Final Thoughts About the Patagonia Trip

I have now visited three of my iconic places on this planet: Everest Base Camp, Machu Picchu and Patagonia!! I have been to Iguazu Falls and China’s Great Wall as well and they are spectacular. Here is an up to date map of places I visited so far. lots of gaps remain in Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica so I will keep moving for the foreseeable future. Though Europe and the US show lots of pins, there are still many places I need to visit there as well. Canada remains wide open too....

My travel map showing all the places I visited so far

(The hearts are my favorite places) 

A common observation to all the iconic places I visited is that they are under siege and rapidly deteriorating because of GREED! I was shocked by the number of tourists trekking to EBC, it was a constant stream of people from Lukla to EBC! The same is true for Machu Picchu and Patagonia... UNESCO has set 2500 as the number of visitors per day to the Machu Picchu site, however the actual number is far greater than that and for obvious reasons: MONEY! Governments around the world, especially third world, are using these man made and natural wonders as their cash cow! The large number of tourists is having negative effects on all the sites, some not built to withstand high foot traffic like Machu Picchu .. Patagonia and EBC are very fragile too! Trash collection is one big problem at all sites. I am in favor of tourists visiting these sites but in an orderly and controlled way! The current chaotic system allowing everyone who can pay to visit will lead to the destruction of these sites. Government organizations around the world need to protect these sites for future generations to enjoy and stop using them to fill their coffers! We should learn from the indigenous populations who lived around these sites in harmony and who handed them to us in an excellent shape.

Tourists need to be responsible for their actions as well. Collecting the trash we generate should be the duty of all of us. Accidental or careless fires have devastated thousands of national park acres in Patagonia in 2011. According to some estimates, it will take up to 200 years for the park to fully recover! Only responsible tourism can save these amazing sites from destruction!

As I move to the next natural wonder around the world, I will forever remember the beauty and majesty of the ones I visited and continue to speak out for their protection.



TRIP BY THE NUMBERS
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FitBit Numbers:
Steps Made:  260,000
Miles Walked: 112
Floors Climbed: 540
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Airlines Used: United, Aerolineas, SKY
Number of flights: 6
Number of airports: 7
Number of tours: 7
Miles flown: 14,000
Furthest Distance from Huntsville: 6,300 miles
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Here are some pictures from my Patagonia trip...

                                                          Japanese Gardens in Buenos Aires

                                                 Watching a Tango Show in Buenos Aires

                                Huge Rubber Tree in Buenos Aires (Branches needed support)

                                      Magellanic Penguins on an island beach near Ushuaia

                                                        End of the World "Ushuaia"

                                                   Pointing at Torres Del Paine (Chile)

                                         Pointing at Guanacos near Torres Del Paine (Chile)

                                      The Patagonian Steppe (a desert of sorts in Argentina)

                                      El Chalten or the cloudy peak in Patagonia (Argentina)

                                            Perito Morino glassier in Patagonia (Argentina)

                                          Patagonia landscape seen from the air (Argentina)

                                                             The Andes mountains (Chile)

                                                      On the street in Valparaiso (Chile)

                                                  On the beach in Vena Del Mar (Chile)

                                                            High above Santiago (Chile)
                                                     

Last Day in Palermo SoHo

We are all packed and ready for the flight home, but our flights are very late in the day so we have our final stroll in the SoHo neighborhood of Palermo... this is a Bohemian section of town full or arts and crafts and very nice restaurants and cafes ... as I type this page, I am enjoying an espresso in a Starbucks coffee shop with free and fast internet connection.. Starbucks is also a good place to meet American tourists when I want to speak English especially when traveling alone, which is often! There is an arts and crafts street market going on now so we are visiting all the different stands and checking them out... my friend and I like to support local artists... 

Here are some pics I snapped this A.M.

Buenos Aires on Foot

After torrential rain this morning, the weather cleared and blue skies followed.. my friend and I decided to walk, walk and walk until we dropped and so we did. By the time we left our hotel it was already 11:00 am! We headed east, south east to river plate in the general direction on El Centro.. on our way we discovered the mosque of Buenos Aires.. it was beautiful and it design was a mix of Islamic and Spanish! Our first stop was the Japanese gardens.. they were awesome and did not disappoint at all. We stayed there for a while and enjoyed the quietness they offered ... But as time went on, more and more people showed up so we decided to move on. Our goal was to reach El Centro, where  Argentina’s central government is located. Our walk through the city was random with several stops for small souvenirs. We eventually found our way to the 9th of July Avenue, with 9th of July being Independence Day for Argentina. This Avenue reminded me a little bit of the Champs Elysées in Paris and a little bit of la Rambla in Barcelona! A sort of nice mix... When we arrived at the Obilisk at the center of the Avenue we headed east towards the government buildings.. just like in Washington, the three branches of the government are all in the same general area.. the president’s work place is the “pink” house not white as in the states... it is a beautiful building .. but beautiful buildings in Buenos Aires are all over the place so no need to state that ... my friend and I were amazed by the number of parks we saw in the areas we visited and some are really large and beautiful ... the city has left a very positive impression on both of us and we unanimously voted Buenos Aires the best capital in South America so far...

By the end of the day, we have walked 31000 steps and 14.2 miles between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm!!!!  But we have seen a good shunk of Buenos Aires on foot so... all good!!!

The mosque of Buenos Aires 

Another view of the mosque of Buenos Aires 

Buenos Aires City Tour And Tango Show

The last organized tour of this vacation has come and gone... it was an ok tour not the best. I should have used the double deck bus instead but it is what it is ... I did learn from the tour guide but the traffic was bad so we were constantly stuck in traffic and the three hour tour quickly came to an end at a fancy cimetary!! 

Buenos Aires is a beautiful, multifaceted and multi-ethnic city, very European !!! Italians make up 60% of the population of Buenos Aires with the rest split between Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Jewish, and other small minorities!

We could not claim to have visited Buenos Aires without going to a tango show so we did and we really enjoyed it... the singing, the dancing, the ambiance all were awesome..