Iguazu - The water falls

And how does it fall? This place is in our "50 places to see before you die" book, our friends at work had given us as a leaving present. It deserves to be. Eleanor Roosevelt upon seeing Iguazu said "Poor Niagara".

The weather when we were there was super humid so just walking around the national park was hard work and so the ride under the falls in the power boat was just what we needed to cool off!

Back in Buenos Aires

Bariloche to Iguazu involved us in two 20 hour bus rides. In between, we spent a fun couple of days with Mitch and Lara (friends from the Spanish school) in Buenos Aires. It was the first time in months we'd arrived in a familiar place!

By a beautiful lake in Argentina's lake district

This cat decided we were her honary owners during our stay in Bariloche

Lake Nahuel Haupi

Playa Bonita on the lake at Bariloche, this beach was near our hostel

Bariloche and the blizzard.

We stayed in a cabin within walking distance of a beautiful beach called "Playa Bonita" (Beautiful Beach!) on a masssive lake.

Tamsin took a week's Spanish lessons and Tim went cycling nearby along the spectacular 7 lakes route and rafting in the Andes.

We met several really great people and with one of them, Cynthia, we decided to climb Cerro Otto, a very big hill, because the cable car was shut. The clouds closed in and we found ourselves climbing up a slippery scree slope in T-shirts during a blizzard. The cable car was shut because it was windy - we missed that clue!

After a warm shower back in the hostal we were able to see the funny side.

Amazing waffles from the market at El Bolson

Gul by the Beagle Straight

Tim pretending to be a train on the train to the end of the world! (Don't ask!)

The line was built by prisoners at the Ushuai jail

In the national park at Ushaui

Ushuai - The End of the World

After a monster bus ride from Puerto Natales and an overnight stop in Punta Arenas we arrived at Ushuai.

The national park is very beautiful and the "Train del fin del Mundo" was fun but Ushuai itself is cold and ugly so we were glad to be on our way to Bariloche after a few days.

The Sunrise at Punta Arenas - we watched this while we waited for the bus to Ushuai

Valentine's day!

A hired tent - we had to use rocks as they didn't include any pegs!

Sunset over the mountains

Breathtaking scenery

Having a rest

Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine National Park - The Towers of Pain

Words cannot describe the beauty of the Torres del Paine national park so we'll have to rely on the photos for that!

We spent four wonderful days trekking a circuit known as "The W" amongst mountains, lakes, glaciers and rivers. It was exhausting but the three view points at the ends of each part of the "W" were well worth the effort. We were extremely lucky to have beautiful weather.

At two points along the route we had to ford rivers with water that only an hour or two before had been in glaciers - extremely cold but exhilerating!