December 22nd

This is it. The last post. Tomorrow I'll meet up with my family in the airport to fly north. We'll be spending Christmas in the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. It'll be weird. Anyway, I got back from Patagonia about a week ago. Have some pictures:

Puerto Natales.

MOUNTAINS

Snack/giggle break

Glacier Grey (also, sky grey and water grey and basically everything grey)

Dead trees are creepy. A whole forest of dead trees is REALLY freaking creepy.

Hiking up to Las Torres.

Las Torres were hiding but it's still a nice lake.

This tree was actually still alive.

I think I remember this scene from The Hobbit.

MORE MOUNTAINS

Of course we can finally see the Torres as we're driving away.

Waterfall.

Teeny tiny flowers

Cave paintings

There's a baby guanaco in this picture

COWBOY (sheepboy?)

Penguins are really into walking in single file

BABY PENGUIN

Local celebrities

Ñandú (or lesser rhea but which is more fun to say?)

Punta Arenas, southernmost city in the world

November 13th

The late-as-usual Chiloé post:

We went to Chiloé! Which is an archipelago about halfway between Santiago and Patagonia. Which means it took 13 hours to get there by bus and 15 hours to get back (there were TWO accidents. on a two-lane highway. backed up for HOURS).  The movies played were no good. Let me repeat: no good. Like, John Carter: historical dude who ends up on Mars? Where there is a humanoid, solar-panel using, but also magical race of aliens? And then an insanely long movie about Russian mafia boxing? Or possibly something else. It was in Russian with Spanish subtitles. ANYWAY.

Chiloé was really cool. Very Oregon-coast-like which was a surprise. Lots of houses on pilings and grey sand beaches and scrubby hills. The area is known for its churches, which are a UNESCO world heritage site. Plus there's supposedly awesome seafood, though I have no proof of that myself.

Random note: It was Halloween while we were there. That evening we were in main square in Castro, wandering around, looking for somewhere to eat, and the place was FULL of kids in costume, trick-or-treating at local businesses. It was super cute. Tragically I didn't have my camera with me.

On the ferry!

Boats in harbor. It was extremely windy.

Future home.

Curanto! Fish/potatoes/meat/whatever ON A PLATE

Wait, I'm not in Oregon?

ON AN ADVENTURE

Best picture of a penguin I got. We saw about 5, though if you ask Andrew, he may say anything from 7 to 10. 

Naked lady dancing=la pincoya. Local legend.

Castro/fairytale village

 

Palafitos! (houses on stilts)

Church #1

 

No but seriously, this is Oregon right?

Church #2

Lonely beach

Lonely cows

Braving the elements in the national park

Walk in the woods

Much-needed tea break

Not a nice day

Andrew's commentary: Gosh, it's really raining.

Volcano! In Puerto Varas

Only redeeming quality of 15 hour bus ride

October 27th

It's been over a month since I went on this trip. OH WELL.

Aguas Calientes (hint: the water is not so caliente)

Fierce guard-turkeys

Bus ride up at 5:30

Classic

Don't know those people

Lots of rocks

Gettin' fancy

Let's take some pictures for facebook

Don't know those people either

Or those people

Machu Picchu knows what's up (put a bird on it)

I CLIMBED THAT

Machu Picchu accessorizes with fog

"Staircase"

From way up here you all look like tiny little ants!

This seems problematic to me

Gollum? Nope, just Chris.

"Stairs"

We climbed A LOT

It's crowded at the top. So many gringos, so little room before you fall of a bajillion foot high cliff.

"Staircase"

And when it gets too steep, just stick in a ladder

Play mummies

Cave of the Moon

Huayna Picchu: defeated

Artsy parting shot

 So that's that. Sorry for the overload of pictures. I'm headed to Chiloe on Monday so get ready for MORE pictures.