Trelew and Easter

We had the most incredible opportunity on Easter.  We took a 22 hour bus ride from El Chalten to Esquel.  It sounds terrible but it was over night so we slept a good chunk, they stopped a lot to break it up, the seats are twice as comfortable and lay back 3x as far as an airplane and the people were awesome.  Then, we caught another overnighter 9 hours (Fell asleep as we left and woke up upon arrival) to Trelew.  We are now on the east coast of Argentina in Derek´s favorite area he served in on his mission.  We spent Easter going to church and with 4 families.  For the first time since we left Sunday has actually been Sunday: no where to be, nothing to do, no shopping before stores or locotorios close etc.  Just family.

This first family is the Sosa family (Yanina, their daughter, had left before the picture was taken).  He was Bishop when Derek was here.  They took us home from church, fed us a lovely lunch of noodles, chicken, and bread (and yes, I am still going strong meatless in Argentina).  They drove us into town and let us spend the night when we found out no buses were leaving Sunday night.  An incredibly giving and hospitable family. 

These are the Olados (minus their oldest son, Facu, who had left).  Hermano Olado was the Mission Leader of the ward when Derek was there.  The first time I´ve felt tall in all my life.  Their two kids, Matias y Cami are so cute.  Especially Cami.  We spent a few hours drinking Mate (Manta for me.  No me gusta Mate), and having great conversation.  Then Hermano Olado y Cami walked with us to the next familia.

La Familia Rapiman.  Sandra and her daughter, Lelean and son Enzo.  This is a family Derek found and taught on his mission and they were baptized shortly after he left.  They are incredible.  They fed Derek torta (cake) and we talked and had an incredibly spiritual experience.  Enzo was sick so Derek and Hermano Olado gave him a blessing and Sandra went on to talk about how grateful she was to Derek (Elder Storrs) for finding them and all the blessing they have had since they have had the gospel in their lives.  Upon leaving Derek said, That is why I served a mission.  If they were the only family I found it would be good enough.  It was really special.

This is la otro Famila Sosa.  They had us over for dinner (mind you it is 10 o´clock at night when dinner is served).  Potatoes, salad, chicken, and bread.  (Still meatless).  They were so fun and the kids were running crazy everywhere.  When Derek was here it was mom and 3 girls.  Now all 3 are married with kids galore.  They gave us a HUGE flag of the Argentine Province of Chubut and they all signed and wrote notes to us (mostly Derek) and 2 big chocolate easter eggs.  One we shared with everyone and Derek ate the other as a snack today.

We got back to the Sosa´s house at around 11:30 pm and they were still up totally normal.  The Argentine schedule is so strange to me, but what´ll ya do?  It was an incredible Easter, although nobody ever mentioned that it was Easter.  Sacrament was all about missionaries and missionary work.  Oh well. 

I hope you all had a great Easter and were able to focus on Christ and all the incredible things he has done for us so we can return to him.  Much love!

PICTURES!!!!!!!!

I know what you are all thinking.  HOORAY!  FINALLY!  Same here.  It only took 30 minutes to load all these onto the blog.  That is a record fast time, especially for this many pictures.  And this internet cafe is only 4 pesos an hour.  WAHOO! 

Los Torres del Paine (these are the towers and they were shrouded in clouds and cleared just for us)  It was super windy and cold, I have 3 jackest on and one tied around my chest, hence why I look kind of weird.  But they are awesome things to behold.  As we said earlier, God out did himself (PS: these belong to the 2 lone pictures in the previous post)

Perito Moreno Glacier.  This glacier is just outside of El Calafate in Argentina.  It is one of the world´s only avancing glaciers.  This is before it started to downpour and then snow.  We´re lucky we went on the boat tour first thing in the morning.  However, we did get to see some chunks break off into the water.  This thing is 5km wide and 15km long and like 74 meters tall, and advancing 1.5 meters per day.  Quite impressive.

Close up on the glacier

The beard.  He shaved it.  (He regretted that on our next campout.  His face was cold).  He didn´t want to see all his members looking all scruffy, the longish hair is enough.  But I am proud of the beard.

El Parque Nacional los Glaciares.  This is Cerro Torre.  We waited 45 minutes - 1 hour and this is as much as it wanted to clear.  But I promise it´s in there.  You can google it.

Mount Fitz Roy.  Awesome.  It cleared up just for us.  We camped next to the base and it wa totally clouded the next day.  I am glad we got to see it up close and personal.  It is awesome.  Also, take a look at all your Patagonia clothes and notice the silhouette is the same. 

Other than that, we are doing great.  We made a big trip north and it is amazing how much warmer and less windy it is in Northern Patagonia.  Right now we are on the east coast of Argentina in a city called Trelew (Derek´s favorite area)  More to come of it soon.

Sorry, I couldn´t get pictures to load on the other post.  This is Los Torres del Paine.  These lovely mountains here are Los Cuernos and are the whole reason we always wanted to come to the Patagonia.

This shot is from the Valle Francais (one of the legs of the trek in Los Torres del Paine)

Unfortunately for ya´ll those pics are all you get.  We have learned that computers in South America suck, so we´ll have a slide show party when we get home.  Sorry.  We wish you could all see what we are seeing.

Anyway, since the last post we´ve been to El Calafate, a cute little town.  We went to Los Glaciares National Park and saw the Perrito Moreno glacier.  5 km wide, 15 km long.  HUGE!  It rained lots. 

Then off to El Chalten where we went to the other side of the Los Glaciares National Park.  We hiked and camped and hosteled because it is freezing here and more windy than Los Torres del Paine.  On Wed. the wind literally almost knocked me over.  Derek and my walking stick had to steady me.  We love our walking sticks for just that purpose.  Mount Fitz Roy is amazing!  It is HUGE!  And, is the insignia for Patagonia brand.  How perfect is that, we are in the Patagonia afterall.  We tired to see Cerro Torre but alas, it was cloud covered.  A falcom like bird landed 3 feet away from me though and a wee little bird came in our tent once. 

We are having a very good time and start our epic 22 hour bus ride to Esquel tonight at 1015.  Gotta go.

(PS I gave specific names so you could google the images of where we are)

Thank You Dad

First of all, I would like to thank my dad for raising me to be tough, not afraid to get dirty, to appreciate the beauties of nature, and to love to work hard to get to them.  He also taught me to nver give up, hold on and keep going because the end will be worth it and the journey rewarding. 

Testimony: It is.

We have spent time in a few new places since I last wrote.

We flew to Ushuaia.  It is the southern most city in the world, on an island off the bottom of Argentina.  It is a quaint small town with about 10 hours of sunlight right now.  We couchsurfed with a nice man named Luis.  He is fluent in spanish, french, english, italina, and portugeuse.  He has traveled all over the world and we had some amazing conversations with him.  He was awesome.

We were able to buy Derek some new hiking boots before heading to Tierra del Fuego National Park.  It is so beautiful.  Imgaine mountains and forrest meeting the coast and some really nice lakes.  So beautiful.  It is the equivalent of October here, so they are in the middle of autumn and all the leaves are changing.  So beautiful.  (We get autumn 2x this year).  We met some really great guys on our hike in Tierra del Fuego, Murry, Philip, and Marco.  We had incredible conversations all day during out hikes.  Meeting them enriched our experience so much.  Honestly the highlight of that trip was meeting and learning and growing from meeting those guys.  They were so great.  However, they were smarter than us and did not try to camp like we did.  Coldest night I have ever spent in my life.  The sun sets at around 6 or 6:30, so by 7:30 we were in bed and asleep by 8.  We froze.   Our feet were like icecubes in the morning.   The sun does not rise until 8ish.  So long time in the tent.  We got out to hacer pee at around 5:30 and it was about 5 degrees outside.  So considering we have 20 degree bags we did pretty well.  We spent some good time rubbing our feet in the morning, Derek put mine on his bare belly to warm them.  He is so great.

Mock engagement pic at Laguna Verde in Tierra del Fuego

Left to right: Marco (Germany), Derek, Me, Murry (Australia), and Philip (Germany).  Awesome guys.

Derek at the end of the world in Tierra del Fuego

After Ushuaia, we took a 15 or 17 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales, Chile to do to Los Torres del Paine.  These mountains are the entire reason I have always wanted to come to the Patagonia.  They are incredible things to behold.  Jagged, magestic, shear, and incredibly shaped rising out of nowhere from nearly sea level.  There are not words to properly describe them. 



It was a 4 day 3 night trek and we pushed 45 + miles, most likely more.  Everything is in km here, so it is a rough estimate.  Needless to say, we are tired.   It was so worth it though.  We had incredible weather for the first 3 days.  On the 3rd night it started to rain, so we hunkered down in the tent until morning.  Again, my sleeping bag proved to be insufficient, it is about 8 years old and has lost a lot of the down in it and is a little long for me so I couldn{t keep my legs and feet warm.  So at around 4 am Derek and I discovered that we both fit in his sleeping bag.  We were like 2 catepilars in a cacoon.  It was so warm and lovely.  And we both slept really well like that.  He is so great, he puts me in his sleeping bag, he always gets the water and washes the jetboil, uses his bandanas to dry the jetboil, lets me blow my nose in his hankies, etc. etc.

We met some really neat people along the way.  Our jetboil made us instant celebreties in the cooking hut. Nobody had ever seen anything like it.  I had to do a cooking show while making our noodles.  (I have learned to like noodles again.  As well as these delightful cookies that are like a thick graham cracker with dried fruit in them, sugar in my tea, and am even using milk, cheese, and yogurt because when you have to eat.  You have to eat.  However, i have been in South America 3 weeks and have not touched meat.)

We are now back in Puerto Natales at our 2nd Couchsurfing experience.  It is a delightful Chilean family.  They help me with my spanish.  They are so great.  Derek is in playing guitar with their son and I doodled for their daughter.  It is fun.  We love it.

Iguazu Falls

Holy Cow and Wow are the only things to be said.  There are no words to define Iguazu Falls.  The most spectacular thing we have ever seen.  Especially the Garganta del Diablo.  We were fortunate enough to be the first people out to it and were alone with El Diablo for about 5 minutes.  Amazing.  Then we did a lot of walking a lot of getting soaked by waterfall mist.  Saw a lot of falls and a lot of animals.  Nearly got ambushed by Capuchen (limur/racoonish animals) multiple times while eating lunch.  And hiked out to a small fall and swam.  It was so hot.  And no bugs.  So much for Yellow Fever shots....oh well.  Better safe than sorry I guess. 

Us at La Garganta del Diablo.  82 meters high.  You can´t see the bottom and we´re getting soaked.

More falls, don´t know the names.  Also getting soaked.  (People were walking around in bathing suits (and some shouldn´t have been in bathing suits if you know what I mean)

We took a 19 hr bus ride from Peurto Iguazu back to Buenos Aires.  So much nicer than an airplane.  Just colder, no blankets given.

Dereks mission companion, Ariel, picked us up at the bus depot and took good care of us.  Let us shower (Hallelujah!) and fed us and took us all around town and to an Argentina soccer game.  We were in the crazy fan section, standing on the stairs because it was so packed.  And we could only see a portion of the field because people were standing up on top of the walls holding banners and everyone is singing and chanting the whole time.  It was really fun.  And there are no parking rules when it comes to soccer games.  We parked on the sidewalk over a km away from the stadium (which is as big or bigger than a U.S. NFL stadim) and packed, except the visiting team section which is blocked off from the rest by a high fence topped with barbed wire.  So no fights go on.  The opposing fans are also taken out of the stadium by the police before any River Plate(our team) fans could leave to prevent fights as well.

We flew to Ushuaia today at 5:40 AM.  We went straight to church which was awesome.  This place is so beautiful.  A little valley surrounded by mountains and lakes and of course the ocean.  We are the furthest south civilzation hs reached (minus scientists in antactica.  but they don´t count).

Much love!

Delivery

I promised pictures and the hostel/hotel (because it is the NICEST hostel I´ve ever seen) delivered.  Here is Peru.

Us with the llamas and a beautiful Quetchua woman at the Pisacq market on the Sacred Valley Tour.

Lisa and I at the Pisacq ruins

This is where it all started.  The family at kilometer 82 aka the start of El Camino Inka aka The Inca Trail

We made it to the top of Dead Woman´s Pass.  That was the hardest part.  AH!  straight up stair master from Hades for 4+ hours with a pack on.  But we did it.

The family + Porters.  Huber (our main guide) is not looking at the camera...

This is the ONLY view on Machu Picchu we got on our camera, because it broke.  But Lisa has lots.  We´ll put them up when we get home.  But it was AMAZING!

Ready to surf in Lima.  SO FUN.  And the water wasn´t cold.  Lovely.

Hope ya´ll enjoyed a taste of the adventure.  We´re off to early bed because we gotta get up at 4:30 A.M. to get ready to fly to ARGENTINA.  WAHOO!!! 

We love Peru.  Brenna is crazy for saying Lima is ugly because it is not.  Much love to you all.  Adios.

Peru

So I just wrote a MASSIVE blog post all about Peru.  And it got erased.  So, unfortunately for you, I am not going into massive detail like before. 

First things first - no pictures.  This computer needs stuff updated so I can´t upload any pictures.  So hopefully I can get some up soon.

Anyway, Peru is awesome.  The most incredible place I have ever been.  I have honestly never been anywhere like it before.  It is absolutely incredible.  Sure you can only drink bottled water and you put your toilet paper in a waste basket next to the toilet, but I love it. 

We got into Lima late late LATE last Sunday night aka Monday morning, slept for 4 hours and left to Cuzco.  Cuzco is awesome.  It is such a unique place.  It was the capital of the Incan Empire and the Spanish decided to build their city right on top of it, so there are remnants of the Inca everywhere.  Really neat, especially because I love anthropology/ancient civilization stuff.  So fascinating. 

My family is here with us.  My sister, Lisa, and Derek and I went on a Sacred Valley Tour where we visisted 3 Incan sites and a few markets and a bomber lunch.  It was so cool.  We learned so much.  The Incan culture is so encompassing of all of life and so intertwined with religion and nature it is so fascinating to learn about.  I (we) loved it so much.  Also, we lucked out with an amazing and very knowledgable guide, Carlos.

Lisa, Derek, and I also had the opportunity to hike the Inca Trail.  I won´t lie, it was the most incredible and rewarding thing I have every done.  However, it was also the hardest things I have ever done.  I would rather run a marathon than do Day 2 with a pack on again.  If I ever do the Inca Trail again, I will hire a personal Porter because hauling a pack straight up steep stairs at nearly 14,000 feet above sea level was not easy.  It was doable.  We did it.  We were fine.  (We were the only ones in the family (group) who did).  It was seriously amazing and for many reason.  A. We were on the Inca Trail.  This is the same road they used to get to and from Machu Picchu.  There are ruins along the Trail that can only be accessed via the Trail and because when the Incans abandoned the area they destroyed the trail none of the sites, nor Machu Picchu was ever discovered by the Spanish (yay!).  B. Our guide, Huber, was incredible.  He is of Andean (native) descent.  He speaks Quechua (native/Incan language), Spanish, and English.  He knows everything about the Inca and their history, culture, religion, buildings, etc.  And he is so passionate about it.  I believe he practices some of their beliefs with the respect of the land and the mountains, water, etc.  Our assistant guide, Marco, was so funny and made me look like a giant.  He literally come up to Derek´s elbow.  and C. Our group was family.  We called ourselves the family.  We were so bonded and close.  It was incredible.  We had a lot of fun.   We helped each other make it when it was hard.  D. It is so beautiful.  You go through Rain Forrest, Alpine Forrest, and the Cloud Forrest.  Oh and E. We ate super good, gormet 3 course meals every meal and drank at least 5 cups of tea daily. 

Machu Picchu is the most incredible place I have ever seen or been to.  There are no words.  Our first view of it from the Sun Gate was with nobody there.  Amazing.  Mist around Hhyna Picchu.  Llamas wandering around.  Derek almost died because he slipped off the trail.  But he´s okay.  Huber gave an amazing tour.  We learned so much.  And we met up with the familia (Mom, dad, Beth (sister), Wells (broinlaw), and Jim and Kay (Uncle and Aunt).  We were dead tired.  Kind of followed their tour off an on.  Then it was relaxing in Aguas Calientes.  Mom ate a guinea pig (it is big here) I was so grossed out I couldn´t eat my dinner.

Now we´re back in Lima.  And we´re going surfing in the morning.  So I´d better hit the sack.

We are alive

Hola amigos. We are alive and well. We have now been in Peru for one week and this country is amazing. We absolutely love it here. I cannot write much because I am on our iPod using the wifi of our hotel in Aguas Calientes. All I will say is that the Inca Trail was the most amazing experience of my life and I highly recommend it. Machu Picchu is the most amazing place I have ever seen.

More details and pictures to come when I have a computer available. Until then, much love and adios.