Argentina!!!

Hola from Mendoza, Argentina!
We apologize that we haven't been keener's with the updates. We have been moving fairly fast (with one exception) since we crossed into Argentina a few weeks ago. So, let´s begin a few weeks back. We crossed the border by bus from Puerto Natales (Chile) to El Calafate (Argentina). Our first border crossing was a stark contrast from the stringent Chilean customs procedures. The border guards actually had smiles, cracked jokes and quizzed our American friends about their knowledge of previous American presidents. The guards only knew Obama. Chilean border crossings are often a 2-3 hour wait, followed by a thorough search of all your belongings, followed by a possibly intense question period. El Calafate proved to be equally as beautiful as it southern Chilean Patagonian counterparts. We chose not to go to the Perito Moreno Glacier (the main draw to Calafate) because it was very pricey (over 100ARS each just to get to the viewing platforms) and we were sort of glaciered-out. Instead we feasted on local chocolate and beer. We then went on a two day trek in nearby El Chalten to the Fitz Roy massive. WOW. Pictures are coming. Camping was a bone chilling minus 3-5 (maybe) but thats what you get when there are glaciers and snow 500m above you. We returned to El Calafate for one evening as our bus to paradise was not until the following day. I picked up the ultimate goodie of this trip, a Charango. It is a native Andean instrument, almost a cross between a mandolin and a uke. 10 strings, incredible tones and a carving on the back. Then began the major journey north to Bolivia with three stops to break up an otherwise daunting distance. First stop was paradise, more commonly referred to as El Boson. My computer time is up, I will try to hop back on later tonight before or after we go to our free Tango lesson in the plaza (public square). More to come, plus pictures,
Ciao for now,
Tai and Kasia