Drew's sabbatical blog
I just did a quick debrief call with the travel company that helped us plan and book our honeymoon, Jacada. They told me they were happily following this blog every day during the trip, which made me smile.
Melanie, Delfina, and everyone on the Jacada team were excellent at what they do. The local guides made the trip special; we got to meet and spend the days with some of the most lovely people in Argentina and Chile.
We had the trip of a lifetime, thank you again Jacada.
I wanted to share a few more pics that I didn’t get a chance to post during the trip.
I miss empanadas. They are so good in Argentina (even better than Chile, sorry Chileans). I don’t know what makes them better, but I have a feeling it has to do with lard? We actually met a Japanese guy down there who initially said he came to see South America, but later admitted he came because he loved Empanada Mama in NYC and wanted the real thing.
I’m going on a mission to find the best ones in Chicago. Anyone have suggestions?
Our day began with a drive around Estancia 25 de Mayo, a huge ranch named for Argentinian Independence Day. It’s also home to a 2,000 year-old native tribal gravesite, and the oldest settler house in the area. Our guide Christian is a former pro skater who was roommates in California with Chad Muska (the one with the backpack, remember?). Now he’s a nature guide and absolutely loves his job. Every plant and animal he showed us, it was like he was seeing it for the first time. We had a blast with him. He drove an old forest green Land Rover, a totally mechanical car with no electronics at all. Going uphill the engine chirped and squealed. “That’s the stereo today,” said Christian. There are guanacos everywhere, even though the properties are all fenced off, they just jump over the fences and roam and graze freely. “The guanacos are the real landowners,” said Christian. The tour finished at La Seccion, “the section house,” which is like a guest house / owner’s weekend house at the estancia.
Christian dropped us off Calafate Coffee Roasters, where we enjoyed excellent coffee and atmosphere. We wanted to buy some of the cool mugs but were worried they wouldn’t survive the trip. Tipping in US dollars never gets old here—even one or two dollars gets a big reaction from people. They thank you sincerely. They may show their coworkers, who also thank you. Or sometimes they pocket it right away without showing anyone. Either way, there’s a constant sense of an economy hungry for dollars, and of people hungry for financial stability. Putting dollars into the economy at the very micro level feels meaningful. When we tipped our guide Christian, he looked at us intently and said, “I will save this.”
We finished the day at the hot tub and then dinner, both at the hotel. Tomorrow we cross into Chile and head for Torres Del Paine, our final, and maybe most epic, stop on the trip.
Hiking on the glacier. I think it will take a long time, maybe years, before the significance of this experience fully sinks in for me. The Perito Moreno Glacier, about 1.5 hours west of El Calafate, is named for the famed explorer. Moreno discovered and named just about every place we’ve visited on this trip. You drive to the national park, continue to the end of the road, and board a boat to cross to the glacier. After a short hike you get your crampons and helmet, and walk around on a tiny area of the massive 100 square mile glacier. After the hike, and having enjoyed a whiskey on-the-glacial-rocks, you ferry back and view the glacier’s eastern and northern faces from a network of catwalks on the adjacent hills. It’s summer here, and it’s hot. As always during summer, on display is the hypnotic, quaking sight and sound of apartment-building-sized ice chunks cracking, tilting, and crashing into the water 200 feet below. The sound is like something from an another dimension, mechanistically translated to ours.
Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to a more relaxed day, visiting a nearby ranch. But for now, I’m going to cheat and add some more pictures—the usual three won’t cut it today. “¡Chao!”
One of the first things about you notice in Argentina is the mate culture (🗣️👂“mah-tay”). Everyone has his or her own little mate cup, sometimes a glass or metal mug, but often a traditional gourd wrapped in leather. You fill the cup with the tea leaves in the morning, and bring a giant thermos of hot water with you throughout the day, pouring a little water and taking a few sips when you need a boost. Native people drank it through their teeth and spit the leaves, but now people use a metal straw with a wire or mesh filter at the bottom. Even on our domestic flights, we see plenty of mate, sometimes with the gourd, thermos, and snacks all in a little square leather carrier with a handle. I had my first mate at La Esquina here in El Chalten, and it was an experience. I’d been warned to be careful, as it is “quite stimulating,” but still I wasn’t ready for the amount of caffeine—I was wired and my head was swimming! The taste is super bitter, definitely something I’d need to get used to. They encourage newbies to add honey, but of course I had to be hardcore.
Later we went for a short hike for a different view of Cerro Torres, then had dinner with our friends Claire and Cenk, and more of what our new friend Leo called “the best ice cream in the galaxy.” He may be right, it is that good!
Tomorrow we’re looking forward to a pre-dawn hike to see the sunrise hit the Fitz Roy range, then driving back to El Calafate for our next stop.
Today was a full-day hike guided by Leo, the craftiest guide in El Chalten and the nicest man in Argentina*. We drove a ways outside town this morning to have a longer one-way route, worth it for the additional views. Over the course of 15 miles and 3,100 vertical feet, we saw glaciers and the moraines they left behind over millions of years of glacial movement; we saw the Fitz Roy massif summits, the surrounding peaks, and rivers and lakes all the way to the horizon. I’ve never seen a glacier before (Kelly has), and it’s impossible to describe. It is eerily silent and still, but also appears to rush toward you from the base of those iconic granite peaks, literally frozen in time. We learned that the peaks of the Fitz Roy (aka Chalten) range were all formed by venting magma under the Pacific Ocean ~16 million years ago (a baby in mountain time). The magma cooled into those shapes. The peaks were pushed partially above ground by tectonic plate movement, and then the glaciers scraped away the rest, resulting in the formation pictured above (and in the Patagonia(TM) logo). We finished at a brewery for beers with Leo—resting our feet, reflecting on the day, and thanking him for so earnestly sharing his love of the mountain with us. This was by far my biggest hike ever, and maybe Kelly’s as well, though she’s done some long ones. The views were stunning, but equally great was experiencing something so rare and awe-inspiring together on our honeymoon.
Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to rest and recovery. And hunting for the best coffee in El Chalten.
*well, maybe tied with Eduardo.
sabbatiblog 