T-minus...7 days!

It's my last week at work and last week in BA. I leave next Tuesday. Not really looking forward to leaving...I've gotten into a good routine, met some great people, the weather is finally cooling down, Spanish is still coming along. I could use another few months here. If it wasn't Cape Town that I was going to next, I would heavily consider staying here.

Went to Ushuaia and El Calafate two weekends ago with Kevin. Ushuaia is the sounthernmost city in the world and beautiful. A lot like Norway, or Alaska, I've heard. Snow-capped mountains that come right up to the shoreline with the city tucked in between. Although it's the southernmost city in the world, it's not that far south. It's on the latitude as London or Calgary.

We did a boat tour out an island inhabited by penguins...it was pretty awesome.

El Calafate is home to Glacier National Park and it was beautiful. We did a four hour hike on top of the glacier. I strapped crampons onto my tennis shoes...and it worked surprisingly. Hiking boots not needed. The glacier is about 80 meters tall and moves about 600 meters a year, by sliding down from the mountains. The edge of the glacier melts and falls into the lakes. We got to see a few wall collaspes but nothing on camera.

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I started taking Spanish lessons last week. Figured I would do some intensive studying my last two weeks here. I should have made this a priority when I got here but things were busy at work.

Something I learned in one of my Spanish lessons: that Argentina still thinks the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) are still theirs. My tutor pulled out a new map of Argentina and underneath the name "Islas Malvinas" it said (ARG). Pretty comical...but that's how the country feels about the situation. Apparently, every politician here uses it to bolster his/her ratings, saying that they'll do their best to get it back, but it never happens. It's just easy to do because it's a common enemy for all Argentines. There's no left or right politics about it.