The bright, pulsating lights attract my eyes; the smell of moving, sweating bodies assails my nose; the air tastes like thick clouds of smoke until the crisp, fall breeze wipes it clean. But my senses struggle to distinguish between touch and sound, confused by noise so powerful it is a physical force, a collective heartbeat that overwhelms my ears and moves my body with its rhythm. I’m not a great dancer – my musical talent surely peaked with adolescent campfire songs – but even the most rhythmically challenged would find it impossible to stand still.

 Our group of travelers at La Bamba del Tiempo, an amazing drum circle in Buenos Aires

We are at La Bamba del Tiempo (“The Time Bomb”), a weekly drum circle concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that has exceeded all of my expectations. We are amongst friends made during our journey through this vast country. It is our last night abroad and the music thankfully drowns out the contradicting, confounding, complicated emotions about going home. It is an unexpectedly wonderful capstone to this last month of varied travel experiences.

Leaving Southern Patagonia sooner than expected put us in a liberating yet overwhelming situation of not having a plan. For us, not having a plan is uncomfortable, stressful even. Our driving desires were pretty basic: warmth and comfort, without totally busting the budget. We agreed to put our tendency to over-analyze, over-research and over-achieve in the backseat and focus instead on following those driving desires one day at a time. Our subsequent path was anything but straight.

Our first surprise was arriving in Bariloche, the chocolate capitol of Argentina, smack in the middle of the annual Chocolate Festival – a multi-day event peppered with concerts, special events, and expansive markets all in the shadow of the World’s Largest Chocolate Easter Egg. The Egg was straight out of Willy Wonka’s world. It stood 28 feet tall and was made with over 17,000 pounds of chocolate. On Easter Sunday, workers in white overalls slowly but surely chipped it apart with crude but effective axes, placing misshapen chocolate chunks in cardboard holders and passing them out for free to tens of thousands of people in a fashion that would have made the oompa loompas take note. We followed the crowd like lemmings and were rewarded with enough chocolate to make it through the rest of our trip.

The line circling Bariloche as people wait for pieces of the largest chocolate Easter egg in the world

Michael enjoys a small sample of the largest chocolate egg next to photos of the event

To counteract diabetes, we set off for a mellow backpacking trip. We revisited The Frey and then continued on a circuit to the next valley where Refugio Jakob sat along another picturesque lake looking over a deep and stunning valley. The fall colors had reached their peak, making the forests feel like a true wonderland. But the small weather window dissipated and, once again, we felt called to run to the warmer North, extra chocolate in tow.

Taylor peeks out of the tent near Refugio Jakob in Northern Patagonia outside of Bariloche

Michael hikes above Refugio Jacob admiring the fall colors

Backpackers’ laundry day

Early in our trip, we had written off Mendoza, the wine capital of the country and one of the most famous wine regions in the world, as being too far and out of our way. But upon arriving, it felt like a tropical paradise. The city had everything we needed and more; our hostel had an outdoor garden with a canopy of enchanting, blooming vines.  Of course, the wine was abundant and cheap (or free). We fell into a rhythm of jogging, sightseeing, visiting with other travelers, and drinking wine… and we really can’t account for where the days went.

Our hostel entrance in Mendoza, a warm and beautiful haven after the cold of Southern Patagonia

A fountain of “wine” (actually red-colored water) in Mendoza’s central park

Mendoza would not have been complete without an all-day wine and bike tour. We had a great group of fellow travelers and enjoyed, perhaps for the first time on this entire trip, a guided tour (gasp!). The morning of wine tasting seamlessly transitioned into the afternoon, followed by a short hiatus to nap and then a long night of cards, deliciously grilled meats and other tasty dishes, and, of course, more wine. Our memories of Mendoza will forever be rose-colored.

 Wine tasting at Norton Winery in Mendoza, Argentina

Playing the part of the snobby wine connoisseur during our bike and wine tour

A hearty homemade pizza and soup dinner after a long day of wine tasting

Feeling satisfied with our time in Mendoza, we followed a whim to the Chilean coastal town of Valparaiso simply because it sounded kind of neat and we had another 4 days until we had to be in Buenos Aires.

A guitarist serenades the local dog pack in a mosaic heart-themed park in the beautiful and artistic Valapariso, Chile

Valparaiso. Oh, Valparaiso. Words seem inadequate to describe this vibrant and colorful city, and how much we loved it. The cobblestone streets are lined with cafes, restaurants, and art galleries uniquely positioned in improbable buildings along the twisted, contorted, hill on which the city is built. Trying to trace a map of the city would be like tracing spaghetti on a plate. But it’s the artwork – the vibrant colors splashed all over the walls and doors and steps and streets – that make this place one of a kind and deserving of its UNESCO world heritage site designation. We spent two full days simply walking the streets and taking it in, and we left wanting more. Of all the cities either of us have been to, this tops the list as our favorite. But words cannot do it justice, and so I hope that the following sample of photos can offer insight into the spellbinding charm of Valparaiso.

We might not have been able to pull ourselves away from Valparaiso except for the fact that it was time to execute the ludicrous solution to the Flocking Flight Fiasco with LAN Airlines (see our previous blog, here). In short, for reasons that make no sense whatsoever, the only way to reinstate our plane tickets home was to re-take the flight we missed at the beginning of our trip from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, only to turn around and fly right back up to Buenos Aires before another flight further north to see Iguazu Falls.

Quite literally, we traveled from East to West and South to North across the entire county in a period of 4 days. It took one full-day bus, one overnight bus, and 3 flights, with the crux being a period of 20 hours in which we flew from Buenos Aires to the “World’s Southernmost City” (Ushuaia), then to El Calafate for a 7-hour, and then flew back to Buenos Aires. The silver lining was that the skies were clear so we were able to get a bird’s eye view of Southern Patagonia, with the valleys exploding with fall colors. In those 4 days, we traveled more than 9,000 kilometers or about a quarter of the circumference of the globe!

Scenes from traveling 1/4 the circumference of the globe in 4 days… for no logical reason.

Apparently this particular toilet wasn’t designed for men, or some of the people we met in high school and college… 

A picture from our “flight tour” to Ushuaia before heading right back to Buenos Aires

Landing in the jungle town of Puerto Iguazu, all we really wanted to do was sleep. But there’s no rest for the weary and Michael wanted to capture the morning light on Iguazu Falls. Early the next morning, that devoted photographer dragged his less-than-eager wife to the bus station to make sure we were there when the park opened and the first to reach the falls. Pictures can’t capture the enormity of Iguazu Falls, the sheer volume of water churning downward, the breadth of its lower tiers that go on and on and on, with its diverse and changing faces. It is an experience just to stand in its presence and witness its power.

Selected views of the majestic and powerful Iguazu Falls, too vast to capture in a single image

How Taylor entertained herself while Michael photographed Iguazu Falls

The majesty of it all was kicked down a notch when the tour buses started unloading the hordes of selfie-taking tourists. Michael staked out his shooting locations and went into his photography trance, while I gazed at the falls, then pursued the honorable purpose of decreasing bad selfies in the world by offering to take photos of other travelers, and finally, a few hours into it, sat down on my pack and read. Eventually the lighting grew worse and Michael was able to pull himself away.

The home stretch of our trip was spent gaining a new appreciation for the city of Buenos Aires. Frankly, we hated it at first sight back in February. The jet lag, culture shock, and questionable hostel in a gang-controlled neighborhood at the beginning of the trip left a terrible first impression and we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. This time around, we stayed in a more central and upscale location and let our inner shopoholics loose in some of the best markets around the world, taking breaks to sit in the vast city parks and listen to fabulous street musicians. It was a different city, a different world, and the perfect place to take a step back and reflect on how much we had enjoyed our adventures in Argentina.

How we spent most of our final days… shopping in Buenos Aires

The underbelly of Buenos Aires wasn’t hard to find, but we appreciated the city much more during our final days

Our favorite ceramic artist in Buenos Aires. Thankfully most of our items survived the trip home!

The final night at the drum concert, surrounded by the amazing energy of travelers from all over the world coming together just to celebrate being here, was the perfect send off, the embodiment of so many aspects of travelling that we love, deeply appreciate, and will sorely miss. It was with truly torn spirits that we boarded our plane the next day bound for the United States.

So now what? MK Wild will continue and we hope that you, our dedicated readers and followers and photo fans, will stay with us as our journey continues into the next stage of our life together… in Portland, Oregon!