My Adventures and Travels

When I went to Patagonia in January of 2014, I knew I'd be heading back the following year. This time, my mom and her husband met me in Punta Arenas and we took an "Active Adventures" tour with tons of hiking. Many of the places (Perito Moreno & El Chalten) I had been to, but several I hadn't (Torres del Paine). I don't normally see places by tour, but it was nice to step away from planning every bit of transportation, food, and lodging for awhile-especially after weeks on the road!! This first batch of pictures is from our four-day "W" trek in Torres del Paine, Chile. And we're off! In our bus to Torres del Paine (blue towers) National Park We saw guanacos and rhea on the way Ready to start! Up, up, up we go. Great views and decent weather for day 1 After we dropped our packs off and had lunch at the first refugio, we continued up, up, up. We made it, and as we arrived, the clouds lifted! These are the towers the par...

On Sunday morning, we agreed to get to the falls reasonably early, make a morning of hiking, grab lunch in town, and hit the road to head back to Paraguay. That is what we did. Instead of viewing the falls from above, we went on a great hike to see the falls from below. It was incredibly beautiful. And wet. And we saw MONKEYS! By the time we got to the destination at the base of the falls, the light "pelo de gato" mist had turned into an all-out downpour. I was so glad I bought a mad scientist poncho! The funny thing is, normally that would've ruined a day of hiking and sightseeing. But I was just so in awe of everything, and in such a great mood, that I felt nothing could ruin it. Consider yourself warned. This was just a lame, puny falls in comparison  to what we'd see later. And this is where my jaw dropped. Kristi, Molly, and Ali are being troopers. Somewhere along this trip, having a waterproof camera became really ...

Iguazu Falls is one of those places that's a total cliche-pictures really *can't* do it justice. At the Garganta del Diablo, the sound is one of the most impressive parts of the experience! That, and you can't fit all there is to see in one frame. But here are some attempts I made, anyway. Janelle and I Me, Janelle, and JoAna We stayed at this lookout deck for a long time, taking pictures, videos, and pretty much standing around with our jaws wide open in awe. I have been a lot of places and this one ranks way up there on the list of favorites! Eventually we pried ourselves away, walked back over the long walkway and took the trains back down to the base. We were tired after getting 3-4 hours of sleep, running, and then walking all day! The evening was lovely and consisted of the 13 of us all rotating through our 2 showers, and bottles of wine and beer on the patio of our hotel, listening to music and talking.