PATAGONIA

So last week I went with Rotary to Patagonia for 4 nights. It was everyone who had been there in our August orientation, half of whom live really far north and I hadn't seen since then. We were 27 exchange students in total and we had a blast! The 9 kids in my district took a bus at 1:30 AM on Saturday morning from Chillán to Santiago and from there we went to Viña del Mar just for a few hours. We got to Viña around 10:30 AM and drove around, just getting out a few times for a few minutes to take pictures and then getting back on the bus.





<--All 4 exchange students here in Chillán--my brothers and sister. Top left to bottom right: Emil Larsen (Denmark), Tyler Gillespie (AZ) Kasey Peelen (AZ), and me!




Later that afternoon we went to Villa Alemana (2 hours west of Santiago near the coast) for a Rotary check-up. They gave us a small Spanish test, but it was basically 3 days of just sitting and talking and catching up with everyone which was awesome.



<-- This is my table at lunch at Villa Alemana








We got up at 4 AM on Tuesday to go to Santiago to catch our flight to Punta Arenas. When we got to Punta Arenas, we hit the ground running. We landed early in the morning and went straight to an animal "zoo" where we saw llamas and real penguins!

We ate at a fantastic restaurant which looked much more like someone's house. We had an asado of cordillero (lamb rib barbecue) and they had delicious homemade chocolates for dessert mmm.






<--We got to see them roast the meat before we ate it





We went back to our hotel, which was located just in the town center around 7 PM and had an hour or two before dinner to walk around and check out the town center.

The next day we hopped into our rented bus and our tour guide led us to a lookout point where you can see all of Punta Arenas with the ocean, and it was absolutely gorgeous! While we were there, a group of venders came up with folding tables and plastic bags full of handmade scarves, sweaters, hats, bags the whole tourist trap package.




<--View of Punta Arenas








After that we went back to the city of Punta Arenas and saw a cool museum about Chile's idígenas (native Americans), then to the most beautiful cemetary I have ever seen. That evening before dinner we went to the town center again and bought some more memorabilia before going back to the hotel.










<--Main plaza in Punta Arenas. This me and Emil in front of a statue of Hernando de Magellanes (Magellan).






Our third day we had to get up early and pack our bags and head off to Puerto Natales (a small town about 2 hours away from Punta Arenas) where we stopped off at a huge natural cave, called Cueva del Mildón, which is a natural national monument. After walking around the cave for an hour, it was back to the bus to head off to go see the world-famous Torres del Paine (Blue Towers) mountains which are absolutely breathtaking! We stopped to take pictures for about half an hour before heading to the beautiful Hotel Patagonia Explora for a delicious lunch.




<--Torres del Paine








Another bus ride later, and we were trekking across a beach with ferociously strong winds to get to another lookout point--only this time we were going to go and look at the glacier Perito Moreno that is actually in Argentina but could be seen off in the distance. I loved this part because after walking (or, staggering rather because of the wind) across a mile of beach, we had a mild hike up to the top of the hill where the lookout point was. There was a small speck of melted glacier just in front of us, which was really sad because it used to be a whole lot bigger ten years ago but the global warming has made it shrink badly. Our Rotary chaperones had brought a bottle of Jack Daniels up there so that all of us could have a taste with real glacier ice. Real glacier ice seems to be colder than real ice, but it is extremely clear, like crystal, and very pure.

Our fourth and last day of our trip was dedicated to driving to Argentina to see the glacier Perito Moreno up close. There was a little bit of drama because we had to show proof that we were living in Chile and not tourists (i.e. our Chilean ID cards and/or passport visas) because it was only $8 for Chilean entry and $22 for tourists.

After driving 6 hours to Calafate, Argentina, we headed off to lunch at an amazing all you can eat restaurant. I definitely ate all that I could eat, and it was delicious!





<--Me in front of the glacier Perito Moreno








After lunch we met up with our Argentinean tour guide and rode the bus over to the glacier. We got off and walked a path that winds down a huge hill so you can see the glacier at almost eye level, it was incredible!! It took about an hour, an hour and a half to walk the whole circuit and we stopped and took amazing picture after amazing picture.


<--Closer view of the glacier. Right to left: Alex (NY), Julie (Denmark), Jori (Canada), Emily (NY), me, Margaux (CT), Gina (CO), and Jess (IL). Everyone but Margaux and me are from the Northern district, so we hadn't seen them since arriving in August!




After viewing the glacier, we had half an hour left to shop in a tourist souvenir complex. Only our Rotary tour guides were a little vague on what time we had to be back in the bus, so we were about 20 minutes late leaving and everyone was really worried that we wouldn't make it to the Argentinean/Chilean border before 9 PM when the border closes. Luckily we made it, but we didn't get back to the hotel until about 11 PM that night and we were exhausted!

The next morning we had to get back on our plane to Santiago and it was sad to split up after spending so much time together. But the trip was amazing, and the only bad part was that it was so short!