The Earth + Nat

Hi Everyone! It's been a while because I have arrived in Chile where the plugs are different and it has taken an embarrassingly long time to find an adaptor. Once I found one the wifi was too slow to upload, so hopefully this one works! My first Chilean flag That's right, Chile! My second country so far. And what a trip it was to get here. After a 4 hour delay due to snow on the high roads, we set off into some amazing mountain scenery as the road wound upwards through the mighty Andes. The border crossing itself was spectacular - 3200m above sea level and surrounded by snowy mountains. A pretty sweet experience for my first time crossing a land border, which made me very glad to have taken a day bus instead of the overnight! Winding down into the Chilean side was hairy... This isn't even all the switchbacks But eventually we made it to Santiago. And Santiago was...OK. It was quite clearly a capital city, a place of business more than pleasure, but witho...

I was told months back: if you're in Argentina in Easter Week, book in advance. This is because it is when all the locals take one last weekend trip before winter sets in, and places book up fast. Needless to say I did not heed this advice and ended up stuck in Bariloche waiting for the cheaper bus tickets. To be fair, there are worse places to be! My destination on Thursday was Mendoza, heart of the wine industry in Argentina and the international capital of Malbec. I was prepared to put the hiking to one side for a bit to indulge in a few days of reckless hedonism, and so far I have not been disappointed.  To start with, I shambled into the hostel at 7am fresh off a very entertaining but sleepless overnight bus, where I met a punk rock band and a woman from Madrid who had the most amazing accent. After I finally got a bed and shower, I was told by the desk staff that everything was closed for Good Friday, but the bloke took pity on me and invited me to an asado at his hou...

Having felt that the Bariloche pond was fished out of cheap fun, I was keen to explore some of the other nearby towns on the fabled Ruta 40, the highway that snakes along the Patagonian Andes. Luckily, my Basque friends felt the same way, so we booked a bus and hopped on over to a little place called El Bolson. The bus only cost $7 for a 100km trip, outstanding. Cute bus station doggo - sleeping, not dead A fun fact - in the Spanish translation of Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins is translated to Bilbo Bolson, the surname the same as the town, meaning 'large backpack'. The friends I had with me were all from Bilbao. Residents of Bilbao are known as bilbos ...therefore we had four Bilbo Bolsons! However, they insisted that me and another Kiwi bloke that had come with us were the real hobbits, being from Middle Earth. Dawn over El Bolson We planned to hit a trail in the early morning to avoid the manic speed of our last trek, so we planned an early morning meet ...

Hola todos! For the past few days I have been staying in Bariloche, one of the big tourism towns in Argentina. To me it is a lot like Queenstown in NZ: up in the mountains, surrounded by forests and lakes, a ski capital in the winter and adventure capital the rest of the year. It is also, like the rest of Argie, full of great doggos I have had a fantastic time here and met some great people. On my first night in the hostel, I made friends with a wild bunch of guys from the Basque Country and Mexico. The weather once again closed in on my second day there, so we spent the day with a couple of ukeleles, a flute, a guitar and our voices making music that we performed in the evening. It's times like this that I am so glad I did music as a kid - the ability to sing and bounce off other musicians and keep a tune going is a unique feeling. The night ended in many beers and an education in Spanish drinking songs, which included learning the actual words for la Cucaracha!  Turns out t...

This town was supposed to be a stopover on the way to the south, but I have ended up here for nearly a week! I didn't really know what to expect here, but after being convinced to wait out a couple of days of rain by some new amigos, it turned into a great little trip. Amigos! Cervezas! Shout out to Richard, Romain, Nick and Jordan, hope you're travelling safe. And Gaston of course, you the man. The night I arrived, smelling and feeling disgusting after a 20 hour bus ride, I still managed to make enough friends to head out to a local bar after a long, well-deserved shower. We found out that if you go to the right places, you can find bartenders that play fast and loose with the concept of a standard drink, such as the rum and coke which was really a triple rum with a splash of coke for about $8. There was also a lovely selection of local and international craft beers on offer, though pricey. The endless rain provided a handy excuse to stay in bed with my hangover the ...