2.06.2007

address number 2

the new pictures are up on shutterfly. there aren´t many, it goes so slow and the best ones aren´t up, but we make due.

also, we found out we have to be out of the apartment by the 1st of march, so no letters after the 15th of february, just to be safe.

after that we are unsure where we will be...maybe visiting some friends in buenos aires.

we are busy nursing our sunburns, but soon we´ll be back in the waves, having fun in the sun.

love

2.05.2007

address

our address for at least 3 weeks

santa clara del mar
acapulco 329
cod 7609
partido mar chiquita
pcia bs as
argentina

2.04.2007

santa clara

we made it to the beach! we got to mar del plata and julio picked us up from the bus station. we went back to his house and realized that him finding us a house for 500 pesos was wishful thinking. mar del plata is HUGE and expensive. we stayed for two days and looked for a house, but nothing came up. while we were there though, we hung out with julio and andrea and their great kids lele and baba(nicknames). they practiced their english and i my spanish. they were so great. made us dinner, let us do laundry and camp in their yard. we used their shower and internet.
we decided to move on though, about 15 km north to santa clara. it is much smaller and a bit cheaper. we spent our first day looking for places to live. and finally, by chance, we found an apartment 3 blocks from the beach. it is small, but nice and from the back balcony we can see the ocean!!
the next day we spent on the beach. now we are both red. regan more than i. plus, he is a little sick:( so we are taking a break from the fun in the sun and seeing a movie today.
miss you love you
oh, and we have an address, but i forgot to bring it. keep your eyes out and write your letters.
love

1.30.2007

cabanas del arroyo

we went to the beach, for a day. it was really nice and warm and we swam...the water was absolutely disgusting, so we didnt stay long, but it was fun watching all of the little kids run around. regan happened to leave his bathing suit in bariloche, so he hung out at the beach in his underwear. if you dont know regan he wears bikini style underwear and let me tell you it is a sight to see. everyone on the beach was laughing and pointing and whistling, it was then i realized that my life would be like this now, everyone whistling at my husband. sweet.
we left the beach to pick up the things we left in esquel and bariloche. we arrived in bariloche and called the cabanas that we had stayed in before. they were full, but felt bad so they let us stay in their house, free, as a gift. we hung out with our friend seth and now are heading back to the beach, mar del plata.
the man at the cabanas knows someone who builds houses there and he said he could find us a house for about 500 pesos a month and regan a job. he is going to pick us up from the bus station. we feel pretty stoked and excited.
hopefully, we will have a phone and we will give the info asap.
misses and loves.

1.26.2007

goodbye patagonia

well, 10 days ago we were in el calafate, since we´ve left the country and come back...
first, el calafate was a great city. we loved it. not too expensive and some good crepes. the artesanal markets were so fun and the weather wasn´t too bad. plus, the place we camped had really nice bathrooms, that´s always a good thing.
we stayed for about 3 days, visiting glacier perito moreno(pictured below). it was incredible. so huge and gorgious. it´s about 14 kilometers long! i wish i could desribe it better, but the picture will have to do. pieces kept falling off too and it make the biggest noise. it was really fun.
the next morning we left for puerto natales, chile. upon arrival we were bombarded with people we were trying to sell there hostel. it was so funny to me.
regan, decided to treat me to an actual room, with a bathroom. oh, it was so nice to not camp!
the next morning we heading back into patagonia, chile side, to torres del paine(towers of pain: sounds fun, huh?) national park. we too a boat to the first refugio. it was so fun. the water stared out this sea foamy green and then turned a dark blue, it was amazing. there were glaciers and waterfalls and huge mountains that seriously looked like nothing i have ever seen!
we arrived at about 7 and headed into the park, hiked along a beautiful lake, towards another incredible glacier and camped by a HUGE waterfall. the next day we hiked to the next refugio which left a bit to be desired so we hiked back to the first refugio and on to another campsite.
we ended up sleeping in the next day, oops, until about 11 and then from about 12 to 6. i think we were tired. with a ´wasted´ day we hiked to the next refugio, which was farther than we thought. it rained on us and i lost my hat. we were pretty unhappy. the rain didn´t let up for 2 days, so we sat in the tent and were sad. but then, the clouds lifted and we saw hints of sunshine, excited we hiked to the next campsite, only an hour away and then we hiked to the torres del paine lookout. wow. torres del paine are three huge peaks the jut out of nowhere, there is still a bit of glacier which empties into a beautiful lake at the base. it is so pretty and we had sunshine for about an hour before the clouds rolled in, but no rain!
the next day we hiked back down to town, which we allotted 6 hours for and it took 2. so we sat around for awhile until our bus came. we got back to town and went back to our hostel(yes!) and then headed to the beach. we are still on our way, with one more bus that leaves in about 1 1/2 hours(hopefully).
real quick though. i need to say something about the food here. a typical day: breakfast: orange tang, coffee or tea, bread, some bread and some bread. mmm- lunch: milanesa(breaded meat) on a sandwich with lettuce maybe and tang- dinner: steak with water or beer. no sides, no veggies, no eggs, so weird. we are ready for some good food.
the other day we went to a restaurant and thought we would share a steak and salad. the steak was tiny and the salad was tomatoes and some onions. just tomatoes. okay.

love you miss you

1.16.2007

calafate

well. about 13 days ago we left for el chalten. we were hitch hiking and got picked up the first night, by a truck driver named jose. jose was kind of strange, a little moody. but he drove us half way there in about 10 hours. sweet. he left us in perito moreno. worst town ever. we sat on the side of the road, in front of a military academy, for 3 days! a couple people stopped. one just wanting directions. thankfully, regan finally gave in and we got a bus to el chalten. the next day we went into the moutains and began a6 day hike, mostly in the rain and cold. the first and second night we stayed at a lake below a hige glacier. once the fog lifted we could see the mountains above the glaciers and it was good. the next day we hiked for 4 hours, in crazy wind, to campamento poincenot. it was a really pretty hike, but somewhat miserable. then we went to the last campsite. it was a long and tiring hike, but well worth it. that night the clouds lifted and we had sun for the next 3 days!!! the morning after the clouds lifted we hiked to the base of mount fitz roy. there really aren´t words to express the beauty we saw and our pictures won´t do justice. we were awe struck, speechless. all around us were massive glaciers, mountains, lakes. it blew us away.
we reluctantly, hiked back to town the next two days, one of the days hiking a total of 12 hours! we left el chalten as soon as we could, as it was so expensive.
now we are in calafate. a bit of a break from trekking. we leave for chile in a few days and then hopefully, off to the beach! it´s been too cold in the mountains for me.
love you miss you.

1.03.2007

el chelten


so much has happened since i last wrote, it seems impossible.
first we discovered that some money we put into my account from regan´s didn´t go through, but we had been spending it! we were dirt broke for a while, luckily it´s all worked out now, but for awhile we were a little scared.
then, yesterday, yesterday we tied her up outside the grocery and came out to find her gone. we looked everywhere and asked everyone. no one had seen anything. after about 30 minutes we decided she was probably long gone, so we went to get a remise home. regan asked if anyone had heard or seen anything...right then one of the drivers pulled up and said that he had just taken someone home with a little puppy. he took us way up the mountain, to an area that is nothing like the rest of town. he stopped at a house and sure enough there was the little girl.
she has worms too. so we got her some medicine and she´s been pooping them out for a day. mmm.
we are headed to el chelten next. it is about a 3 day journey.
hope you are well. miss you love you.

12.26.2006

merry christmas

regan and i were just talking about how it´s so strange that there is so much preparation for christmas day and it is over in 24 hours. i hope your 24 hours were wonderful.
since everything was closed here, we hung out in the cabin watching movies, eating food, playing with our new puppy, milagros, having a water fight. it was great, but not like christmas.
we are heading up to the mountains again today. we´ll probably be gone for about 5 days. we are going to los alerces, which is supposed to be one the highlights here. i am excited, except that it is rainy and i just want to lay in bed...
late last night we were cooking for the week . while we were waiting for the water to boil i was finishing off the stuffing that we made for christmas. i was eating out of a huge pot, meanwhile regan was on the kitchen floor doing push-ups. haaa. i thought that was a pretty good description of us, me eating, regan working out.
oh, and our puppy. while we were in el bolson we stopped at a feria. someone had dropped off a box of about5 puppies. regan begged for one and i said it was a bad idea. but we decided the puppy would die in the park, so we took one in hopes to find a home for her. now, regan is up at least once a night taking mila out to pee. she´s sweet and ornery. the ve t sai she was some sort of a german shepherd mut. maybe you all will get to meet her in 5 months!
i finally talked regan into getting a website for our pictures. we are having a hard time getting the pictures from the camera to the computer. it is so slow, but we hae about 30 pictures posted. the website url is: libbyandregan.shutterfly.com
enjoy.
love you all

12.20.2006

hielo azul

we just returned to el bolson from 4 days of camping, hiking, laughing. we went with two friends we met here and it was so nice. it was nice to see someone elses face other than regan´s.
it rained the first day, we arrived at the refugio soaking wet. we decided to warm by the fire for another day, but when we left the next day it was snowing. it was actually quite magical...walking in the forest, watching the snow, it reminded me of being a kid.
the next refugio was beautiful. they had a garden and sheep and horses. it was so fun. about 10 minutes from the refugio on the hike there is a huge canyon, with a raging river of the most amazing blue water. i wish i could explain this water to you. oh, it was incredible.
not sure where to next. we are probably going to celebrate christmas with our new friends, somewhere.
hope the holidays are wonderfully celebratory for you.
miss you love you



12.16.2006

el bolson

i don´t even remember three days ago when i posted last.
we have been in el bolson for three days and have one more night. we are staying in the woods in a cute little house that holds about 8 people. we are just about full to capacity right now. it is cold and wet, but it is beatiful. it snowed in the mountains last night. what happened to summer? tomorrow we leave for another hike, we will be gone for about 4 days and then back to spend christmas, hopefully by some phones so we can at least talk to the fam.
regan lost his atm card, through that we´ve realized that we have a lot less money than we assumed. so now starts our budget. this means no more ice cream and lots more camping. we are also hoping to find a farm soon...
stop reading my blog entries and come and visit.
love to you all.

12.13.2006

laguna ilon

we just got back from national park trenador. we hiked up to (basically) the base of an incredible glacier. it was huge and fell continuously so it sounded like thunder. the hike wasn´t horrible, but we couldn´t tell where the refugio was until we were right up to it. we kept thinking, "how long is this hike?" it was pretty funny when we saw the refugio.
we stayed up there for a night and then hiked down to do another hike to a lake, but we got miserably lost. we ended up on these narrow horse trails, muddy and exhausted. the nest day we tried again and it was well worth it. we hiked up to laguna ilon. it was so beautiful. we camped on the beach, jumped into the freezing water(regan was scared to), made a raft, killed a lot of deer flies.
the hike up to laguna ilon was intense the first part was straight up a mountain. no switchbacks. but halfway through the hike we got to a forest. it was so pretty. and peaceful. the funny thing was in orfer to find the trail we had to follow this group who had a guide(there were no signs marking the trail at all). once the trail was easy to follow, about every 20m there was a sign. ha, thanks.
now we are back in bariloche, staying at a friends house. we are going to eat tacos tonight and have a nintendo competition. sweet.
love to you all.

12.06.2006

6 days later

i cannot believe it is already december! no white christmas for us unfortnately.
we just got home from a 2 day hike-turned to a 5 day hike. it was incredible. we hiked through a beautiful forest with a raging river, that i almost fell into. there were gorgeous waterfalls, pretty little birds, amazing sunrises. it was by far the prettiest and sketchiest hikes i´ve been on. we spent two full days on the beautiful lago negra, i just can´t explain the beauty.
i wish i could recap all of the hilarious things that happened, but that would mean i would have to bring a tape recorder. i do have one funny story, but it is a little gross, so brace yourself.
the last hike we did, we had stopped at the second refugio, jakob. regan had been there about a week earlier, when the bathrooms weren´t in service. this was fine for me, i didn´t even think they would have bathrooms!
we had just finished lunch and i had to go to the bathroom SO bad. it was an emergency. i coulsn´t even wait to clean up! i ran to the nearest rock, i couldn´t even make it far enough to get away from people who would be weird enough to want to see me poo(i don´t think anyone did). i was just about to finish and regan comes running out of the refugio, laughing. he sees me and the amount that i pooed and loses it even more. through his laughs and tears he tells me the bathrooms are working. ha, funny. he had been talking to the man who worked there and the man said the bathrooms were working, all regan said was shoot and ran out of there. everyone was laughing. hahahaha, so funny.
love you all.

12.01.2006

off again

we are about bored in town now, so we are off the mountains tomorrow morning.
i am not sure where to, regan takes charge of that, surprised? but, i think we will only be gone for about two days this time.
there aren't any exciting stories yet...we've literally been sitting around.
we went climbing two days ago. it was pretty easy, regan wouldn't let me do any of the hard ones, but i learned alot.
the man who owns the bungalows we are staying at let us use his dirt bike to get around town, that has been so nice...regan loves it.
i promise more stories soon, and pictures!
all of my loves and misses

11.28.2006

...and we're engaged

i cannot even remember what i wrote last time, but we are in bariloche right now. it is absolutely beautiful. we've been taking it ridiculously easy because we just got back from an intense 4 day hike. it was fantastic, not only because regan asked me to marry him(i said yes). we hiked up snowy mountains and through raging waters and rocky peaks. it was probably a really good metaphor for marriage.
we have really seen god in the past few weeks. it truly amazes me how god keeps showing up even though i fail to show up.
we are still discussing when we will get married, but i assure you that we will inform everyone as soon as we know.
we love you all and really appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

11.18.2006

nuestros viaje

I have to tell everyone this great story:

yesterday when Regan and I arrived in Mendoza we called a the son of my mothers coworker. We asked if we could stay with him, as unopposing as possibly. He works for some oil thing and was leaving town last night, but felt so bad that he could not accomodate us that he paid for three nights in a hostel for us. yay! He picked us up from the bus station and took us to the hostel. It was a great example of hospitality.
Tomorrow we are going climbing with a man from here, Monday we are going on a bicycle tour of the vineyards...then to Bariloche.
loves and misses.
lib

11.17.2006

Mendoza

We surrived a freezing, 14 hour bus trip last night to mendoza. Now we are here and trying to find a place to lay our heads.
love you all.

11.15.2006

argentina

i am sure you can assume that i made it safely to buenos aires.
as we were descending into the city, i felt a strange calm and peace. it felt like all of a sudden god had really given me a heart for this, more than just excitement to be with regan.
anyway, things are good, not a ton to report yet. it just feels good to be here.

love to you all.
libby

10.31.2006

13 days

i am just about at 13 days until i see regan, 12 days until i leave.
i just got back into denver from philly/camden. oh my goodness. it was so nice to be there, with everyone. it really just felt good to be among friends, in the city of brotherly love again. i did so many fun things.
ate lots of yummy food at my old favorite restaurants and some new ones, walked on the beach, had really good girl talk, hung out with cutey-cuter kindergartners. i laughed ALOT, watched a lifetime movie(why i wore lipstick to my mastectomy), went to a wedding, and i laughed some more.
oh, it was so fun. thank you to everyone who made me remember my home in philly/camden. i love you all so, so much.

oh and happy halloween.

10.07.2006

matter: land

"Many monogamous relationships split up because one or both partners expect the other to meet the intimacy needs that only a love affair with a larger Reality can fulfill. They think something is wrong with the relationship when, in reality, Nature has programmed all relationships to fail whenever we absurdly demand that they provide us with total satisfaction. Experiencing cracks in even the most fulfilling of human relationships appears to be the only way that the universe can get us to open oursleves to the possiblity of a larger love affair. Unfortunately, many in our time never learn this lesson. When problems arise within the primary relationship, we look for another human being as a replacement, rather than seek a deeper relationship with the greater Whole. " -An Erotics if Place by Stephen Hatch

"It's not about stripping down for others to see. It's simply a way to experience a moment within your fullest capabilities. It's about embracing your spirit and your body and taking that acceptance one step further in order to get to where we belong--in the environment, not separated from it...nothing can compare to being outside and being naked. All the senses are heightened, and I mean all of them. Every movement and function and circumstance is raw, and you are aware of each one specifically. " -Exposure by Laura Katers

two excerpts from two essays i read tonight in the Matter Journal.

10.04.2006

jebbers

jeb and ellie have been sick the past few days. this means a couple things. one) they both sleep the majority of the day. two) they are both lovey dovey, clingy, huggy, affectionate.

though i get bored, i love both of these things. is that a bad sign? anyway, today at least three times jeb looked at me like his world was ending and put his pudgy little arms up to be held. i scooped him up and held him, rocked him, rubbed his back. we sang. we sang the new weepies song. it was absolutely precious. those hugs were exactly what i needed today.

maybe people need to be scooped up more and loved on? maybe.