Mopeds and Maté

Uruguay just earned itself an A+ on our list. It is a beautiful country filled with mellow, laid back folks who are so kind and giving. Uruguay is relaxing no matter what you’re doing. Even if you try to get yourself worked up over something, the good people of Uruguay just won’t let you. We were shocked to discover that even in Montevideo we heard only one horn honked all day. That is quite a change from the usual symphony of horns heard during all hours of the day and night here in Santiago. Uruguayans are obsessed with maté—they drink it all day every day! Rarely did we see someone without the mate gourd in hand and the hot water thermos crooked in the arm. The other thing they are obsessed with in Uruguay is mopeds. Everyone drives them. Everyone. We saw every combination of passengers imaginable…from little old white haired ladies in their church clothes riding doubles on a dirt bike to family members stacked 4 deep (kids safely sandwiched between the parents of course)! We saw one or two fancy motorcycles, but for the most part they range anywhere from decent dirt bikes to the sad old mopeds that whine loudly and need a little push to make it uphill. I commented to Brett that the only thing I hadn’t seen yet was a dog on a bike, and then sure enough, puttering down the highway came a guy with a medium sized dog in the front basket. That was it…we saw everything.

Tango madness

Last Tuesday we found ourselves wondering what we should do with the rest of our summer vacation. We looked online for good deals on airfares and at 1:30 we booked a couple of tickets to Buenos Aires. By 2:00 we were locking up the apartment and heading out for a week of fun in the Argentine sun! We both fell madly in love with Buenos Aires, as I imagine most visitors do. The architecture is amazing, and from the narrow little streets we looked like the typical tourists with our noses pointed directly up in the air, ogling the design and character of the old buildings. We crammed everything we could into our first few days. We visited the famous Recoleta Cemetery (which was amazing), toured through grand cathedrals, visited phenomenal museums that were chalk-full of pieces from Monet, Manet, Renoir, El Greco, Picasso, van Gogh... the list goes on and on! I've also wanted to visit Uruguay since we got to South America, so after some serious campaigning, I convinced Brett to board a high speed ferry to Uruguay, where we ended up staying for 3 days.


We returned for one final day in Buenos Aires. We spent some time being seriously entertained at the San Telmo Sunday Fair, where street performers pack the streets and antique vendors push their goods. We checked out a neighborhood called La Boca, which is famous for its super colorful buildings and sidewalk cafes where tango dancers perform all afternoon. The band pictured below was performing on the street in San Telmo. They were incredible musicians who drew a huge crowd. It was inspiring to see funky young musicians putting a new twist on the tango scene.


For our last night, we splurged on a tango show which was worth every penny. We weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to Buenos Aires yet, so we hunted down a little Spanish tapas bar that had been promoting its Sunday night Flamenco dancer. Brett loved this damp, dark little basement bar…I think he was feeling very reminiscent of his travels in Spain. The two flamenco dancers were absolutely unbelievable. We have no immediate plans to return to Buenos Aires, but we’re already looking forward to our next trip there, whenever it may be!

Torres del Paine

Los Cuernos--"The Horns" and The Nelsons in front of the Towers

Glacial Views and a Wind-stunted tree on a still day

Admiring the bright blue waters and our top notch campsite



Hiking in Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia is something that Brett and I have been looking forward to since we arrived in Chile. There are several different options for hiking there, but the most popular route is to hike the W trail, which as you may have guessed, is shaped like a W. It generally takes about 5 days of steady hiking to accomplish this. There are a few refugios (very basic lodges) sprinkled along the way that offer warm food and decent beds to those who wish to stay there. Otherwise, there are campsites outside of each refugio where you can pitch a tent for the night. Brett's folks opted for the refugios while the two of us camped.

We all set off on our first day, excited to fit in a quick late afternoon hike just to check out our surroundings. We hiked on a horse trail, which felt even more remote--we didn't see another soul on the trail. Our quick hike turned into a bone-rattling 5 hour journey where we were grasping onto trees to keep from being blown off the path and trying to protect our faces from the rain that was being blown with such force it felt more like hail. At one point, the path led to a large creek where we were had to rock-hop across. I crossed over, then paused at the far end to make sure the others got across smoothly. Before I realized what was happening, my boots were being submerged in water. I quickly finished the crossing, then looked back to see all of the rocks disappear under rushing water. I stressed out for a moment, realizing that I had just been separated from my map-yielding partners. A minute or two later, I was amazed to watch the rocks reappear; there had been so much wind, and it had pushed the lake waters with such a force that they flooded the creek bed. We had been forewarned by previous visitors about expecting ferocious winds, and we were initiated into the Wind Warriors on day 1. Luckily, we were treated to relatively mild weather and often saw sunny skies after our initial day!

We spent the next few days hiking between 8-10 hours per day and absorbing the amazing views. Again, we met some wonderful people along the way and made a few new friends. It was really fun to share the whole experience with Brett's folks, who are wonderful hikers! After 4 days on the trail, we celebrated New Year's Eve at a fancy hosteria on the border of the trail by ordering Cokes and tending to our blistered feet. I must admit, we were sound asleep well before midnight. Due to a heavy-rain/high wind forecast (not to mention the blisters), we opted out of the last day of hiking. Those of you who know Brett well know what that means. He is already plotting out our return trip. That's just fine with me. I aleady hid his hiking boots.

Christmas aboard the Navimag

The Nelson Clan



Enjoying the view

Braving the wind

Puerto Eden

Soaking up the sun

We celebrated the holidays this year with Brett's parents, who flew down from Minnesota in mid-winter. They were happily enjoying the sunny warmth of Santiago when we packed up and headed down south to hike the W trail in Patagonia. Even in the best of summer conditions, Patagonia is known for its volatile weather. Most noteably, its relentless gale force winds. We had decided to sail into Puerto Natales rather than fly, so we took a 4 day ferry ride through the Patagonian fjords, which was fantastic! We saw amazing scenery and visited the small and very remote fishing village of Puerto Eden. We also met some amazing folks along the way. There was however, that small detail of wind. Not the "Wow, it's really a blustery day!" kind of wind, but rather the kind where you're just doing your best to stay upright and aboard the boat. Luckily, there were periods of calm as well, during which time the passengers would all flock to the upper decks to read, play chess, chat, or just watch the scenery. We arrived at our destination of Puerto Natales, but had to wait several hours for the winds to die down enough before we could dock. We enjoyed kicking around P. Natales for the night. It's a charming little town that is the last stop before heading into Torres del Paine National Park.