Patagonia trip: 3 weeks in the nature!

Hi from Buenos Aires!
I have just come back from my 3-week Patagonia trip, which was simply amazing! Amazing is actually such a limited word to describe the incredible experiences I had...and the breathtaking beauty of the nature: lakes, mountains, woods...
I spend the first week in Bariloche and thanks to Mario, my CS host, I had a bike for 2 days to ride around and discover the place.
Here you can see a few pics.

Here the whole photo album from Bariloche.

After Bariloche, I moved to El Bolson, where I "woofed" for 2 weeks in an organic farm, collecting raspberries, cutting wood, etc. I had a wonderful time in the "Granja Los Pinos", together with four other volunteers: Alice and Angus from England and Patrick and Theresa from Austria! Incredible but true, they are old friends from the Vienna time and it was such a huge surprise to suddenly meet in Patagonia! So the days passed quickly, I did not even try to reach Ushuaia (soo far away) and came back to the capital with the feeling of being really close to nature and very motivated for the next part of my trip: north of Argentina in February!
Here the whole photo album from El Bolson.

My life in Uruguay

It has been a while since I last wrote in my blog and many things have happened since then.
Last time, while writing my love message to Brazil, I had just arrived in Uruguay. Now, nearly 3 weeks later, I already left the country. I am in Buenos Aires right now. Tomorrow I will start a 3-qeek trip to Patagonia and I am really excited about the endless landscaped and the breathtaking nature I will see there.

But before starting my new part of the trip, I want to say goodbyw to Uruguay, a big small country :-)
I arrived knowing little or nothing about it, and I must say that after a few days - when my saudade for Brazil diminished a little - I started liking the country a lot.
Some of the highlights:

• Meeting people in the street in Montevideo having a Free Box exactly the same as in Vienna, only they call it "Gratifiera" :-)
• Surfing for 9 days in a container! Alex, my host, has a wonderful farm 20 km from Punta del Este, but no space for me in his house, so I had a lot of fun feeling me at home for more than a week in a container. I heloed collecting rucola in the morning, spent the afternoon at the lonely beach against from the tourists of the city
• Visiting an eco-village near the city of Rocha, hitchhiking to get there and back to "civilisation". I climbed the highest "mountain" there, a hill of 500 meters and enjoyed a magnificent view
• Seeing the last sunset of 2011 and the first sunrise of 2012. Two unfogettable moments I spent alone thanking the sun for all the energy I received and will receive from it :-) Between the two suns I spent hourse dancing with other couchsurfers. I eventually concluded my Ner Year´s Eve celebration at 4 pm!

Well, these were some of the best moments in Uruguay, but I have many more memories.
Here you can find a pic collection:
Uruguay, 18.12.2011-03.01.2012

And now it is time to go, Patagonia is calling!!!

Gratifiera in Montevideo

The first sunrise of 2012



Me and my container :-)