Hola!
We came back yesterday from our crazy 5 day hike in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. The trip was quite spectacular, I´d say. First of all, I´m having trouble uploading my pictures to the internet in the internet cafe where I am now, so I´ll try to stick a few in directly to the blog here and when the link of all of the pictures is ready, I´ll post that too. (In the meantime, the link for the pictures up until this hike is here)
Okay back to my description of the hike. So we hiked a trail known as the ¨W¨ because you hike up and down in the shape of a...W, I guess. We did the W backwards and tacked on an extra night (the typical W is 4 days and starts with the Torres on the first day but we saved it for last instead). In total we hiked 75 km, which is approximately 45 miles, I believe. We sweat a lot and my muscles ache, but I´m stronger now than I was before and I feel a grand sense of accomplishment.
The first day we went up to see Grey Glacier, which made us excited because the Israelis had never seen a glacier and it had been quite a few years since I had seen one either. We slept at a campsite that night and hiked back down the path the next day, to the campsite where we had started. The third day we hiked up Valle Franceis, but not all the way because it was cloudy and some people who came down told us that the view from the first viewpoint had as good visibility as the top viewpoint did, so we relaxed a bit and didn´t do the whole chunk of the trail. We stayed at another campsite that night, and on the fourth day hiked up the path to Torres del Paine. We slept at the bottom of the Torres and woke up before sunrise to hike up and catch a glimpse of the Torres at sunrise. It was a beautiful, cloud-free morning (in general we had the best weather we could have asked for), and we felt great as we said goodbye to the view and hiked out of the park. I promise that the pictures are worth it, once I can get them up.
Anyway, tomorrow we´re off to El Calafate, Argentina, to go see the Perito Moreno Glacier. I´ll write more about that one in my next post...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Juan and the Israelis
Hey everyone
I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, on a quick stop before a 5-day hike in the famous Torres del Paine. Hiking the Torres can be done in several ways, and we´re opting for the 5-day hike as a nice middle ground to the 6-8 day version, the 4-day version, and the 1-day version. So today, like every other good Israeli preparing for the hike, my friends and I went to go pay Juan a visit.
Who exactly is Juan, and why do all of the Israelis flock to him on a daily basis? Juan has set up quite the job for himself. He has become the provider of all information and supplies regarding the Torres hike (or Hatorusim, as the Israelis call it), and also has a restaurant and hostel almost solely for the Israeli hikers. He has learned Hebrew pretty fluently, and gives a free lecture every day at 4:00 PM, filled with Hebrew slang punctuated by his funny Spanish accent. He tells us what the weather is going to be, what food and clothing to bring, and what each hike option looks like. In short, Juan is the Torres guru. And everyone knows it.
Now, on to the next question- is there really enough of an Israeli constituency down here for Juan to make his entire living off of us (maybe he does other things on the side, but taking care of us is a full-time job, I´d say)? The answer is absolutely yes. Since arriving in Buenos Aires on February 7th (where we stayed in a hostel of ONLY Israelis), we have run into hundreds of other Israelis on what I´ve started calling ¨The Path.¨ There are some we see every day because we´re in the same hostels and on the same buses and do the same hikes, and there are some who we have seen only a few times, but who we will see again soon because they too are on The Path. Some people have become travel buddies for more than a few days, and some are good at helping to pass the time on busrides or ferry rides. So Juan has his work cut out for him (imagine giving the same lecture every day for years to different groups of Israeli twenty-somethings...), and we have new friends (and if not friends, then certainly acquaintences, or people who get the ceremonial nod of recognition), and so far, everyone is happy.
Just as a bit of background, Israelis usually work for about a year and save up money to go travel somewhere in the world, when they finish the army. The most popular locations are India, Thailand, and South America, and the average trip length is about six months. As far as I know, Juan´s gig is run by word of mouth, because the Israelis who travel do an excellent job of passing information on from friend to friend. I did indeed hear about it from my cousin´s friend, who made her an entire handbook of South America, which I photocopied and have been using as a reference for each stop on The Path. My friends with whom I´m traveling all have similar recommendations, if not in packet-form, then on scraps of paper and facebook messages.
Next post will be after the hike, but in the meantime I have to go help cook our last dinner before transitioning to a diet of bread and peanuts for the next week...
I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, on a quick stop before a 5-day hike in the famous Torres del Paine. Hiking the Torres can be done in several ways, and we´re opting for the 5-day hike as a nice middle ground to the 6-8 day version, the 4-day version, and the 1-day version. So today, like every other good Israeli preparing for the hike, my friends and I went to go pay Juan a visit.
Who exactly is Juan, and why do all of the Israelis flock to him on a daily basis? Juan has set up quite the job for himself. He has become the provider of all information and supplies regarding the Torres hike (or Hatorusim, as the Israelis call it), and also has a restaurant and hostel almost solely for the Israeli hikers. He has learned Hebrew pretty fluently, and gives a free lecture every day at 4:00 PM, filled with Hebrew slang punctuated by his funny Spanish accent. He tells us what the weather is going to be, what food and clothing to bring, and what each hike option looks like. In short, Juan is the Torres guru. And everyone knows it.
Now, on to the next question- is there really enough of an Israeli constituency down here for Juan to make his entire living off of us (maybe he does other things on the side, but taking care of us is a full-time job, I´d say)? The answer is absolutely yes. Since arriving in Buenos Aires on February 7th (where we stayed in a hostel of ONLY Israelis), we have run into hundreds of other Israelis on what I´ve started calling ¨The Path.¨ There are some we see every day because we´re in the same hostels and on the same buses and do the same hikes, and there are some who we have seen only a few times, but who we will see again soon because they too are on The Path. Some people have become travel buddies for more than a few days, and some are good at helping to pass the time on busrides or ferry rides. So Juan has his work cut out for him (imagine giving the same lecture every day for years to different groups of Israeli twenty-somethings...), and we have new friends (and if not friends, then certainly acquaintences, or people who get the ceremonial nod of recognition), and so far, everyone is happy.
Just as a bit of background, Israelis usually work for about a year and save up money to go travel somewhere in the world, when they finish the army. The most popular locations are India, Thailand, and South America, and the average trip length is about six months. As far as I know, Juan´s gig is run by word of mouth, because the Israelis who travel do an excellent job of passing information on from friend to friend. I did indeed hear about it from my cousin´s friend, who made her an entire handbook of South America, which I photocopied and have been using as a reference for each stop on The Path. My friends with whom I´m traveling all have similar recommendations, if not in packet-form, then on scraps of paper and facebook messages.
Next post will be after the hike, but in the meantime I have to go help cook our last dinner before transitioning to a diet of bread and peanuts for the next week...
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Land of Fire (and some rain)
Hello again
Week one- done. The last few days we´ve done some pretty incredible hikes- 4 days ago we did one called Laguna Esmerelda and then 3 days ago we went into Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (the Land of Fire National Park) and hiked a trail called Callo Guanaco. I was quite proud of myself because it was a hard hike and I was able to keep up with the boys. It was about 10 km (which is about 6 miles), and the mountain was pretty steep.
Yesterday and today we did our first overnight hike (my first ever of the sort), and it made Callo Guanaco seem like nothing. The trail was called Passo de la Oveja (I confess that I still don´t know what an oveja is), and it was about 16 km. I´m not exactly sure how much of that we did yesterday-the boys say it was about 14 km- but we hiked for 12 hours straight, with a one hour lunch break in the middle at Laguna del Caminante. My body is pretty sore, but I feel good. The views along the way were spectacular, and I wonder whether I´ll think that each place is the most beautiful place we´ve seen. That´s to say, I wonder whether each site will simply be more breathtaking than the one before. I was just talking to a guy who did a bunch of other hikes on his way down here, and he says that this is nothing. I have no idea what to anticipate, but I guess that´s part of the fun.
Anyway, I´m still working on getting my pictures up online. Right now I´m pretty exhausted, so I´m going to go rest a bit, grab a bite to eat, and maybe later Í´ll post them if I can. Tomorrow morning we head into Chile to a town called Punta Arenas. Apparently the big attractions are some penguins and a duty-free shopping area. Woo!
Week one- done. The last few days we´ve done some pretty incredible hikes- 4 days ago we did one called Laguna Esmerelda and then 3 days ago we went into Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (the Land of Fire National Park) and hiked a trail called Callo Guanaco. I was quite proud of myself because it was a hard hike and I was able to keep up with the boys. It was about 10 km (which is about 6 miles), and the mountain was pretty steep.
Yesterday and today we did our first overnight hike (my first ever of the sort), and it made Callo Guanaco seem like nothing. The trail was called Passo de la Oveja (I confess that I still don´t know what an oveja is), and it was about 16 km. I´m not exactly sure how much of that we did yesterday-the boys say it was about 14 km- but we hiked for 12 hours straight, with a one hour lunch break in the middle at Laguna del Caminante. My body is pretty sore, but I feel good. The views along the way were spectacular, and I wonder whether I´ll think that each place is the most beautiful place we´ve seen. That´s to say, I wonder whether each site will simply be more breathtaking than the one before. I was just talking to a guy who did a bunch of other hikes on his way down here, and he says that this is nothing. I have no idea what to anticipate, but I guess that´s part of the fun.
Anyway, I´m still working on getting my pictures up online. Right now I´m pretty exhausted, so I´m going to go rest a bit, grab a bite to eat, and maybe later Í´ll post them if I can. Tomorrow morning we head into Chile to a town called Punta Arenas. Apparently the big attractions are some penguins and a duty-free shopping area. Woo!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The end of the world as we know it
Ushuaia. Besides for having a funny name (pronounced Oosh-wah-ya), it´s known for being the southernmost city (town?) in the world. We wandered around today, and it´s prettymuch a tourist place, at least in the main area of the town. The views, though, are magnificent. The town in a small port-town, from whence cruises to Antarctica leave. There are a bunch of hikes in the area, so we´ll get going with those tomorrow. In the meantime, today is a kind of quiet day as we regain our energy and prepare for the more serious part of the trip.
Last night we went to a great concert. It was a percussion group in an outdoor venue, and the place was just filled with other youngsters looking to bop around to some fine rhythms. What I like so much about percussion performances is that there is no way to stop yourself from dancing(why even bother trying?). Rhythm is the basis of all music- it literally comes from the heart and you just can´t help yourself... mosech otcha, we day in Hebrew... it just pulls you in. And you don´t even really need other people- it´s okay to close your eyes and just be by youself in a sea of people, and then open them and remember that you´re part of a larger group. That being said, the show made me really miss my best friends from Nativ (hey, those of you reading this)- you would have really enjoyed the show. I thought about getting a CD to bring home but realized that I have no way of listening to it in the meantime (that the drawback of the modern iPod set up, right?)
Anyway, things are good... I´m going to try to put some pictures on the computer so I can upload them to the blog, but the computers in our hostel are painfully slow, so I´ll do it somewhere else. In the meantime, use your imagination to think about what the end of the world would look like if you could design it.
Last night we went to a great concert. It was a percussion group in an outdoor venue, and the place was just filled with other youngsters looking to bop around to some fine rhythms. What I like so much about percussion performances is that there is no way to stop yourself from dancing(why even bother trying?). Rhythm is the basis of all music- it literally comes from the heart and you just can´t help yourself... mosech otcha, we day in Hebrew... it just pulls you in. And you don´t even really need other people- it´s okay to close your eyes and just be by youself in a sea of people, and then open them and remember that you´re part of a larger group. That being said, the show made me really miss my best friends from Nativ (hey, those of you reading this)- you would have really enjoyed the show. I thought about getting a CD to bring home but realized that I have no way of listening to it in the meantime (that the drawback of the modern iPod set up, right?)
Anyway, things are good... I´m going to try to put some pictures on the computer so I can upload them to the blog, but the computers in our hostel are painfully slow, so I´ll do it somewhere else. In the meantime, use your imagination to think about what the end of the world would look like if you could design it.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!
Hey everyone
So here I am- I made it to part I of the Great Adventure. My flight was fine- sat night to a nice lady who didn´t speak a word of English, and I wrote in my journal and started my first book- The Princess Bride (thought I´d start off with something light before getting into the heavy stuff). Like President Bartlett says in an episode of "West Wing," flying at night can open up your mind to all sorts of poetry and novel ideas (obviously it´s a lot more eloquent than that, but I paraphrase). I wrote for a while, and it felt good to be able to clear my mind a bit and reorganize my thoughts before embarking on my adventure.
The city is quite remarkable. The buildings are intricately designed and the weather is delightful, and we wandered around for the afternoon. We went to Avenida Florida, where everyone goes to wander, window shop, and people watch. Took some pictures. Nice stuff. Tonight we´ll go get our orientation of the night-scene. Wish me luck... and for all of you worriers out there, remember that I have my witts about me and a good head on my shoulders. And 3 boys to watch out for me(I am an independent woman, of course, but sometimes you have to be a contortionist to watch your own back).
Okay that´s enough for now. We´ll be here for a few more days, then down to Ushaia for hikes galore.
Ciao!
So here I am- I made it to part I of the Great Adventure. My flight was fine- sat night to a nice lady who didn´t speak a word of English, and I wrote in my journal and started my first book- The Princess Bride (thought I´d start off with something light before getting into the heavy stuff). Like President Bartlett says in an episode of "West Wing," flying at night can open up your mind to all sorts of poetry and novel ideas (obviously it´s a lot more eloquent than that, but I paraphrase). I wrote for a while, and it felt good to be able to clear my mind a bit and reorganize my thoughts before embarking on my adventure.
The city is quite remarkable. The buildings are intricately designed and the weather is delightful, and we wandered around for the afternoon. We went to Avenida Florida, where everyone goes to wander, window shop, and people watch. Took some pictures. Nice stuff. Tonight we´ll go get our orientation of the night-scene. Wish me luck... and for all of you worriers out there, remember that I have my witts about me and a good head on my shoulders. And 3 boys to watch out for me(I am an independent woman, of course, but sometimes you have to be a contortionist to watch your own back).
Okay that´s enough for now. We´ll be here for a few more days, then down to Ushaia for hikes galore.
Ciao!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Almost on my way...
Hey there!
If you're reading this now, you have successfully reached the blog of Maya's adventures in South America. I'm still in New York, but I leave on Friday to head down to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then on the 10th I fly down to Patagonia. Now some of you may be thinking, "hey- wasn't she supposed to be on her way to Sydney?" You're right, but not updated as to what I am doing with myself. In a surprise turn of events, I decided during finals week to forget about Sydney and instead take the semester off to travel South America with my friend from Israel and a few of his friends. They're going on their after-army trip, and I'm tagging along on my instead-of-army trip. This promises to be the adventure of all adventures.
Our itinerary is very wishy-washy right now, but it may or may not go something like this. We are flying down to Patagonia next week (as I already said), and then we'll hike north through Argentina and Chile. Eventually we'll make our way to Buenos Aires and the rest of northern Argentina, and then I imagine we'll go to Brazil for some time and then some other countries. Vague, I know, but it's the best I can do right now. My flight is currently home from Lima in mid-May, but who really knows how long that will remain the plan. So stay updated.
I should be writing in the blog whenever we find some internet, so keep checking it on a semi-regular basis. If I were you, I might very easily forget about it, which is why I was hesitating to blog at all. So in order to avoid forgetting about me completely, sign up to get an email reminder whenever I post. Apparently there's a setting in which you can do that.
Okay I think that's it for now. I'm all vaccinated, I have my backpack and hiking boots (and other gear), and pretty soon I'll be ready to go.
Hasta luego!
If you're reading this now, you have successfully reached the blog of Maya's adventures in South America. I'm still in New York, but I leave on Friday to head down to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then on the 10th I fly down to Patagonia. Now some of you may be thinking, "hey- wasn't she supposed to be on her way to Sydney?" You're right, but not updated as to what I am doing with myself. In a surprise turn of events, I decided during finals week to forget about Sydney and instead take the semester off to travel South America with my friend from Israel and a few of his friends. They're going on their after-army trip, and I'm tagging along on my instead-of-army trip. This promises to be the adventure of all adventures.
Our itinerary is very wishy-washy right now, but it may or may not go something like this. We are flying down to Patagonia next week (as I already said), and then we'll hike north through Argentina and Chile. Eventually we'll make our way to Buenos Aires and the rest of northern Argentina, and then I imagine we'll go to Brazil for some time and then some other countries. Vague, I know, but it's the best I can do right now. My flight is currently home from Lima in mid-May, but who really knows how long that will remain the plan. So stay updated.
I should be writing in the blog whenever we find some internet, so keep checking it on a semi-regular basis. If I were you, I might very easily forget about it, which is why I was hesitating to blog at all. So in order to avoid forgetting about me completely, sign up to get an email reminder whenever I post. Apparently there's a setting in which you can do that.
Okay I think that's it for now. I'm all vaccinated, I have my backpack and hiking boots (and other gear), and pretty soon I'll be ready to go.
Hasta luego!
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