Left La Junta, dropped the bags at El Mañio Cabañas in Villa Sanra Maria & did another hike, ventisquero Yelcho: Got to talking to a french hitch hiker, took him to dinner: Here’s our cabaña:

Next stop: La Junta. On the (paved) road there: Stopped where we are staying, the @RanchoPatagon / Doble AA / Acogedora cabañas, dropped off the bags, and did a pretty strenuous hike up the side of a mountain - “Las Bardas”. Their dogs Lola and <unknown perro> came with us: Good dinner @ mi casita de the, stroll around town, spoke with the proprietor Victor. They’re setting up to be a wwoof location - world wide opportunities for organic farming. People come and spend some w

Leaving Hospidaje Bopp after a great breakfast: Ripio, feels like we’re getting into a rainforest: in the town of Puyuhuapi, where we stayed at Hostal y Cabañas Robinson:

A very good day. Left Bahia Murta for Cerro Castillo and Paredón de las manos, 3000 year old hand prints on a granite wall: And on into Coyhaique, kind of a drab town, reminiscent of the US midwest or pacific northwest. Stayed out of town at Hospidaje Bopphouse, had a good dinner at Brewery D’olbek: .

Another amazing day. 11:00 reservation for boat tour of marble cathedral etc in Rio Tranquil, 66km as the crow flies, a 2+ hour drive on the Carretera Austral. Milled about the town square ‘til Cafe Tero opened at 8:30: The Carretera Aistral is ripio (gravel) at that point, and very scenic. Passed through Puerto Bertrand. Nescafe is the only coffee in town, tried 2 places (1 a converted bus): Stopped at the crossing of Río León: Made Rio Tranquil in time for the 14:00 tour: W

This was an amazing day. Left Perito Moreno early (before 9) & headed for the Chilean border and the Carretera Austral and our first nights’ lodging outside Cochrane. BTW it bein’ high season, & having to have changed the route radically because we couldn’t get ferry tix, we booked every night in advance. There are a couple of possible routes, we chose the wilder - through Entrante Baker. It’s all ripio, through astonishing, other-worldly landscapes. Here’s the view from Mi

Driving the Carretera Austral, south to north. Here’s the whole shebang: Day 1 - full day drive to the southern-most point in Argentina, Perito Moreno, from where we will cross to Chile & the Carretera Austral on day 2 and work our way north over 10 days. JJ & Inez’ place in Arelauquen Bariloche: Stopped for gas en route, in Tecka, picnic in a rare shade patch by the side of the road: First night outside Perito Moreno at Chakra Kaiken Lodge. Very nice, recommended:

We had a bus/ferry to Buenos Aires leaving at 2pm - bus to Colonia de Sacramento, ferry from there to Buenos Aires. Turned out to be lucky for us - Friday is asado day at our family’s: Hosts are Matthias and Nathalie, wielding the tongs & in the pink shirt, respectively; neighbors in the other bus, Gernan transplants in the process of settling, are Paul & Gabi, in the green shirt & hat & dishing lunch respectively. Others are workers, they’re building another parilla (becaus

The end of our month here is coming into view, we leave on the 6th. We’ve settled into something of a routine (i’m writing this on the 5th). Mornings - exercise & yoga & b’fast of granola, yogurt, oatmeal & toast w/marmalade; over to the cafe in the Kavlin Cultural Center for a coffee & to to work on the taxes (me) and PolarSteps (L); home or out to lunch, grocery shopping (yes - every say), then through what has become our favorite neighborhood: San Rafael, to the beach for

Rented a car & headed up the coast toward Brazil, to Punte del Diablo. First stop, Museo de Autos, inland from El Chorro, just east of La Barra: Next, just across the street to the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry. Remarkable: On to Jose Ignacio. Matthias sez this is where models & football players go. Not sure we saw any…lunch at El Mostrador de Santa Teresita: The beach & point: We coughed up the ~ $3.50 to climb the narrow spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse: Back on t

Around the ‘hood on my spanish lesson walkabout: There’s a big Rolex Southern Atlantic Circuit refatta this week; we rode out to the east beach, toward La Barra, to have a look. No boats; instead we saw mosquitos and a thunderstorm building: Headed home for bug spray, snd as it turned out, to wait it out. Along the way home: rode back out & ended up back at the harbor on the peninsula, where we caught the finish. Pretty spread out, pretty anti-climatic: Next day, out to the

Rode down to the harbor, on the peninsula: A local regatta was happening, several one-design classes. Walked out to the end of the breakwater, turned out to be the start/finish line. Biggest fleet was the Optimist Prams: The start: A look around: Out around the point and back through the peninsula, had an excellent pizza at Atrevida Pizzeria: Facetime with August, pushing buttons to try to add Adrienne, took this shot inadvrtently: Our hosts are extremely social, there’s of

Jan 21 - Went in to the actual peninsula of Punte del Este (it actually comprises only 20% or so of the full town). It’s cool - older buildinfs with character, a pedestrian shopping stretch, a coast promenade with restaurants, a yacht harbor. Had a nice lunch at a low key local spot Rustic: Found current favorite helado shop - Lucciano’s: Jan 22 - long (10 mi) bike ride to Arboretum Lussich. Very nice - longish hike, really good cafe where we had coffee and lunch. Passed a pr

Discovered the next town up the coast: La Barra. Smaller, funkier, surfer vibe. We like it. From across the estuary connecting it to Punte del Este (from which i rode my bike): One of its local claims to fame is an odd bridge over the estuary: The beach: Good coffee at Mahalo, Hawaiian motif: Good lunch at PuraVisa: And to complete the trifecta, helado at the local Freddo’s:

Exploring the neighborhood, its actually quite nice - clean, lots o’ well maintained parks & playgrounds, nice old (and many new!) houses. There’s an art museum close by, the Ralli Museum: An early-20th-century watertower added to and converted into a hotel - Hotel Auberge: Some of the nicer places nearby, give you a sense of the style:

We’re trying something unusual: an old bus, parked and plumbed and converted into a studio apartment. Well a stationary camper with plumbing. It’s in Punte del Este, a beach resort town on the south Atlantic coast of Uruguay, at the mouth of the river Platt, that divides Uruguay and Argentina. Here’s the bus (what3words ///terminal.chanted.vocab): The hosts are a very nice German family who work helping people relocate here. ‘Very’ there is actuslly an understatement; many

Arrived on the bus mid-afternoon, walked the 10 blocks to the apt where we’re staying for 3 nights & checked in. I’d booked this place to be near the bus terminal, and since it’s a short 3 night stay, to be cheap. That strategy worked well in Colonia, ‘cause as a small, touristy place, the area around the ferry & bus terminals is still quite nice. Not so in the much bigger Montevideo. In a word, the area around the bus terminal is a shithole. Took a pretty long walk through

Ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay. It’s a smallish town across the River de la Plata from Buenos Aires. It’s got a well preserved historic section from Spanish colonial days. Sunday 4th: Monday 5th: Had a nice dinner at a beautiful place - Charco Bistro: And more strolling: Tues 6th: Left on the 12:00 bus for Montevideo.

Dec 31 - Walked out to Belgrano, a Barrio on the west side of Buenos Aires, adjacent to Palermo. Pretty nice; a bit more well-kept than most of Palermo. There's a big park, Barrancas del Belgrano: Took the metro back to our neighborhood & had lunch at Rita Specialty Coffee, which we'd passed several times and was always crowded: Jan 1 - Retiro is a nicer barrio essentially at the northeast corner of Buenos Aires: The next barrio to the south from there is San Nicolás: Subwa

Good bread at Co-Pain: A nice doorway on Calle Ecuador in Recoleta: Dinner at La Mar in Palermo with friends Inés and JJ, passing through on their way to Bariloche: Cathedral Metropolitana: Went to a Milonga at Milonga Parakultural. A Milonga is a Tango party. It’s a good way to see a Tango demonstration and a local social event. There are 1/2 dozen or so well known venues around town, each of which seems to host two or three a week. Ours was in the basement of an art deco