Weeks 5 and 6 - Buenos Aires

This has been my most exciting two weeks in Argentina yet and that is because of a very special trip to Patagonia. Patagonia is a region that is split between Argentina and Chile and it is home to a vast variety of landscapes including mountains, lakes, rivers, and beautiful scenery. Also, as the name suggests, it is home to the logo of the clothing brand Patagonia. The week and a half leading up to Patagonia consisted of completing a takeover for Penn State’s Study Abroad Instagram account where I got to share a little bit more of my experience through a day in my life. I included photos and videos of me attending classes at the IES Abroad center, my favorite cafe, my lunch, and what I enjoyed about living in Argentina with a host family. It was a fun little takeover and it got me really excited for the trip as I ended it by saying that I would be in Patagonia the next day!

For the first half of the trip, my two friends and I traveled to Ushuaia which is also known as the end of the world. It is the last stop before traveling to Antarctica (a bucket list item of mine for sure after this trip) and it is the location of the end of the Pan-American highway which connects from Alaska all the way down to the bottom of Argentina. In Ushuaia, we visited The Hard Rock Cafe and saw many ads for the Messi sandwich which I thought was funny. We visited Tierra del Fuego National Park, walked around downtown, and through the local market. We were supposed to have a tour through the Beagle Channel on a boat, but the conditions were unsafe. I hope to return someday so I can do this tour and maybe even see a penguin or two!

After staying in Ushuaia for three days, our next stop was El Calafete. There, we had some of my favorite experiences during my entire time in Argentina. We stayed with an Airbnb host, Pol, who was a lovely host who made us feel like family and made the experience so much better as he gave us a tour of the downtown, tips on things to do, and even shared food with us. The first day we spent exploring the downtown, the shops, and the area by the water. The next day, we took a bus tour to El Chalten to complete a hike to see the Fitz Roy mountain (the home of the Patagonia logo) and to drink fresh water from a waterfall. Another memorable experience. On our last day there, we took a taxi to Perito Moreno Glacier to see the enormous glacier and have a picnic by it. This was also extremely memorable and I had never seen something like it before! Then, we went to the airport to travel back to Buenos Aires as the week coming up would be our finals week. Overall, traveling to Patagonia has been my favorite part of studying abroad so far.