EL FIN DEL MUNDO

This past week I went to the END OF THE EARTH in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip in Argentina. If you didn't know already, Argentina is the 8th largest country in the world that stretches under Brazil and to the east of Chile. a big group of us went to Ushuaia to check out the glaciers and penguins and could see Antarctica from a telescope! Luckily we went when it was just turning fall so it wasn't as cold as it can be in the dead of winter. The first day we went on a boat tour of the islands that surround Ushuaia which are occupied by penguins and sea lions! There were also beautiful majestic views of the Andes mountains and a pretty lighthouse. Here's some pics.The next day we went to see the Glacier but it was too cloudy the entire weekend to get a good view at the top of the mountain. So instead, we went hiking in the snow with our tennis shoes and froze to death. I'll explain the rest of the trip through these pictures...

This was taken on the boat ride the first day... amazing! I've never seen penguins!


Sunset the first day we were there on our way back to the hostel. Magnificent.


Our hike the next day to see the glacier that was clouded over


A 4X4 tour on day 3 with the best parrilla lunch after we drove through the river!


Our last day we hiked for 6 hours to see even more beautiful views and wild horses! Here's a really cool tree formed by the intense wind...

All in all great trip and something I've never seen before. I highly recommend Ushuaia to whoever is in Argentina-- just don't go in the winter! Next week classes start = no more travelling for awhile. Stay tuned.

Dad and Barb do BAires

Weekend with dad and barb… very… interesting. They don’t speak a lick of Spanish so I am exhausted translating everything that is going on. One thing I have learned thus far in Argentina is to expect that nothing will ever work right so you’re not disappointed when it doesn’t. They, on the other hand, did not know this about the country that is broadcast to the world as the Europe of Latin America so, naturally, we had some obstacles. When the service in restaurants would take longer than an hour to get our food, or when the subway system shut down for no reason, I would have to explain the culture and how we’re not in the US anymore.

Other than that, we had a great time going to the Recoleta cemetery, out to great dinners, having a traditional Jewish dinner with my host family, and an amazing tango show that made me determined to take a tango class. Now they are at the border of Argentina and Brazil seeing the world famous Iguazu waterfalls.

Visas and Uruguay

Wow, a lot to say. Friday we all woke up at 4am to finally get our student visas so we can stay for more than the 3 month tourist visa allows. It was a verrry eye-opening experience: people had been camping out for days hoping to be of the first 500 they let in daily. If you're from any other country in South America you get into one line, but since we are American citizens we are treated as royalty. I was extremely embarrassed when we skipped the line of the people who had been there for hours and days and when straight to the front. Granted, it still took so long to go through the process just to get a paper I could have made at home saying I'm a student and resident. Because of our weak planning, we missed our 4pm boat to cross the Rio de la Plata to go to Punta del Este in Uruguay (only 3 hours away!) and had to take the 9pm boat which got us to our destination at 3am after the 3 hour bus ride after the boat trip.

Punta del Este was BEAUTIFUL and we stayed at a hostel run by hippies. Although we were only there for 3 days we managed to experience the nightlife and 2 of the beautiful white sand beaches. It is almost the end of summer so it's not as crowded as it was and such a great escape from Buenos Aires's hustle and bustle. Here's my new friends Eve and Alex on one of the beaches. Under that is a pic of the cutest hippy kid in the world who lived in the house we stayed at...