low oxygen, high altitude

We are happy to report a new personal height record for the two of us...6000+ meters! At 1:00 in the afternoon on Feburary 17, we summited Cerro Plata in beautiful weather. We could see Aconcagua, Tupungato, and a lot of the Andes as we struggled to breath. It was a short 4 day trip into the Cordon del Plata, but the experience was wonderful. We had guancos laughing at us, red foxes talking around our tents, condors buzzing us as we hiked, and the lights of both Mendoza and the stars twinkling as the sun rose on our summit day. Words are not enough, but for now we are in Mendoza and have met up with Kelten, Toren´s brother and the third member of our Aconcagua team. Today we drop a lot of money on supplies, mules, and permits; tomorrow we head to Puenta del Inca to begin gaining altitude. This will be the last post before we start the climb, so check back again in two or three weeks. We miss all our friends and family and wish the best of luck to all of you at whatever point you are in life. Be well, do good things, and keep in touch.

time for recovery

Well we have finally made it back to our starting point 5 weeks ago, Buenos Aires. After the longest bus ride I hope I will never have to endure again, we returned to the heat, humidity, and city life. On Saturday, we left Punta Arenas (Sandy Point), Chile, early in the afternoon. After a two hour border crossing, we arrived in Rio Gallegos. Attempts to procure cheap plane tickets failed and we purchased bus tickets to Buenos Aires that left that night. During the 38 hour bus ride (no typo here), we finished books, watched 5 movies, and didn't sleep much. All in all, it took 48 hours to get from Punta Arenas to Buenos Aires. We'll be in Buenos Aires for a few days to recover from sitting too much and then take another overnight bus out to Mendoza. Aconcagua is the next big step of the trip and it has begun to overtake much of my thinking time. I will be glad to start to the mountain, but we are both nervous and excited about the challenges the mountain has to offer. A couple more posts should happen before we begin the climb.

p.s.
Photos have been posted! Check out www.flickr.com/livewell to see what we have been up to.

one life goal complete, a lifetime more to go...

Saw penguins yesterday...lots of penguins, about 50,000 penguins. We begin the journey north towards Buenos Aires today. Will be starting the Aconcagua climb in two weeks. Photos to come soon...

spice is nice in Chile

We returned from our Torres del Paine cirtuit trip two days ago and spent yesterday resting. The weather was great and we only had one day with a little bit of rain. There are two mains treks in Parques Nacional Torres del Paine and we basically did both of them for a total of about 150 km. The national parks down here are run different from the U.S. and we were discouraged at times when the trash would pile up around camps. But overall the scenery was great and we have become good friends with an Irish couple we did the trek with. The four of us are headed to Punta Arenas today and will likely split paths in the next couple days. Toren and I will hopefully be seeing penguins soon as we are planning on doing a boat tour when we arrive in Punta Arenas. Our options are open after Punta Arenas so we will have to make a decision soon as to where we will explore next. We have taken lots of photos, but will not be able to upload any until we return to my friends apartment in Buenos Aires, so look for some in a couple weeks. An update on things we have seen: an armadillo, two owls, flamingos, and a 17km long glacier.