Well, I'm back in the southern hemisphere, but this time I'm in sunny Melbourne! We just arrived today after a 15 hour flight. I'll be working here for 2 weeks, and then I'll be hanging around for another 6 days to check out the city. I'm super super excited. It's in the 60's here and gorgeous right now. I've got a couple of friends from Gold Arrow Camp, where I used to work, living in town, so I'm excited to get to catch up with them.
We're staying across the street from a big park, which is nice. So far my only impressions of Australia are that Melbourne seems to be a pretty, clean city. Also, it's nice (and not what I'm used to) to be in a foreign country and still be able to speak English. I realized a little belatedly that I didn't need to be anxious to talk to strangers, because everyone can understand me!
Well, I have to run - literally. Gotta stick to my triathlon training schedule.
Aura
Friday, February 29, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Slideshow!
Okay, hopefully this works - I'm trying to embed a slideshow of our best photos. You can also view them individually at http://picasaweb.google.com/auralee/Argentina
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Winding down...
Well, we´re back in Bs As, and we´re hanging in. Been too busy to blog for the last few days, but we´re leaving for home tomorrow night! We fly out at 10 pm, arrive around 6 am on Friday, and we´re driving up to Rome for the day. So if anyone wants to say hi, we´ll be in Armuchee for about 8 hours!
We spent 3 days in Mendoza, which was beautiful, but HOT. Our first day there was 42 degrees celsius, which is somewhere in the low 100´s fahrenheit. I took 4 cold showers. I thought I was dying. It got a little better from there, but not much. Apparently that first day was the hottest they´ve ever had. We went wine tasting and horseback riding, which was amazing. Now we´re in Bs As looking for a place to eat dinner.
Love you guys, and see you soon!
Aura
We spent 3 days in Mendoza, which was beautiful, but HOT. Our first day there was 42 degrees celsius, which is somewhere in the low 100´s fahrenheit. I took 4 cold showers. I thought I was dying. It got a little better from there, but not much. Apparently that first day was the hottest they´ve ever had. We went wine tasting and horseback riding, which was amazing. Now we´re in Bs As looking for a place to eat dinner.
Love you guys, and see you soon!
Aura
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Bariloche
Well, we´ve arrived in San Carlos de Bariloche, in the Lake District. After a 16 hour bus ride, we´re a little stiff and tired, and it was nice to get here and take a shower! And oh my god, it´s gorgeous here... I feel like we just got dropped into a little swiss village. Our room looks out over the biggest lake in the lake district, and it´s framed all around by snow-capped mountains. The architecture even looks swiss (or maybe german, not sure). It´s crazy beautiful. It´s sunny, but the wind is quite brisque, so it´s perfect for lounging around outside. The water´s supposed to be icy, because it´s from glacier melt.
I´m off to make some travel arrangements, love you guys...
Aura
I´m off to make some travel arrangements, love you guys...
Aura
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Back on Track!
We had to take a short break from blogging to enjoy our vacation, but I´m sure everyone understands! The patagonian leg of our trip can be summed up in one phrase: Adventures with Wildlife. If you´re interested in reading more, see the next few posts below. If not, you´ll be forced to hear about it the next time we see you. Hopefully, well get some more picutres up soon.
Ryan
Ryan
Península Valdéz
Aura and I just got back from a circuit around Península Valdéz. We spent the night before and the night after in Puero Piramides, which is a small town of 300 people on the entrance to the national park.
We got a little bit of a late start, but it didn´t seem like it would take to long to make the trip so it was okay. Our little VW Gol was not really made to travel around 200Km on ripio, but it was built well enough to endure it at least once. Our first stop was at Punta Delgada, about 70Km into the circuit. There we stood on a bluff about 150 feet above a beach were adolescent sea elephants were sunning on the sand. The were all napping and hard to see because we were so high up, so we departed pretty quickly. Besides, the security camera that kept watch over the tourists was making me nervous. I wasn´t sure if it was there to keep watch over us, to protect the sea elephants, or to settle insurance disputes after some dumb tourist got killed after climbing over the fence and falling to their death.
After that, we headed north toward Punta Norte, so 80Km away. Along the way we stopped on the side of the road and looked over the bluffs. It was really beautiful and the wind off the pampas cooled us off a bit as we watched more sea elephants play in the sea and sun on the beach some 100 feet below.
Another short jaunt brought us to Caleta Valdéz, which is a state run luxury hotel. We walked on some paths that took us down to the beach where we could actually see some sea elephants. The were all adolescents that could quite make the long swims at see that the adults do, and for the most part all they were interested in was napping. The were really cute for an animal that resembles an overstuffed sausage or a fat sack of fat.
Yet another quick drive brought us to a penquino colony were we stop for a bit to be reunited with our friends. A good number of them lined the shore, but as a sea elephant cruised up the shoreline the all scuried to make a 10 foot perimeter between them and the water line. We jumped in the car and made our way to Punta Norte with a few stops to see the Guanacos (which are pretty much a llama).
We weren´t even all the way into the parking lot at Punta Norte when we saw the first sign of wildlife. An amidillo was making his way toward the parking lot, but dove into a burrow as the car got close. We parked the car and made our way back to the burrow to see if we could see him again, but the armidillo was nice enough to meet us half way. It took us all of a second to realize that he was about as scared of us as we were of him, which was not at all. He sniffed us and made his way on his route toward the ocean.
We followed him and took the path down to the sea, where about a 100 sea lions were lining the shore. These were a different type of sea lion, I think, and the males weighed in at about 800 pounds! All the males were protecting their harems and having a pissing contest over who was the boss of the beach. They made quite a lot of noise and did a lot of biting too, but they were entertaining enough to draw a big crowd, including the armidillo.
After we´d had our fill of watching the boys bit eachother, bark, and make out with the girls we headed back to the car. On the way we ran into some animals that looked like the worlds smallest chipmonks, measuring all of an inch and a half long. When we made it back to the car, the birds were in a general uproar so we know something was up. We figured they were made at a small group of people that were headed down the trail to the sea, but then I spoted what they were really upset about. A small grey fox was trotting around looking for a snack and the birds didn´t like that at all. We stalked the fox as best we could, but it didn´t take long for him to notice us and drop into an arroyo.
We found a spot where we could see him trying to make his way into a bramble bush and eat an insect he seamed really interested in. The bush began to shake a little and the fox put his ears up and all of us were a bit nervous. All at once, our friend the armidillo stuck his head out of the bush and scared the fox to death! The fox made a sound like an angry squeze toy and shot up into the air. When he landed, be put his ears back and histed at the armidillo and jumped out of the arroyo and sat on the lip. The armidillo appeared quite pleased with himself and made his way down the arroyo in search of a snack. The fox sat on the lip and watched and the resumed his search for a snack as well.
We tried to leave but just couldn´t resist the chance to watch the fox and play with the armidillo, who seemed to be curious of anything that moved. We took about a hundred pictures and laughed until we were sore! After that, it was a 90 minute drive across the interior of the peninsula back to the hostel. We had a great diner and had a debate over which animal was our favorite. It was a close race, but I think the armidillo really was the star of the show.
We miss you all and can´t wait to share our stories in person!
Love,
Ryan
We got a little bit of a late start, but it didn´t seem like it would take to long to make the trip so it was okay. Our little VW Gol was not really made to travel around 200Km on ripio, but it was built well enough to endure it at least once. Our first stop was at Punta Delgada, about 70Km into the circuit. There we stood on a bluff about 150 feet above a beach were adolescent sea elephants were sunning on the sand. The were all napping and hard to see because we were so high up, so we departed pretty quickly. Besides, the security camera that kept watch over the tourists was making me nervous. I wasn´t sure if it was there to keep watch over us, to protect the sea elephants, or to settle insurance disputes after some dumb tourist got killed after climbing over the fence and falling to their death.
After that, we headed north toward Punta Norte, so 80Km away. Along the way we stopped on the side of the road and looked over the bluffs. It was really beautiful and the wind off the pampas cooled us off a bit as we watched more sea elephants play in the sea and sun on the beach some 100 feet below.
Another short jaunt brought us to Caleta Valdéz, which is a state run luxury hotel. We walked on some paths that took us down to the beach where we could actually see some sea elephants. The were all adolescents that could quite make the long swims at see that the adults do, and for the most part all they were interested in was napping. The were really cute for an animal that resembles an overstuffed sausage or a fat sack of fat.
Yet another quick drive brought us to a penquino colony were we stop for a bit to be reunited with our friends. A good number of them lined the shore, but as a sea elephant cruised up the shoreline the all scuried to make a 10 foot perimeter between them and the water line. We jumped in the car and made our way to Punta Norte with a few stops to see the Guanacos (which are pretty much a llama).
We weren´t even all the way into the parking lot at Punta Norte when we saw the first sign of wildlife. An amidillo was making his way toward the parking lot, but dove into a burrow as the car got close. We parked the car and made our way back to the burrow to see if we could see him again, but the armidillo was nice enough to meet us half way. It took us all of a second to realize that he was about as scared of us as we were of him, which was not at all. He sniffed us and made his way on his route toward the ocean.
We followed him and took the path down to the sea, where about a 100 sea lions were lining the shore. These were a different type of sea lion, I think, and the males weighed in at about 800 pounds! All the males were protecting their harems and having a pissing contest over who was the boss of the beach. They made quite a lot of noise and did a lot of biting too, but they were entertaining enough to draw a big crowd, including the armidillo.
After we´d had our fill of watching the boys bit eachother, bark, and make out with the girls we headed back to the car. On the way we ran into some animals that looked like the worlds smallest chipmonks, measuring all of an inch and a half long. When we made it back to the car, the birds were in a general uproar so we know something was up. We figured they were made at a small group of people that were headed down the trail to the sea, but then I spoted what they were really upset about. A small grey fox was trotting around looking for a snack and the birds didn´t like that at all. We stalked the fox as best we could, but it didn´t take long for him to notice us and drop into an arroyo.
We found a spot where we could see him trying to make his way into a bramble bush and eat an insect he seamed really interested in. The bush began to shake a little and the fox put his ears up and all of us were a bit nervous. All at once, our friend the armidillo stuck his head out of the bush and scared the fox to death! The fox made a sound like an angry squeze toy and shot up into the air. When he landed, be put his ears back and histed at the armidillo and jumped out of the arroyo and sat on the lip. The armidillo appeared quite pleased with himself and made his way down the arroyo in search of a snack. The fox sat on the lip and watched and the resumed his search for a snack as well.
We tried to leave but just couldn´t resist the chance to watch the fox and play with the armidillo, who seemed to be curious of anything that moved. We took about a hundred pictures and laughed until we were sore! After that, it was a 90 minute drive across the interior of the peninsula back to the hostel. We had a great diner and had a debate over which animal was our favorite. It was a close race, but I think the armidillo really was the star of the show.
We miss you all and can´t wait to share our stories in person!
Love,
Ryan
Buceo con Lobos!!!
So as you might imagine, diving with sea lions is a awesome experience. We went for about an hour dive and say close to ten sea lions that thought we were pretty interesting. Our guide Patrick, or Pato as he liked to be called was really nice and very patient. It was both my and Aura´s first dive in the open ocean so things were a little bit nerve racking at times. Pato took it all in stride and helped us when he could.
We were told in our "on boat training" that if the sea lions got curious the would give you a friendly bite, much like a dog will bit you if it wants to play. It wont hurt, it´s not an agressive action, they just want to play. We were told they would bit us on the neoprene hoods or on the arms, but they also like fins and snorkles. Coincidentally, we weren´t given any snorkles because the sea lions had stollen them so may times. So the long story short, if they bit us on the hood we should brush our hand over the hood to stop them and if we stuck out a closed fist they would probably give it a friendly bite.
We were under water for all of 5 minutes be for we saw our first two sea lions. Aura immeadiately stuck out a closed fist an waited for the sea lion to approach. She wasn´t lucky enough to get a little sea lion bit, but the sea lions did circle us for a couple of minutes. They were quick to show us that we had no hopes of keeping up with them as the circled us, swam up to our faces only to dart off again, and generally taunt us. At one point Aura was looking around for one of the sea lions only to have him swim up behind her and come nose to nose right over the top of her head. The were seperated by about 8 inches when Aura quickly stuck out her fist. I think the sea lion thought she was taking a swing at him because they both darted off after that.
It was about this time that it really started to become clear that we were not properly weighted. We were wearing brand new double 7mm wetsuits which had been removed from the packaging that morning. Although they had never been peed in (a major plus if you ask me) it was also clear that our instructors didn´t really know the correct weight to compensate for the bouyancy of the suit. As we got into sallower waters we began to float off of the bottom. I was doing okay, and even though there wasn´t a spot of air in my BC I would still float off of the bottom at anything above 4.5 meters or so. Aura, on the other hand, was not so lucky. She had quite a bit of bouyancy and she was really fighting to stay down pretty much all the time.
But we fought on in hopes of seeing more sea lions. The next two we saw were playing with eachother in the water, but one appeared to be an adult male. As you might imagine, when you see something that weighs 400 pounds or so that looks like a ballerina in the water you are both amazed and a little intimidated. We didn´t get to enjoy the show for too long before they both swam off. We circled around and enjoyed to fauna of the ocean floor as we fought to stay at the bottom and right near the end of our dive we came onto a group of about 4 sea lions. We were in deeper water, so we could stay down a little and the sea lions slowly gained confidence and approached us. I got a nice friendly bit on the head and one on the fins, but Aura was the star of the show as she played with one sea lion with her fins. After she put out her fist she was lucky enough to get love bite this time plus one on the head as well.
We were pretty much out of time at that point, so we had to surface and get on the boat, but on the way back Aura was really happy to have been that close to such a beautiful animal. I was happy enough to have had such an awesome experience, but to see my girlfried that happy is what really put the icing on the cake for me.
Love you all,
Ryan (a.k.a La Tortuga)
We were told in our "on boat training" that if the sea lions got curious the would give you a friendly bite, much like a dog will bit you if it wants to play. It wont hurt, it´s not an agressive action, they just want to play. We were told they would bit us on the neoprene hoods or on the arms, but they also like fins and snorkles. Coincidentally, we weren´t given any snorkles because the sea lions had stollen them so may times. So the long story short, if they bit us on the hood we should brush our hand over the hood to stop them and if we stuck out a closed fist they would probably give it a friendly bite.
We were under water for all of 5 minutes be for we saw our first two sea lions. Aura immeadiately stuck out a closed fist an waited for the sea lion to approach. She wasn´t lucky enough to get a little sea lion bit, but the sea lions did circle us for a couple of minutes. They were quick to show us that we had no hopes of keeping up with them as the circled us, swam up to our faces only to dart off again, and generally taunt us. At one point Aura was looking around for one of the sea lions only to have him swim up behind her and come nose to nose right over the top of her head. The were seperated by about 8 inches when Aura quickly stuck out her fist. I think the sea lion thought she was taking a swing at him because they both darted off after that.
It was about this time that it really started to become clear that we were not properly weighted. We were wearing brand new double 7mm wetsuits which had been removed from the packaging that morning. Although they had never been peed in (a major plus if you ask me) it was also clear that our instructors didn´t really know the correct weight to compensate for the bouyancy of the suit. As we got into sallower waters we began to float off of the bottom. I was doing okay, and even though there wasn´t a spot of air in my BC I would still float off of the bottom at anything above 4.5 meters or so. Aura, on the other hand, was not so lucky. She had quite a bit of bouyancy and she was really fighting to stay down pretty much all the time.
But we fought on in hopes of seeing more sea lions. The next two we saw were playing with eachother in the water, but one appeared to be an adult male. As you might imagine, when you see something that weighs 400 pounds or so that looks like a ballerina in the water you are both amazed and a little intimidated. We didn´t get to enjoy the show for too long before they both swam off. We circled around and enjoyed to fauna of the ocean floor as we fought to stay at the bottom and right near the end of our dive we came onto a group of about 4 sea lions. We were in deeper water, so we could stay down a little and the sea lions slowly gained confidence and approached us. I got a nice friendly bit on the head and one on the fins, but Aura was the star of the show as she played with one sea lion with her fins. After she put out her fist she was lucky enough to get love bite this time plus one on the head as well.
We were pretty much out of time at that point, so we had to surface and get on the boat, but on the way back Aura was really happy to have been that close to such a beautiful animal. I was happy enough to have had such an awesome experience, but to see my girlfried that happy is what really put the icing on the cake for me.
Love you all,
Ryan (a.k.a La Tortuga)
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