Hermanitas Taylor Taking Patagonia by Storm

And YOU thought Yale was located in New Haven...


Buenas noches desde Lima, Peru! Ahhh, what a WILD ride these last three weeks have been. And how so very much has happened since I last wrote. I have just arrived in Lima after a 4 hour flight from Buenos Aires where I said goodbye to my sister after 16 fan-freakin-tastic days traveling ALL OVER Argentina and Chile. And as I sit here in the Lima airport, it is currently 10:30 PM. I will be here writing, reading, eating, maybe even sleeping a bit until I catch a 5:40 am flight to Cusco, Peru. So as I have finally foudn myself with an abundance of time and little to do with myself, I can FINALLY update the world on the whereabouts of the traveling Taylor hermanitas - woohoo!

Sooo....

After my last update, Annelle and I boarded a 10 hour bus headed due South from Santiago, Chile to Osorno, Chile where Claudio so graciously met us at 8 AM at the bus terminal to welcome us to Osorno. I never imagined I would be back so soon....but such is the beauty of traveling with an open mind and no set plans!! It was a rainy, hazy, chiiiiiilllly day, so after one of Claudio´s hearty breakfasts, we headed to las Termas de Puyehue to warm ourselves up by first spending the afternoon soaking in the natural hot baths at the base of the Andes mountains and then hiking up to a beautiful viewpoint to look our over the river valley. It was still cloudy, drizzly, and hazy, so we didnt get much of a view, but it was so great to be there. I had actually done this same hike nearly two months earlier with Claudio and when I wrote about it in my blog, I talked about how beautiful and peaceful a place it is and how I so hoped taht the next time I found myself there, I would be with a family member - so I guess sometimes, the whole, "Ask and you shall receive" idea works out after all!



After a nice soak and a hardy hike, we ended the day with a typical Chilean Once (the meal of bread, tea, coffee, cheese, ham, and cake that is eaten each day around 6 PM) with his family at their home in the campo - Annelle got to eat some tasty kuchen and meet the pet pig who thinks he´s a dog!!





The next day, we said goodbye (mejor dicho, "see you later!") - once again - to Claudio, and boarded a bus bound for Bariloche, Argentina. Ideally, Annelle would have seen the three HULKING volcanoes en route, but the rain poured and clouds shrouded the view, so no volcanoes for her. BUT as we climbed into the Andes to cross the pass into Argentina, we did enter into a Winter wonderland as the rain turned into snow and we found ourselves in the middle of a snowstorm. Now, Annelle jsut escaped from seemingly neverending 6 meses de frío. But I have not seen snow like that in over a year and found myself positively giddy as I looked out the window and hopped up and down in my chair saying, "It´s snowing, It´s snowing!!" And after a relatively easy, but coooold border crossing, we made it to Bariloche. I never imagined I would be back here so soon, and while it was chiiiiiiiily, it was beautiful. Positively beautiful. Blue skies, crisp clean air, giant snow-capped montañas, and delightfully friendly faces. Not to mention great food - ice cream, chocolate, budin, oh my!



Vista from atop Cerro Campanario. I was here with dad 7 months ago!!

Over the next few days in Bariloche, Annelle got to meet Rosario, German and his family, take the chairlift up Cerro Campanario to enjoy the GORGEOUS vista of the montañas all around, hike for hours and hours to the top of Cerro Otto (evidentally Argentinians mean FIVE hours when they tell you something will take you 2 hours...good thing we brought those extra empanadas...), eat the best ice cream in Argentina a Jauja, discover teh pure joy of a dulce de leche-filled plum covered in chocolate - who knew?! - and drink endless cups of coffee, tea, and maté.
Note about dietary changes: I have now become something of a coffee drinker - not to mention a ham and cheese sandwich aficionado. Seriously had you told me 7 months ago that I would be biting into a chicken sandwich topped with cheese, HAM, and FRIED EGG, I would have said you were out of your mind. But just LOOK at this thing...Doesnt it make your mouth water?!


Then, it was North to Junín de los Andes so Annelle could meet the family with whom I stayed for three weeks back in January - Tay, Noelia, and their three girls. We visited Tay´s school in the Mapuche community, took a walk along the river, visited San Martín de los Andes where we hiked, ate ice cream, and met a delightful old Frenchman who invited us to coffee and told us about his life in Argentina, his two daughters (who are about our ages), and his travels as a young whippersnapper. A last minute decision to meet Rosario and Claudio in Bariloche for one final hurrah (and an early bday celebration for Claudio) changed our initial plans - plans? what plans? - to head on to Buenos Aires. So we backtracked to Bariloche, ate pizza and cake, spent the night having a grown-up slumber party in Rosario´s tree-house as we all shimmied our way into the dollhouse loft to pass la noche, and went for one final hike in la naturaleza before flying to Buenos Aires. (I surprised Annelle by agreeing to not be Cameron McCheapskates for a moment by paying for a plane ticket to BsAs instead of forcing her to go the economical route - i.e. 20 hours aboard a bus!)


Yummy lunch with Rosario after a beautiful hike along the Río Limay!


And, alas, we arrived in the city that never sleeps and spent 4 days wandering the streets, exploring all of the neighborhoods, looking for teh street corner where Alex, Annelle´s boyfriend, lived 5 years ago, eating empanadas, taking photos, drinking coffee and tea, and desperately searching for that perfect pair of shoes and Annelle´s dream sweater. For some reason, the city that never sleeps, was rather sleepy - almost dead even - much of the time we were there. Annelle kept asking, "Is this what it was like when dad was here?" I think everyone must be hibernating for the Winter... We could not figure out the store hours and kept going out too early or too late to both shop and eat. But never fear, we resourceful Taylor´s found both food and awesome shoes (for Annelle, not me!) in the end.


Final Goodbyes in Buenos Aires! Hasta la proxima, Nurse Nelly!

And thus ends our 16 day adventure together. It was a grand adventure with much laughing, loving, and learning. And so delightful to show off these two countries to my sister. Even more delightful was seeing her response to every place we visited - how excited and awed she was by the people, the scenery, the culture - amazing, amazing, amazing!! To more great adventures together with my family en el futuro. Love and more love to all as I return to the life of a solo traveler and enter into the final three and a half weeks of Camerons Grand Aventura!! Who knows what adventures lie ahead....VIVA!!