Eagle Rock, Futaleufu

Futa-licious

This is the paradise that I'm living in now... Futaleufu, Chile in the Patagonia. My first week was spent with the Esprit group, running rivers (sit-on-top kayaking, rafting the infamous Futaleufu River-HUGE STUFF and Azul and Espolon rivers) as well as a bunch of hiking - I would almost say I'm getting in shape!

The past while I've been helping out "Expediciones Chile" a sister company to Esprit Rafting... I'm not officially working but have been helping out in exchange for meals and trips... The owner Chris Spelius is a world-renowned olympic kayaker... and he is helping me to learn my whitewater kayaking roll... he's an amazing teacher. www.exchile.com

Plan on staying here for awhile longer, have a room in a house with some of the other staff. Not much to do in the town but the area offers tons of activities. They call this area "the greatest playground on earth"... I'm off to play some more!

El Bolson

The group waiting around before we caught a bus and crossed into Chile... not the most efficient group for packing light! Second photo is the famous hippie craft market in El Bolson, Argentina. Picked up some styling wool legwarmers...

The Manso River

We had a great Esprit group travelling together and a wild ride on the Manso River... some of the group kayaked and the others rafted. One rapid called the "scrambled egg" managed to dump a few of us into the river - me included! Photos are the camp site, the van ride and a bunch of the gang!

Mountains, Rainbows and Lakes

In and around Bariloche, Argentina. Spent some time hiking before heading off on a rafting trip on the Manso River.

The Sensual Tango

Amy and I were both treated to Tango lessons in La Boca. Our instructor was pretty slick...

Mom's Argentinian Adventure

It was a close call at the end of mom's trip... luckily this friendly pilot named Philip allowed her to co-pilot her own way back to Buenos Aires... (don't tell the Argentinian government)...

Parana, Argentina

Time spent in Parana with Meg and Martin and the whole Boeyken family!

Sightseeing in Buenos Aires

The famous dogwalkers, a hydraulic flower, the Recoleta cemetery and La Boca...

La Estancia

Okay at first it seemed like a bit of a tourist trap... but in the end our trip to an Estancia turned out to be a real highlight!!!

An Estancia is basically a farm or ranch in Argentina (land of meat!)... there you will find real live Gauchos (cowboys that can dance) and lots of old school customs including a huge Asado (BBQ). Mom and I and a minivan full of a large Mexican family and one guy from Peru drove 80 km outside of BA to experience the Estancia life!

We set the stage with a sampling of wondeful Argentinian red wine from Mendoza and a couple of empanadas (bread filled with meat)... from there we went on to see how the gauchos milk cows - and even squirt the milk directly from the udder into their mouths... yuck! I then did the unthinkable... I climbed onto a horse and rode around the field with a group of people who wouldn´t understand what I was screaming if the horse starting biting my leg or something - it turned out fine in the end because my horse must have sensed my fear and slowed down so much that I was about half a km behind everyone else! Mom tried out the horse drawn wagon with some of the other Mexicans and they seemed to get along just fine.

Next stop was Asado - they served blood sausage (didn´t touch it), and other sausages, then chicken, then beef, then more chicken and more beef... oh and wine... and more wine - I think there were a few salads thrown in there too. YUM! During our meal we were entertained by the jefe (boss guy who sang) - he played the guitar and sang traditional songs from Argentina as well as a french-canadian song in our honour! We were also dazzled by traditional dances from every region in Argentina - they have some crazy Gaucho moves where it looks like the guy is breaking his ankle over and over! And of course, we also saw the tango and even tried it ourselves. Mom was already way ahead of me since she took tango lessons in the hostel the first night we arrived!

Our grande finale involved traditional Gaucho customs. These included bull riding, standing up on top of the horse, herding horses and throwing a lasso to capture animals - all very impressive. But the best custom was how they get their wives... they race down the field with a small stick and in mid-gallop they manage to poke it through a tiny ring that is hanging off a structure (hard to explain- but very impressive) - they then present this ring to the girl they want to marry and she accepts with a kiss! I think mom and I are now both engaged to the same Gaucho... we´ll have to fight that one out when I get home.

The day ended with a tasting of mate (tea) and a sleepy ride home. We made good friends with the Mexican family and met up with them for drinks another night in BA - which was another big highlight from our trip.

Arrival in Buenos Aires

Upon arriving to BA, after an easy flight - if a bit long... we were dropped off close to our hostel but not in front of the hostel due to some sort of protest on the streets. There were hundreds of people with banners and flags shouting chants (which we didn´t quite understand) - but we were told it was groups representing different political parties and they do this every year since the collapse of the economy. It was a pretty hectic experience to come right into- but had its benefits as huge boulevards were blocked off from the cars and we could walk right along the middle of those streets!

Our hostel turned out to be pretty cool (I was a bit worried about throwing mom right into the hostelling world!) - A beautiful old building with huge ceilings and a courtyard, sometimes not the quietest place with BA party animals coming in at 6am and vomiting or screaming right outside your door... but the bathroom was beautiful!