During Carnival break in February, Roman and I traveled to Patagonia, Argentina. We arrived in Buenos Aires and quickly made our way to El Calafate in southern Argentina. We spent two days in El Calafate, exploring the Perito Moreno glacier in Los Glacieres National Park. This glacier is part of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field which is the 3rd largest reserve of freshwater in the world. Another interesting fact is that this glacier is only one of three Patagonian glaciers that is still growing, not receding. There were building size pieces of glacier calving off and the biggest of the day was a tower 150′ tall.

From El Calafate, we took a bus to El Chalten, a small town to the north that would be the start of our trekking tour around Monte Fitz Roy. We met up with our friends from Colorado, Meghan and Peter, for a few days of exploring. The first day, we hiked to our lodging at El Pilar, a 17 kilometer hike that had spectacular views of Monte Fitz Roy and the surrounding valleys and glaciers. The second day, we hiked to Laguna de los Tres which offered the most beautiful views of Mont Fitz Roy.

Meghan and Peter headed north on their journey on the third morning while Roman and I continued exploring the areas around El Pilar. We headed out with plans to go to Lago Electrico but ended up at Laguna Azul where the water was so clear blue that you could see the fish swimming around in the lake. On the fourth morning, Roman and I hiked to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado. This hike was our favorite and gave us amazing views of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy.

We ended our journey in El Calafate on Superbowl Sunday where we cheered on the Broncos from our hostel. It was a bit of a surreal experience.

Happy 40th Birthdays to us! This was the trip of a lifetime and a great way to celebrate this milestone.

For Quito Days (6 de Diciembre), we traveled with our friends, Vanessa, Nick, and John, to the town of La Esperanza to the north of Quito. We stayed at Casa Aida where the owner, Aida, told us stories and showed us pictures from the 1970s when Bob Dylan and members of Pink Floyd stayed there.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and hiked to the top of Imbabura, the local volcano. It was a cloudy day so there were not any views from the top but it was a fun hike with all of our friends and Lucy.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we revisited Mindo, a small town in the beautiful cloud forest of the Western Andes. We stayed at El Descanso where we were able to relax and enjoy some bird watching from the decks of the lodge.

We did some different hikes this time, including the Yellow House Trails and a guided night hike. We saw some interesting organisms on the night hike: tree frogs, spiders, different types of insects, and an owl. It was a little creepy walking through the cloud forest in the dark!