South Trip through Patagonia, Nov. 9-26

So here's the deal.  Since the trip, I've had a pretty severe case of procrastination, being that I've done nothing of importance for a week.  But still, the trip was so fun and memorable that I feel it basically has to be written down.  Anyway, here it goes.
      After a very rushed good bye from Hernando (to rushed to be able to get another jar of peanut butter, a precious commodity for us Americans in Argentina) Cande's mom drove me to Córdoba, where we went to their apartment there, to eat lunch and so I could shower. after that, I went to the center in Cordoba to board the bus.  It was great to see everyone again, all the friends I made from out last get together in Iguazú.  Only, this time, there were more.  78 exchange students, to be exact, from canada, the U.S, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, and probably some more that I can't remember at this very moment.  after all the hugs and handshakes, we boarded, and I sat in the back of the bus with my friends.  We had plenty of time to catch up, being that the trip from Córdoba to Puerto Madryn was about 22 hours long.  The view during the ride was probably about the most boring, uneventful landscape I've ever seen.  A solid 20 hours of desert, completely flat as far as the eye can see, with about 1 town of probably 100 inhabitants every 500 miles.  Also, being that we were travelling due south so far, the climate was noticeable colder; I first noticed this when I woke up the next morning on the bus, and there was frost on the windows.  After stops at a few gas stations and restaurants, we arrived in Puerto Madryn in the afternoon the next day.  Puerto Madryn is a coastal town in southern Argentina facing the atlantic ocean.   The place where we were staying consisted of two large cabin-looking buildings, with each one having 5 or 6 "habitaciones," each one having between 4 and 6 beds, a kitchen, and bathroom.  I roomed with a group of german guys, 5 of them and myself.  After everyone got a chance to settle in and shower and whatnot, we ate lunch at a restaurant right next to the hotel.  after lunch, we walked around Puerto Madryn as a group, to the mall, the beach, around the center in general.  After that, we had the rest of the day more or less to ourselves.  I ended up mostly hanging out with my german roommates most of the time, and with a group of american/german girls before dinner.  The next morning, we woke at 7 to go out on a peninsula to see some nature stuff only found in a few spots in the world.  Our tour guide was a particularly loud, white-haired lady who spoke spanish with a german accent. (I got pretty frustrated with her, I just didn't understand why she had to have the mic turned up so loud, to talk about such boring things)  First, we stopped at some tiny town about an hour from Puerto Madryn to go whale watching.  I had been whale watching once before, in Maine with my family, and I had remembered it to be particularly cold, windy, and boring.  This time, it was equally cold and windy, but we actually did see whales, and very close up.  a mother, father, and child, close enough that at one point if i would have stepped of the boat I would land on the whale.  After about an hour of that, we headed back, and had about 2 hours of free time before lunch.  My friends and I chose to spend our time climbing to the top of an enormous hill, about 150 or 200 meters tall. (500 or 600 feet) Once we were at the top, the view was beautiful.  Sitting on the edge of a shear rock face, looking down to see incredibly clear coast, and being so high up, being able to see for miles around.  Once we got back down, we ate lunch, we travelled maybe an hour more to a spot where lived some sea lions, and there was also one of the only spots in the world where the coast was growing, and not shrinking.  As usual, the nature scene didn't interest me terribly, but, also as usual, it was tons of fun hanging out with all the exchange students. On the way back, we stood on the only spot in the world where you can see both sides of the peninsula.  Afterwards, we had the rest of the day to ourselves.  I went with some friends to the (incredibly windy and cold) beach.  The water was icy cold.  The next day, we woke up to go to calafate.  on the way, we stopped at a spot where the largest group of some type of penguins (I forget the name) in the world lived.  It was alright, I mean, like almost all of the nature spots on our trip, it consisted of the usually bleak patagonian landscape, somewhat cold weather and piercing wind.  But hey, I touched a penguin.  There was also some ostriches and weird deer-looking creatures, of which I forget the names of in spanish, and don't know in english.  we hit the road again for several more hours until we reached calafate.  At calafate, we stayed at a spot where there was an enclosed spot that had maybe 10 cabins or so, I can't remember exactly.  I roomed with the same people as last time, except this time, because the cabin fit 8, there was another german boy and american boy.  After showering, I went for a run with my friend cameron (the other american in my cabin) and we saw a lake with some flamingos.  calafate was where the landscape began changing, and the appearance of towns as well.  for one thing, the Andes mountains were now visible, there was more vegetation, and the towns, being generally richer than the north, looked less dirty and poor, and incredibly similar to the kinds of places I saw in Germany.  Calafate was really a tourist town, with a large fraction of the people in the city being tourists.  It was really cool to just get to hang out with everyone, chill out in the cabins or outside.  Another interesting thing about patagonia:  the ozone layer is much thinner there.  Thusly, the sun is much stronger.  Although the wind is incredibly cold, when there isn't wind, it feels quite warm.  The next day, we went to see the glacier "perito moreno."  There was a mini-excursion where you could walk on the glacier for about 4 hours, but I didn't go, because it was 500 pesos. ($120) Instead, with the 20 other people or so that didn't go, we went on a boat to get a close view of the glacier, and afterwards to a park where there were some trails and stuff, each having spots for a great view of the glacier.  The surroundings were beautiful, with a glacier bigger than Buenos Aires, (the capital, a city of about 14 million people) the andes mountains, a lake made by the glacial melting, surrounded by forrests that were incredibly similar to those found in northern north america.  We got back at about 6pm, had some freetime, and then ate dinner.  The next day, we travelled to Ushuaia.  Yet again, another busride of 20-or-30-something hours, eating at gas stations or restaurants. After crossing from the mainland to Tierra del  Fuego and crossing the chilean border (the island of Tierra del fuego is shared between chile and argentina)  we arrived in Ushuaia (cape horn) at night.  Ushuaia, being the southernmost city in the world, has quite an interesting climate.  It was explained by a tour guide as such "here in ushuaia, we have 4 seasons every day."  This was a pretty accurate way of describing it, being that every day we were there, it was cloudy and rainy for a little bit, sunny and warm for a bit, and at night freezing cold, where a winter coat is pretty much necessary.  Another thing:  because we were so far south, the days were a lot longer, and the nights shorter.  while the northern hemisphere is going into winter at this time, the south is getting summer, so down in the southernmost city in the world, it didn't get dark until almost 10 o'clock.  We had a day to ourselves to see the city, go shopping, and all that stuff.  While hanging out with my friends and exploring the town, we happened to get lost not once, but twice, having to walk around for an hour or two to find where we were.  unlike El Calafate, ushuaia has a large residencial population as well as a large tourist presence.  Basically, this means that there is also a "bad side of town."  And that's where we ended up walking for a good hour or so.  The free time on this trip was perhaps the funnest part.  going to a cafe, bar, or restaurant, and getting to hang out with some of the best friends I've made in argentina, and perhaps my life, just chillin, talking, and generally having a good time.  We later went to the National Park of Tierra del Fuego.  Here, there was basically the usual patagonian landscape.  I shouldn't say "usual" because of how stunningly beautiful it was, but I use that word because we saw this type of landscape fairly often.  The enormous Andes Mountains, forrests, fields of flowers and vegetation, and crystal blue lakes, and a clear blue sky, that looked more like the atmosphere of a planet then the usual shade of blue because of the thin ozone layer.  After Ushuaia, we had another solid day of travelling, to Esquel.  In Esquel, we ate lunch at an Irish-like pub, and then went to "Parque Nacional los Alerces."  here we took a short hike to the top of a rock peak (bigger than a hill, smaller than a mountain).  the few at the top was spectacular.  I specifically remember a group of girls taking pictures near the edge, and one of the rotarians yelling at them for being too close to the edge.  After esquel, we went to the famous Bariloche.  This is a ski resort in southern argentina, sitting next to the andes mountains.  It is incredibly known throughout all of south america, for the clubs and nightlife as wellas the skiing and landscape.  Comparable to skiing in colorado, but perhaps more popular;  it's an argentine tradition for the graduating class of a school to have a class trip to Bariloche.  we chilled there for 2 days at a hotel, getting tours of the town and national park, including a tour of a chocolate factory (oh yeah, bariloche is also famous for its chocolate)  Unfortunately, because we were at Bariloche on a sunday and monday, the boliches (clubs/discos) weren't open, although we did get to go to a pub and go bowling.  The morning that we left bariloche, the rest of my room and I woke up late, so i was very rushed in packing up my things.  because of this, I unfortunately lost my external hard drive (with nearly all of my 600 something pictures from the trip).  After Bariloche, we travelled another day to San Martín de Los Andes.  This was another tourist town/city, tucked near the andes.  Some of the highlights include: swimming in a freezing-ass-cold lake made from glacial meltings (it was prohibited by the city to swim, but we did it anyway, being the awesome fun exchange students we are), finding a music store and jamming with my friend Robert, getting lost again, and having another night to go out.
This was our last stop before the trip ended, heading back to Córdoba.  The nights of the trip generally involved staying up outragiously late to watch movies, (mostly disney) eat snacks, and sneak out to hang out in other people's rooms.  After San Martín, we began the infinitely long trip back.  We stopped at a wal-mart on the way back, the first one I'd seen since leaving the U.S, which also had a macdonalds, also the first one I'd seen since being in the states.  I bought some peanut butter at the walmart, but it kind of sucked, and less like american than the jar I bought in Hernando, and almost double the price (15 pesos).  we ate lunch on the bus, and most of our meals were on the move for those 36 hours or so of travelling.  It sucked so bad saying goodbyes, especially to the people living in the south, because I probably won't see them ever again, unless I visit them in Europe.  Overall, the trip was 11,800 kilometers (7330 miles), 17 days, and 78 exchange students, and about a billion great memories.