Awesome! You guys are creating memories for a lifetime. We wish we could be with you especially as you tour the wine country. Two of our favorite reds are found in Argentina - Bonarda and Malbec. Argentine white wines have traditionally been too low in acidity for our taste, the latest export offerings indicate that Mendoza is also beginning to produce interesting Chardonnay, and may have similar potential for Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Ugni Blanc, Semillon, Viognier, Pedro Ximénez and Tocai Friulano. If you get a chance try the Tocai (toe kigh). This is a grape that originated in Germany and now is planted in northern Italy and has recently been found in the area you are touring. Let us know your plans for July. Much love and safe wishes.
Emi And Drew
FYI: Our Chilean friend, Polo Angel is looking for several people to travel from Santiago to Puerto Natales (where we first met him) in starting mid September. The duration of trip will be 3 weeks to 1 month, and trip route would roughly be thru Mendoza, and thru Ruta 40 to Puerto Natales - reverse trip of what we have done. Cost would primarily be gas and food. If anyone is interested in this trip, please contact Polo Angel at [email protected] (English/Spanish). He mainly likes to camp and go hiking if it is not too cold, but please contact him for more detail. We had priceless trip with him going places that nomal tourist cannot go. See the pictures of him and his truck in Patagonia Chile album.
Emi And Drew
Hello all, We are in Mendoza, Argentina, where it produces world class wine, and also known for access to the Aconcagua, the Americas´highest peak (6962m). We´d like to climb but our time is running out and we have many other places to visit. Of course, we need a day to visit wineries. We will just have to come back to climb the mountain in the future. Next, we are going to Buenos Aires and to Iguazu Falls, and then off to La Paz, Bolivia. We will post some pictures later, but we haven´t found any quiz questions, sorry. The last interesting trip we did was to stay at old hotel ruins where we dipped ourselves in hot spring. Outside was freezing cold but we managed to find a shack with roof and two hot baths with clear spring water - We could not have done this kind of adventure without our Chilean friend, Polo. It has been an awesome trip as we have traveled last 4400 km thru Patagonia to here, Mendoza. More later.
Joe
Drew and Emi,
Hey, hey....just freakin' awesome! Loved the Patagonia shots; Fitz Roy and all; Emi with Jan at the peak--all very cool. The New Zealand shots brought the South Island right back to me, as I trained down from Auckland to Wellington, took the ferry across the Cooke Strait to Picton, put my bike together and did the whole South Island back in 1991. Your pictures of the Banks Pennisula, Dunedin, and Milford made me want to saddle up again! Did you get to Haust, Greymouth and Nelson on the west side? Things are good here; the rainy season feels as though it might be early, yet it's also cooler than I remember most Mays here in Japan to be. Izumi and Mark delivered a baby-boy on April 27th at 8:40 in the morning: 3710 grams; 8 lbs. 3 ozs.---couldn't be happier! You two have seen and done incredible things--more power to you! And thanks so much for letting us in on this excursion. Such a rush.
Monica & John Chapman
Hi Emi & Drew. Glad to see you're still enjoying your travels, despite some jet lag after leaving NZ and heavy packs (poor Emi). We've spent a few hours looking over your great photos since our return to Oz. Thanks for sharing your adventure. The mountains in the Valles del Frances look fantastic and for Drew another glacier! Monica resigned the day she returned to work, effective June 30 (thanks for the chats on the topic of leaving work, really helpful). Still need to send you some photos - haven't forgotten. Keep on having fun.
Mom & Gaylord
What - new pictures - no quiz. You guys must be busy having a great time. All is well here 70 degrees and blue sky.
Emi And Drew
Hi all again, just to let you know that we will be gone for a 5-6 days hike in Torres Del Paine National Park, Patagonia Chile. Hope to share beautifull pictures with you all when we return. Chao for now.
Emi And Drew
Hola! We are in bustling town of Santiago, Chile. It took about 10 hrs to get here from Auckland, New Zealand. Even though we are suffering from jet-lag, we are traveling way down South to Patagonia tomorrow. We are hoping to see these mountains which you are viewing and hike on them. Chao for now. Emi and Drew
Shigemi
Hi Emi chan and Drew. I'm glad that you two are having wonderful times. I'm so jealous. Someday our kids are old enough, I'd like to take them to see a world...( they are now 8 & 5 years old )
Have a great rest of your trip and lookforward to seeing you two soon. Take care!
Shigemi
Greg Hill
whoa, stromatolites. far out. does that have anything to do with the price of horses?
greg
Drew & Emi
Hey All,
Just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and kicking in NZ....in fact, so much to see and do that we have not wanted to take even one precious hour to upload the pictures. The flights from Auckland to Santiago are booked 1-2 months in advance, forcing us to plan ahead more than usual and resulting in a feeling that we are running out of time in NZ. Sorry, but we'll get to it when we have a few spare hours.
The highlights of what we have been doing: overnight cruise in Doubtful Sound (with dolphins swimming in the bow wave), various trekking thru forest and alpine terrain to glaciers and fantastic mountain scenery (including Mt. Cook, the highest in NZ), thrill seeking in Queenstown (Drew only) with a giant swing across a canyon (including 200 ft of free fall), mountain biking in Wanaka, etc. The weather has been surprisingly perfect (i.e. dry), but we are finally experiencing the rain that we here so much about - how else could it be so green? We have a full agenda before we fly out on the 18th of April - about 4 more days on the south island, then we are left with only 9 days to cover the north island. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to come back !!!
Chika
Hi Drew & Emi-chan, just wanted to drop a note to say hi from Boulder! We had a great snow this winter and we missed you guys a lot! Can't wait to have you back. Enjoy the rest of your stay in NZ. It must be so gorgeous there. Take care. Chika