Some Pictures for You!

Hello again!

We have always had very slow internet connections, hence not providing you wonderful interested friends with photographs. Here at our hostel in La Paloma, Uruguay we still do not have a great internet connection, but we have more patience! So, here are a few pictures of our adventures in the last week!

We have been at the same hostel in La Paloma for the past five nights. It is called Ghitano´s Hostel and it is incredible. It is just one twelve bed dorm with a few tents in the yard. It is clean and the hosts are wonderful. They are two men named Fernando and Alvaro, who used to run a restaurant. As a result of their culinary skills, the breakfast we are served every morning is exquisite. It is a wonderful change from the ordinary white bread and dulce de leche (which is what we have been served everywhere else). We think we might stay here for another few days... and enjoy a few more hunks of melon, stovetop lattes, fresh squeezed juice, natural yoghurt with granola, fresh baked bread full of flax and grains and dark chocolate flakes... yummmmm!

This next photo is of us eating with some friends we have made. The girl beside me is named Madeleine. She is abosutely wonderful! We met her at Puerto Limon in Buenos Aires and have travelled with her through Uruguay. We are probably going to part ways tomorrow, but with regret. We have loved her spunk and humor. She has been great company! The other two in the picture are named Vidar and Jakob. We also met them in Puerto Limon and ran into them in Colonia by accident. They are from Sweden and gave us many laughs with their banter about their countries neighbor Norway (where Madeleine is from).

The beach in La Paloma is very wide and flat (and has huge tides) so the sand is quite packed down near the water. This means it is condusive to a game we have affectionately called ´flat ball´. It is like bocci ball but you play with small flat disks. It is a hoot and we, along with our lovely friend Madeleine , have played quite a few rounds of it. Nathan is thus far the unchallenged champion.

Two days ago we ventured to a town called Cabo Polonio, located in a national park about forty minutes from La Paloma. We had to bus to the park and then take these tall cargo trucks into town. We sat on the roof... and it was quite unnerving! We were driving on sand roads that caused a lot of movement and jostling up top. It was definitely an adventure!

The town itself was quite quaint. It was made up of many shacks and little houses (beautiful, like the one in the picture) scattered over a point jutting in the ocean. The rocky outcropping at the tip of the point was off limits for humans, and thus overrun with growling sea lions. It was quite a site. The wonder of the town was also heightened by the fact that cars are not allowed in (so there is no semblance of order that roads create) and there is no electricity. There were some hostels and restaurants there, and at night everything is lit by candle light. Quite magical if you ask me!


Yesterday Nathan and I decided to take another outing, this time by bike. We rented bikes from our hostel that were very sketchy! Nathan had no brakes, and mine barely worked. They were very rusty and squeeky and a blast to ride. We rode about twelve kilometers away to a place where the ocean comes about 300 metres from a big fresh water lake. The lake was full of swans and flamingos and was quite peaceful. This was in contrast to the huge crashing waves of the ocean. Both could be viewed with one sweep of the eye. It was quite incredible. Our ride on the bikes just added to the adventure and gave us a good work out.

Thanks for being interested in our lives! We hope that home is treating you well,

Chloe (and Nathan)

Uruguay It Is!

Hello again friends,

We had been in Buenos Aires for just over one week, and that was enough of the big city for us. We ended up finding a great deal on a private Spanish tutor named Silvana. She had an apartment around the corner from our hostel where she did private lessons. It was cheap and she did not speak English very well, which definitely helped us learn Spanish! We still feel ill-equipped to carry on a regular conversation in Spanish but at least have something to go on now. Other than doing two hours of Spanish lessons a day (and another one or two hours of studying or summarizing notes) we did a lot of walking and eating. We ate some phenomenal empanadas at a restaurant called Pizza Golden (thanks for the suggestion Nikki) and saved cash by cooking up delicious meals in the kitchen of our wonderful hostel (Puerto Limon... if any of you go to BsAs... stay there). The hostel was home to a great blend of people from all over the world and provided us with a great place to nest for the last nine days. We also did a few excursions in the city, such as visiting an area called La Boca which is composed of bright coloured old buildings, and spending an afternoon at a Latin American art gallery and museum called Malba. La Boca was neat to see but a bit too overrun by tourists-who-only-know-how-to see-the-world-through-a-digital-camera-screen-not-with-their-eyes for my liking. On the other hand, the gallery was wonderful. It was inspiring and stimulating and thoroughly worth the time. We also enjoyed an urban nature reserve that gave us much needed respite from the city bustle.

We are now writing you from a wonderful town called Colonia in Uruguay. We arrived here by ferry yesterday afternoon. We spent the day wandering the cobblestone streets of this great Portugese Colonial town, enjoying the beach for a few hours, reading the books on various benches around town, and eating inexpensive fruit from the local fruit shop. Tomorrow we are continuing east along the Atlantic coast of Uruguay to a beach town called La Paloma. We plan on staying there for just over a week if we like it, with our next fixed date being February second when we join up with a Canadian connection (named Mike and Carolyn and family...) in Maldonado.

Thanks for your thoughts and your prayers and for caring about our lives! We would love to hear about you all are doing, so please do send us an email if you have a chance. Tidbits from home are always appreciated.

Big love,
Chloe (and Nathan)

The edge of the world ... Ushuaia!

Hello friends,

We are currently in Ushuaia Argentina, just a hop skip and a jump away from Antarctica. Unfortunately an expensive one though so we will not quite make it there! We are doing well and are leaving here at four tomorrow morning on a bus headed for Buenos Aires.

We have been having a splendid time meeting people, hiking, seeing lots of wild beasts, and enjoying my Mom and Pierre. We met the most lovely of all Germans (sorry to the rest of the lovely Germans in the world, these two had particular charm) named Nele and Nico on the Navimag ferry and then a few times after. They provided us with some good quality friend time and loafs of laughter. We have hiked in some great National Parks, including Torres del Paine and Tierra del Feugo. Some of the animals that we have seen include pink flamingos, penguins, porpoises, two-l llamas, alpacas, foxes, horses, rabbits, rhea birds (that look like ostriches), and whales spouting.

This has all been a great experience and we have had the pleasure of sharing it with Mom and Pierre, but that chapter of our adventure is now closed. I am ever thankful that I had my mom around for the first bout of ailments. I have had over 200 bedbugs bites, sea sickness (including fully public vomiting), and food poisoning; all while Nathan proved to be immune, a sailor, and have an iron stomach. Sharing these adventures, as well as all of the more evidently joyful ones, with Mom and Pierre has been great and they will be greatly missed. They are both very generous and generally rad people.

Since we no longer have the aid of my mother's excellent Spanish skills, we are heading North in search of some skills of our own. We will be taking a week or two of Spanish lessons in Buenos Aires before we head to Uruguay.

Continued prayer for boldness (in all capacities) would be appreciated. We hope that this verse may hold some encouragement and inspiration for you as it has for us recently.

"Always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:15-16

Big love,
Chloe (and Nathan)

P.S. If any if you that read this see Gene Harper (beautiful little Trinity's grandmother) at the Vineyard drop-in ... It is her birthday today, so wish her well from me!