Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Buenos Aires, people, makes you forget you are in South America completely. Well, until you realize everyone is speaking Spanish. Before arriving, I only associated the metropolis with several things: steak, tango, and an aura of Europe. And it was all true. The architecture reminded me of my time spent in Spain and even the way Argentinians speak Spanish seems to have an Italian lull. After arriving in our hostel, Tasha and I shot ourselves over to a nearby steak joint where we were overwhelmed by a huge steak for a price tag that doesn't quite seem to measure up. The first two days were relatively mellow due to the Christmas holiday, when everything seemed to shut down. Tasha and I kicked off our very merry Christmas by walking over to a cemetery where we initially thought was where Evita Perón (the former Argentinian first lady immortalized by Madonna) was buried, but it turned out we were in the wrong one. The day was concluded with a screening of "2012," which ironically was about the end of the world. Cemetery and "2012" on Christmas day? Uh, happy birthday, Jesus!

A huge steak and fries for around $10 - what a steal

Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the widest streets in the world - this is just one way!

Some of the tombs in the cemetery we accidentally thought we'd find Evita Perón

The next day started the rest of our major Buenos Aires sight seeing as my friend Michael, who had studied abroad in Buenos Aires before, flew into town en route to a community service project in Bolivia. We were able to see a lot of the big tourist haunts without completely looking like tourists, since Michael led us around more discreetly. In Recoleta, we spent an afternoon in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, passed by a large artisan fair, and saw la Floralis Generica, a huge steel sculpture of a flower.

Taking the metro (or "subte," as it's called in Buenos Aires) around

La Floralis Generica, a giant metal sunflower that opens and closes in the morning and at night

After staying out much too late that night, we somehow found it in us to get up and explore the city a little more, starting with la Casa Rosada, or the presidential offices. Closeby in walking distance was the San Telmo artisan market (in case you haven't quite caught on, handmade crafts are a big thing in South America), where we made our way through a sea of people ogling at woven bracelets and flattened glassware, streetside tango performances, and a local market. Our last daytime stop was the neighborhood La Boca - not recommended after the sun sets! That neighborhood was a reminder of the huge Italian influence in Argentina, with lots of tango, pasta, and pizza with buildings in color schemes that would never be approved by any homeowners' association back in Irvine.

La Casa Rosada - literally, the pink house! What's not to like about that?

Probably the one empty street we saw in San Telmo, truly a rare sight

The first time we took this, our photographer didn't realize we wanted the building - the epitome of La Boca - in the back =/

Tasha and I ended our Buenos Aires trip with a rowdy drum concert held every Monday - although we couldn't quite find it at first, we eventually found our way to the dinky little venue where we were openly offered happy brownies and space cakes while in line. Hahaha! The night concluded with a midnight steak dinner (should I then call it starting the morning then?), with Tasha and I getting ready to make our next Argentinian stop in Rosario and Michael and two of his friends staying in Buenos Aires a little longer before embarking on a 60-hour bus ride to Bolivia. Seriously though, after 24 hours, it just seems to all be the same: LONG.

Bariloche y El Bolsón, Argentina.

I will say right now for the record that I have never been a fan of chocolate. Never liked it, never will. Then I went to Bariloche and it changed my life - for the four days I was there. All of a sudden, I was resisting the stuff like it was my job: it took every ounce of self-control not to buy out the every chocolate shop that was present.

Overlooking the lake in Bariloche

After a grueling 36-hour (that's right, count 'em- 36) bus ride from El Chaltén, Tasha and I made it to Bariloche, Argentina in the lakes district. Having arrived right before the holidays, the city was transformed into a winter wonderland and the cold weather actually made us feel right at home, considering we were drowning in heat elsewhere in the continent. Although in retrospect, feeling at home wasn't ideal as this was the first time either of us was skipping out on Christmas or New Year's. Our stay in Bariloche was mainly to relax and recuperate from the grueling Patagonia trip we'd taken, so we stayed to mingle, hang out, and just take some time for ourselves before trekking out to Buenos Aires before Christmas Eve. There was a lot of chocolate consumption and errand running.

According to this guy, there are only 3 things in life: women, chocolate, and the asado (South American barbecue)

Right before leaving for Buenos Aires, we took a day trip out to El Bolsón, a very hippie-esque and bohemian town about 2 hours out of Bariloche, most famous for a giant artesan market they hold every several days. After exploring the wares, we took a quick bus ride out to the El Bolsón brewery, where a huge line of artisanal beers are produced. There were the typical flavors like a stout, a blonde, and a nutty red, but we also saw some unusual ones like cherry, blackberry, and chili pepper.

Very Lord of the Rings-y tree in El Bolsón

Jauja, the famous ice cream shop in El Bolsón where we somehow snagged a free sweet treat - it was like Christmas came early!

Just a sampling of the available products at the El Bolsón brewery

Both towns were so accommodating and welcome that we knew right off the bat that we were definitely going to be big fans of Argentina.

Patagonia, Chile & Argentina.

Between my two semesters, I had a four week long winter vacation (or "summer," here, really). Instead of going home, I decided to stay in South America, where I traveled for almost the entire month. My first week was spent in Patagonia, the southernmost region of Chile that is also shared with Argentina. With my friend Tasha, who would soon become my partner in crime for the rest of the trip, we flew out of Santiago into Punta Arenas, then headed to Puerto Natales, the town closest to Parque Torres del Paine, the national park where we would be spending 3 days hiking. Tasha and I spent one day in Puerto Natales to just get ourselves prepared for the park, such as renting equipment for camping, grocery shopping for food, and pretty much just figuring out what the heck you do in the park. Torres del Paine is one of those places where you really don't know anything about it until you get down there. Those guidebooks did nothing for us! Two other friends that were already down there were in Argentina when we first got there, so we decided to meet them at a designated location in the park.

A sunset view of Puerto Natales

Hiking along the lake in Parque Torres del Paine on day 1

Hiking through Parque Torres del Paine was, in many ways, so similar to climbing Wayna Picchu in Peru. It was physically demanding and made me want to cry, but so worth it. Three days of nonstop hiking - I covered 65km! - while covered in dirt and sweat would usually not be my idea of fun. This trip was a lot of firsts for me: first time hiking like it was my job, first time backpacking, and first time camping. Yes, camping. I had a couple of close calls but other than that, I knew by the end of the trip that only a couple of days in and this was probably going to be the highlight of my entire winter break. And it was :)

Day 2 in the park was a little cloudier, but gorgeous nonetheless

After going through Torres del Paine, we said goodbye to the two friends we rendezvous'ed with - Andrea and Beth, who had flights to go back to the US - and Tasha and I continued on, crossing the border into El Calafate, Argentina and later to El Chaltén. The big draw to both of those towns is the Perito Moreno glaciar. In El Calafate, I took a boat tour to get up close and personal with the glaciar, even getting to see parts of it break off. El Chaltén is huge with hikers as well, as many travel there to climb the Fitz Roy. Unfortunately, since the two of us were so "hiked out," we did as much as we could but really didn't have it in us to go to the end of the trail.

In front of the glacier in El Calafate

Nature - all around as far as the eye can see in El Chaltén

Cusco, Peru.

Our final major stop in my epic 10-day Peruvian adventures with Grace was in Cusco, where we also happened to spend Thanksgiving (yes, I realize that this post is coming a month and a half after said holiday). Still recuperating from the bus, train, and van rides we had to take from Machu Picchu back to Cusco, our stay in town was much more mellow than the "go, go, go" attitude from the first half of the week. After settling into a hostel on the outskirts of town, we decided to wander the city to look for a place to spend Thanksgiving. Lo and behold, what do we find? A Korean restaurant. The signage was calling out to us like a beacon in the fog. Heading towards it, we sat down to a glorious meal of kimchi jjigae and duenjang jjigae. The server must've thought we were crazy because we were close to tears with everything she brought out: the 보리차, ban chan, and actual food.

Too happy to be here

Before

After

Our time in Cusco was actually very limited because we had to get back to Lima the next afternoon. After our dinner, we explored the city a little more for some nightlife before heading back. The next morning, we lugged our backpacks through Plaza de Armas to get a better look at all the impressive architecture that we couldn't quite view as well because it had been raining the night before.

Cusco en la lluvia

By the time we left, I was only a little disappointed that I hadn't been able to spend more time in Cusco, but after 10 days of nonstop travel, I was ready to go back to the city! Too bad the only thing I had to look forward to in Santiago was a round of finals :(

Cusco's Plaza de Armas in the sunshine