A Long, Long Way Home <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogge r/4126/1903/1600/92-Ushuaia%20Harbor.1. jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img class="yui-img" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger /4126/1903/320/92-Ushuaia%20Harbor.1.jp g" border="0"></a>And so starts the long trip home. The next day I flew from Punta Arenas, to Ushuaia, Argentina on the Southern shores of...

The next day was a bit colder and a whole lot windier with small snow squalls every once in a while. I figured we must only have a 50/50 chance of being able to fly out in this weather as there were even darker clouds on the horizon. Despite the weather, we bundled up and started out along a rocky ridge toward the Drake Passage so see more marine life. Alejo packed extra wind pants and goggles just in case the weather got worse. We marched through the s...

On Wednesday we took a bus up to El Chalten, four hours to the north, to go "Supertrekking". El Chalten is at the base of the most dramatic mountains in Argentina, Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, which are both huge granite spires piercing the sky. Cerro Fitz RoyOff the bus (which traveled three and a half of the four hours on dirt roads), we met our guide Andreas, and the three other trekkers going with us, Rich from New York, and a couple from Mexico Ci...

The first day in El Calafate was spent on a tour of the Perito Morano Glacier. It was truly one of the most amazing natural phenomenons I´ve seen with my own two eyes. The glacier pours for miles out of great Southern Ice Field, past the jagged white peaks of the southern Andes, through an alpine valley, then splits, dumping into two beautiful lakes. The walls of ice are perfectly vertical and you only have to watch for a few minutes to see giant chucks...

he Bus Ride Dawn. I´m awakened by the shake and rattle of the bus for what must be the 20th time. I realize that we´ve been driving on a dirt road for the past 100 miles. I pull back the curtain and peek out the window to see a cresent moon floating above the orange and pink horizon in the pre-dawn light. I can see for miles in every direction across the barren pampas with no trees or buildings obscuring the view. I try to take it all in befo...