Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine) - Patagonia

January 30th-February 2nd (Torres del Paine - Patagonia)

We completed our 5 days of trekking through beautiful Patagonia! It was amazing! We hiked the "W" Circuit which took us along a great route through the National Park for 4 nights and 5 days. We were lucky enough to stay at refugios along the way which provided bunk beds and dinner so we got to "backpack" without carrying any camping gear. Not a bad gig! We had a lot of fun. We completely lucked out with the weather and only had one day of really crazy wind and only small sprinkles of rain a couple of times which we are told is totally rare for Patagonia. The pictures say it all!

February 4th (Puerto Natales, Chile)

We are in Puerto Natales for one more night and then catch the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt. We'll be on the boat for 3 days and 4 nights and go up through the Chilean fjords. Should be an interesting ride!

Buenos Aires to Punta Arenas

January 23rd (Buenos Aires)
Walked around Buenos Aires and stopped in front of Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace, for a pose. Had a great time walking all over BA. We were constantly on the lookout for the next parilla (steakhouse) and managed to spoil ourselves at two awesome places for good steak and wine.




January 23rd (Buenos Aires)
Jon is about to indulge in this enormous serving of steak and 13 sides. We managed to select an excellent malbec to enjoy with our meat. YUM!



January 27th (Punta Arenas, Chile)
We flew from Buenos Aires to Punta Arenas. Check it out on a map! It´s down at the very southern tip of Chile on the Straight of Magellan. This town of 125, 000 is a big stopover town for folks going up to Torres del Paine (Patagonia).



January 28th (Isla Magdalena, Chile)

Penguins, Penguins, and more Penguins!!!! We took a boat ride to this little island in the Straight of Magellan to see a penguin colony! We couldn´t get enough of the little guys. Los pingüinos son muy guapos! We had so much fun walking around the penguins. They are hilarious. Note the penguin in the 2nd photo decided to poo right when Jon took the photo.




January 28th (Isla Marta, Chile)
The boat cruised past this little island where a group of sea lions call home. We couldn´t believe the size of some of them. They truly looked like lions with manes. They could give the sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco a run for their money. Lots of pups too!!


January 29th (Puerto Natales, Chile)
We took a 3 hour bus ride from Punta Arenas north to Puerto Natales. Tomorrow, we head into Torres del Paine National Park and begin our 4 days of trekking through beautiful Patagonia!

Seattle to Iguazú Falls

January 13th (Miami to Sao Paulo)
Ahhhh yeaaah...cashing in our air miles for first class was a GREAT choice!

January 16th (Ilha Grande, Brazil)
After an 8 hour bus ride from Sao Paulo and a 1 hour ferry ride, we spent two relaxing days on an island off the coast of Brazil. We did a 2.5 hour hike across the island (in crazy heat and humidity) to Lopes Mendes beach (the best beach EVER!) for some relaxing beach time, swimming and Brazilian bikini watching.

January 18th (Rio de Janiero)
We hired a local guide (Eduardo!) to show us around Rio for the day. We got to meet Christ, toured the futbol stadium (Maracanà), went to the top of Pao de Açucar (Sugar Loaf) and sampled the local cuisine. Money well spent!

January 19th (Rio de Janiero)
On our last evening in Rio we walked from Copacabana to Ipanema beach, sipping agua de coco (so good!) and caught the sunset on Ipanema beach.

January 21st (Iguazu Falls, Argentina)
We flew from Rio east to Iguazu Falls where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet. The falls where spectacular and truly breathtaking. In the picture above, we were soaked just from the spray of the falls!


January 21st (Iguazu Falls, Argentina)
Relaxing poolside at our AWESOME hostel after a day visiting the falls.

January 24th (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
We are now in Buenos Aires and having a wonderful time sampling wine and steak!

Update....about the next update

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for the lack of updates! We've haven't had much time (or computer access) over the past week. After visiting Sao Paulo and Rio, we are now in Iguazu Falls (Argentina).
We're heading to Buenos Aires tomorrow and will hopefully have a chance to update you with all the fun stuff we've been doing. So far we're having an amazing time!

More to come!

Jon and Ashley

South America...prepare to be Foiled.

The Foils depart for Sao Paulo on January 12th; get ready to follow the adventure!