Today, I thought I would share one of my favourite memories with you guys. Now, not the usual thing I would do on this blog, but I guess you could say this was more personal, and it's something I want to do again. During the Summer of 2012, I went on a month long expedition to South America. Now, I don't want to bore you with inside jokes and anecdotes, so I'll summarise (briefly I hope!)
We began our trip in Buenos Aires (the capital of Argentina) and stayed in a really lovely hostel for a few days while we recovered from the jet lag. This was the prime time for us to organise our travelling and where we were going to stay for the next week.
We went on an open top bus to take a tour of the area we were staying in - it was absolutely freezing, and took three hours! Although it was fun to begin with, I'm not going to lie, we got a bit restless, cold and hungry!
We saw an amazing busking band with steel drums! Loads of energy, and fun to watch. We met these on our trip around the city to look at shops and generally get a sight of the new culture.
A sign we seemed to see everywhere whilst on the expedition! Probably because we mainly stayed in hostels!
A statue we saw on the tour. It was huge, and was surrounded by many horse statues. 
Some awesome street art, albeit a bit creepy! One of the many interesting pieces of graffiti I came across!
Having finished in Buenos Aires, we then moved on further south on an overnight bus to Puerto Madryn to do some whale watching. We saw a mother and a calf swimming literally feet away from us. It truly was jaw dropping.
A group photo of us in front of the sunrise.
After the whale watching, we took a trip to look at some other wildlife, and came across a group of elephant seals sleeping on the beach.
And then an armadillo. We also saw Lowland Tapirs and Rheas.
The view from our wildlife walk.
A beachy photo after finishing a wildlife tour in Puerto Madryn where we got ice cream and did a bit of exploring. It had a lovely little cafe which made delicious coffees, and also lots of cute souvenir shops.
We then moved onto our next destination - Patagonia - with another bus! I found this hilarious at the time in a nearby town to where we were staying called Trelew when we were food shopping!
We actually stayed in Gaiman which is a Welsh speaking village in Patagonia. The locals took us on a tour of the village, and we got to see a Welsh museum where I found a triple harp (Welsh: Telyn Deires - three rows of strings) which was particularly exciting as I play the harp myself! It was such an interesting, and culturally engrossing outing.
A photo of our walk back to our hostel in Gaiman where the sky was looking particularly aesthetic.
The beginning of our community work where we helped out a small Welsh school, and painted a mural for them too!
A photo of us and the school we helped out - they were all so cute and small!
A treat after a long week was a day of sight seeing, and having a Submarino. Basically a piece of chocolate you stir into hot milk - delicious!
Myself, and Dyfed were interviewed on the local radio station for what we were doing on our expedition; as we speak Welsh. It was a great experience!
We were invited by the school we helped to a celebration party for '28 De Julio' or 'Gwyl Y Glaniad' which is when the first group of settlers arrived in Chubut.
Another celebration picture, but from the next day where people sang, dance spoke and much more. We also went to Church afterwards and sang some Welsh hymns.
Later on that day, we went for tea and cake provided by the village before we went on yet another overnight bus to El Bolsón. Which was where we were going to relax before starting our trek.
The scenery in El Bolsón was phenomenal. It's indescribable as to how incredible it looked from every angle. The photos don't do it justice at all!
A couple group members and me posing in front of the town sign! Just wandering around, and found some gorgeous bakeries with extremely cheap cakes and treats!
Found some more funky graffiti found on a water fountain.
The bridge we had to cross before starting our expedition trek in the Andes - just kidding, but this was right next to a less broken bridge where only one person could cross at a time!
The view after only a short while of walking. 
The highest we reached on day 1 before a short walk to where we were staying the night - a scary log cabin!
Here's me in front of the magnificent scenery of the mountains. A sight I will never forget.
This is the log cabin we slept in on the first night of the trek. It was cold, and was only heated by a small log burner! An experience I won't be forgetting very soon! This was 1300m up, which is higher than Ben Nevis in Scotland! We all actually read '50 Shades of Grey' that night - some hilarious memories!
A cute little sign on the second day of the trek!.jpg)
A photo of the girls on the trek in front of a gorgeous pool of water. It was clear as day, and super bright. Nothing you'd ever see in Britain!
Some of the obstacles we had to get through, or over, on the trek! Some very sturdy handmade, wobbly ladders!
The second log cabin we slept in - much nicer than the first!
The lovely man who owned the cabin had a lot of horses, and they were very friendly!
The lovely man who owned the cabin had a lot of horses, and they were very friendly!
I have no idea what you call what we found. I would have known a couple years ago, but it's completely left my brain! Basically a rocky hole where the river falls down into another river! It was beautiful whatever it was!
Another photo of where we stayed with the mountains we just crossed in the background.
We fed this horse an Oreo, it was adorable yet hilarious!
One of the many stray animals we met. This cat was super adorable. We also met a version of the 'nononon' cat! It was hilarious!
The last photo of the trek - my teammate and I. It was a huge relief to finish such a long, and exhausting trek! After this photo was taken, we had to walk a bit longer to get back to El Bolsón and have a good meal, and rest before moving onto our next destination.
❤️♡
Side Note: Due to my obsession with photography, I took a few too many pictures on the expedition and therefore have decided to make this into a two part post. The next one will be up within the next couple of days!
For part two, please click here!
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