which acted more of a shortcut through town than a sight to see. We walked around town, investigated bus tickets, ate food and enjoyed the fact that we made it here. That night the wind howled against the house and in the morning we headed North.

Journey to World´s End

Our final southbound bus was the most interesting yet. First, we drove through at least 500 sheep being herded down the road by gauchos. Second, the bus drove onto this huge ferry to cross the Magellan Straight to get to Tierra del Fuego which I had forgotten about freaked out about sinking for a second. Bound to get sick if we sat on the bus we went out on the viewing deck to watch as we plowed over rough water and huge waves. It was windy and beautiful and as the captain changed course the waves hit broadside and sprayed us with a sheet of salt water. Thinking it was fun, or perhaps from having bus fever we stayed up there and were soaked before we knew it. It was a damp rest of the way. At our connection in Rio Grande Nate began talking to another American couple who have been fortunate enough to have been sailing around the west coast of the America´s for the past three years - Alaska, down to Ecuador for a year, out to Easter Island and are now traveling around South America. Somehow they still haven´t learned Spanish though which surprised me. They were nice and joined us on the final leg of the journey to Ushuaia, the supposed southern most city on earth even though 4 more towns are on the map south of here. And what a wild finale it was. Armed with a little collectivo and what we hoped was an experienced driver we drove right into a huge snowstorm. Over unpaved windy dirt roads, through thick sideways blowing snow and with 1ft visibility< /span> in front of us this guy was cruising down the roads, passing people, hitting the breaks just in time, sliding around - it was wild and crazy and fun even though we should have been fearful for our lives. We arrived unharmed and were left to hike around through town in the middle of the night in a snowstorm searching for a cheap hostel.

Punta Arenas, Chile

The morning after Torres del Paine it was snowing! It was beautiful and quite in the streets and a dog immediately ran up and escorted us to the bus station. The 2.5hr bus ride through more wide open spaces went quickly and before long we could see the deep blue of the Magellan Straight. Unfortunately the only cheap hostel in town was a bit of a hike over icy, icy sidewalks but worth the risk once we got there. They had a dog, a cat, a family and a stove right outside our muy cute room. The man was very nice and it was the first time we left the door unlocked (mainly to let the heat in.) The town is wedged between the Magellan Straight and a hill which we walked up for the view. The next morning it was snowing again and continued to snow all day. It´s beginning to throw me off and I get excited for Christmas and think a lot about memories of the holidays at 355 Timber Rd. for some reason... it being Sunday there was nothing to do except walk around this beautiful 4 block cemetery which by looking at the tracks in the snow had already seen quite a bit of visitors that morning. Graves here are much like their houses - painted with bright colors, adorned with fake flowers, curtains, gates, pictures and various religious knick-knacks. It´s beautiful and sad all at once. The town was quite and pleasant and our last stop before the world´s end.

Torres del Paine

Up and ready before Nate´s new alarm clock had a chance to go off we were picked up before sunrise. When we were dropped off 12hrs later we had spent the entire day being driven around in the backseat of a van. The morning was spent driving through beautiful snow-dusted haciendas and mountain ranges. We made one stop at a big shallow cave that had been carved out by an extinct glacier lake. There was also some ridiculous historical claim that a giant sloth was held captive there as well but I wasn´t buying it. They did let you walk all the way back into the unlit depths though which was neat. We didn´t get to the park until early afternoon and by then the other 2 couples and our tour guide had made fast friends and shared at least 2 rounds of cafe. We sat contently in the back looking out at the countryside while they chatted and laughed. The guide was great and would point out wildlife and stop for photo opts whenever we wanted, probably a benefit of being here in the off season. Though it was a beautiful, sunny day once in the park thee mountains to see were unfortunately hidden in the clouds and didn´t show their face all day. Although this was what I was most excited to see I wasn´t terribly disappointed as the day was really pleasant and everything we were seeing was so beautiful. (You should stop reading and google image this park right now, it´s amazing.) We drove slowly and thoroughly along the only road through the park stopping at a waterfall at the foot of thee mountains and then at this incredible lookout. A Caribbean blue lake was at the foot of thee said unseen mountains with an island in the middle of it. On this island was the Hosteria Pehoe and for $285.00 US you can stay there for a night, and on a clear day & night would be worth every penny - I´m surprised it´s not more expensive. The last stop on the tour was the end of Lago Grey. At the other end of the lago is Glacier Grey and where we stood on the black sandy beach more surreal blue icebergs had floated their way down. Had we not saw the Perito Moreno Glacier a few days before we would have been more in awe. We finally all piled back in the van for the last time and drove home after the sun had set. It took listening to all 4 Rilo Kiley albums to get home where happy and exhausted we crashed and fell asleep.