Patagonia!

My boarding pass has the number "1" written on it in blue sharpie marker.  It's not even really much of a boarding pass, it looks more like a luggage tag.  Lauren's has the number "2."  I assume these are our seat numbers until we enter the plane with the seven other passengers and they tell us to "sit anywhere we would like."  At this point I would like to sit in a different plane, with a different airline company, but that's not about to happen!  We have been dropped off by bus to the middle of the runway/taxiway to board our plane.  The man who checked us in a few hours earlier is now the pilot.
Just kidding, but he is seriously on the plane!  The flight from BsAs to Calafate Patagonia was $120 US.  This was the cheapest flight we could find and now I am beginning to remember that often- you get what you pay for.  Five stops, a plane switch, and a day "wasted" dipping in and out of the sky.  We have decided (or I have put my foot down) that we are going to roll back to BsAs in better style!  For an extra $75 US, we will fly back direct and in under four hours.  Did I mention that the second plane we took was a propeller plane that was too loud to hear oneself think.
But, now- WE ARE IN PATAGONIA!!!!

and I am so happy  :)
The landscape here is familiar , I don't feel as if I am so far away.  Seven thousand miles from home I feel closer than I have been in weeks.  Low sagebrush fights to grow in the rocky soil.  The large green brown buttes on the left are the doors to these wide open spaces.  Snow capped peaks on my right stack high above the beautiful lake that sits at the valley floor.  The clouds are low, or maybe the mountains are so high.  Barbed wire and wood fences parallel the well paved road which we travel from the sirport to our hostel.  A storm looks as if it could be coming in, but I know to just wait another 15 minutes and the whole weather system can change.  No structures for miles. no garbage, no noise.  I can feel the wind blowing my hair everywhere, pushing any weight of stress and worries off of my shoulders.  I can hear my own heart beat again, I remember to find thanks, seek gratitude for all that I have.  The world feels right again and I can't stop smiling.

El Calafate  in the south west province of Santa Cruz in Argenina Patagonia:
A fast- growing tourist town (city, I guess?) is the gateway to a few main attractions in Patagonia.  Three big hits on our list of things to do:
1. El Chaltens extraordinary snow-capped towers of the Fitz Roy Range
2. The 19 mile long Perito Moreno Glacier in the Parque National Glaciares
3. Chile's torres des paines (which we didn't get to see because it was low season and no buses we available the day we wanted to go!)

Extra perks we found----------
The wonderful people we met at this stop, the fiery sun rises, the fresh air in our lungs on a run by the lake, the smell of autumn leaves drying on the floor, a late night reggae show, and a few fits of laughter!