Sand, Salt and All the Rest

La laguna Miscanti (Lagunas Altplanicas - altitude: 4120m - here it is very cold)

San Pedro de Atacama is an oasis in the desert of the same name and its location, at the door of the Andes and two other mountain ranges, make the small town an ideal departure point for many visits of natural wonders of all kinds: the salt lake of Atacama, of course, but also geysers, lagunas in volcano craters, oases in the world´s most arid desert and rock fomations... The variety and quality of experiences in these different locations (bathing in a salt-saturated lake, watching the stars, waking up at 4am to see geysers come to life at sunrise) are such that the town could be a great place to stay for weeks but after 4 days in San Pedro, tomorrow is the departure to Bolivia (3-day 4x4 trip to Uyuni, through the salar and more geological marvels). I have heard great things about this trip and I am really looking forward to it.

La valle de la muerte shares more than its name with the famous spot in Nevada (here it is very hot)

Walking on water (Salar de Atacama)

Chilling in Chile

I am in La Serena, a neocolonial beach resort and student town on the Northern Pacific coast of Chile. There is not much to do here but it is good to relax for a few days before I go to San Pedro de Atacama to see the desert and cross from there to Bolivia. So I use this couple of days to rest, read on the beach and enjoy la comida chilena.

'Round the Cape Horn to Valparaíso

Cerro Bellavista photographed from the old jail

I decided to continue my journey North through Chile, and stopped at the appropriately named Valparaíso - literally Valle Paraíso, or Paradise Valley. It is a fantastically beautiful city. It may be messy and dirty but it is part of the bohemian charm that made it a UNESCO world heritage site. There is a picture to take at every corner; there are colorful houses and open-sky museums with art directly painted on walls; plenty of cobblestone streets and hidden passages to get lost; miradors, balconies and terrasses where couples kiss and where you can patiently wait for the sun to slowly dive into the Pacific ocean, flooding the dozen of city hills with amazing light. I fully understand why the city greatly inspired Pablo Neruda, who chose to make it his home.

The port of Valparaíso

View of the downtown area and the bay of Valparaíso at sunset

Downtown at dusk, from the terrasse of the Brighton at Paseo Atkinson

Pablo and I are good buddies now

Earthquakes in Santiago (but it's not what you think)

Santiago de Chile and the Andes in the background

OK, Santiago may not be the most exciting city in South America, but I can attest it is possible to have fun there. A possibility is to go to La Piojera, a typical bar where people of all ages dance 'la cueca', and kill their Saturday afternoons drinking Terremotos (literally 'earthquake', a local cocktail made of the cheapest possible kind of white wine, fernet-branca and pinapple ice cream). If it doesn't sound like it would turn out as a good drink... well... it doesn't. But you would be missing the point: the essential is that you can meet real locals at the bar and practice your spanish with them. While they may initially seem a little colder than their Argentines neighbours, Chileans are very proud of their country and really make efforts so visitors can get the best experience here. For instance, Hugo, whom I met at the bar, was the one who told me that there is no better day to go up Cerro San Cristobal - the highest hill in Santiago - than a day after heavy rain because the humidity makes the smog, which bathes the city most of the time, dissapear for a while. So I woke up early the next day after the rain, and climbed the 6 km road to the top to find out he was right: here was Santiago, almost clearly visible up to the Andes.

Drinking Terremotos at La Piojera, Santiago de Chile

Mendoza - Santiago de Chile

I'm glad I chose to do the road from Mendoza to Santiago during the day because it is quite an experience. The ascension of the Andes is more than 200 km, starting from an altitude of about 800 m to reach the tunnel Christo Redentor separating Argentina and Chile at an altitude of 3175 m. The descent to Santiago is made of many hair-pin curves, numbered a little like at l'Alpe d'Huez but much higher and for much longer... While separated by only 150km as the crow flies, the trip takes about 7 hours, including a long stop at the Chilean border, but it is all worth it!

Veni, Vedi... Vino

Vineyards and 5000m peaks: this is Mendoza

About 30 minutes from Mendoza is the small town of Maipu. About a dozen wineries are located on a 15 km country road stretch in the middle of the vineyards. This makes it perfect for 'bike & wine', a self-explanatory activity. I met an American couple from Philly at my second winery stop and we finished the day together, eating parrilla in the middle of the vineyards and degustating all sorts of Malbecs (the main variety produced here) but also Cabernet Sauvignons and other types of blends. Although different than I imagined (no rolling hills like in Provence or Bordeaux), the landscape is no less pleasant with the majestic Andes in the background.

My bottom has been sore from biking but I have the impression the way back to the rental place was facilitated by the many glasses of wine I ingurgited during the day. I guess it makes sense since cyclists were using vino as one of the oldest forms of doping in the early days of the Tour de France, stopping to share saucisson and red wine with the fans...

How many drinks did Max have at the moment of this picture? Take a wild guess

Return to the Andes

Group picture on the way up

After spending a quiet day in Mendoza yesterday, I opted for a day trek in the Cordon del Plata to discover this part of the Andes. It doesn't look at all like the southern part I saw in Bariloche and Patagonia. There are more than 300 days of sun here in Mendoza, the vegetation is very dry if existent and the land is very rocky - all of which explain the excellent quality of the wine made from grapes that can grow here, primarily Syrah and Malbec.

The hike is not very hard - about 1000m of vertical rise - and the summit is one of the lowest of the mountain range (where peaks flirt with 6000m) but the view at the top is very nice: on one side, it extends to the Pre-Andes and the mendocino vineyards, on the other to the highest peaks in South America (the Aconcagua being the highest at 6962m but cannot be seen from there).

Drinking mate at the summit of Cero Arenales (3450m)

República de la Boca

After a Saturday night of partying in Buenos Aires until dawn with Argentinian friends I met back in New York, I spend my penultimate day visiting La Boca, one of its poorer neighborhoods but also the most vibrant (I was just recommended not to hang out there at night). Religion here - as you can guess from the pictures - is called football.

Tomorrow night I leave Bs. As. for Mendoza, returning at the door of the Andes to continue my journey North.

La Boca, home of colorful houses...

... fútbol...

... fútbol... (la bombonera, stadium of world-famous football club CA Boca Juniors)

... and fútbol... (on the left Diego Armando Maradona, a.k.a. el pibe de oro, a.k.a. la mano de Dios, on the right Maxi - my new latinoamericano nickname)

Pura Vida Uruguaya

Fishing is one of Montevideanos' favorite hobbies - here the port in the old town

Uruguayans, like Argentinians understand how to live a good life. Montevideo is only 3 hours from Buenos Aires by ferry boat, right across the Rio de la Plata, and there are many similarities between the two people, although they like to focus on their differences. One of those differences is just the matter of size: Uruguay is only 3 million inhabitants when the greater Buenos Aires alone is 13 million. This is palpable in Montevideo, which feels more like a town than a city (I went out with a local friend, Mateo, and he knew people everywhere we went). Because life is not as crazy as it is in Buenos Aires - but the weather is similarly good - uruguayos favor outdoor activities (sports, fishing, suntanning...) when they are not partying (Thursday is the best night out, I heard) or enjoying local cuisine, which most famous representative is the Chivito: a local hamburger composed of a flattened steak, bacon, ham, peppers, mushrooms, tomato, lettuce, olives, onions and a local type of mayonnaise (Note: it is delicious but one of the hardest things to eat granted the overwhelming amount of ingredients and the fact that my front teeth were not engineered to cleanly cut through steak).

Uruguay would have deserved more than 3 days, but I constantly have to balance between staying in cool places and discovering some new ones. I barely had time to lay my towel on the beaches of Punta del Este, enjoyed Chaja (a desert made of meringue and ice cream) at the terrasse of a cafe in Montevideo and visited the charming colonial town of Colonia that I am already in the ferry back to Buenos Aires. I will come back - who knows, maybe for retirement...

Punta del Este, South America's playground for the rich and famous

Back to Bs As

El Puente de la Mujer (Calatrava) and my temporary place (brick building to the right) in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires

A 20-hour bus ride from Bariloche - much more pleasant than it sounds, buses in Argentina really are as comfortable as people told me - brings me back to the capital. I think I'm going to spend a week here, probably with a trip to Uruguay (a 2.5 hour ferry-boat ride away) in the middle. I stay at Piu's office/apartment next to the water in Puerto Madero and it is wonderful (thanks Greg for introducing us!). Buenos Aires seems to be a truly great city, combining the energy of a city like New York with a more latin pace of life. And the climate doesn't hurt either: it's 22 degrees in May (which is the equivalent of November in the northern hemisphere).

The Snows of the Andes y El Condor Pasa

I'm very lucky and the weather is wonderful for my hike to Cerro Lopez today. We are 5 to exit the public bus at the start of the trekking path some 25 kms from `downtown´ Bariloche - 2 couples and me. I will not meet any other people that day. It really feels like the mountains are ours. The hike to Cerro Lopez is not difficult past the first hour, and it is very pleasant to walk on the snowy path under the sun. Once again the combination of autumnal colors with the white of the snow and the deep blue skies makes for wonderful pictures.

I decide to descend using another path (a little longer) because the way up this morning was way too crowded ;-) I will only meet 2 cows, some condors and a few woodpeckers in the afternoon. Because I feel so genuinely happy I sing anything that comes to mind and whistle El Condor Pasa. I keep thinking that sometimes life is really, really simple. These are also the kind of moments I am traveling for.

The view on the Andes and Lago Nahuel Huapi from Refugio Lopez (1629 m)

On Ernesto's Tracks

After El Calafate I stop for 4 days in the lake district, a region north of Patagonia (some people even say it is not Patagonia). Small trivia: Patagonia is believed to mean "the country of the people with big feet" and was named like this in 1520 by 1.55 m-tall Spaniards (Sarkozy would have felt at ease with them) when they met indigenes Tehuelches - whose size was about 1.80 m on average - and were impressed by the size of their feet.

The main city in the lake district is a cute and relatively small town and ski resort laying on the banks of beautiful lake Nahuel Huapi called San Carlos de Bariloche (but everyone calls it Bariloche, apparently I'm the only one who finds that strange although I agree it sounds better and more special than just San Carlos).

The region has dozens of dark blue lakes and sits geographically at the door of the Andes, just miles away from Chile. Snowy peaks fill the skyline all around and plunge in the lakes. It makes me think of Switzerland and of Grenoble and I already feel like home here.

Following the advice of various locals and people who know the region well, I rent a car to drive `la ruta de los siete lagos´. It is a windy and picturesque road that passes through lakes (7 of them) and wonderful scenery (waterfalls and lush forests). When I bought a map the morning before, the store clerk tried to warn me that the road was not finished. I understood the meaning of "ruta ripia" soon enough. The distance is not great between San Carlos de Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes (about 150 kms) but it took me more than 4 hours due to the poor quality of the road. Moreover, I forgot to charge my camera battery so I

couldn't take any picture along the way. I guess you will have to believe me when I tell you the landscape along this road is splendid, even under pouring rain!

The Lanin Volcano and National Park

The next day I continue north a little past Junin de los Andes on my way to Chile to see the Lanin volcano. At 3747 m it dominates with majesty the eponymous National Park. I stop a little before the international border because I'm not sure I can enter Chile with my rental car. I come back by the mythical Ruta 40, the one the Che used on his trip across South America that participated in feeding his sense of revolt, except I'm not riding a motocycleta and I'm also going it in the opposite direction, going back to Bariloche towards the south. I still try to imagine what it may have felt like: there is something about this country that makes it seem like it's made for traveling!

La Ruta 40 above the Northern Branch of Lago Nahuel Huapi near San Carlos de Bariloche

(Almost) Touching the Glacier

The 2.5 km-wide Perito Moreno glacier

Peter - my Canadian traveling buddy - and I returned to El Calafate, at the South of the P.N. de los Glaciares. This is the "base camp" for the Perito Moreno glacier "expedition". And it must be quite an expedition to make your way among people on the balconies to take a peak at the glacier during high season. Thankfully, this is the lowest of low season and we are about 100 in the park. The setup makes me think of Iguazu falls, where entire buses of tourists are guided to something grand and amazing. I guess I like better to hike for 7 hours to enjoy something like this almost by myself - like yesterday - but the Perito Moreno glacier is enormous and unique and loud (it advances 2 meters per day, makes loud cracks and loses huges pieces of ice to the lake every so often). It was also one of the milestones of my trip, something I have wanted to see since I heard about it a few years ago. I probably won´t come back, but I´m glad I saw it because it´s definitely something that would be hard to see anywhere else. The boat tour was also quite amazing, since it brings to about 100 meters of the icy cliffs - themselves 80-meter high.

¡ Increible P.N. de los Glaciares !

Postcard Material #1

Instead of talking about the magnificence of the Parque Nacional de los Glaciares, I´d rather post a few of the pictures taken along the hike above El Chalten. This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen: a combination of landscapes from the Alps, the American Northeast during foliage season and its great and wild West, to form pure natural beauty. I made friends with Peter, a Canadian from Toronto and will travel with him for a few days. It had been raining for a week in El Chalten but the weather was simply perfect for our hike, yet we met with maybe 10 people the whole day (they probably all left, discouraged): we can´t really believe how lucky we are!

From foreground to background: Max, la Laguna de los Tres and el Cerro Chalten (or Fitz Roy)

Postcard Material #2

Where Are the Penguins?

Are these sea lions Chilean or Argentinian?

I saw a few animals (sea lions, cormorans, seals) on my boat tour on the Beagle Channel, the sound that separes Argentina from Chile, but no penguins. According to the guide, they are moving up North during winter (Rio? I asked). What´s with penguins nowadays, aren´t they supposed to be polar animals?

Also, I found out that Ushuaia, the self-proclaimed most austral city in the world, is actually only so because of their own definition of city. Puerto Williams, in Chile, is technically more South, but doesn´t qualify as a city according to Argentines: it doesn´t have 10,000 inhabitants, or a night club. It´s true that Ushuaia has a few fun ones.

Oh and I got my passport stamped, not once but 5 times (one guy went a little crazy). These things are like flairs at Applebees, the more and the cheesier, the better.