LAKE DISTRICT AND GLACIER

After leaving my little life in Valpo, I joined up with a small tour group and we headed South to the Lake District - So amazing to see the diversity of landscapes in this fantastic country! We stopped in Pichilemu Beach, Pucón, Valdivia, Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas.

Best part was our great Pachamama family and all the laughs: Niki and Gary (UK), Hamish and Greg (NZ), Christian (Swiss), Lori, Kelly and Croc-Linda (OZ), and Yerson (guide).

Since we had such a great time together most of us stuck together for awhile afterwards. (Ok part of it was because we were all too indecisive to make our own decisions :)

Went on a great bike ride in Puerto Varas past some massive mansions then headed for a full day of traveling to El Bolson, Argentina. To say the least we are a bit of a mess without our guide (un-necessarily wolfed down all of our food at the border, couldn´t find a hostel, accidentally stole a dog - typical Gringo stuff).

Loved El Bolson! Did a lakeside hike plus a two-day hike into the mountains - amazing!! Stayed at a little farm house run by self-sufficient hippies.

I broke off from the group to head further South to El Calafate and saw the incredible Perito Moreno Glacier. It is 20 stories high, moves a couple meters a day and is the only one still growing?

MARATHON

From there made it to Ushuaia for the marathon - they call it the end of the world because it is the Southern most city in the world.

Friday I met a fun group of locals also running so we did all the race events together. The night before they had a pasta party and brought in amazing Tango and other types of dancers!

Race day was perfect! We really got lucky with the weather (good thing because I had nada for cold weather). We started in the National Park Bahia Lapataia and ran through the beautiful scenery (and numerous nice hills) to the city. Possibly the most challenging race I´ve ever done (mainly due to lack of training) but really was the most rewarding and empowering!! My time was 4:42 - I was hoping for better but I felt good, nothing is hurt and I didn´t get lost on route like Costa Rica. Even ended up 4th in my age group - not sure how many total.

At the end my new racing friends were there to cheer me on. Of course they had been done for quite some time :) The fastest of them was Ignacio (Ironmanner) finished 10th overall at 3:10 and Analia who finished 3rd for all females at 3:33.

Later we headed to Mauricio´s house for pie and cervesas. Was nice being in a home after so many hostels. Then I regrettably introduced Analia to tacky Desperate Housewives and we crashed in front of the TV.

Today headed to Buenos Aires, Salta then up to Bolivia for a few weeks.