Ca fait 1.5 semaines que je suis a Bariloche. Les choses sont tres tranquilles. Mes journees passent assez vite, sans faire grand chose. Je vais parfois a la station d'autobus, donner des pamphlets aux backpackers pour qu'ils viennent habiter a l'auberge; j'aide a l'auberge avec le lavage, a faire la vaisselle, a acheter un peu de bouffe, je donne des cours d'anglais a un des proprietaires. Le restant du temps, je le passe parfois avec les gens a l'auberge a jouer au carte ou regarder des films. C'est la grosse vie sale finalement. Mon espagnol ne s'ameliore pas tellement parce que les touristes parlent l'anglais!! Mais c'est pas grave. Je m'amuse bien.
Je risque ne pas ecrire beaucoup les prochaines semaines, puisqu'il n'y a pas grand chose d'excitant qui se passe. J'espere pouvoir faire un peu de mountain biking bientot. Je vous en donnerai des nouvelles.
Bisoux!
11.29.2005
11.20.2005
memories...
Voici une petite photo de moi au Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (click on the image to make it bigger) :
p.s. le gars c'est un des guides du groupe dans lequel j'etais.
p.s. le gars c'est un des guides du groupe dans lequel j'etais.
In Bariloche
I have arrived in Bariloche. Judy asked me what the word means (I had never thought to ask that question!). Here is what I found in Wikipedia:
The way here was quite interesting. We passed some really beautiful places, like Rio Limay, some beautiful pampa hills near Rio Limay, and Valle de los Dinosaurios (where the rocks were incredibly red and the lake was incredibly blue green). Voici un peu plus d'info en francais.
Je vous laisse deja. Je vous embrasse!
The name Bariloche comes from the Mapuche word Vuriloche meaning "people from behind the mountain" (furi = behind, che = people). The Vuriloche pass was used by the Mapuches to cross the Andes and was kept secret from the Europeans priests for a long time.
The way here was quite interesting. We passed some really beautiful places, like Rio Limay, some beautiful pampa hills near Rio Limay, and Valle de los Dinosaurios (where the rocks were incredibly red and the lake was incredibly blue green). Voici un peu plus d'info en francais.
Je vous laisse deja. Je vous embrasse!
11.17.2005
Back at the homestead
Me revoici a Cordoba. La derniere fois que j'etais ici, j'ai oublie de parler de quelques arbres qui sont vraiment interessants.
Il y a aussi des petites choses de Ushuaia que je n'ai pas mentionne. Par exemple, dans le port de Ushuaia, il y a un gros monument a l'interieur duquel on retrouve un "time capsule". Les gens de Ushuaia ont mis des images, des films et des souhaits des gens de Ushuaia sur un CD qui doit etre ouvert seulement en 2492! I don't know what the lifespan of a CD is... but I don't think it's 500 years. Oh well... I think every city did something ridiculous like that before the millenium.
This next little bit of information is for Chris. The people of Tierra del Fuego are called... FUEGUINOS!!! Isn't that cute?!?
Finally, last Thursday, I went for a little walk very early in the morning up a small hill behind Ushuaia. It had rained all night and the ground was covered with worms. But not just ordinary worms... these were kick ass 30 cm sized worms!!! Can you imagine the fish you can catch with that!! I also had the luck to see a beautiful Carpintero gigante, just 5 meters from the path I was walking on. He stayed on his tree, in full sight, for a good 3 minutes before he flew away. It was magical. Up on top of the hill, I had a good view of all the city, except that it was shrowded in mist, so it seemed like there was no city at all. Sometimes the mist would part slightly and I could get a little view of a couple of yachts in the harbour, or a big mountain in the distance. It was beautiful. Did I love Ushuaia? I am totally going back, come January.
Demain, je pars pour Bariloche. C'est un voyage de 20 heures, alors j'y serai samedi apres-midi. Voici ou je serai. So if you want to call or write, let me know!
Je vous embrasse...
- Palo Borracho (the "drunken tree"). Un arbre en forme de bouteille avec des epines super epeurantes!
- Jacaranda: un arbre avec des fleurs mauves incroyablement belles.
- Pecuña de vaca: un arbre avec des feuilles coupees en deux, comme les orteilles d'une vache.
Il y a aussi des petites choses de Ushuaia que je n'ai pas mentionne. Par exemple, dans le port de Ushuaia, il y a un gros monument a l'interieur duquel on retrouve un "time capsule". Les gens de Ushuaia ont mis des images, des films et des souhaits des gens de Ushuaia sur un CD qui doit etre ouvert seulement en 2492! I don't know what the lifespan of a CD is... but I don't think it's 500 years. Oh well... I think every city did something ridiculous like that before the millenium.
This next little bit of information is for Chris. The people of Tierra del Fuego are called... FUEGUINOS!!! Isn't that cute?!?
Finally, last Thursday, I went for a little walk very early in the morning up a small hill behind Ushuaia. It had rained all night and the ground was covered with worms. But not just ordinary worms... these were kick ass 30 cm sized worms!!! Can you imagine the fish you can catch with that!! I also had the luck to see a beautiful Carpintero gigante, just 5 meters from the path I was walking on. He stayed on his tree, in full sight, for a good 3 minutes before he flew away. It was magical. Up on top of the hill, I had a good view of all the city, except that it was shrowded in mist, so it seemed like there was no city at all. Sometimes the mist would part slightly and I could get a little view of a couple of yachts in the harbour, or a big mountain in the distance. It was beautiful. Did I love Ushuaia? I am totally going back, come January.
Demain, je pars pour Bariloche. C'est un voyage de 20 heures, alors j'y serai samedi apres-midi. Voici ou je serai. So if you want to call or write, let me know!
Je vous embrasse...
11.10.2005
4 days in paradise
Je viens de passer 3 super belles journées en el Fin del Mundo. (et il m'en reste encore une!). Je pars demain en avion pour Buenos Aires, ensuite je prends l'autobus pour Cordoba où je vais passer une semaine. Ensuite, je retourne à Bariloche, où je me suis trouvée un emploi jusqu'au début janvier dans l'auberge La Fontana! Je ne sais pas trop ce que je vais faire, mais j'espère au moins pouvoir améliorer mon espagnol un peu.
A Ushaia, j'ai vraiment été choyée, parce que la température était superbe. Avant que j'arrive, il a plu pendant une semaine. Depuis mon arrivée, il a fait soleil ou un peu nuageux. Parfait pour voir les montagnes et la nature.
Lundi, c'était une journée incroyablement ensoleillée. J'ai décidé d'aller voir Cerro Martial, au nord la ville, où il y a un glacier. La vue de la ville, de la Bahia Ushuaia, et du Beagle Channel, était i-n-c-r-o-y-a-b-l-e!! I don't know if I'm crazy, but I swear that from up there, you could kind of make out the curvature of the earth. I swear that Beagle Channel and the mountains in the distance looked rounded. It was very strange.
Mardi, j'ai pris un bateau (one of the touristy cruise things) pour aller voir les pinguoins. We stopped along the way to check out the Éclaireurs lighthouse, and a couple of other islands where there were cormorants and sea lions. I had misunderstood the guy selling me the ticket, and I was sure that we would get off the boat at the penguin island... but no. The boat just sort of got real close to the beach where we could see them. I was a little disapointed. I mean, the penguins are smaller than I had hoped (they are magellanic penguins), and for the price of the ticket, I would have liked for a couple of them to break out in some kind of Singing in the Rain tap dance routine. Oh well... I guess I will just have to go to Antarctica one of these days to see the real thing (the emperor penguins that is!)
Hier (mercredi), je suis allée au parque nacional Tierra del Fuego. Ça, ça vallait vraiment la peine. C'est vraiment un super beau parc. Je suis allée avec une compagnie qui offre deux guides pour parler du parc, un diner, et ensuite une heure ou deux en canot gonflable sur les lacs et rivères du parc. C'était vraiment spectaculaire. Notre balade a commencé a Bahia Ensenada, pour ensuite aller à Bahia Lapataia, et finalement Lago Roca. Ensuite, on est descendu la rivière Lapataia. Voici quelques photos de quelqu'un qui y est allé.
Aujourd'hui, it's a down day. I'll take it easy, go see musuems maybe, and write a few postcards. Demain je repars... boo hoo... I will definitely come back here again. It's just way too magical.
Je vous embrasse.
A Ushaia, j'ai vraiment été choyée, parce que la température était superbe. Avant que j'arrive, il a plu pendant une semaine. Depuis mon arrivée, il a fait soleil ou un peu nuageux. Parfait pour voir les montagnes et la nature.
Lundi, c'était une journée incroyablement ensoleillée. J'ai décidé d'aller voir Cerro Martial, au nord la ville, où il y a un glacier. La vue de la ville, de la Bahia Ushuaia, et du Beagle Channel, était i-n-c-r-o-y-a-b-l-e!! I don't know if I'm crazy, but I swear that from up there, you could kind of make out the curvature of the earth. I swear that Beagle Channel and the mountains in the distance looked rounded. It was very strange.
Mardi, j'ai pris un bateau (one of the touristy cruise things) pour aller voir les pinguoins. We stopped along the way to check out the Éclaireurs lighthouse, and a couple of other islands where there were cormorants and sea lions. I had misunderstood the guy selling me the ticket, and I was sure that we would get off the boat at the penguin island... but no. The boat just sort of got real close to the beach where we could see them. I was a little disapointed. I mean, the penguins are smaller than I had hoped (they are magellanic penguins), and for the price of the ticket, I would have liked for a couple of them to break out in some kind of Singing in the Rain tap dance routine. Oh well... I guess I will just have to go to Antarctica one of these days to see the real thing (the emperor penguins that is!)
Hier (mercredi), je suis allée au parque nacional Tierra del Fuego. Ça, ça vallait vraiment la peine. C'est vraiment un super beau parc. Je suis allée avec une compagnie qui offre deux guides pour parler du parc, un diner, et ensuite une heure ou deux en canot gonflable sur les lacs et rivères du parc. C'était vraiment spectaculaire. Notre balade a commencé a Bahia Ensenada, pour ensuite aller à Bahia Lapataia, et finalement Lago Roca. Ensuite, on est descendu la rivière Lapataia. Voici quelques photos de quelqu'un qui y est allé.
Aujourd'hui, it's a down day. I'll take it easy, go see musuems maybe, and write a few postcards. Demain je repars... boo hoo... I will definitely come back here again. It's just way too magical.
Je vous embrasse.
11.07.2005
Tolkien drew Ushuaia
(this was written Sunday night)
I have just landed in Middle Earth. Ushaia is probably the most beautiful and magical place I've ever seen. Flying into the city was intensely out of this worldish. We flew in very low over the Beagle Channel, flying into the sunset surrounded by mountains. As we landed, the sun was painting in pink and orange the clouds and the mountains lining the westward Beagle Channel. When I got out of the airport, I could see that there were mountains encircling ALL of the city. At one point, on my way to the hostel, I had to ask the taxi driver to stop so I could take a picture of the sky over some eastern peaks that were pink and fushia.
The hostel that I'm in is also pretty amazing. The third floor has an amazing view of the Channel, and the mountains to the south and north. As I was sitting in the third floor common room, eating my empenadas de pollo and drinking my Quilmes beer, I thought to myself that maybe I would never leave this place!
I spent a long time travelling to get here, and now it all seems worth while. It took 22 hours to get from Esquel to Rio Gallegos, the town at the tip of the continent, before Tierra del Fuego. The ride through the southeastern part of Patagonia (Argentina), down the Atlantic coast, was a desolate one. On this side of the country, it's the pampa: miles and miles of desert with green bushy round balls of vegetation covering the ground. This runs straight into the ocean. It's complete desolation, with small towns every 100 or 200km, and some sheep grazing the little grass that they can find. People live in this place though: gauchos on huge estancias (ranches). I saw 4 of them rounding up a herd of hundreds of sheep. They're made of different stuff than the rest of us humans I think. To make this place your home, I would need lots of hallucinatory drugs.
Arriving in Rio Gallegos, I had to stay there for the night. I have a story to tell about that... but I'll save it for later. Sunday in the evening, I took a plane into Ushuaia, (it was not much more expensive than the bus... and faster, much faster).
I have lots of plans for this Middle Earth. It should be breathtaking. More soon. Je vous embrasse.
I have just landed in Middle Earth. Ushaia is probably the most beautiful and magical place I've ever seen. Flying into the city was intensely out of this worldish. We flew in very low over the Beagle Channel, flying into the sunset surrounded by mountains. As we landed, the sun was painting in pink and orange the clouds and the mountains lining the westward Beagle Channel. When I got out of the airport, I could see that there were mountains encircling ALL of the city. At one point, on my way to the hostel, I had to ask the taxi driver to stop so I could take a picture of the sky over some eastern peaks that were pink and fushia.
The hostel that I'm in is also pretty amazing. The third floor has an amazing view of the Channel, and the mountains to the south and north. As I was sitting in the third floor common room, eating my empenadas de pollo and drinking my Quilmes beer, I thought to myself that maybe I would never leave this place!
I spent a long time travelling to get here, and now it all seems worth while. It took 22 hours to get from Esquel to Rio Gallegos, the town at the tip of the continent, before Tierra del Fuego. The ride through the southeastern part of Patagonia (Argentina), down the Atlantic coast, was a desolate one. On this side of the country, it's the pampa: miles and miles of desert with green bushy round balls of vegetation covering the ground. This runs straight into the ocean. It's complete desolation, with small towns every 100 or 200km, and some sheep grazing the little grass that they can find. People live in this place though: gauchos on huge estancias (ranches). I saw 4 of them rounding up a herd of hundreds of sheep. They're made of different stuff than the rest of us humans I think. To make this place your home, I would need lots of hallucinatory drugs.
Arriving in Rio Gallegos, I had to stay there for the night. I have a story to tell about that... but I'll save it for later. Sunday in the evening, I took a plane into Ushuaia, (it was not much more expensive than the bus... and faster, much faster).
I have lots of plans for this Middle Earth. It should be breathtaking. More soon. Je vous embrasse.
11.04.2005
Ushaia vs the Summit of the Americas
Salut tout le monde. Me voici dans une petite ville qui s'appelle Esquel. It's nothing to write home about, so I will talk about other things. Je sais que presentement, il y a le Sommet des Amériques à Mar del Plata (la côte est de l'Argentine (au sud de Buenos Aires), et qu'il y a un Sommet des peuples. Malheureusement, je suis complètement déconnectée la vrai vie. Alors j'ai su trop tard (le 3 novembre) que tout ca se passait. J'étais pour me rendre le 4 à Mar del Plata pour la manif (et j'ai vu aujourd'hui que Chavez donnait un speech devant les manifestants - j'espere que son speech va etre traduit), mais je ne suis pas allée. C'est quand même assez loin d'où je suis, et ca se passe tout en espagnol, et... et... En tout cas. Oui, je suis triste d'avoir tout manqué. Et en même temps, j'ai aucunes nouvelles de ce qui se passe. Alors si il y en a d'entre vous qui sont bien informés, S.V.P. donnez-moi des nouvelles! (and no... i had nothing to do with THIS. ha! Thanks for the info Chris!)
Et moi, et bien, j'ai resté à Bariloche jusqu'a mercredi matin. Mardi, j'ai pris un bateau (trop touristique) pour voir Puerto Blest, un petit port sur un des bras du lac Nahuel Huapi. C'est vraiment magnifique. A Puerto Blest, il y avait des belles cascades. Ensuite, on a pris un bus pour se rendre a Lago Frias. Incroyablement beau. Le lac était couleur émeraude et on pouvait voir le mont Tronador vers l'ouest. On a aussi pu voir la rivière Frias. On aurait pu continuer vers le Chili en passant par 2 autres lacs, mais je suis retourner a Bariloche.
Mercredi, je suis allée a El Bolson (120 km au sud de Bariloche), parce que jeudi il y avait une "feria" (un marché). Mais j'étais très décue. Trés peu de "stands" et de personnes. C'était vraiment rien de spectaculaire. Mercredi il a plu toute la journée donc, je n'ai pas vraiment pu apprécier la beauté du paysage (le village est correcte, sans plus). J'ai gouté quelques bières artésanales assez bonnes. Aujourd'hui je suis à Esquel, mais je pars ce soir pour Rio Gallegos, une ride d'autobus de 21heures. Je dois traverser toute la patagonie. Dimanche, je devrais prendre l'autobus de Rio Gallegos a Ushaia, la ville la plus au sud du monde.
Wish me luck. Je vous embrasse tous très fort.
Et moi, et bien, j'ai resté à Bariloche jusqu'a mercredi matin. Mardi, j'ai pris un bateau (trop touristique) pour voir Puerto Blest, un petit port sur un des bras du lac Nahuel Huapi. C'est vraiment magnifique. A Puerto Blest, il y avait des belles cascades. Ensuite, on a pris un bus pour se rendre a Lago Frias. Incroyablement beau. Le lac était couleur émeraude et on pouvait voir le mont Tronador vers l'ouest. On a aussi pu voir la rivière Frias. On aurait pu continuer vers le Chili en passant par 2 autres lacs, mais je suis retourner a Bariloche.
Mercredi, je suis allée a El Bolson (120 km au sud de Bariloche), parce que jeudi il y avait une "feria" (un marché). Mais j'étais très décue. Trés peu de "stands" et de personnes. C'était vraiment rien de spectaculaire. Mercredi il a plu toute la journée donc, je n'ai pas vraiment pu apprécier la beauté du paysage (le village est correcte, sans plus). J'ai gouté quelques bières artésanales assez bonnes. Aujourd'hui je suis à Esquel, mais je pars ce soir pour Rio Gallegos, une ride d'autobus de 21heures. Je dois traverser toute la patagonie. Dimanche, je devrais prendre l'autobus de Rio Gallegos a Ushaia, la ville la plus au sud du monde.
Wish me luck. Je vous embrasse tous très fort.