Hey Friends!
Itās us, your favorite two vagabonds, endlessly roaming the land in search ofā¦ food?
It seems like we always find food, donāt weā¦
Anyways, hello from the southernmost city in the entire world – Ushuaia, Patagonia!
Weāve been hiking all day down here in the Tierra del Fuego National Park (Land of Fire), admiring glaciers, forests, lakes, and old trains that brought prisoners here 160 years ago.
Paraguay Thoughts
We ended up staying an extra day in Paraguay because two wasnāt enough. Itās quite the interesting country, really.
Some things we learned while there:
- We learned about theĀ triple alliance warĀ where Paraguay fought against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay from 1864-1870 and lost 55,000 square miles of territory to its opponents. Thatās essentially the same size as Michigan. We still arenāt sure the whole details of who started the war and why, but it evidently is one of the biggest events in their national history likely because it decimated almost 2/3s of the national population of men. Most of the landmarks in AsunciĆ³n pay homage to it.
- āChipaĀ is a delicious little bread made from cassava flour that locals obsess over. Within 30 minutes of entering the country, people were asking us if weād tried it. Our review? Pretty good! Like a mix of bread, tortilla, and a bagel, usually served in the form of a miniature round donut.
- Soccer is life in Paraguay. Yes, Iām quoting Danny Orjas from Ted Lasso. But itās literally everywhere there. I still donāt get it. Why use feet for a ball instead of our hands? Maybe I donāt understand because my head needs to take two eternities to send instructions all the way to my feet. And you know what they say. We like what weāre good at. Didnāt intend for this rant but it happened so Iām leaving it in.
- The haircuts there make your hair feel like itās going to fall out. My barber scrubbed my hair and scalp for a solid 15 minutes. Donāt be fooled. I enjoyed it. My head was probably the cleanest itās been in eons and I got a massage to boot. Just if youāre looking to keep any semblance of moisture within your hair, maybe skip the barber in Paraguay.
- āTererĆ©Ā is everywhere. Itās like tea, but instead of a tea bag which prevents leaves from mixing with the water, they just let the leaves run free in a cup, and use a special straw to filter out the leaves. I believe I described the Yerba Mate a few weeks ago. Itās like that, but whereas Mate is served steaming hot, Terere is a cold drink.
- Paraguay is now a functioning democracy, but it also has a long list of dictators. Itās always fascinating to see how a country reconciles with a difficult past. Some choose to forget it outright and punish those who try to remember, others acknowledge it painfully and it awkwardly lingers into the present. Both probably have their benefits. But I feel like acceptance and forgiveness is most likely the healthier way to go. Paraguay seems to be leaning that way, with statues of past dictators alongside plaques reading their misdeeds.
Patagonia is Insane!
Here’s a quick photo dump from the last few days.
Right? Isn’t it gorgeous? After an overnight layover in Buenos Aires, we landed in Patagonia. And let me tell you. Leaving the airport, it felt like we walked into a vastly different country than Iguazu, in the north of Argentina. It’s wild that a country full of tall, frost covered mountains, dense forests, and beautiful coastline can also be full of jungle where “Warning: Jaguar Danger” signs are also posted. The USA also has it’s fair share of climate diversity, but wow.
Also, I want to mention that for whatever reason, Patagonia was never high on my list to travel to. Other places always made it kind of fall to the way side in terms of desire to visit.
Now that Iām here, I look at past Wyatt as absolutely, utterly insane.
The natural beauty here is truly unparalleled so far in South America. And itās still absurd to us that this is South America. I guess our minds didnāt full comprehend how far south we were going, so we didnāt even pack any warm clothes!
Next Week Plan Forecast
We have a penguin tour tomorrow at dawn. (Thatās a sentence Iāve never written before.) And then the next day a doozy of a 12 hour bus ride throughout the fjords and across the Strait of Magellan, then intoā¦
CHILE! Thatās right. Itās going to be our 27th country, and we are absolutely overjoyed to explore it. Weāre starting off in Punta Arenas, at the bottom, and then weāll be headed northwards towards Santiago. Can. Not. Wait.
Video:
We put a TON of effort into this vlogās edit, trying to make it the highest production quality possible, and weāre super happy with how it turned out. Itās about the Blue Zone in Greece, Ikaria, where people live abnormally long lives.
Also, if youāre curious about the trivia question at the top, there are 2 million humans in Patagonia and an estimated 1.7 million Magellanic penguins here. So almost the same! And it’s extra cool because that’s the exact species of penguin we’re going to see tomorrow! š„°
Anyways, Cheers to you! Cheers to travel! Cheers to our beautiful planet we call home. Off now to edit some more vlogs. The grind never stops. š
Love,
Wyatt (and Reyka)