Argentina

Got to fly on one of those fancy new 787 Dreamliners (ok Google says they've been around since 2007 but I've never been on one so that's new enough for me) headed down to Buenos Aires. I definitely spent like 15 minutes playing with the electrochromic windows while waiting for boarding. Cool technology but I hated it, they're slow to switch so if there's a banked turn and the sun is in your eyes, you have to wait a minute for it to fully become opaque. Also it bsaically acts like a mirror when dark so there's actually more bright lights in the cabin being reflected into my eyes when I'm trying to sleep. There also is apparently a master control for all the windows that the flight attendants use at night so the windows are locked to full opacity.. which seems silly considering it's nighttime and there's less light outside the cabin than in; I just want to look up at the stars every now and then!

Anyway, technology woes aside it was your typical miserable economy international flight. Customs at EZE was surprisingly smooth, not that it mattered to me since I had to wait 8 hours for my flight to Ushuaia anyway. Tried exchanging my USD to ARS at some really shady looking branch of the national bank; asked if they have the blue rate and the dude got all flustered and immediately turned me away. I wonder if I wasn't supposed to talk about it because it's technically black market or something.. my mistake. Kinda just hung around in the terminal on my phone waiting for my flight. EZE is pretty far from the city center of Buenos Aires so I figured it wasn't worth the effort dragging all that luggage around to go to town for a little bit. In hindsight I probably should have, I was bored out of my mind at the airport. Learned about Argentinian history and culture so not the worst use of time, but could have been more exciting.

I dropped one of my earbuds during takeoff to Ushuaia (curse wireless earphones for not having wires) and somehow miraculously found it in the row behind me after we landed so that was nice. Didn't get to see too much of Patagonia as we were landing, it was fairly cloudy so there were a few glimpses of Lake Fagnano and a couple mountaintops sticking out here and there but otherwise couldn't really see the terrain, such a tease. 29 hours on the road at this point so I took a cab straight to my hostel and knocked out.

Woke up early in the morning the next day, peeked out the window and saw Glaciar Martial lit up red by the sunrise. Wolfed down some breakfast and called a cab straight over. Passed a few of the nicer hotels headed up the mountain, definitely made me reconsider the hostel. Interesting hike, the lower half is kinda like a ski run where it's just a wide gravel path cut through the forest. There were maybe 2 people I saw on the trail when I got there, perks of being early I guess. Was pretty winded from the climb, it's basically a 45° incline straight shot for the first kilometer. Great views though, March so autumn in the southern hemisphere (autumn, or as I like to call it, spring) and the leaves were a gorgeous dark red. The trail goes along the bottom of the glacial valley next to a river, passed some sort of closed cafe and saw the top of a ski lift. So yeah the reason it looks like a ski run is because it literally is one. Reached the top of the tree line with the sun barely peeking above the mountains to the east.

Above the tree line the trail splits in two, one with a city view and one heading towards the glacier. Figured I would check out the overlook first while the light was still soft. Started drizzling so I didn't stay too long but it had a nice view of the whole channel and valley. Turned around and started goin up the mountain to the glacier, but the wind chill was crazy and I really wasn't feeling it so I turned around and hiked back down. Probably around 11 now and the trail is getting pretty packed. Ate lunch, walked around main street, trekked along the coastline, then called it a day. Got reminded of how incompetent my Spanish is every time I tried ordering. Sure the DeepL app works great, at least until they respond telling me they're out of a certain ingredient or I need to pick a side or something..

Went down to the docks for a boat tour the next day. I was going to do a longer one that lets you visit the Isla Martillo where all the penguins hang out but they told me there's no more penguins this time of year. If only I had come a month earlier, oh well. A couple big cruise ships docked that morning so the tourists came flooding in through the gates. There were also a couple cool orange Antarctic ships, looked them up afterwards: Almirante Irizar, a local icebreaker, and Hespérides, a Spanish expedition ship. I'd love to go to Antarctica one day; don't know if I had $10k to spend this time around though so it'll have to wait another day. Perhaps it's better to go sooner than later before it all melts in five years.

The boat tour wasn't that interesting, passed by a rocky island with cormorants and sea lions, stopped on a bigger island with a thirty second hike, then went around one with a small lighthouse on it; something about a Jules Vernes reference. Some people did see a whale, although I had my eyes closed of course so I was not one of those people. If I couldn't see the penguins, what I really wanted was to see the fjords and glaciers to the west up close, like how they do on those Alaskan cruises. Was really hoping to get near the Mount Darwin or Alberto de Agostini National Park area but it seems like there aren't any ships from Ushuaia that will take people there. Don't know if that's political since it crosses into Chile or geographical if maybe the water there is too dangerous but I was a little disappointed. My host later confirmed that it was indeed political, the two countries aren't that friendly and there's extra paperwork required to cross into Chilean waters so none of the tour operators want to do it. Seems like my only option is to start in Chile then.

Day 3 was a bit lame, heavy rain in the morning and snow in the afternoon. Had a tour of the natonal park booked but they cancelled, I assume due to weather. I did walk around in the morning but got completely soaked so I spent the rest of the day in bed, only getting up to flip my shoes over on the heater. I know the weather is pretty unpredictable in this area but I wish I could have flown back to Buenos Aires today instead, then I'd at least get an extra day there instead of sitting holed up in a hostel room. No big deal either way.

Packed up the next day and headed back to Buenos Aires. While checking out of the hostel, met some guy who just got back from Antarctica because he was running a marathon there. Pretty insane if you ask me, even running a marathon on normal land is hard enough but also I'm sure it would be an incredible experience if you love running (for whatever god forsaken reason). The morning mountains were coated in a thick layer of fresh snow and it really brought Patagonia to life. Almost wanted to ask the cab to head to the trail instead but I didn't have that kind of time plus I was already sick of the snow at home.

So I ended up flying from one of the coldest spots in Argentina to one of the hottest, even with the AC on my taxi was having a hard time keeping the interior cool. But maybe that's just his car, there was a constant flashing on the dash with the words "falla de motor". Didn't seem like it was failing to me considering the guy was hitting 160+ kmph.. Had to stay a couple nights for work in La Plata which is about an hour east of Buenos Aires. Some nice cafes to sit around at but other than that, didn't seem like there was too much to do there. Not a bad view from the hotel though, surprised how much of a concrete jungle it was considering its population.

Buenos Aires though, different story. Absolutely loved it there, the atmosphere and all the different barrios were great. Checked into my hotel in Puerto Madero and walked along the riverbank. Looped around the presidential palace and the Plaza de Mayo, then headed North along Florida. Architecture in the area is great, really takes you to France. Crazy hot though, probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to change out of my stuffy work clothes into shorts.

Spent my last day running all over the place. Took a cab up to Palermo and walked around the literal dozens of parks there. It's crazy how many pet dogs there are, there were so many dog walkers with a dozen leashes in each hand, but maybe that's just because I was in an area with all the parks. Probably my favorite barrio, love the modern architectural style overlooking the green space, a bit of a Central Park lite if you will; if I had to live in Argentina I would live here. Wandered over into Recoleta and their law school, ton of green space here as well and I liked how the building styles here mix between the modern of Palermo and the colonial of the city center.

Decided that was enough time spent in the north so I got a ride to La Boca. Was a little disappointed with it honestly, I thought it would be so much more. I did like the colorful buildings but there's maybe two blocks of them at most. It was also packed to the brim with tourists and street peddlers catering to tourists which definitely didn't make it any more pleasant. Online Caminito seems to be this vibrant neighborhood buzzing with life but when I was there it felt quite run down. Walked back northward past La Bombonera and through San Telmo, picked up my bags, and sat in rush hour traffic on the way to the airport.

Still, Buenos Aires was great. Lovely weather, great place to just walk around aimlessly, I'd definitely go back. Ushuaia though, maybe not. Perhaps to see the penguins (although my favorite penguins are emperor penguins and they only live in Antarctica; seriously though how did emperor penguin babies turn out so cute when every other penguin species has the ugliest babies?), or maybe I'll get around to doing that Antarctic cruise some day. I want to get up and personal with the glaciers and fjords and Ushuaia just doesn't really offer that, so next time I'm in Patagonia I'll be going to Punta Arenas.