2/26

Hello all! Hope this post finds all of you well. Yesterday was one of the most spectacular days I have had so far on my trip. Ben and I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed over to meet a bus that took us to "Los Glacieres National Park" in the province on Santa Cruz (which includes El Calafate). The ride to the park was unreal and some of the views along the way were spectacular. It took about an hour to get there from the meeting point, and once we were inside the park we headed to a look out point that faces a massive glacier called el perito moreno. I have never seen anything like it, and the whole time we were at the lookout point giant pieces of the glacier were falling off and making a ton of noise. The glacier moves about 1-3 meters a day, which is extremely rare, most only move that amount in a year.
After about a half an hour we headed back on the bus and drove over to catch a boat that took us across the lake that the glacier sits on. One the other side of the shore we meet a group of guides who fitting us for crampons and gave us a rundown of the days activiites. After about an hour of hikign with the guides we were right at the edge of the glacier. Then, we put on all of our warm clothing and crampons and headed out onto perito moreno. We spent about 4 hours on the actual glacier hiking around, learning about the natural formations, taking photos, and drinking water straight from the streams running through el negro. It was a exhausting, but we had a great time and it was such a cool experience.
Ina few hours we are heading to the airport and flying to Ushuaia, which is in Tierra del Fuego. We are literally heading to the southern most point on Earth other than Antarctica. It should be pretty cold, but its supposed to be one of the greatest treasures on the planet. Can't wait to get there!

Har

2/24

I only have internet connection for a few minutes and it is pretty slow so I only have time for a quick update. Yesterday was a pretty full day of traveling...First thing sin the morning we caught a bus from Porto Natales to El Calafate which took about 4 hours and got us into Calafate around noon. We spent a few hours walking around an enjoying the scenery, and food, then caught another bus to El Chalten. Once we arrived, we met up with Bens cousin Yael and her boyfriend Ted, grabbed some dinner, and made our plans for the next day. This morning, we woke up first thing and headed out on a hike with a couple from Germany, whom Yael and Ted met a few days earlier. The hike wound up being fantastic and took us to a beautiful glacier at the base of Mount Fitz Roy. It took about six hours and there were some trememdous views throughout the trek (check for photos later). After the hike we hung out for a bit and grabbed some food, then hopped on the bus tback to El Calfate which is where were are now. We are scheduled to do some hiking on "El Glacier Moreno" tomororw which is supposed to be amazing, and i will let you know how it goes as soon as I get a chance.


Harry

Galapagos Pics!!!

Hike on first day









Turtle bones and goat bones






There is no zoom on this photo, thats how close we were



Whale bones

some pics...finally

Virgin of Quito

square in old town Quito

Me and the Davis fam at "the crater"

Vista from our hike





Statue at the Equator


Quito

Here is a map so you have an idea of what Im talking about

2/22

The past few days have been full of travel and new info so I will try and catch everyone up.

2/20. On Friday Ben and caught a flight out of Sanitago down south to Patagonia. We landed in Punta Arenas which is a small town just off the west coast of the Strait of Megellan. We got into Punta Arenas later in the day so after we got to our hostel, called Fin Del Mundo (the end of the world), we explored the streets a little and got a fantastic dinner at a local retaurant.

2/21. The next day we walked around some more and checked out the market in the town square. Punta Arenas is pretty small and their entire economy is based around tourism, so basically we were surrounded by other tourists doing the exact same thing as us. In ther afternoon we booked a horseback riding tour of the coast of the Strait. As it turns out, we were the only ones on our tour so we had the entire beach to ourselves the whole time. Over the course of our three or so hours on the horses we did not see a single other person. The views were breathtaking and we got to walk right up to a colony of penguins and watch them from just a few feet away. It was extremely cool and it was amazing to feel so close to the animals in their natural habitat. It´s hard to explain just how beautiful the coast is, it´s almost like a mix of the beaches of Cape Cod, the plains of the North Dakota, the mountains of the Rockies, and the plateaus of the Southwest. It was unlike anything I have ever seen and it far exceeded my expectations. After the tour, our guide took us to his house and had us join him for dinner. We were fortunate enough to be at his house right as the were finishing up grilling fresh goat that they had slaughtered that day. It was delicious and a great chance to try a truly South American dish.

2/22. This morning we took a 9 a.m. bus to Porto Natales which is where I am writting this from currently. Basically we are just killing a day while we wait to catch another bus tomorrow morning. We are about to meet up with some friends in the south of Argentina and do some hiking for a few days. Porto Natales is a staging town for other expeditions and trips in the area so we have seen a ton of other travelers, and even ran into a girl wearing a Michigan sweatshirt (Go Blue!). It is actually gorgeous here and the town is built around a huge lake that sits at teh base of a number of surrounding mountains. We are taking it easy and enjoying our last day in Chile.

It may be a few more days before I have a chance to get to a computer so do not be surprised if I do not post for a little while. I hope everyone is doing well and I miss all of you.

Harry

2/19

Hola. Valpo was great but brief. ben and I spent the day wandering around the streets and enjoying the spectacular views and architecture. After a bit we decided to head over to one of Pablo Neruda´s houses, porbably the most visited and well maintained of all of them, and did a tour. The house was absolutely stunning and there was some great memorabilia. The views from each of the rooms was unbelievable and on there was tons of his poetry placed throughout the house.
That night we caught a bus to Horcon to meet a friend and spent the night at his beach house with him and his cousin. It was really laid back and it was nice to have a rest after the hectic shcedule we have been on for the past couple days. We are now back in Santiago, we have to catch a flight tomorrow afternoon to Punta Arenas, a smallish sized city down south thats supposed to be beautiful. Check back soon.

Harrycito

2/18

Bens entire family left for the states so we finally had some time to do some serious exploring in Santiago. We spent the day yesterday walking all over starting early in the morning. We started off checking out the Chilean National History museum which was right in the middle of the Plaza de Armas which is in the center of downtown. It was pretty cool, but a few parts were being renovated and it was a pain to translate every single description. Then, after getting lost for a bit, we wound up at the museum of modern art. There was a fantastic exhibit on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera that was huge and included some amazing pieces. The museum itself was beautiful and was a really interesting blend of modern and classic architecture. Afrter that we walked across town and took a gondola ride to the top of the city and saw a statue of the Virgin of Santiago. It was enormous, but the heat was a bit much and we quickly took this train type thing to the bottom. After that we grabbed some lunch, walked around a bit more, then headed back to our hotel.
After a brief nap we decided that we had seen what we needed to in Santiago and hopped a bus to Valparaiso, which is where we are now. I am about to go explore the city and try to check out one of Pablo Ñeruda´s houses. Should be a fun day, check back soon for more updates.

-Harry

more Santiago

The wedding on Saturday was a blast and the mixture of Texan Jews and Chilean Christians made for quite an interesting time. The Rabbi would not travel until after sundown, and since that doesnt happen here until almost 9, the ceremony did not start til after 10. It turned out to be very nice and both of the families had a great time getting to know each other.
The party lasted all night and into the morning, the bride and groom did not get home til close to 7 am. I had a blast and met some really great Chileans who offered me some great travel tips. I am still in Santiago, but all of Bens family is going back to the states today, so we are switching into a much more affordable hotel. Looks like we are going to stay in the city for two more days, then head to Vina Del Mar/Valpo for a bit and check out the beaches. More to come soon...

-Harry

Hey everyone! It has been pretty hard to find internet cafes with decent connections, so uploading pictures has been literally impossible. I am hoping that a little later today I will be able to get a few on the blog but who knows if it will work or not.

In the interest of catching everyone up I am going to move on from the Galapagos and just let the pictures do the talking. Needless to say the cruise was amazing and we got to see things that I never could have imagined. The seas were a bit rough, but I had plenty or dramamine and dealt with it just fine.

We had to better part of the 10th, my bday, to explore around Quito some more after returning from the Galapagos so we headed to the Otavalo market about 2 hours from our hotel. The market was huge and had some amazing crafts. I spent close to two hours walking arounds and picking up some gifts for various people (Jillian expect some great stuff). After the market we headed to the airport and caught the redeye to Chile.

We arrived in Santiago on the morning of the 11th and after a serious nap I headed out to meet Adela who is here visiting family. It was a bit of an adventure since her family lives over an hour from Santiago in a barrio called Maipu. After some serious confusion and a few hours Ben and I arrived, and had a great time with Adela and her family. Thet prepared us ahuge lunch and we sat around and talked for a long time. It was great to see her in South America, and her family was incredibly hospitable.

The next day we met up with Bens cousin Lee, who was the reason for our stay in Chile (he got married on Saturday). Lee and some of his buddies took us to a casino, where Ben and I somehow managed to win $700 (American). I have no idea how we pulled it off, but that money is going to be a huge help over the next couple months.

Feb 5th-We woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to airport to catch a flight to the island of Santa Cruz (one of the islands of the Galapagos). We got in mid day and headed directly to our ship, the Legend, and had some lunch. Right away we realized that we were the only young people on the boat, and the average age was somewhere in the late 60´s early 70´s. We felt a little out of place, but we didn´t care, all that mattered was that we were in the Galapagos. Then, we were greeted with a great surprise when we checked into our rooms. Somehow, Ben and I were upgraded from our cabin on the first floor to a suite on the top deck. Obviously we were thrilled and the room turned out to be spectacular, we even had our own deck which provided some remarkable views throughout the cruise. After a little chill time following lunch we were hopped into a small dingy and headed to our first excursion. We started off with some snorkelling that was unlike anything I have experienced. The vast range in habitats offered by the islands provides suitable conditions for all types of animals, so just in the first few minutes of snorkelling we saw all kinds of bright tropical fish and then some penguins jumped in the water and started swimming all around us. It seemed out of place, but the marine life was exceptionally diverse and dense.
After snorkelling we did a light hike just a few feet away. We learned all about the islands and at the end we had an extraordinary view of most of the Galapagos.
I have to head to dinner now but I will add more as soon as I get a chance. Pictures are on their way as well.

Quito

I know it has been a few days since I arrived in South America, but today is the first day that I have actually had the time to find an internet café and actually blog. There is a ton to share with all of you and I do not have enough time for everything, so I´ll give you a break down of the last couple of days.

Feb 3rd- We arrive in Quito at night and the only thing we had the time or energy to do was eat, so we headed to a plaza right by our hotel. Right away we found a tapas restaurant so we decided to sit outside and enjoy some wine and try a number of different dishes. The food was pretty lousy but the wine was great and we were so hungry and tired that it did not really matter.

Feb 4th-We woke up first thing in the morning and met a guide. As soon as we walked out of the hotel we realized that the night before the fog had totally concealed the mountains all around the city. At first sight Quito is a beautiful city sprawled throughout small but lush and gorgeous mountains. We headed directly to the equator which was actually really interesting and we had a great time. There is a giant party of the city that was built around what the Spaniards thought was the equator a long time ago and most tourists believe that this is the true sight of the equator, but our local guide informed us that this was wrong. He then took us to the true location which was identified with gps technology in 1985. The indigenous people of Ecuador have been living in this location for hundreds of years and established their village there because they knew that it was the true division of the northern and southern hemispheres. There is quasi hands on science/indigenous culture museum that was kind of odd but fun and very informative. We had a great time there and did all kinds of equatorial experiments with our guide.
After the equator we drove just a few minutes to check out the largest crater in South America. The view from the top was absolutely spectacular and there is a really cool farming village at the bottom. Ben and I did a great hike to the bottom which was pretty exhausting, but was definitely worth it.
We then headed to a restaurant overlooking the crater called “el crater,” I’m sure you all can figure out what that means. After lunch we went to the old city and visited two of the most famous churches in Quito. We even climbed to the very top of one the bell towers which was actually quite scary since we had to scale ladders that were at a 75% angle and had no safety measure to prevent one from falling hundreds of feet to their death. Once we were at the top we realized it was worth it because it had an unreal view of the whole city, and the architecture of the building was extremely intricate.
After that we went across the city to look at a giant statue of the Virgin of Quito. It was massive and we pretty much had the entire park around the statue to ourselves. After having learned so much about Quito and its religious background, seeing the Virgin was a great way to end the tour.

Sendoff

Today (Sunday Feb 1), we had a small get together at my mom's temporary apartment to celebrate my birthday a few days early and so that I could say goodbye before leaving on Tuesday. We had a great time, and between Jillian (the lovely lady in pink) and Zack (above) there was plenty of entertainment. It was a great sendoff and I can't wait to head out in just a matter of hours.