Argentina / Chile (Spring 2004)

Day 1. Arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina	Days 2 and 3 were spent exploring the city
La Boca		The "Pink House", their capital	San Telmo street festival
		Day 4. Flew 1800 miles to Tierra del Fuego(Land of Fire) and the city of Ushuaia
The view from above Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.	Day 5. Began with a ride through the countryside		A Flag Tree - Shaped by the harsh winds
	Sea Mammal museum staffed by marine biology college students
	Sun bleaching the bones		Lunch on the Harberton Ranch
Then it's off to the Penguin rookery on Martillo Island
Hiking on Gable Island	Rest break
Three of our guides	View across the Beagle Channel	Day 6. Tierra Del Fuego National Park
The wine made the hiking much more enjoyable!		A very steep climb	An uninvited guest
			Day 7 -a.m. Boat tour and hiking the islands in the Beagle Channel
Ushuaia with the Martial Glacier above
Los Lobos - "Sea Wolves" (Sea Lions to us)			A guide pointing out unusual plant life on an island
Last view of Tierra del Fuego, then off to the airport for a flight to El Califate	Day 7 - p.m. Arrive at Alta Vista which means "High View"
Day 8. Full day at Los Glaciares National Park and the Perito Moreno Glacier	The face of the glacier is over 200 feet high	"Calving" up close	The big splash
Mimi donning ice crampons for the hike onto the glacier	Our mini-trek
Note the line of hikers on the glacier in far right	Day 9. Wake at 5am, ride to town(1hr), 7am bus ride(2hr) to Chilean border, van ride to Park(2hr)	Rheas along the road	Argentinian Gaucho with his herd at the Chile / Argentina border
	The "macho guanaco"	Torres Del Paine National Park	Hosteria Las Torres
View from the dining room		The vans had less than 1 1/2 inches clearance on each side of the only bridge in/out	Day 10. Boat ride to our hiking area on the far side of the park
			Our hiking companions for the day
Small icebergs floating downstream	Gray Glacier in the background	Noah contemplating the solitude
Well deserved rest break		The "endless" hiking trails	walking into the clouds
A Refugio or waystation	Hikers can sleep here or grab a quick bite to eat	The view out front	The ride back
Three weary hikers	Day 11. Hike to Los Torres (The Towers)	One of many bridges crossing the small streams	Most were just wooden planks
After over 3 hours of hiking, one "small" pile of rock remains. (It took another hour to reach the top)	My first glimpse of The Towers	At the top!
I really did make it.	My guide and hiking companion, Eduardo	A good luck rock and then time to begin the long trek back	Day 12 fly back to Buenos Aires(1800 miles), Day 13 rest!
Day 14 fly to Iguazu (1000 miles)
		Over 200 streams emerge from the rainforest to form 2 miles of falls
Some of the 275 individual waterfalls
A wonderful series of catwalks allows access above, below and between the falls		Day 15 fly to Buenos Aires(1000 miles), change airports and fly back to USA