Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina & Chile - What day is it?

Wow - long time no blog! We have just been SO busy - it's hard to find time to blog!


Day 51 – December 19

In the morning we all got in a little minibus and crossed over for a shopping excursion in Paraguay. The border was ODD! No border controls, no passport checks, just tons of traffic and a little guard who popped his head in the truck – asked what nationality we all were (the driver just gave him a summary) and asked for a small bribe to let us through. Interesting (apparently the police force is quite corrupt in Paraguay).

We had popped over to Paraguay to check out the electronic goods (i.e. cameras) because we had heard everything was half the price of Brasil. Perhaps it was, but it was still more than TWICE the price of stuff in the U.S. So the only things we ended up buying was a new splitter for our headphones (so we can watch dvds together on the laptop during bus rides) and a few knock off dvds (finally – some new movies to watch)!

It was interesting to see the shopping just over the border mad. Crazy busy with people everywhere trying to sell you things!

We crossed back over the border, packed up, and then headed off to our old favorite – the bus station. When we got on we were surprised to be seated downstairs (on these double deckers we are usually always on the top floor). Murray and I had the front row (which worried me since that was near the bathroom…..)

Me on the bus

We were hugely hugely shocked after the bus left. A movie started (wedding crashers again – yay) and then…. a steward appeared – with a basket full of candy! AND he encouraged us to take as many pieces as we wanted (sorry – but this is a big deal – a steward? Free food? Huh?). Then he went and got a tray full of soft drinks and water, follwed by a cold meal (ham & cheese again - yuck…. Other than the cookie) and a meat pancake with white sauce (big yuck).

Some people even brought their own food – ha ha! Steve and Ann enjoying their cereal on the bus.

It wasn’t a bad bus either. Thankfully there was a curtain that we could close in front of us, which greatly helped with blocking the loo (bathroom) smell, the seats reclined quite a bit, and there was a lot of movies. However, WHY they decided to start the movie Alexander at midnight when everyone was starting to try and sleep? At volume 1000? I do not know.

Thankfully I was still able to sleep. I had to put my long sleeve t-shirt over my head though because it was SO cold!!! The vents were on the side near the windows and could not be closed, so shirt head it was (worked well too I must say).

Day 52 – December 20

We arrived early in the morning in Salto, Uruguay. Well, actually, our bus stopped at the side of the highway (a dirt road) not far from Salto and left us there – thankfully our taxis were waiting for us (sometimes it is SO great to be on a tour where these things are arranged FOR us)!!
We had to cross the border (from Argentina to Uruguay) and then we arrived in Salto.

Uruguay is roughly the size of North Dakota, and for years was considered the ‘Switzerland of South America.’ However, now it is like Switzerland after an economic meltdown (after some terrible cattle diseases the economy was crushed). It’s great for visitors though – as the lonely planet says ‘you will find yourself chuckling as you come out of restaurants, rubbing your belly and gleefully planning your next meal.’ I just couldn’t have said it better myself.

Salto is directly across the river from Concordia, Argentina, and it’s main attractions are the nearby hot springs. However, we decided the waterpark was the way to go (we have been looking forward to this for AGES)!

So six of us (Lance, Shelly, Steve, Anne and us) got on a local bus, and went off to find the local waterpark! We eventually found the right place, paid (only $5 US!) and found a spot to lock up our valuables and dump our towels. It wasn’t as big as we expected, but it was still good fun. There was 2 big steep slides – those narrow ones that you look at and think ‘I’m so going to fly right out of that.’ We all went on the open one that wasn’t the steepest of the two, it was scary – but doable. Very wet though – half way through I couldn’t open my eyes and had to plug my nose there was so much water being sprayed up around me! The super steep one though, was only attempted by Lance and Murray. Scary steep! There was also two normal tube sized slides with a more reasonable incline. We went on those MANY MANY times! Good thing is was a weekday – so the place wasn’t too crowded.

Lance doing his best ‘blue steel’

Murray’s blue steel (reference to Zoolander the movie…. Again)

I just enjoyed the slide

After a few hours we headed back to the hotel to clean up before heading off to dinner. Paul took us down to the river, where we all shared a beer, before heading off to a nearby restaurant.

Lance, Shelly, Me & Antonella

Shelly, Antonella & I showing off the blue nail polish we found – kinda fun:)

Pretty sunset in Salto

When we saw the prices in the menu we almost fell off our chairs – because it was SO cheap (compared to Brasil)!
Group dinner - Murray, Paul, Antonella, Lance, Steve, Robin & Me

We both had amazing meals – Murray had a fantastic steak, and I had a great chicken meal (chicken wrapped around plums, bacon and cheese – fabulous).
Our super yummy steak

We also order tons of sides of veggies and a bottle of wine - and the whole meal was amazingly still was under our daily budget – I love Uruguay!

Me with our many many plates

Day 53 – December 21

Today we took a 6 hour day bus to Montevideo – the capital of Uruguay. By the way – day buses stink – I dare say I actually prefer night buses. It is just so boring! You can only read so much, especially when the landscape is pretty dull.

Montevideo is probably South America’s most laid-back capital. The population is only 1.3 million, and the city was a European feel thanks to the large influx of Spanish and Italian immigrants who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Our first evening in town we went out for another fantastic meal (Murray could not resist having a steak again – and WOW it was massive – like the size of two fists – perfectly cooked as well)! We also tried the local dessert chaja – a meringue and ice-cream concoction which was extremely rich but SO good!

Shelly and Lance came by our room that evening to watch the movie ‘Death Proof’ on our dvd (odd but good movie) and we cracked out the ‘Old Times’ Uruguayan scotch that we bought with the group kitty.

It wasn’t bad actually! Lance & Shelly doing the first pours honors

Day 54 – December 22

After a nice breakfast (apparently in Uruguay they don’t like fruit for breakfast… just bread and jam – but at least we got something) we headed off to walk around the city. It really is quite European feeling – cute buildings, nice cafe’s dotted all around, and lovely little markets.

Montevideo cops turning an eye upwards (they were all over the place – so the city felt very safe)

The big thing here in Uruguay – which we have seen all over the place – is guy’s walking around with a wooden cup covered in leather – with a metal straw in the cup and a thermos under their arm – constantly sipping away. They are drinking the local popular drink mate – which when you look in the cup just looks like really dense green herbs in a cup. That’s why the metal straws have a little filter like grating at the bottom – so that they only suck up the mate tea. I wonder if it is addicting though – since you see SO many people lugging around their cup and thermos’s – it’s just so odd!

Some mate cups made out of cow hoofs (ewww)

A typical mate drinker – walking around with her cup and thermos

A closer up view of the hoofs – can you BELIEVE these are cups???

After a nice walk, and a lovely te con leche (tea with milk), we popped back to the hotel to get some warmer clothing (the breeze from the water was COLD) then headed out for lunch. We walked down to the Mercado de la Abundancia which was hugely crowded with locals. The inside of the market had tons of little restaurants where you could pull up a stool for a meal while looking right at a MASSIVE BBQ with every kind of meal you could imagine to choose from. It was hot, smelly, and really bizarre!

The MASSIVE BBQ

We found a nice restaurant and picked a table near the window – they even gave us all a free glass of Medio y Medio (which is a mixture of sparkling wine and white wine – it really tastes like Asti though). Paul ordered us a selection of sausages to start – and we did all actually try both the sweet and the savory blood sausage called morcilla (not bad – although I could only get down a small bite since I KNEW what it was made of - eewwww).

Doesn’t it look appetizing?

We shared an ok, but not great, piece of cod. But the best part of lunch – the crowd was crazy! There was a table just outside that we could see – that had a HUGE food fight (and these were not kids – it was adults)! There was ice cream being thrown, a glass of red wine dumped on a lady’s head, and they had a mooning competition with the next table – crazy! We asked the waitress what was going on and she said that it was the end of the working year and Christmas – so people were just celebrating (I wonder if that was a company Christmas party)?? Also, during our meal we suddenly heard tons of drums banging away, and when we looked out we saw a woman less than half dressed in a Carnival like outfit – dancing away! Interesting……
Note the dancer in little to nothing on the right

After lunch we got out of that crazy scene…...
Chopping up some sausages in the market area
Mercado de la Abundancia

And walked down to the waterside
Montevideo lies on the east bank of the Rio de la Plata. And wow – it does not have a pretty riverside. Sparse, cold, windy, and brown water – we didn’t stay down there long. That evening we passed on dinner (too many big meals lately – so we just weren’t hungry) and just took advantage of the free internet at the hotel instead!
This pic makes it look nicer than it is.......

Day 55 – December 23

Early in the morning we got onto another bus and traveled just two hours to the town of Colonia del Sacramento. It is a 17th century Portuguese contraband port and fortress which is West of Montevideo. It is a cute town with winding cobblestone streets, nice (cheap) restaurants, and lovely river views (but a bit touristy…. I blame the cruise ships). The Portuguese founded Colonia in 1680 to smuggle goods across the Rio de la Plata into Buenos Aires. The Spanish captured it in 1762 and held it until 1777, when tax reforms finally permitted foreign goods to proceed directly to Buenos Aires.

After checking into our posada we walked around the Barrio Historico – which is on a small peninsula near downtown.
Murray and I under a funny palm like tree (with very sharp needles) showing off our ‘twins’ outfits (didn’t plan that one! I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have much to choose from).

We spent the afternoon walking around admiring the cute cobblestone streets, the lovely colonial buildings, and all the extremely old cars that seem to be all over Uruguay (some amazingly restored)!
Lovely colonial area
An old car with a table inside (it was part of a restaurant – how cool) and a car behind it with a tree growing out of it….. odd!
Murray posing with a really old one – with wooden spokes!
It really is a lovely area

We also hit the local mall (small, but nice), overall quite enjoying the town (still not as nice as Paraty though).

We had a nice dinner out – trying yet one more Uruguayan favorite – the standard snack of Chivito – a steak 'sandwich' with cheese, lettuce, tomato, a friend egg and a large slice of bacon. It was – amazing! Loved it.
Gotta love the chivito – yumm! (can you believe there is no bread in there! Just steak on fries & lots of toppings!!)

Day 56 - December 24th

Today we left the hotel EARLY (5am) to get to the ferry that would take us to Buenos Aires. The ferry was actually nicer than we expected. Quite big and they had a free croissant and coffee for every passenger. Duty free shop as well, which kept us entertained for a very long time! After about a two hour ride we arrived in Argentina!

After checking into our hotel we all went out for breakfast and a briefing from our tour guide Paul.
Lance, Robin, Steve, Shelly, Me & Steve waiting around for the rest of the slow poke group outside of the hotel

After breakfast Paul took us on a long walk around his favourite parts of the city (he lived there for awhile). Our favorite part was the area called Palermo. For those of you who know London – it was like Covent Garden crossed with Camden. Tons of cool trendy clothing shops (Murray got a great t-shirt), cute little cafes, and a lovely little central market. Seems like a nice place to live as well, we walked through a lot of the residential area and it was lovely.
Some of the group stopped off for Beers in the square – from left – Robin, Shelly & Steve

After some people had beers and some shopped (I looked and looked but didn’t buy anything…. Too many cute shirts to choose from) - we walked on through the city. We went through the Jardin Botanico Carlos Thays (botanical gardens), past the Jardin Zoologico (zoo) and past the Planetario (observatory).
The observatory had a very 70’s feel – but was still quite unique looking
Our group walking theough the parks – notice the team t-shirts!

Afterwards we all got cabs to a mall to meet up with some of Paul’s friends. That didn’t last long since we were all getting tired. So we headed back to the hotel.
Shelly, Lance & I trying to figure out where we were and where we were going
Once we got back Murray and I got to the internet place just before it closed. On our way out only this tiny door was left open!!
The famous white Obelisco (obelisk) was near our hotel. It sits in the middle of the super wide (12 lanes!!!) Av 9 de Julio. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day. (July 9, 1816). It is claimed to be the widest avenue in the world.

That evening Shelly and Lance and Steve came over and we exchanged our ‘secret santa’ gifts. We had set a 5-7 US dollar limit, which made it HARD to shop – but I think everyone did well! It was not so secret though since there was only 5 of us and two were couples …. So anyways
Murray got a hideous mate cup from shelly – a hoof!!! Horrid – but he loves it
I got a box of pick up sticks (which I have never played before – quite fun!!) and a deck of Simpsons themed playing cards (I lost mine a few weeks ago) from Steve – great gift!
Steve got an English to Spanish translation book (I’m sure that will come in VERY handy quite soon), a local book and calling card from Lance

I got Lance a Che Guavara calender and a kangaroo finger puppet (cause we all know South Africans LOVE Australia:)
And Shelly got a lovely butterfly bracelet from Murray (to go with the butterfly tattoo she go)

Day 57 - December 25 (Christmas!!)

Today we literally relaxed all day. We did get to the internet place, but that really was just about the only thing open.

That evening we stopped by the ‘potters bar’ for a drink (the potters are the lovely couple from Canada who always seem to have something nice at hand to sip on)!

Me at the Potter’s bar – shame this bar (their little hotel room) didn’t have chairs for all 8 of us!

After being collected in a huge van, we were taken to the place where we would have our Tango lesson!

Steve, Murray, Me & Antonella (the boys are looking quite worried don’t you think?)

Our teachers went through everything quite slowly

Even Lance & Shelly figured it out
Steve whisking Antonella around the dance floor

Murray and I striking the classic tango post – hands clenched and high, his other arm on my waist

We actually had a great time at the lesson. It was about an hour and a half long, and by the end we all had an eight step sequence down. I do have to share that the male instructor did actually ask Murray and I if we have done other kinds of dancing before because we got it down quite well! Put a smile on our faces! We did get frustrated by the lack of space though. We kept bumping into people because the dance studio was WAY too small for that many people. Oh well, it was still great fun.

Next they brought us into the dining room (right in the next room surprisingly!). There they served us a fantastic 3 course meal (MUCH better food than I was expecting). We had lovely salads for starters, I had an amazing chicken for the main, and a yummy fancy dessert. All of this with unlimited red wine as well (and the cheap wine here is actually still really nice thankfully)!

While they were serving dessert – the show started. For the price we paid (which was quite reasonable) I was not expecting the kind of show we saw.

Two of the dancers striking their Tango pose

There was live music (an acordian, violin, cello and piano) – each musician was fabulous! They was two singers – who would sing their heart out during dancing costume changes. And the dancers………

They were absolutely amazing. We all watched entranced as they danced extremely difficult routines, moving with the Latin music and drawing as all in.

Our Christmas dinner group being wooed by one of the singers

This was one of the best dances – a bit more modern – and wow they could move!
My yummy chicken meal!!

Me & Murray

More dancing


After the meal the boys whipped out the Romeo & Julieta cigars that they had bought on the ferry

Murray, Robin & Lance

Robin, Lance & Steve

Lance & Steve being all silly

We ended up going down the street to a hostel where our guide Paul lived for a few months so was friends was the guys who worked there.
I liked the bar man’s hat – so had it on for a try (what do you think? Too big??)

Me & Shelly getting a bit silly (they were out of beers – so the boys went and bought a crate of liter beers to bring back)

Steve and Lance loving those cigars

The beers were heavy to hold!!! Quite big!

Guide Paul giving the camera 10 (Muz does not look impressed!)
Who looks happiest here? Ha ha it was a fun night

Murray & I dancing up a storm

Lance calling time out on Robin

Shelly, Paul, Robin, Me (with Minnie Mouse ears) and the guy from the hostel (it was his b-day so he was wearing the ears… I liked them though)!

Murray and Lance leaving the hostel with our crate (we had to return the bottles because you got money back like a deposit)


Working our way back to the hotel

I guess I said something funny?

Hmmmm who wants to be the center of attention? I wasn’t even drinking anymore – just wanted to pose with a bottle

Wow that is NOT an attractive face

Shelly being serious, Me making fish faces, and Robin looking worried

Murray was in charge of the two beers we had left that were still full and unopened
Murray trying to open the bottle with a lighter (back at the hotel)

All in all – great Christmas night. The Tango evening was fab, and the drinks and dancing afterwards was good fun!

Day 58 – December 26

Paul told us that we could possible upgrade for our LONG bus ride to Bariloche the next day – so Shelly, Lance, Murray and I went down to the bus station to check it out.

The station was MASSIVE! 206 companies – each with a little shop to sell tickets.
Unfortunately, the upgrade bus we needed was sold out. As Lance said – 'Bleakness' (especially since we SAW pictures at the shop of the bus – lazy boy like recliner chairs that went completely flat, nice food and drinks, etc etc). As we walked away from the counter Murray yelled out really loudly ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.’ Everyone stopped and looked as Shelly, Lance and I laughed hysterically!

After giving Paul a quick call to let him know what the deal was, we headed off to see the Cementerio de la Recolta, which sits in the plushest of neighborhoods, ritzy Recoleta. High walls surround this mini-city of tombs and statues. Many of the most famous people in Argentinean history rest here – such as presidents, poets, politicians, including the infamous Evita.



We had to buy a map to find our way around – the place is HUGE!




A man leaving flowers at one of the tombs. I must say that it kinda freaked us out that you could see into many of the tombs (they often had glass fronts) and you could actually SEE the coffins. It was a bit overwhelming.

Shelly, Lance & I



Eva (Evita) Peron’s tomb was like many of the others, other than the fact that it had many plaques on it proclaiming the love of communities from all around Argentina. Evita was the wife of Juan Peron who was president from 1946 to 1952. She used her influence to campaign for the poor and for women’s rights and is greatly loved across the country.





Huge wide street – so wide for a big city!
After finishing our tour of the cemetery we started walking back towards Palermo – which was where we were meeting Steve for lunch

I commented on these large knockers – which everyone thought was hilarious – I really did mean the door knockers though…

We finally made it back to Palermo and found Steve and Robin waiting for us

This was on the menu….. not sure what they meant by jar of MUD with chicken – but none of us dared to find out!

This was Shelly’s amazing salmon meal – shoot I should have ordered that!! I made the mistake of ordering the risotto of the day (chicken) and it was AWFUL! I ate barely any of it, and told the waitress when she came back that it was muy mal (very bad). She was lovely though and brought me a lovely free coffee to try and make up for it!

After lunch Murray, Steve and I went off to the find a huge nearby mall that Steve found earlier that day.


Murray spotted this super long car and figured laying down on the side walk was the best way to show just how long it was (ha ha)

After a great shop at the mall (well, we only bought a map of Patagonia – but it was fun to look) we headed back towards the hotel. (Oh and Murray finally found the pair of haviana flip flops that we looked for ALL through Brasil – exciting moment)!

On the way back we got a great view of the Obelisco

That evening we met our new group members (two American couples and a Canadian man) and then had an early night in our room with a dvd (Lance and Shelly came by to watch a movie on our laptop).

Day 59 – December 27

After a NICE sleep in and packing, we decided to go to the Parrilla (steak house) that the group had been to the night before (we were all too full to go the night before after our big lunch).
This had this oh so so so yummy sauce that we used to dip our bread in, and as a side for the steak. If I could have bottled it up I would have take a liter with me – it was amazing!!

It was only a casual simple looking place, but it actually ended up being fab. The house wine was only about 1.8 US dollars for what we though was a duck (found it later it was actually a penguin…) full of red wine.

Shelly loved the duck!

The meal was fabulous!!!!! Everyone except for me had the carne de lomo – a great cut of steak. Cooked just perfectly and SUCH reasonable prices - a fabulous lunch. I had some kind of cut up pieces of steak with onions and a yummy sauce – lovely!

After the meal we wandered back and came upon a VERY fancy chemist shop.
I thought I may as well take advantage of the free scale! I think the hiking sandals were weighing me down though!

On the way back we walked by the Plaza de Mayo

The pink building in the background is the Casa Rosada – the presidential palace famous for the balcony from whih Evita energized adoring crowds during her heyday in the 1940’s.

Then it was off to the dreaded …. night bus.

This one was destined to be a misery. We got on at 5pm

Day 60 – December 28

And got off the next day at 2pm – that is 21 hours!!!!!!!

Lovely Lance (not) took a photo of Murray and I sleep again (nice). Robin thought it was hilarious and Steve couldn’t believe we were getting any sleep (thank you sleeping pills we bought in Australia!!!)

Then thank goodness we arrived in oh so lovely Bariloche

Land of chocolate – wow they had amazing chocolate there

Our hostel had a nice big back yard – can you tell how tired we were after the bus ride??

But we still managed to get out for a quick dinner – and chocolate! Here is Shelly at the best chocolate place in town – Mamushka’s

San Carlos de Bariloche is surrounded by snow-dusted mountains and beautifully situated on the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi.

After walking around time for a bit, and grabbing some dinner at a place called ‘friends’ we headed back to the hostel to get some much needed sleep. This is the first time we have had to do the whole dorm thing as well (6 people to a room – 3 bunk beds) but at least we were with our friends.

Day 61 – December 29

Today we got up early prepared to do an all day hike up the nearby mountains. We caught a local bus (while avoiding the pack of homeless dogs barking madly at random people) up towards the ski hill called Cathedral. We got off and went over to the lifts, which we would take to the top where we would begin our hike.

That was when Shelly and I realized that we just did not have enough warm clothes on. Just standing at the bottom of the hill we were freezing – so we donated some of our warm clothing (mittens & stuff) to the boys – and we headed back to the town.

Shelly & I had a lovely day – nice cup of tea, huge salad that we made ourselves for lunch with a lovely glass of red wine, two hour nap, and then some chocolate and clothing shopping.

The boys meanwhile….

Were absolutely freezing on their hike! Steve, Murray & Lance

Murray the mountain man

Robin, Steve & Murray

Steve, Lance & Robin

Lunch was a bit of a disaster – the boys tried to make nice tuna rolls with fresh veggies – the intense wind kept blowing sand onto the food – yuck! (note to self - next time make the sandwiches ahead of time!)
The views were amazing though!


QUITE dusty though! They kept getting caught in miserable dust storms!

Pretty view !

When the boys got back they dusted down, got cleaned up, and then we all headed out to a fantastic steak restaurant (yes – again!)! The portions were huge (thank goodness we shared just one portion and a massive salad) and it was a great night out.

Day 62 – December 30

After a nice sleep in we peeked outside to see it was chilly and rainy – not a nice day at all. So we spent most of the morning in the hostel just relaxing, taking advantage of the free wi-fi (wireless internet) and took it easy. In the afternoon we ventured out .

It was SO SO windy!

We also went out and got some gorgeous hot chocolates. Not chocolate powder mixed with water or milk – but real – thick – yummy hot chocolate!
The town really is pretty – what a view! In this square they also had tons of St. Bernard’s with little barrels on their collars posing for pictures with people – too cute!

And I got a HAT!

After an afternoon nap (a necessity when you sleep in a room with a few people who snore all night….) the 6 of us headed off to a great Mexican meal! We had great nachos, yummy fajitas and an AMAZING enchilada!!! The margaritas were pretty darn good as well! We finished off the night at the hostel drinking red wine (it’s SO cheap here – unbelievable!) and playing pick up sticks with the group – quite fun!

Day 63 – December 31

Today we got a day bus to Puerto Varas. It took pretty much ALL day and the seats were too short and not wide enough – really uncomfortable.
BUT
The views
Were really beautiful!!
Stunning
Once we arrived we had a short hike to the hotel

Cute little hotel! We got there quite late though – so nearly all of the shops were closed (because it was new year’s eve). So we quickly popped out and bought a bottle of champagne. Then Paul grabbed a menu from the Italian place next door and we all put in our order for pizza and pasta. They finished all of our meals (pretty impressive for a little tiny place) in about an hour and we chowed down in the breakfast area. After sitting around and chatting for awhile it came to go down to the water’s edge for the midnight firework show. We got down to the beach to get the best view just as the count down began. When it got down to 2 minutes they shut off all the street lights and everyone started cheering. There was champagne being sprayed ALL over the place – crazy! I was shocked at how many people were down there – big town event I guess! And I admit it was kind of fun to yell out the 10 to 1 countdown in Spanish!!


The firework show was excellent – we were really impressed!

Murray and I at the fireworks – Happy New Year – Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Day 64 – January 1

We got up early and caught the bus to Puerto Montt – after waking Paul up to tell us where we should go. The bus to Puerto Montt was only about half an hour, then we had a 3 hour bus to the island of Chiloé.

Part of the bus ride included getting on this ferry to actually get to the island!

La Isla de Chiloé is 180 km long and just 50 km wide. Most of the towns and farming are on the eastern side, while the western shores are nearly roadless, and the interior still thick with forest, More than half of the 154,000 Chilotes (residents of Chiloé) make a living from subsistence agriculture, while others depend on fishing.

After we arrived at the bus station we started looking around for a tour company to take us out to see the penguins but…. everything was closed!! I guess that’s what happens on new year’s day. Luckily someone in our group had a lonely planet book, and we asked at the counter. They said we should get a taxi or walk, and after a bit of a confusing walk around, we got two taxi's. Turns out it was a LONG way! We drove for about half an hour – half of that on country dirt roads – before arrived at la penguitera.
The views on the way were stunning!

Once we arrived we sought out a tour company and booked a boat to go up close to the islands to see the penguins.
It was a lovely beach

All of the islands had this funny seaweed hanging off the side – looked like rope to us!
Me on the beach
The penguins! We saw 4 colonies and 2 different species of penguins



We also spotted this duck which was quite camloflagued

Check out that rope seaweed – so bizarre looking!
Can you spot the sea lion?

Bird poo – lovely
They call this king kong
Me getting off of the boat – I did get a bit of water in my wader boots – shoot!

SO - YAY only 1 city behind now. Today we leave Pucon, Chile and get the night bus up to Santiago (blog & pics to be posted asap). Only 2 more days with the group (WOW 10 weeks has gone fast!!!) and then we are own our own! Exciting and nerve racking at the same time! It will be brilliant to make our own decisions though - about where we want to go and when - let's just hope our Spanish keeps improving!