Me and Jesse from New Jersey at the massive glacier in El Calafate, part of Argentinian Patagonia. A big chunk of it fell off while we were there which was cool to witness but i guess kind of bad what with global warming and all, which will eventually kill the poor glacier. Despite the drizzling weather the glacier still looked pretty impressive with its arctic blue tones!
Southern Right Whales....in Puerto Madyrn on the Eastern Coast of Argentina
Hiking up Cerro Piltriquitron with some ski enthusiasts Claire and Shawn who i met in Bariloche. A couple of us tagged along with them to do the hike to the refugio for just the day. At the top we had a celbratory homemade beer. Claire and Shawn carried on to the summit so they could ski down while we hung out at the refugio (shelter where you can sleep/spend the night/eat etc) admiring the view over Bolson. 
We then started to make our way down the gravelly path back down to civilization. Unfortunately my accident prone tendancies reared their ugly heads and i slipped on the loose rocks and rolly-pollied a couple of times scraping my legs open along the way. Nothing that couldn´t be remedied by a quick trip to the local centro medico. This is where my `trip to the doctors´ roleplay from spanish lessons came to hand!A few doses of painful iodine solution and bandages later i was feeling much better!We spent the evening drinking lots of red wine to make up for my little accident.
Described by lonely planet as the closest Argentina gets to Berkeley, i couldn´t miss it! Famous for its `feria artesanal´ showcrafting the locals talents for clothing, jewellery and other gifts you might expect to find at a market. In Bariloche, I met Alec, from LA and we had a mutual plan to hitch-hike, deciding that there would be definitely be some hippy driving along the main road who would take pity on us. And after a little bit of a wait, Ricardo (who was wearing John Lennon round tinted classes) and played strange yiddish-esque music picked us up...hooray!An excellent journey!
A great day of cycling (30 kilometres-ish!) around the famous route in BarilocheArgentina Lake District) along some steep climbs and awesome downhill free-wheeling. Ely (a lovely Argentinian who was on a short holiday) and I spent the day enjoying the great views along the track, picnicing by a secluded lake and enjoying the amazing views from the high panaramic point. We then spent the evening back at the hostel where Ely gave me a cooking lesson and showed me how to make the South American classic, Milanessa, consisting of a thin slice of beef mixed with egg, seasoning, garlic and herbs, covered in breadcrumbs and then baked in the oven. We shared our meal with a couple from Utah who had some wine from Mendoza, ideal.
Without a doubt, one of the best things i have done on my trip was the long and steep hike up this snow covered mountain of a volcano. It was a case of third time lucky waiting for the perfect conditions as the two days previous we had turned up at the guides office only to be told that 1) the weather was not so good (cold, windy and quite miserable to climb during) and 2) the wind had shifted and was blowing smoke from the summit in the direction of where we would be walking. However, the next day Stephanie (my dorm companion) and i awoke to clear blue skies and a sure feeling that today the volcano was happy and we would be able to make it to the top. A group of about 12 of us all kitted out with gaters, ice axes, multiple layers etc. walked together with her helpful and supportive guides. Our guides set out the pace for our steady meander up and explained that it is important to go slowly taking small steps so that you have enough energy at the end for the steepest final part. With a few stops along the way for food, water and photo-taking we made 
it to the summit where the volcano was smoking away calmly. After a nice break at the top we were instructed about our descent method which involved basically sliding down the mountain. We attached a sort of nappy harness layer which would help us to slide down and for the later parts also used plastic tray things to give us extra speed in the softer snow. Slightly concerned at the steepness of the slope and anticipating that i wouldn´t find sliding as easy as it sounds i made a few attempts which involved a lot of sliding around out of control and general snowballing down the mountain coming to a stop at the end in a bedraggled heap. I gave it a few more goes for the next few ´slides´ and despite my efforts achieved no improvement of my sliding style. I `taxied´ down behind one of the guides with another girl (mini sliding sandwich holding onto each other) for one the slides which was a much more enjoyable experience as it was in complete control and the 3 of us sped down together!Our day ended perfectly back at the guide office where we all shared a beer and congratulated each other of our successful climb.
On hearing that Valparaiso was full of unique architecture, cobbled streets and graffiti street art I knew it was not to be missed. Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2003 Valpo (as its known) is a fascinating city built into the hills surrounding a harbour on the East Coast of Chile overlooking the Pacific Ocean. From an urban design point of view the city is very interesting featuring a labyrinth of streets and alleyways accessible by steep inclines or the intriguing funicular elevators (small scale highly-inclined cable cars) for which the city is famous for. There are a few famous squares and churches but the best thing to do there is just walk around the hills, marvel at the art and architecture and soak up the cultural legacy. Valpo is also well known for the amount of stray dogs roaming around (mostly sleeping in the sun during the day). I had a few slightly scarey encounters (mostly just being barked at which always sends the `rabid dog´ alarm bell 
off in my head having not had a rabies jab) but mostly they are harmless. I spent most of my time ambling around mostly in awe at the cute streetways and extensive range of graffiti art which i had to restrain from taking a million photos of. I also visited another residence of Pablo Neruda - La Sebastiana. Having visited his house in Santiago (La Chascona), i was interested to see what this one had in store. An icon of Chilean poetry and also an important political figure, Neruda was also known for his collections of random objects ranging from door knobs to kitsch coloured glass, books and maps to dolls and other bric-a-brac, anything that he found to take a fancy to. These items are displayed across his difference residences in Chile and give each place its own uniqueness. Neruda was quoted saying that food and drink tastes better when taken from coloured glass! La Sebastiana was built into the hill in the form of a ship and the wooden interior also adds to this effect. With large panoramic windows, Neruda would have had an awesome view across the city and over the harbour and it was easy to imagine him sitting in his favourite leather `cloud chair´ looking out to sea and writing poetry with his signature green ink (spots of which can be seen spilt onto a foot stall).
After initially running off stage after the first 2 songs we were slightly worries that the band were not going to return. However, following a 30 minutes of standing around wondering what was happening the band (with a rather angst ridden Alice Glass) returned to the stage and played out an awesome set featuring lots of the old album as well as some of their new stuf including a great rendition of Celestica which i was able to stop jumping around long enough to take a quick video! Glass acted as you would expect of someone who at the age of 14, ran away from home to live in a squat community of punks and drug addicts. She rambled about on stage, climbed onto the music kit, crowd surfed and acted like a complete rockstar, oh and also sang, a bit. Hats off to Alice!
1 piscola, 2 piscola, 3 piscola 4.....
