We hopped back across the border to visit Bariloche and a taste of the Lake District in Argentina. The scenery did not disappoint, and the region often touts its European heritage from colonists looking for a taste of the Alps. We also timed our visit to coincide with the weekend crafts market in El Bolson. This was definitely a letdown, and a sentiment echoed by other tourists we talked to on the same bus with us. The town was pleasant, but...

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With an extra day in El Calafate after visiting Perito Moreno Glacier, we wandered over to this bird sanctuary, just a fifteen minute stroll north of town. We are definitely not bird-watchers, but thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely afternoon around the swampy grassland. And the big bonus: we saw our first flamingos in the wild.

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A good hour bus ride outside of El Calafate (not to be confused with El Chalten) sits this rarity of a glacier, one of the extremely few glaciers in the world that is still advancing and currently large enough to hold the city of Buenos Aires. Walkways are built to bring visitors within 800 meters, close enough to appreciate its enormity. Every few years, the glacier will even touch land and form an ice dam when it meets up with Peninsula...

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Patagonia in my mind is granite cliffs rising from fields of ice and snow, an idea probably sourced by strong branding from the Patagonia clothing company. In reality, most of Patagonia is dry, windy plains covered with knee high shrubbery. But we did find the Patagonia of clever marketing in the tiny town of El Chalten where a permanent population of less than 1000 people welcome tourists to the mountain range right at its doorstep. We had...

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Tierra del Fuego was named when Magellan sailed past the island at the bottom of the Americas and saw smoke rising to the sky from fires set by the indigenous people. If you find yourself in Ushuaia, the park is absolutely worth a full day of wandering. The park is crisscrossed with a variety of hiking trails. It was a drastic change to see color again after a week in Antarctica, as well as plant and animal life on...

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We had time in Ushuaia both before and after our Antarctica trip. One easy activity in Ushuaia is a hike up to see the Martial Glacier. To get there, just grab a taxi and tell them Martial Glacier; they’ll understand. Each trip only costs about 35ARS, and we hung around to find another couple to share a cab on the way back. There’s a chair lift for about 50ARS roundtrip, but we chose to save the money and take the pleasant hour...

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