Bienvenidos a Miami

I’ve been very bad about posting, my apologies. It’s been a busy few weeks since Thanksgiving. Lauren and I have been working hard on wedding plans (we recently hired a band and a florist to complete our list of core vendors). It’s pretty exciting to have all the big details finally coming together just in time for us to leave on vacation.

Iguazu FallsWhich is another item that’s kept me pretty busy — final details for winter holiday in South America 🙂 Lauren and I are heading to Miami on Friday, then spending 3 weeks in Argentina and Chile. This trip has been in the works for awhile (it was originally intended as an Australia/New Zealand trip, and when that was foiled by the airline miles gods we redirected to an alternative southern hemisphere destination). I’m really excited for the vacation — it’s been over a year since our last big trip.

The first week includes Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. I expect we’ll get a good amount of shopping in Buenos Aires, and try to hang with the locals who start going out around 1AM. One of Lauren‘s co-workers is getting married while we’re there, so I’ll be packing my suit for an Argentinian wedding. Serendipity at its finest.

Hanging Glacier at Parque QueulatThe second week we’re heading down to Northern Patagonia in Chile. We’re spending my birthday on a catamaran to the San Rafael Glacier, one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. Then we’re indulging for the next few days at Termas de Puyuhuapi and Queulat National Park. Turns out that once you go south of Puerto Montt transportation is a little hard to come by, but the region looks stunning. So we’ll be taking planes, minibuses, and boats as necessary to make our way through the territory.

Rio FutaleufuBefore we leave the Austral region, we get to spend 2 days rafting class V rapids on the Rio Futeleufu. I had always dreamed of rafting the Rio Bio Bio with my father (both because the rapids looked awesome, and because the name was rad). Alas the Bio Bio was lost to the ENDESA in 1998 when they finished the Pangue dam. With the demise of the Bio Bio, the “Fu” is the latest Chilean rafting hot spot. It’s harder to get to, but supposedly well worth it. There have been rumors that the Futaleufu is next, though it’s managed to evade the hydroelectric-mongers so far and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for them. We get to spend New Year’s celebrating and camping on the river. Should be very, uhm, tribal.

The last week is in Chile’s Lakes Region. We’ll be staying in Puerto Varas and relaxing by Lake Llanquehue.

On our way back to Seattle we’re stopping in Miami for 2 days, where my very excited mother is throwing us an engagement party at her house. Hopefully we’ll have some new Argentinian duds to sport at the event 🙂

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