Pumas, Avalanches, and Igloo Drinking

Patagonia, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina -

Tony started his long trek home this morning (10,000km) and I have a few hours until I start making my way north and to some warmth (hopefully)!

But first, I've got to update you on the week that was.   This place is awesome.  Can't be beat for scenery and middle-of-nowhereness.

Luckily, the notoriously fickle weather down here cooperated for the most part, allowing for an amazing experience.  (and some great photo and video opportunities)!

Of course the journey was also filled with fantastic meats (Patagonian Lamb, Beef Goulash, Lomo) and wines and beers.  But we'll stick to the scenery for now.

It's almost impossible to convey through the photos just how beautiful or massive this place is.   But, we'll start with some videos and then photos and end with some silliness...

On our way up to this photo op, we saw Puma tracks around our trail.  YIKES!

We saw an Avalanche on our first day in El Chaltén, in the midst of an approximately 10 mile hike.

Tony and the 4x5...  I'm looking forward to seeing the prints of that bad boy!

Lago Desierto - you can't see it here, but it was a milky blue color.  The coloring comes from what is called "Glacial Flour".

Tony and the 4x5 on the way to Lago Desierto

And, on our last full day, we went back to the glacier!  Damn, is it awesome!  I've got tons more photos of the thing that I'll cruise through and post in a follow up or on Tumblr.

Buzzard Eagles getting the best view possible!

To cap it all off, we went to an igloo to celebrate our luck with the weather and to drink from glacier cups!

Thanks to Tony for making the long journey South.   It was a helluva adventure!!  (Also, a big thanks to him for doing all the driving!  I swear I'm going to learn how to drive a stick-shift before I set out on another adventure.)  Finally a big thanks to Beth, Tony's wife, for letting him come down and play.

The little beater that took us almost 1000km around Patagonia!

I have to say that Argentina was an amazing time and I'll miss the food for sure, but it's time to get warm.  I'm heading north of the equator for the first time in 3 months to meet up with my friend Jeff in Medellin and Bogota, Colombia.  We'll check in from there!

A Whale of a Time

After a couple more days of biking and driving around Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdes, I have headed further south in Patagonia.

I must have upset the travel gods some how, because somehow avoiding a 24 hour bus ride turned into a 27 hour adventure that involved buses, planes, cars, sitting in an empty airport (seriously I was the only person for about an hour).

Needless to say it was a whale of a time.  But, I'm here, and now it's time for a new adventure.

My friend Tony got here yesterday and we had a day just roaming around looking for Glaciers.   More pics later, but we definitely found the big one!

He's a better photographer that me, so I'm excited not only for the company, but also some pro-quality images to put on a wall I may or may not have in the future.

We're off!

Happy Monday!

I know how you guys and gals love these posts, but maybe the fact that it is Pay Day for some will curb the grumpy email responses.

Undeterred, I'm sharing my day yesterday with you.

And if you couldn't guess from the first picture.  It was spent underwater. with the LOBOS MARINOS!

I've seen them swim at various aquariums before, but it doesn't really compare when they are nibbling on your head, hands, and trying to take your mask off.   I will say it is much warmer in the Aquarium environment though.  DAMN, was it cold! (water temp ~50 degrees)

Even with a 7mm shorty over a 7mm bib wetsuit, it was a bit cold!  Made me miss 85+ degree water of Indonesia!  (Munchkin - That's not my hat, so no comments)

I know I say this a lot, and you are all probably starting to get sick of it, but it was an amazing experience to play with them for 40 mins.  Just look at the below!

Oh, and we saw some of these guys too.  NBD. 

The Southern Right Whale (I was, actually, excited to see these guys because I only saw some fins in Australia.  These guys were super close to the boat I was able to really get an up close look!)