Honeymoon Recap: The Horse Incident

In Bariloche Kelly captured these majestic horse photos.

The other horses all left. They know his deal.

Actually chasing me! He was like an eager puppy but 100x bigger.

Horses are **not** just Men Extenders. They have minds of their own.

Honeymoon Recap: Photos #3

Bariloche in the Lake District of Patagonia.

East face of Cerro Torre, taken the next day on our shorter hike.

Now down to the Calafate area, visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier.

Even when you’re next to it, it’s impossible to comprehend the size. There is just no sense of scale. These peaks are about five stories above the water. The electric blue piece in the water, which is closer to us than it looks, is at least the size of two school buses. Because of the color, you can tell this piece is super-dense ice, meaning it broke from the bottom and floated up.

~Five miles of glacier, slowly advancing over the mountain, fed by the Southern Patagonia Ice Field. The field is 6,000 square miles, larger than Connecticut.

All three faces, seen from the catwalks across the water. The part we walked on in the first picture is just barely visible at the far left. It’s the tiny peak you can see at the edge of the frame.

Back on the glacier side. Every four years or so, the ice reaches the opposite shore, and creates an ice bridge and a dam. This sign marks the highest level of the lake during the last the bridge in 2018. Apparently, glacier fanatics from all over the world booked stays for that whole summer, and bought tickets into the national park every single day, wanting to see the rupture. Then it broke overnight and no one saw it 😦 .

Honeymoon Recap: Photos #2

We had a bit of trouble keeping up, and Mamba was in no hurry. But we were on the same page.

I could deal with instant coffee every day, if I got to drink it here.

My third and final fish of the day, a little bigger … a “teenager” as Eduardo put it.

La Cervecería Chaltén, a gem of a place in a tiny climbing town.

Honeymoon Recap: Photos #1

I wanted to share a few more pics that I didn’t get a chance to post during the trip.

El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a bookstore in an old theater in BA.

Kelly found the coolest bar, Tres Monos 🙈🙉🙊.

Zonda kitchen. Hands down, THE best meal of my life.

Fresh tomato ice cream at Zonda. I can’t even *imagine* a better meal. And the service!

I miss empanadas.

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?

Honeymoon Day 19: We’re home

We made it back to Chicago, totally wiped out after a long travel day, but happy to be home. Sometime this week I’ll post one last day of pictures and memories. For now, unpacking and relaxing.

Honeymoon Day 18: Torres del Paine to Santiago

The view from the restaurant at Tierra Patagonia hotel.

The stars over our final night in Patagonia.

Chilean wine tasting and beet tartare at Bocanáriz in Santiago.

We are at the airport in Santiago, waiting to board our flight home. It’s sad, but it’s time. Today we had an early wake up, flew from Puerto Natales to Santiago, and had just a few hours to explore the city before returning to the airport.

In the next few days I’ll hopefully post some reflections and more pictures from the trip. For now, I’m too tired. See you stateside.

Honeymoon Day 17: Tierra Patagonia Recovery and Relaxation Day

The hotel is made mostly of Lenga (southern beech), one of only three species of tree growing in the park.

Back in the saddle. Again I had the horse with the attitude. We rode in a line, and he HATED being in the rear. When behind any horse other than our gaucho’s in the lead, he would push right up to the next horse’s rear, and nudge it onward with his nose! His name, Aguardiente, is apropos.

The “Jack Sparrow,” today’s cocktail-of-the-day by bar director Shlomith. Rum, homemade banana liqueur, pineapple juice, coconut bitters. (aka Just when I thought our trip couldn’t get better, they gave me a tiki drink.)

After yesterday’s big hike (similar distance, but 1,000 vertical feet more than our big one in El Chalten), we needed a less strenuous day. We went horseback riding in the morning, and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hotel and spa. In the lobby we found a coffee table book of Chile’s fanciest hotels, where we learned a little more about this place:

Its architects, Cazú Zegers, Rodrigo Ferrer, and Roberto Benavente, sought to create a structure with a sense of place, a geo-poetic work in which the key element was beech wood worked to resemble the texture of the old-time sheep barns on the ranches where they once dried the wool and leather.”
Destinos de Lujo by Ana María Lopez & Marí Paúl

Tomorrow, we have to start the journey home! Unless we are hired by Kine, the hotel’s cheery Excursion Director. (We have inquired.)

It will be hard to leave this place. It is so special here—both the park and the hotel. But we’ll have a full day in Santiago before our overnight flight, so there will be some time to transition and enjoy a bit more adventure before getting back to Chicago.

Honeymoon Day 16: Base of the Towers /// French Press above the French Valley

Tierra Patagonia Hotel in Chile, our last stop. It’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced.

Base of the Towers in Torres del Paine National Park.

Our guide surprised us with hot French press after lunch; fuel for the descent as the weather turned.

Cold, wet, happy. Before the rain, I had on my NU bucket hat, and Kelly said I looked like this guy.

Today was the big trek in Torres del Paine. After a ~3.5-hour climb, the clouds opened just enough to see the towers (las torres) for a few minutes while at the lookout. As we finished lunch, the clouds returned and the rain, cold, and wind picked up, making the descent a bit treacherous. But we made it safely, and the day was amazing. Yet another wonderful guide, Diego, made our trip extra special with lots of info about the terrain, flora, and fauna—he’s an avid birder. And also with surprises: delicious fresh coffee at the top, and champagne at the bottom. We learned that paine is native Tehuelche for “sky blue,” so the park’s name is a mix of Spanish and native language meaning something like “Towers of the Blue Sky.” We also learned that another feature, the French Valley, is named for the former landowner, a Frenchman. Apparently this was private land (!) before being donated to the park.

Our hotel, Tierra Patagonia, is mind-bogglingly beautiful, and in perfect harmony with the landscape. This hotel was the inspiration for our whole trip, and it has exceeded our hopes. I’ll post more photos tomorrow, and hopefully learn and share more about its history and architecture. For now, we are recovering with some tub time, sauna, pool, and then off to dinner.

Honeymoon Day 13: Perito Moreno Glacier

By necessity, we were up in plenty of time to see this beauty of a sunrise. Because of the Andes to the West, water from this lake runs all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, via Rio Santa Cruz.

At the end of the glacier trek, the guides cut off a piece of ice and served everyone a celebratory whiskey, over ~400 year-old rocks.

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!”