I am currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It has been a busy past couple of weeks. I only spent about a week in Chile since I was in a time crunch to meet my parents in Buenos Aires. In Chile I stayed in Santiago for a couple of days and then took a three day trip to visit Viña del Mar and Valparaiso, Chile. They are coastal towns with houses built all down the mountains leading into the sea. Valparaiso was a bit run down, but had a lot of charm whereas Viña was much more well kept, but a bit cold feeling. I was in fact suffering from a bit of a cold while in Chile, most likely due to the bitterly cold temperatures in the Andes on the way there.
Arriving finally in Buenos Aires, I was blow away with how pretty the city was. I have to say that it is the most developed city I have seen in all of Latin America. Along with my parents we walked through almost every corner of the city noticing that every part seems to have a different architectural inspiration. We stayed at a very nice hotel in Recoleta, certainly much different from what I have been used to for the past 2.5 years. I had compiled a list of restaruants from people who had been here previously and we hit most of them. The steaks here are unparallel to anything I have ever had before, out of the last 10 days, I think I have had about 10 steaks. We did some of the touristy things like go to a Tango show. It was a dinner and show with about 2 hours of tango dancing, five different acts displaying the history of tango. Another interesting event was going to a Professional fúbol (soccer) game, Argentina vs. Paraguay. The game ended at 1 - 1, which was a bit anticlimactic, but still incredible. Argentinians are serious about their soccer and upon entering the arena you worry that you may be crushed to dealth.I would have to say that the highlight of Argentina thusfar was going to Patagonia. We stayed in a place called Madryn which is located on the east coast of Argentina. There is a protected wildlife reserve called the Valdez Penninsula which we spent two days circumnavigating. Among elephant seals, sea lions and other land critters we were lucky enough to see Southern Right 
Whales and a Killer Whale tearing apart whatever it had just killed. The right whales were amazing, they were enormous and came within feet of our glorified raft. The killer whales were from more of a distance, but equally spectacular. Killer whales were out of season, so it was rare to see them at all. I was suprised that the eastern coast of Patagonia is a flat semi desert. The weather held out for us, in fact for the most part I have been lucky with weather. I am on the last leg of the journey, only two more weeks until I am back in the States. Until next time.
Whales and a Killer Whale tearing apart whatever it had just killed. The right whales were amazing, they were enormous and came within feet of our glorified raft. The killer whales were from more of a distance, but equally spectacular. Killer whales were out of season, so it was rare to see them at all. I was suprised that the eastern coast of Patagonia is a flat semi desert. The weather held out for us, in fact for the most part I have been lucky with weather. I am on the last leg of the journey, only two more weeks until I am back in the States. Until next time.