The End of The World

If you ever go to Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southern city at the tip of of South America, make sure you have a window seat. Its the time you will drop your jaw. In my case, I could taste the condensation on my mini glass, I was so glued to the view. Its like a free helicoptor tour before you ever set foot.

The pilot notifies us of our 6 degree celsius temperature - which doesnt faze me - I dont even have a hat or gloves packed. The annoying heat sensor camera greets me in this bodunk airport. Once I am cleared of the swine flu, I sway towards the front of the turnstile looking for my bag - of course as in all nowhere towns - 0nly one baggage depot.

I break out my latin american spanish pocket book and start to practice lines for the taxi. I have a feeling english will be quite a luxury in this location. I fail with the pronounciation and show him what I had written down for my hostel. He immediately comprehends - and off we go! Opening the window to breath in that fresh mountain air, I decide not to take out the camera just yet and enjoy for myself. The snowfilled mountains and incredible lakes flowing into channels is a site unto itself. Pictures are not going to do this place justice.

I check in with my Spanglish and immediately start planning. The receptionist recommends I get in a cab immediately and head up to the Martial Glacier. It is 2pm and the Glaciar park closes at 5pm. Lets get this done. Cab indicates I should turn around and look out the back glass as he ascends in zigzags up the muddy roads. Behind me is the full Andes mountain horizon with the Beagle Channel flowing in front of them.

20 pesos / 5 dollars to the top and I notice a ski mountain with tons of tweens and snowboards. Is this it? No clue. As I traverse the parking lot, I notice a random little tea house tucked into the mountainside below. 

Im starving - a bit of free time - why not? Along the wooden bridges, I open the small door to the tea house as the bells hanging start ringing. The cottage is surrounding by windows showing the still vista I saw from the cab. Awesome. Tea - Sandwich and an english speaking waitress make for a terrific lunch. Now where is this glacier?

I trek up to the ticket office - spanglish my way to the purchase of a chairlift ticket to the base of the glacier.  Ticket 30 pesos - 7 dollars. The lift is a bit cold with the wind - snapping pictures, Im expecting a bit of a trek after the lift to the actual base of the glacier. First time I have ever jumped off a lift without skis - interesting. I follow the trail for trekkers through the trees, blazing the ice and snow as I climb. Im the only one doing this which makes it exciting and chilling at the same time. Im still good on time, but I check my watch so I can time how long it will be to get back. That lift stops at 430pm. Im wearing sneakers since I rushed out of the hostel - who knew I would be trekking? The ice is dangerous but the glacier is up ahead.

I think the guy at the ticket office was saying it will look like a mountain as the glacier is under the snow and is only visible in the summer. No wonder why I am the only one doing this trek. I reach the clearing and the wind takes a strong gust and rips it in my direction. I grab onto a tree to hold myself in place. Not easy. The clearing has no protection and the massive mountain glacier is encapsulating. I take out my camera to shoot a video. As I push record, the wind whips another insane gust and I duck low to hold my position. The video is awesome. (on youtube) I stand firm and switch my breath between the view below of the andes and the channel - then back to the mountain/glacier and back again. Its an awesome moment.

A few prayers later, I decide to take the journey back as darkness looms and so does that chair lift deadline. This location by the way has less sunlight since it is only 5 hours by boat from Antartica - that means the sun doesnt even rise here until 10am. Great for the night owls.

Back at the hostel, I realize the little sleep, and take a long nap til about 83opm. Since restaurants dont open in argentina til then, it was fine. I taxi to the downtown. Nice! Kinda like a park city, Utah. Less restaurants, less bars, less stores but nice. I stroll the streets, pop in to a few local bars - dont know anyone - dont know spanish - didnt stick around. The strolling was cool. I stumble upon a meat place. The only other option here is a fish place. After a grand meal, I walk around the closed shops breathing in the phenomenal air. I advance on a street corner and notice to the right, that the entire street has become a snowboarding park. They built a full one on an actual street - totally odd. And next to it is an Irish pub - packed!

After taking pictures, I decide to get in the taxi back to my hostel so I can write my blog and get to bed - huge day tomorrow...

Need I Say More

A Special Yoga Class - Three Hours in Portuguese - Need I Say More

"You Must Breath in the Nature"

Pedra Da Gavea

You have no idea! This is the largest rock formation on earth and it is just under 1,000 meters to the summit - way higher than sugarloaf mountain. I sort of get an inclination of how difficult this was going to be when I was notified of Rock Climbing portions. Marcello convinces me to stick with my sneakers over my hiking boots and to bring a huge bottle of water.

9am wake up - 3pm start. Can I say nothing reminds me of my brother more than Marcello. Granted we did go up SugarLoaf mountain that morning by cable car - but still. Oh and Marcello asked two danish girls - who just arrived into rio and we met on the top of Sugarloaf - to join us on this hike - this will be important later in the blog as they had no idea what they were saying yes to.

We arrive at the base of the monolith and park the cars. A couple who was joining us decided to back out right then and there. Pedro knew the girl and described the climb. She realized it wasnt for her. Two down.

We set out - check in at the bottom with a park ranger - write our names down in case we never make it back. He shouts concerns in portuguese and Marcello/Pedro respond. The hike begins.

Im excited - last significant hike was probably 12 years ago in New Hampshire - but I start to remember a small hike at my brother engagement weekend in upstate NY. Images of sweat and hard breathing with a few "have to stop" moments. Uh oh, this could be a problem. We hit a few challenging passes, some with massive roots to climb like a ladder. As a joke, I pop out "are we there yet?" everyone nervously laughs.

A little exercise starts to kick in and the breathing gets a bit faster. Marcello explains to breath totally through the nose - I try - but then go back to my traditional heavy mouth breathing. "You must breath in the Nature" Marcello points out. Im ready to push him off the rocks. Huffing and Puffing starts to begin and I am the only one of the group that you can hear the patterns. As the sweat starts to sting my eyes, I start plunging down the water. This is going to be rough.

We reach the rock climbing portion of the hike and Marcello goes first. I have been doing a bit of climbing at my gym in Astoria so I actually feel the excitement of doing this for real. No ropes is a bit concerning, but what the hell. Some strong pulls and weird foot stands, I eventually make it to the top of this landing. But the danish girls are still below. They are considering heading back. A bit of Marcello charm and they make for an attempt. Daniel - tall artist with cool hair - seems to be the more experienced of our group and helps the girls along this difficult passe.

Only one third of the way up. My shirt and now shorts are soaked in sweat, but the views are starting to get addicting. Lets go some more! Right about this time, we see this enormous peak rock that has indentations making it look like an angry old man. Pedro points to it (picture below) and says thats where we are headed. I truly assume he is joking. There is no way to reach that, its all rock - we cant climb that without ropes. He points to the little bit of greens that strike up the middle and says we will go through that way. "Are you insane?" The view from where we were (halfway point) was nice so I'm thinking we take pics and go down from here. Nope!

Don't ask me how but we do continue on. One of the danish girls begins to cry. She seems to be holding it in from time to time. The other is up ahead with the group. I'm constantly at the rear. There is no question, I am the most out of shape of the group, sweating the most, stopping the most, drinking the most and at times feeling that I will pass out. This is a tough hike, toughest I have ever been on. A bit more than I anticipated.

As we near 3 quarters, I come into a comfortability with my body - im going to get to the top. We reach a rather tall grass area near the peak and Marcello stops us all. He wants us to run the rest of the way because once we reach the top there will be a grassy field that we can pave through to the end of the rock ledge. He takes off, we all follow and as I come upon the large peak, my eyes reveal Rio - WOW! Totally incredible. The pictures say it all. Breathtaking and well worth the intensity.








We are all enjoying the views and pictures as we hit this peak right before sunset. How awesome to be lucky enough to see the sunset over Rio from the highest location. How come nobody else is up here. This is a public park - its a beautiful day - I know its not high season, but so what? And then it dawns on me when Marcello gives us the Chevy Chase - ok looks good - lets go!. Lets go!!??? But we just got here?
















You got to be kidding me? The realization starts to hit HARD! Just above the beautiful Rio landscape is the most beautiful sunset. I said SUNSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The group is starting to run. What was Marcello thinking? no time to ask. All I can think about is making it to the rock climbing bit before dark. How on earth are we going to do that if its pitch black? Let alone get down the rest of the mountain!

Danish girl crying, Im now in front booking it - screw these guys. Every step I take on a branch, sand, mud or whatever feels like an ankle twist. Going down is dangerous enough, but with nightvision, its a whole nuther story. And Im not even sure if my nightvision works. As the sun is half way through the horizon, we make it to the rock climbing portion. Safely we transport all parties down. I became the rock climbing expert and helped the assembly line down.
Now the sun is gone and we have a bit of remnance light helping. We are running and leaping over logs and across terrain. My knees are pounding, my ankles are definitely strained and now Im thinking ahead to the dark. There is without a doubt going to be darkness for half this hike down. The trees are covering the moonlight and its super dangerous when Marcello takes out his blackberry as a flashlight. I have a cell phone as well and Daniel has a lighter. We scatter throughout the group so there is a portion of light for everyone. Im a bit ahead of the group when I fall flat on my face. OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

I stand up quickly, wipe off the mud when the group catches up. I pretend like nothing happened as they cant see me anyway lol. As I mozy backwards to the middle of the group I grab onto a fallen tree for stability. Total mistake. I immediately drop holding my hand. (MAJOR CURSE WORD!) I have been bitten. No clue by what and the group needs to continue on so I wince and move forward. You can just imagine all the questions I was asking Pedro for about 20 minutes as we near the last third. It was hurting bad.
















We did see a terrantula on the way up crossing the rocks, maybe that was it. I didnt care, getting off the mountain was the key - not like Im going to be airlifted right now.

Daniel and I decide to leave the group and zip ahead, we are both tired of the hike and want to see the end. We start moving quickly until we eventually hit a cobblestone road and we see the park ranger station ahead with a light on! YES! No ranger there though. What If we never made it down? These guys dont give a rats...

The rest of the group finds us there relieving ourselves. Back in the cars - got to get to the showers, eat, pack and say goodbye to everyone - no sleep - drive to the airport at 5am.

Sao Paolo here I come!

PS Still have to give you a past blog on the favellas and I just got a picture uploaded of me doing yoga so I have to get that up as well - so two small blogs before Sao Paolo.

Hairy Beast takes the Beach

A beautiful beach day, I decide to join Marcello and his local friends at POSTO 9 in Ipanema Beach - this is the top location for all the young people and since it is a tuesday - most live at home with no jobs - and it is a glorious sunny day after three days of NYC weather. I order my chair for 3 reales and have it set up by his group of english speaking friends. No one is fat or hairy here.

I chat it up with a few of his friends and then decide to go for a walk on my own down the beach. About 5 minutes along, a random guy shouts at me. Your in Rio - take off your shirt! I was shocked by the english and then by the randomness. Whats wrong with this dude - telling me what I should do. Then I start to look around. I couldnt find a single person wearing a shirt at all - not even one. Just my moronic self waltzing along in a yellow t-shirt and cargo shirts while the rest are in strings (men and women).

Embarassed, I walk back to my crowd to regroup. My shirt comes off and so does my cargo shorts. I borrow a pair of board shorts from Marcellos friend Lao and I trot down to the ocean - 10 days in Rio and I havent been in. Mostly because I dont go in, but I was using the excuse warned to me by everyone in Rio. Be careful of the undertow - its intense. Knowing me, I have trouble with the undertow in a stationary pool - but im up for the challenge - hairy body and all.

Feet dip in - cold! (not really) I gradually torture myself to the family jewels and WHACK! A massive wave takes me out. Struggling for air with body flailing, I stand up choking. The undertow is insane with just the whitewater! I think Im going back up just a bit. Meanwhile there are surfers whiping by on awesome waves at astronomical speeds. I squat down for a bathroom break before returning to shore.

The sun is setting as Marcello and I walk all the way to the end of Ipanema along the wave lines. I pay close attention to my footprints in the sand to see how my arch is looking. Big day tomorrow - massive hike up the largest monolith in the world. Arch needs to be healthy.

Rio is a marvelous place because has the similarities of three US states. Miami for its beaches and nightlife, NYC for its restaurants and lively 24 hour streetlife, and New Hampshire for its mountains, forests, and natural inhabitants. I think it might be up there as one of the great places to live if you know portuguese but that is to be determined as I know 10 words and maybe three or four expressions.

Marcello and I stop at a kiosk (hundreds of them) and grab an ACAI (which is like a smoothie with granola and the Acai Berries) and a Peru da Minas which is Turkey and cheese. You literally double park, get out, order at a counter, eat in less than 10 minutes and back in the car to the next plan. Cheap, fast and good!

We drive over to the Che Legarto hostel where I spent most of my time in Rio and picked up my bags as I exchanged goodbyes with the wonderful people I got to meet. I was off to Marcellos for the last two nights. Staying at marcellos house was interesting. Its a fully loaded massive apartment with a ton of bedrooms and would be well into the millions in NYC, but they dont have a dryer for clothes and they heat their showers by igniting a gas burner, similar to what we do with our barbecues! It has a art cultural feel, like an apartment in paris, probably because the father is an Art Dealer and the mother works for Sothebys.

My massive guest room was amazing after all the hostel living - but it was the hot shower that created the orgasmic feeling of instant health.

sleepy sleep for eight hours ahhhh...