Raiders Of The Lost City – Tikal

Raiders Of The Lost City – Tikal.

Panorama Pictures 2

Here are some more panoramic pictures!

Porto Madero (Buenos Aires)

Another View of Porto Madero (Buenos Aires)

Sarmiento – The Petrified Forest

Sarmiento – A close up on the stratification of the Petrified Forest

Perito Moreno National Park

Perito Moreno National Park – a typical view of la Pampa

El Calafate – View of Upsala Glaciar

El Calafate – Perito Moreno Glacier

El Chalten – Cerro Torre

El Chalten – Laguna Cerro Torre

Panorama Pictures

Reality has us back, but the memories of our exceptional experience are still present. We are working our way through the pictures … here are some panorama pictures I build today. Hope you enjoy … more will be coming soon!

Perito Moreno National Park

El Calafate – Perito Moreno Glacier (Front side)

El Calafate – Perito Moreno National Park (from Peninsula de Magallanes)

El Calafate – View of Upsala Glaciar

El Calafate – Approching the Upsala Iceberg’s Barrier

Ushuaia – The Beagle Channel

Ushuaia – The funny habitants of the overpopulated Isla de Pàjaros (Cormorant Island in the Beagle Channel).

Ushuaia – The lazy next door Cormorants’ neighbor of Isla de Lobos (Seal’s Island – Beagle Channel)

Ushuaia – Cormorans taking off at the Beagle Channel

 

Ushuaia by day

Ushuaia by night – Sunset at the end of the world

Last Day in Paradise

January 5th

We landed in Buenos Aires at 1am and “celebrated” our last day/morning in a local Irish Pub close to our hotel. It is almost a culture shock to be back in a (major) city, with it’s people, cars and chaos.

In the morning, before our departure to the international airport, we had a final walk through the city. It has been a great time and unbelievable experience. We for sure need another couple of weeks to fully grasp all the impressions. We are looking forward to share with you more stories and pictures when we meet in person, but also stay tuned online – on our way through the “millions” of pictures we have taken we will have a couple more posts to come.

This time we have seen the south of Patagonia and it was an incredible experience and learning. The landscape is breath taking and the hospitality of the people is outstanding. Hopefully we will have the chance to visit the north part of the country in the near future. If you have not seen this part of the world yet, make sure to put it on your to do list, we can only recommend it.

Ushuaia, The Beagle Channel and Ramos Generales

January 4th

Today is our last day in Ushuaia but also Patagonia. The morning was really foggy and as you can see on the first pictures the fog built a wall in the middle of the channel. To get a great overview on the City and the Beagle Channel we did a small trip up the mountains behind the city!

Before we left we of course had a small lunch in our favorite place before we had to leave to the airport. As valid for most of our stops on the tour, we could have stayed here much longer. Though the weather was great today and gave us a good farewell!!!

1–L’Infinito [The Infinity] – Le Cattedrali di Ghiaccio

Dedicated to our italian friends and family…

L’Infinito

Ripensando ai ghiacciai che abbiamo visto, specialmente al ghiacciaio Upsala e al Perito Moreno, capolavori architettonici della natura di ineguagliabile straordinarietà e bellezza, si intuisce come ogni dimensione spaziale e temporale umana viene a perdere di significato dinanzi ad essi. Ogni barriera si annulla e ogni pensiero converge all’infinito nell’infinito. Una sensazione di gioia e di pace si diffonde dentro di me.

(Tratto da “L’Infinito” – Giacomo Leopardi, 1798 – 1837)

“… Ma sedendo e mirando interminati
Spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani
Silenzi, e profondissima quiete,
Io nel pensier mi fingo, ove per poco
Il cor non si spaura. “

“… e mi sovvien l’eterno,
E le morte stagioni, e la presente
E viva, e’l suon di lei. Così tra questa
Immensità s’annega il pensier mio:
E’l naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare.”

The Infinity

(from “L’Infinito” – Giacomo Leopardi, 1798 – 1837)

“… But sitting here, and gazing beyond the interminable Spaces, that stretch away, beyond my mind, their uncanny silences, and the profoundest quiet, in my thoughts I lose myself until the heart is almost Overwhelmed. “

“… and with my mind embrace eternity, The vivid, speaking present and dead past;
In such immensity my spirit drowns,
And sweet to me is shipwreck in this sea.”

2 – L’infinito – Le Cattedrali di Ghiaccio

Dedicated to our italian friends and family…

L’immensità degli spazi patagonici culmina nei giganteschi ghiacciai millenari del Perito Moreno e del gruppo di Ghiacciai Upsala – Spegazzini, che si riversano nel Lago Argentino, a sud del Los Glaciares National Park.

Come enormi cattedrali gotiche proiettano le loro guglie verso l’alto e dalle loro vetrate trasparenti filtra la luce purissima di un blu quasi ultraterreno. Il vento sfiorando le guglie di ghiaccio come fossero le corde di un arpa, produce un suono dolce, una melodia di richiamo che ci ricorda che stiamo per varcare i nostri confini terreni.

Quando siamo in prossimità del fronte di iceberg e della parete di ghiaccio, l’imbarcazione spegne i motori. D’improvviso l’euforia che animava i passeggeri sembra cristallizzarsi nella visione  di queste cattedrali.

Un silenzio sacrale ci avvolge, interrotto solo dalle note diffuse di una sinfonia ancestrale: un coro di voci bianche, flebili, timide e coinvolgenti, sembra volerci rivelare I segreti dell’origine, così come sono conservati nei loro ghiacci millenari. E`la voce dei ghiacciai che nel frattempo  echeggia sempre più forte, sempre più vicino e penetrante. Dentro di noi si materializza la consapevolezza di trovarci tra due abissi: l’infinitamente grande e l’infinitamente piccolo,  l’essere eterno spirituale e l’essere temporale corporeo…

3 – L’Infinito – Le Cattedrali di Ghiaccio

Dedicated to our italian friends and family…

« […] che cos’è l’uomo nella natura? Un nulla in confronto all’infinito, un tutto in confronto al nulla, un qualcosa di mezzo fra nulla e tutto. […] » (Blaise Pascal, Pensieri, 72)

Ghiacciai e Iceberg del Gruppo Upsala

Ghiacciai del Perito Moreno

Estancia Harberton

January 3rd

The Estancia Harberton was the first colony of “white”-people on Tierra Del Fuego. Today they have two museums, one with their history and one with the local marine wildlife and run also a little guest house. Especially the museum of the marine wildlife is impressive as they conserve all animals themselves and service also museums and science institutes with their works.

On their way to get their you have to cross a fascinating forest, which feels like a pre-historic landscape. Everything feels raw, untouched and the nature decides what to do.

Unfortunately also in paradise it rains once in a while and today it was not the best day for sightseeing, though all day we had kind of a mystic and spooky atmosphere.

In the evening we returned to our favorite place, which is a mixture between a museum, a bar and a restaurant: Ramos Generales: “El Almacen”. There by accident we met the artist who renovated/restored the place and got an insider tour! Tomorrow before our departure we will be back for another visit.

The Beagle Channel and the National Park

January 2nd

Today we today we had a boats tour on the beagle channel. The channel was named after the HMS Beagle who was the boat that discovered it. It’s part of the boarder between Chile and Argentina and is also one of the 3 channels connecting Pacific and Atlantic.

In the middle of the channel you have many small islands, that are populated by seals and different types of cormorants.

Also I have to add, it’s warm at the end of the world and after our boat trip we could change to short’s and t-shirt.

In the afternoon we visited the national park. A natural park with many small lakes, woods and an area of  peat. From a landscape it looks rather familiar to our eyes, with the main difference that it is directly on the sea with many small bays.

In spring and summer time when the weather is good the local people use the park to chill and have picnics (bbq is not allowed ) and the park is full of families bathing in the lakes or relaxing in one of the bays.

Sunsets are unbelievable beautiful here!