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agnesola


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Baby and Baby's around the world travel...

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Santiago de Chile

Santiago, Chile


okidoki... Our trip in Chile ends in it's capital Santiago, home to around 8 million people.
We stayed in a very nice hostel, very big, it used to be a mansion so it was all colonial style, groovy...

There is quite a bit of stuff to see in Santiago, we did a lot of walking and on our first day we went to se a huge food market, mostly vegetables and fruit, but very nice products, we ended up buying artichokes, avocado and lots of other stuff for dinner. We also had

lunch at the fish market close by with some fresh seafood. For the first day since Brazil we had warm weather, we could walk in t-shirt!

On our second day, we went to see cerro santa lucia which used to be a convent, hermitage and military bastion. From the top you can see far over Santiago, well you should be enable to see, but it was a foggy day so we did not see very far.

After we headed for a big park in the city, you have to take a lift to get up and then we walked down, there is alot to see, first we did not know where to go and walked into a jewish celebration of some kind, lured there by the music. the park houses a zoo (which we did not visit) pools, japanese gardens and much more, we just strolled through it gently

for 2 hours before heading home.

Well, we did not do that much in Santiago but we had a good time and took it easy. We are now in Lima and tomorrow we will be leaving for Cuzco, a 22 hour bus ride away.

Kisses

ola And Agnes

permalink written by  agnesola on September 11, 2007 from Santiago, Chile
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Lovely, colorful and bohemian Valparaiso...

Valparaiso, Chile


Helloooo to all of you...

What a pleasure to finally be in a warm weather!!! After Pucon, we took the bus to a town situated 2 hours west of Santiago and called Valparaiso.... Same country, but with the sunshine!! nice!!

Valparaiso, to say the least was absolutely amazing. We first went to the market, which

was very nice and lively, and then had lunch in one of the cocineras, which are small sea food restaurants.

One of the characteristics of Valparaiso is to be build right between the sea and hills. So to get high on the hills, there is a few ascensors which are kind of cabin lifts. They are going quite high and the going up is quite steep, and most of them are pretty old. But they are very fun! What is quite funny is that there is plenty of stairs and passage ways to go up and down, some of them being quite old, some very steep....


The first hill we visited was Cerro Bellavista and it is a great surprise as you arrive and you discover the houses full of colors and the little streets. We made our way to the top to see the beautiful view of the whole city.
After walking for a little while, we ended up in a little restaurant called le petit Montpellier! and we enjoyed a very nice three course meal for less than 3 pounds.

On that hill, you can find an open sky museum, which is actually a collection of paintings

on the walls of the streets... so the art is all over the place which is really great.

After enjoying our little walk around, we went for a view of the sea while the sun was
going down and ended having fun taking pictures of the motorway at the town lights at night!

After dining, we decided to go out for a glass of wine and discovered that very small bar. As the electricity was out, they had to light candles which gave a very lovely atmosphere. We were probably the only customers but we enjoyed listening to the boss of the bar singing and playing guitar...

The next day, we went around Cerro Conception, another hill of the town. And there we got charmed again. Not only were all the houses painted in differents colors, but the walls had even more beautiful graffitis on them, and the streets rivalised with beauties. We couldn't stop taking pictures of everything!!
The whole place is a mix of street art and it is great to walk around.


Well, to make it short, we absolutely loved it!!!

We then went to see a bit more of town and the port, but as it is mainly a shipping and military port, it hasn't much of a touristic feel to it... it i quite interesting to see the big army boats though!!

Very happy of our time in Valparaiso, we left for Santiago, where we are now, trying to discover what this new town has to offer!!!

Lots of kisses to all!!

Agnes and Ola

Récit 24 : VALPARAISO LA CHARMANTE, LA COLOREE ET LA BOHEMIENNE
Quel plaisir d’avoir enfin du beau temps ! après Pucon nous avons pris le bus pour aller dans la ville de Valparaiso qui se trouve à 2 h à l’ouest de Santiago… c’est le même pays mais avec du soleil ! chouette !

Valparaiso est absolument sensationnelle. Nous avons commencé par découvrir le marché très joli et très vivant, et avons déjeuné dans une « cocineras ». Ce sont des petits restaurants de poissons ; l’une des caractéristiques de Valparaison c’est d’être construite juste entre la mer et les collines. Donc pour se rendre sur les collines, il y a des sortes d’ ascenseurs qui sont très hauts et qui montent raides. Ils sont plutôt vieux mais beaux et rigolos ! ce qui est amusant c’est qu’il y a beaucoup d’escaliers et de passages qui montent, qui descendent…

la première colline que nous avons découverte était cerro bellavista et quelle surprise quand on arrive de voir toutes ces maisons très colorées et ces petites rues. Nous sommes montés tout en haut pour avoir une très belle vue de toute la ville.
Après avoir marché pendant un bon moment, nous nous sommes restaurés au « petit Montpellier » et nous avons apprécié un très bon repas avec 3 plats pour moins de 3 livres…
Après diner, nous avons décidé d’aller boire un verre de vin et avons découvert ce très petit bar. Comme il n’y avait plus d’électricité, ils ont allumé des bougies, ce qui a donné une atmosphère très chaleureuse. Nous étions à peu près les seuls clients mais nous avons vraiment apprécié les chants à la guitare du patron.
Le jour suivant, nous avons fait le tour de cerro conception, une autre colline de la ville. Et là aussi, nous sommes tombés sous le charme. Pas seulement parce que toutes les maisons étaient peintes de différentes couleurs mais parce que les murs étaient recouverts de superbes graffitis et les rues rivalisent de beauté. On ne pouvait pas s’empêcher de prendre plein de photos de tout. !! tout cet endroit est un mélange d’arts de la rue et c’est formidable de s’y promener. Bref, pour faire court , on a adoré !!
Sur cette colline, on trouve un musée à ciel ouvert qui est une collection de peintures murales des rues… cet art prend toute la place et c’est grandiose. Après avoir bien profité de notre petite promenade, nous sommes allés voir la mer et le coucher de soleil et nous nous sommes amusés à faire des photos de l’autoroute de nuit !
Et puis, nous avons voulu voir un peu plus de la ville et du port mais c’est principalement un port de commerce et militaire qui n’a pas beaucoup d’intérêt touristique. Mais c’est tout de même intéressant de voir les gros bateaux de l’armée !!
Très heureux de ce temps passé à Valparaison que nous avons quittée pour Santiago où nous sommes maintenant essayant de découvrir ce que cette nouvelle ville a à nous offrir!!!
Lots of kisses to all!! Plein de bisous à tous !!!


permalink written by  agnesola on September 7, 2007 from Valparaiso, Chile
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soaking it up

Pucon, Chile


we are in Pucon, a place in Chile where you can do lots of stuff, climb volcanoes, ski and trek...we have not done any of the above though...
We planned to maybe climb the volcano, but the tours they sell are so overpriced that we decided not to do it, after all it is just a mountain with a big hole at the top...

So we have been taking it easy, yesterday it was raining like hell, so we decided to go to the Hot Springs and soak for a few hours...

Where we went they had 6 different natural pools all with different heat,

i think it goes from around 18 celsius to 45. There is also a river close by if one wants to have a really icecold bath after the hotsprings!

there was only us and a few other people there so it was all just nature and relaxing. we stayed for about 3 hours until we caught the bus home for a nice hot stir-fry dinner.

Thats all we have done here, now we are going to Valparaiso which is 2 hours from Santiago

Kiss Kiss

Ola and agnes

VERSION FRANCAISE :
on fait trempette, PUCON au Chili

nous sommes à Pucon, un endroit au chilli où l’on peut faire un tas de choses, grimper jusqu’aux volcans, faire du ski et de la randonnée… nous n’avons pas tout fait…
nous avions décidé d’aller jusqu’au volcan mais les tours opérateurs étaient si chers que nous avons renoncé. Après tout, ce n’est juste qu’une montagne avec un gros trou sur le dessus…

Hier comme il pleuvait à torrents, nous avons decide d’aller jusqu’aux sources chaudes et de faire trempette pendant quelques heures…
Là où nous sommes allés il y avait 6 sources naturelles de chaleur différente ; je pense que ça allait d’environ 18 à 45° C . il y avait même tout près une rivière où l’on pouvait si on le voulait plonger dans un bain glacé après les sources chaudes !


Il n’y avait que nous et quelques autres personnes et c’était juste nature et relaxation. Nous sommes restés environ 3 heures avant d’aller prendre le bus pour rentrer et manger une bonne grillade.
C’est tout ce que nous avons fait ici. Maintenant nous allons à Valparaison qui est à 2 h de Santiago
Kiss Kiss bisous bisous


permalink written by  agnesola on September 4, 2007 from Pucon, Chile
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The island of chiloe

Ancud, Chile


Hello,

We are now just back from the Island of Chiloe to Puerto Montt waiting for our bus to Pucon. On the island, we stayed in the town of Ancud which is situated at the north of the island.


After visiting the streets of the own, we headed for the regional museum which explains the history of the Island... the most amazing thing in the museum is the skeleton of a whale... it is pretty impressive to see how big a blue whale can be!

We also saw some statues of old divinities of the island that were pretty weird!! and While we were looking at all that, three vultures were looking at us... spoookky!!
We then headed for the fort of the town which consists in a few canons and towers left.. nothing really exciting! But ola got caught in one of the towers and I had to save him....!!

The next day, we wen to the next town on the island called Castro. Despite what ou host in the B&B said, the town was lovely and we had an amazing day as the sun was shining and we were warm (first time in quite a while!).

We wandered around town and went to see the handicrafts market. Then we had a lovely and boiling hot dish of mussels and salmon, in front of the sea...
One of the main characteristic of Castro is that a lot of the houses are build on stilts

(pilotis), and they are all very colorful.
We then visited the town church which is of a beige color from the outside, but all in wood from the inside which is very beautiful and gives a very warm feeling to the church...

That is about it for Castro. We went back to Ancud for the night, and we caught a bus for Puerto Montt early this morning...

Lots of kisses

Agnes and Ola


permalink written by  agnesola on September 1, 2007 from Ancud, Chile
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nice fishing town, cheap mussels and white wine!

Puerto Montt, Chile


Alrighty! after 30 hours on a bus we came to Puertto montt! not the easiest thing because the bus went in to argentina for around 22 hours to then later cross in to Chile much further north, annoying to get of the bus and do passport controls, but at least the seats were comfortable!


Puerto Montt is as the name says a port, a fishing town with a population of around 180000. We only spent 2 days so not much got done... but we went to the handicraft market and the fishmarket were we had lunch and saw a sealion playing around in the bay! very nice, then we bought about 2 kilos of mussels for less than 1 pound, at least something is cheap here in Chile!

The town has a nice feeling to it and at night we stumbled upon a demonstration, apparently it was the first nationwide strike in 20 years, the last time was during Pinochets rule and people all over the country went out to demonstrate!

At night we had some lovely mussels with garlic and white wine and some hot fresh bread, sweet!

That's it for Puerto Montt, it would have been nice to explore it more but we don't have time for that. Now we are in the town of Ancud on the island of Chiloe... we will see what we do here, but you can read it here soon...

Lots of kisses, bisous och puss o kram!

Ola and Agnes

QUI VEUT PEUT LIRE LA TRADUCTION !....

Jolie ville de pêcheurs, des moules pas chères et du vin blanc !

Et voilà ! après 30 heures de bus nous sommes arrivés à Puerto Montt ! ça n’a pas été une chose facile parce que le bus a parcouru l’Argentine pendant 22 heures pour ensuite traverser jusqu’au Chili plus au nord. Il a fallu subir les contrôles de passeports et descendre du bus mais au moins les sièges étaient confortables !


Comme le dit son nom, Puerto Montt est un port, une ville de pêcheurs d’environ 180 000 âmes. Nous n’y avons passé que 2 jours… mais nous sommes allés au marché de produits artisanaux et au marché de poissons où nous avons déjeuné et vu un lion des mers qui jouait dans la baie ! très beau ! puis nous avons acheté 2 kgs de moules pour moins d’1 livre. Au moins, il y quelque chose de bon marché ici au Chili !
La ville nous a semblé plutôt agréable mais à la nuit nous sommes tombés sur une manifestation. Apparemment c’était la première grande grève nationale depuis 20 ans ; la dernière fois, c’était du temps de Pinochet et à cette époque les Chiliens étaient venus de partout pour manifester !

Le soir, nous avons mangé des moules à l’ail et du vin blanc et un peu de pain frais. C’était bon !

Voilà pour Puerto Montt. C’aurait été agréable d’explorer un peu plus mais nous manquons de temps. Maintenant, nous sommes dans la ville de Ancud sur l’île de Chiloe.


permalink written by  agnesola on August 30, 2007 from Puerto Montt, Chile
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Puerto Natales and the Torres Del Paine National Park

Puerto Natales, Chile


Hello everybody,

As you might imagine, we are now in Chile and we have been there for about a week. We arrived in a town called Puerto Natales quite far south of the country... The main activity in this area is to visit the Torres Del Paine National Park, very very well known for its trekking.

So as soon as we arrived, we got everything ready (gaz, food, clothes...) to spend 5 days in the nature...

We left on wednesday 22nd, for a 150km bus ride to the park. On the way, the driver was very keen on doing the tourist guide so he was stopping every 10 minutes to show us the

nature or animals!! We actually got lucky by seeing a beautiful eagle having caught a hare in his claws...

We finally arrived in the park, took a map of it and started walking (which became our main activity for the next few days!!) on the main trek of the park which is called the W (for the actual trajectory you take while walking).

So on the first day we hiked one of the mountains to arrive to a first refuge (most of the refuges are closed but we could still camp there). As it is still the end of winter, there was still quite a lot of snow on the mountains. After a short break, we started to walk again decided to reach another place to camp a little more up in the mountain, unfortunately it was snowing but it didn´t stop us and we finally reached the camp. Enough for the first day (about 6 hours of walk), we put up the tent and got ready for the night...


Well, as you can imagine the night was quite cold, but we survived!! mainly because we have very very good sleeping bags and also because Ola made me the surprise of taking some wine, oranges and spices to cook some mulled wine for me.... he is an angel!! It was absolutely lovely... and warm!!

So after the cold night of sleep, we started to go up the rest of the mountain, decided to see the main attraction of the park which are three tall towers of rock... but after walking quite a while we decided to go back down as we had difficulties to see the trail and as the snow was too deep. But we still got the see the towers from where we were and as the weather was beautiful it was definitely good enough...

So we went back all the way (2.5 hours), and started to walk to the next refuge, which is

4 more hours away. The trek is quite amazing as we walk all along a big lake. It was still a very long walk, especially with about 15 to 20 kgs in our backpacks!! So we enjoyed to arrive to the refuge and to set up the tent. The camp was quite nice and we managed to do a fire which was absolutely great!!

On the third day, we walked for about 2.5 hours to reach the next camp, still walking along the lake. As we arrived, we met another trekker (a girl from India who was lovely) and we started chatting. The winds on that day were absolutely incredible, really strong. None of us had ever seen so strong winds, the trees were almost bending under the power of the wind. We were supposed on that day to go and visit the Vale del Frances but decided not to as the winds were too strong. So after chatting a little more and meeting another one of the trekkers (a french guy that we met before starting the trek), we continued to the next refuge.
The winds were so strong at some points of the trail that we had to hold on to one another not to fall... it was really amazing and funny as well!!
On the lake, we could see the wind lifting the water and creating some kind of water clouds on the surface... pretty impressive!

So we arrived to the next refuge, which is open all year round. It was great to be able to

use the kitchen and we managed to set up the tent somewhere not too windy. The refuge is build in front of one of th most amazing lake we ever saw. The color is of a beautiful turquoise which is difficult to describe...

The next day, we walked to the glacier Grey, which is part of the same ice field than the glacier that we saw in argentina (Perito Moreno). It was quite impressive to see the other side and to imagine how big the whole thing is.
Back to the refuge, the guys working there let us sleep in one of the rooms instead of camping which was great.

After sleeping on real matresses!!, the last day was finally there and we nicely walked the 5 last hours in the flat and quite boring scenery on that side of the park...

What to say about the whole trek...?? well it is difficult to express. The scenery in the

park is very beautiful: mountains, lakes, forest and water streams, rivers... and we are very happy to have done such a thing, as very few do it in the winter like that...
It is a real experience to be in the nature and to have to set up the tent, cook with that tiny stove, do some fire, not to wash ourselves for quite a while (huummm not so good!!!), walk for hours, cross rivers, hike mountains, look up and see birds, crossing
wood bridges, drinking water from the rivers streams...
We walked for so many hours that we did maybe 85 to 90 kms... with about 15-20kg on our back most of the time.
We experienced all the weathers you can imagine, from rain to snow, from sunshine to strong winds...
And our feet were very very very painful after all that...!!!

But we are extremely glad we did it, we are now full of images in our heads and we can say that we did something pretty amazing...


But we deserve some rest so the next destination will be an island called Chiloe... and it should be without any walking!!

Loads of kisses to all of you

Agnes and Ola

Good night!!

VERSION FRANCAISE !


BLOG 20 :Puerto Natales and the Torres Del Paine National Park
Puerto Natales, Chile
Hello everybody,
Comme vous vous en doutez, nous sommes maintenant au Chili et nous y sommes depuis environ 1 semaine. Nous sommes arrivés dans une ville appelée Puerto Natales, assez loin dans le sud du pays… la principale activité dans cette région, ce sera de visiter Torres del paine national park qui est renommé pour ses randonnées.
Donc, dès que nous sommes arrives, nous nous sommes preparés à passer 5 jours dans la nature… (gaz, nourriture, vêtements)
Nous sommes partis le 22 pour un voyage en bus de 150 km jusqu’au parc. Sur le chemin, le chauffeur s’est improvisé guide touristique. Il s’arrêtait toutes les 10 minutes pour nous montrer la nature ou les animaux !! nous avons eu la chance de voir un aigle magnifique qui avait saisi un lièvre dans ses serres…
Nous sommes arrivés enfin dans le parc, avons pris une carte et avons commencé à marcher (ce qui allait devenir notre principale activité au cours des jours à venir !!) sur le principal chemin de randonnée du parc qui s’appelle le W (à cause de la trajectoire que l’on fait en marchant)
Le premier jour, nous avons gravi l’une des montagnes pour arriver à un premier refuge (la plupart des refuges sont fermés mais nous aurions pu installer notre campement là). Etant donné que c’est la fin de l’hiver, il y a encore beaucoup de neige dans les montagnes. Après une courte halte, nous avons décidé de continuer à marcher pour atteindre un autre endroit pour installer notre campement un peu plus haut dans la montagne mais malheureusement il neigeait, ce qui ne nous a pas empêché d’avancer et d’atteindre enfin le camp. C’est assez pour le premier jour (environ 6 heures de marche). Nous installons la tente et sommes prêts à passer la nuit…

Eh oui comme vous pouvez l’imaginer la nuit fut plutôt froide mais nous avons survécu ! surtout parce que nous avons de très très bons sacs de couchage et aussi parce que Ola m’a fait la surprise d’avoir pris un peu de vin, des oranges et des épices pour préparer un peu de vin chaud pour moi… c’est un ange !! c’était délicieux et chaud !!

Après cette froide nuit, nous sommes repartis pour l’ascension du reste de la montagne, bien décidés à voir la principale attraction du parc que sont 3 énormes tours en pierre…. Mais après avoir marché pendant un bon moment, nous avons décidé de redescendre du fait que nous avions des difficultés à voir la piste tellement la neige était épaisse. Mais de l’endroit où nous étions nous avons pu les apercevoir car le temps était beau, donc cela nous a suffi…
Nous avons donc fait le chemin inverse (2 h et demie) et nous nous sommes dirigés vers le prochain refuge qui se trouve à 4 h de là. Cette randonnée est plutôt agréable car nous longeons un grand lac. Ce fut vraiment une longue marche surtout avec 15 à 20 kgs sur le dos !! on a donc apprécié notre arrivée au refuge et nous avons planté la tente. Le camp était tout à fait chouette et nous avons entrepris de faire un feu, ça c’était formidable !!
Le troisième jour, nous avons marché environ 2 h 30 pour atteindre le prochain camp, toujours le long du lac. Lorsque nous sommes arrivés, nous avons rencontré un autre randonneur (une fille indienne qui était charmante) et nous avons commencé à discuter. Les vents ce jour là étaient absolument impressionnants, très puissants. Aucun d’entre nous n’avait vu de tels vents, les arbres se courbaient sous la puissance du vent. Ce jour là, nous devions aller visiter la Vale del Frances mais y avons renoncé en raison de ces vents violents. Donc, après tous ces bavardages et après avoir rencontré un nouveau randonneur (un français que nous avions rencontré avant de commencer cette randonnée), nous nous sommes dirigés vers le prochain refuge.
Les vents étaient si forts à certains endroits de la piste que nous devions tous nous tenir pour ne pas tomber… mais c’était tout de même rigolo !!!
Sur le lac, on pouvait voir le vent soulever l’eau et des sortes de nuages d’eau se former à la surface… très impressionnant !
Nous sommes arrivés à ce refuge qui est ouvert toute l’année. C’était formidable de pouvoir utiliser la cuisine et nous avons décidé de monter la tente quelque part où ce n’était pas trop venteux. Le refuge est construit en face de l’un des lacs les plus beaux que l’on n’ait jamais vu. Sa couleur est d’un bleu turquoise difficile à décrire…

Le jour suivant, nous avons marché jusqu’au glacier Grey qui est la continuité du même glacier que nous avions vu en Argentine (Perito Moreno). C’était impressionnant de voir l’autre côté et d’imaginer la taille d’une telle chose. De retour au refuge, les gars qui travaillaient là nous ont dit de dormir là dans l’une des chambres au lieu de camper. Super !
Après avoir dormi sur de vrais matelas, nous étions arrivés à notre dernier jour et nous avons passé ces 5 dernières heures dans ce logement.
Que dire de toute cette randonnée ?? difficile à exprimer. Les paysages dans le parc sont très beaux : les montagnes, les lacs, les forêts et les cours d’eau, les rivières… et nous sommes heureux d’avoir fait tout cela, même si très peu de peu de personnes ne font cela en hiver… c’est une vraie expérience d’être dans la nature, d’avoir à planter la tente, de cuisiner avec ce tout petit réchaud, de faire du feu, de ne pas se laver pendant un certain temps !!, de marcher pendant des heures, de traverser des rivières, de grimper dans la montagne, de regarder autour de soi, de voir les oiseaux, de traverser des ponts de bois, de boire de l’eau des cours d’eau…

Nous avons marché pendant si longtemps… Nous avons dû faire 85 à 90 kms… avec 15 à 20 kgs sur le dos la plupart du temps.
On a expérimenté tous les temps, de la pluie à la neige, du soleil aux vents violents… et nos pieds souffrent beaucoup après tout cela… !!!
Mais nous sommes tellement heureux d’avoir fait tout cela. Nous avons plein d’images dans la tête et nous pourrons dire que nous avons fait quelque chose de formidable…
Nous nous réservons un peu de repos avec notre prochaine destination qui sera une île du nom de Chiloe… et ce devrait être sans marche !!!

Loads of kisses to all of you des bisous à tous Good night!! bonne nuit !!



permalink written by  agnesola on August 28, 2007 from Puerto Natales, Chile
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ice ice baby...

El Calafate, Argentina


Hola!

We are now in our final destination in Argentina; El Calafate. A small village surrounded by mountains and lakes. The main reason we went here was to see the glaciers, but more about that later.

We live in a very nice hostel and have a room to ourselves and the hostel has a lovely view of the lake. On our second day here we went for a long walk along a bird sanctuary close to the shore of the lake, there is alot more birds during summer but we saw some pink flamingos which were quite cool and then we walked along the rocky shore until the sun set and it started to get very cold...

Yesterday, on our third day we had booked an excursion to see the Perito Moreno glacier, and also afterwards to walk on it. First we arrived at the glacier to view it from balconys

from the front, and the size of the thing is amazing, it looks like some crazy moon/ice landscape. About 4 times the ice broke off from the glacier and fell into the water and the noise it makes is like thunder, first cracking and then falling. The ice at the front of the glacier is around 350 years old and it moves around 2 meters forward per day. The front has a height of 60 meters above water and stretches 180 meters below the water surface.

After 2 hours of watching it was time to get on to next thing, walking on the glacier...


We went by boat and were met by our guides and we walked to the edge of the ice where we put on crampons (metal things with spikes on our shoes). On the cliffs above us Condors were hovering. At the parts where the ice is most dense it has a deep blue color, very beautiful. We saw deep holes that fill with water at summer times, but all this changes at times since the glacier moves. Where we walked nothing falls off though and it is safe, but from season to season the ice changes form. Walking on a glacier that has been around for millions of years is pretty impressive, and hard to explain, but we really enjoyed it.

We walked around for about 1 and a half hour before getting close to the finish, there they had wooden tables set up with whiskey bottles and glasses (nice) and we drank

with ice from the glacier in it, way cool. The walk back to the boat was through the forest where we could see a lot of old big trees on the ground, apparently about 100 years ago the ice advanced on that area pushing the trees down. We could also see on the rocks the marks from the ice. Another fun fact for us swedes. There is a glacier around here that is called the Upsala glacier, apparently named after our university town of Uppsala, exactly why I dont know, but it is still fun.

Today we are doing very little and tonight we are going to spend some money on a nice restaurant
and some nice wine.

On monday we move on to Chile, from where we are staying it is only a 5 hour bus ride away...
We couldn´t put more pictures on (bloody internet!!) so we will try again in chile!! sorry!

Lots of Icecold kisses to everyone!

Ola and Agnes

VERSION FRANCAISE !
Nous sommes maintenant arrivés à notre destination finale : El Calafate, un petit village entouré de montagnes et de lacs. La principale raison de notre arrêt ici, c’était de voir les glaciers mais on vous en racontera plus un peu plus tard.
Nous logeons dans une auberge très sympa avec une chambre pour nous tout seuls et l’auberge a une vue magnifique sur le lac. Pour notre 2ème jour, nous avons fait une longue promenade le long d’un sanctuaire pour oiseaux en bordure du lac. Il y a beaucoup d’oiseaux l’été et nous avons vu des flamands roses. Nous avons marché le long de la côte empierrée jusqu’à ce que le soleil se couche et il commence à faire très froid…
Hier, pour notre 3ème jour, nous avons réservé une excursion pour aller sur le glacier Perito Moreno. Impressionnante la taille de ce glacier qui fait penser à un paysage lunaire de glace. A 4 reprises, la glace s’est brisée du glacier et est tombée dans l’eau dans un bruit de tonnerre avec des craquements et puis la chute. La glace à l’avant du glacier a environ 350 ans et elle progresse de 2 mètres par jour. Sa hauteur est de 60 mètres au dessus de l’eau et s’étire sur 180 mètres sous la surface de l’eau.
Après 2 heures de contemplation, il est temps d’aller faire autre chose : marcher sur le glacier…

Nous nous y sommes rendus avec un bateau et avons retrouvé nos guides pour aller sur la crête de la glace équipés de crampons. Les condors planaient au dessus des falaises. Là où la glace est la plus dense, la couleur est d’un bleu profond. C’est très beau. Nous avons vu d’énormes trous qui se remplissent d’eau en été mais avec les mouvements du glacier, tout cela change. Là où nous marchions, rien ne tombe donc c’est sécurisant mais de saison en saison, la glace change de forme. Marcher sur un glacier qui est là depuis des millions d’années est plutôt impressionnant et difficile à raconter. Nous avons vraiment eu beaucoup de plaisir.

Nous nous sommes balladés pendant environ 1 h et demie avant d’arriver au point d’arrivée. Là, il y avait des tables en bois avec des bouteilles de whisky et des verres (chouette) et nous avons bu avec de la glace du glacier (cool !). Pour aller récupérer le bateau, nous avons traversé la forêt où il y avait un bon nombre de gros arbres à terre. La raison en est qu’il y a une centaine d’années la glace a avancé sur ce secteur et a mis les arbres à terre. On peut voir sur les rochers également les marques de la glace. Une chose amusante pour nous, les Suédois : il y a un glacier appelé le glacier Upsala qui a pris ce nom après notre ville universitaire d’Uppsala. Je ne connais pas la raison exacte mais c’est amusant…
Aujourd’hui, on ne va pas faire grand chose et ce soir nous irons dépenser un peu d’argent dans un restaurant sympa et boire un peu de bon vin.
Lundi, on part pour le chili où nous allons rester quelques temps. Ce n’est qu’à 5 heures d’ici en bus… on n’a pas pu mettre plus de photos (sacré internet !) et on réessaiera au Chili ! désolés !
Lots of Icecold kisses to everyone! Plein de bisous gelés à tous !


permalink written by  agnesola on August 18, 2007 from El Calafate, Argentina
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Quiet stopover

El Bolson, Argentina


We are now in El Bolson, 2 hours from Bariloche. It is a very quiet town, we have enjoyed just doing nothing, but it is starting to get boring, that is why we are leaving today.

El Bolson has a very nice handicraft market, which we visited on Saturday, and after that

some nice hot chocolate and a big slice of cake! We also found a great bowling place, nonautomatic. The bowling balls had no holes and were more than half the size of normal balls and you had 3 tries to get all the pins down, it was great fun!!!

Sunday was spent with sleeping for a long time, then wandering around before we took the bus to the national park of Lake Puelo, it is suppose to be very beautiful to walk around, but we only had time to walk for about 5 min before the rain started pouring down.
The lake has a very promising backdrop though, mountains on all sides and apparently

you can go to the chilean border with boat. Instead of walking around we spent an hour in a cafe with some hot tea...

That is pretty much it, We are now waiting to take the bus to our next destination which is El Calafate, some 30 hours away. We should be there on wednesday afternoon. There is apparently some gorgeous glaciers there...

We miss you all.

Bisous, puss och kram and kisses.
Ola and Agnes

TRADUCTION "ENGLISH TO FRENCH" OFFERTE PAR MAMAN DANIELLE !!!
BLOG 18 : Quiet stopover arrêt tranquille

El Bolson, Argentina
Nous sommes maintenant à el bolson situé à 2 h de bariloche. C’est une ville très tranquille où nous avons apprécié de ne rien faire mais l’ennui commence à se faire sentir et donc nous partons aujourd’hui. El bolson a un très sympathique marché artisanal que nous avons parcouru samedi et là, nous avons pris un bon chocolat et une grosse tranche de gâteau ! nous avons trouvé un bowling dont les boules n’avaient pas de trous et avaient une taille de moitié par rapport à la taille normale des boules. Il y avait 3 essais pour faire tomber les quilles. Nous nous sommes bien amusés !!
Nous avons passé une bonne partie de notre dimanche à dormir et puis nous sommes allés nous promener avant d’aller prendre le bus pour nous rendre au parc de lake puelo. La promenade n’a duré que 5 min avant que la pluie ne tombe à verse. Le lac est entouré de montagnes et normalement on peut aborder la côte chilienne avec un bateau. Au lieu d’en faire le tour, nous avons passé une heure dans un café à boire un bon thé chaud.
Là, nous attendons le bus pour notre prochaine destination qui est El Calafate, à quelques 30 heures d’ici. Nous devrions y être mercredi après-midi. Là-bas, il y aurait des glaciers magnifiques…
We miss you all. Vous nous manquez tous



permalink written by  agnesola on August 13, 2007 from El Bolson, Argentina
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Cold weather, Snow on trees, and a beautiful lake... all in Bariloche!

San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina


Hello everybody,

After wine and... well... mainly wine in Mendoza, we are now in Bariloche... in the middle of the Andes (I know, it sounds great, doesn´t it??!!).

Bariloche is a very nice town surrounded by mountains on one side and a beautiful lake, massive, on the other side named Nahuel Huapi.


After visiting the town on our first day, we decided to go and visit the surrounding mountains on our second day...
One of them is not too high (called Cerro Campaniaro) and is quite touristic because of the view it offers on the lake. One of the ways to get to the top is to use a lift (telesiege, don´t know in english!), the other way is to trek it up! Of course, because it is more beautiful (and also much cheaper: free!), we decided to trek!

So there we are, in the middle of the forest, surrounded by all those beautiful trees all covered in snow... and going up...
The hike was not too hard, quite steep sometimes though and only lasted 1h30. It was a real pleasure to walk through the forest, no tourists around (apart from us!) and the most beautiful scenery of winter snow you can find!

Arriving at the top was amazing (even though we had snow to the knees for the last 50 meters) because of the breathtaking view... seeing the lake from the top is absolutely beautiful...


Apart from the view, we also got to see two beautiful mountain birds (which we have almost no idea what is was, though ola thinks that they are hawks!!): nature and wildlife all in one day!!

After enjoying the view for quite a while, we went down through the same way, enjoying to almost roll down in the snow (I said almost!!).

Back to the hostel, we got ready for the next day...

SKIING!!!!!! youoouhhhououu.... yes you heard!! we went to ski!!
This was amazing! Not only amazing to ski but to ski in August, and not only to ski in August but to ski in August in the Andes!!! ok, I know i am showing off a bit there but we were really amazed to do that!!

It was really funny to go down the slopes and also it was great to stop and see the view: from the mountain, you can see the lake of Bariloche and a very long part of the Andes. As the weather was beautiful, we got to see the Chilean part of the Andes!

Ola of course is much better than me at skiing, but I have to say that I was not as bad as I thought!! AND... he fell down twice while skiing and I did not fall!! (well I did but without the skis on!! I know it is ridiculous!!)

Today, after a long night sleep (skiing IS tiring!), we decided to go to the llao llao parc to walk. It is about 25km of Bariloche. We happily discovered a beautiful forest which had quite the appearance of some

magical forest... Mainly because of the red trunk trees, the Xmas trees and the bended bamboos all still covered in ice and snow...

Well, that is all, we are extremely happy to have done that because it wasn´t in the original plan, but it was really worth it...

Next stop is El Bolson, two hours drive from bariloche...

Lots of freezing kisses from the Argentinian mountains!

Agnes and Ola

permalink written by  agnesola on August 8, 2007 from San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
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The wine region...

Mendoza, Argentina


So, instead of heading downwards and seeing some whales, we decided to head to the wine country and relax for a while. We found a hostel with a yard where we could put up our tent, which we have been dying to try out for a long time. At night it is about 2 degrees minus but our little home (the tent) is nice and warm and our sleeping bags are great!

Our first impression of Mendoza was not very nice because the weather was dull and grey the first 2 days, but as the sun moves in it seems nicer and varmer.


We took a trip to a winehouse one of the days, walked around and tasted some wine which was nice. When we came out of the winery it had started snowing with big nice snowflakes, it was beautiful, but a bit cold.

They also have a very big park here in Mendoza which we spent half a day walking in and on a clear day like it was we could see beatiuful mountains all around the city.


At night we had a nice dinner with some argentinian wine, I made homemade (well, hostelmade...) beefstew with wine, beetroot and carrots, served with rice...best meal we have had so far, but i have high hopes for the food in Chile.

Today is our last day here, we are waiting for the bus that leaves in 3 hours, we visited a nice food market today and spent some hours in the sun, reading books.

Our next destination is Bariloche where we will do some trekking and downhill skiing! it is just a 20 hour bus ride away...

And by the way, the system to upload pictures on this site is working very good again, so we have put alot of new pictures from Brazil. and mom(My mom, titti that is) here is a really beatiful plant that blooms in the winter here in Argentina, maybe something for Sweden, but I dont know the name of it...



Lots of kisses, Bisous and puss o kram

Ola and Agnes




permalink written by  agnesola on August 3, 2007 from Mendoza, Argentina
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