Back in the land of over 4,000 varieties of potatoes..

Though a lot colder and listening to the patter of rain on the rooftop, I´m happy to be back in Peru and with my good friend Christina for a spell. My last few days in Argentina where spectacular. I splurged on a hotel with a pool up in Iguazú and definitely got my money´s worth. Visiting the falls of Iguazù is something I won´t soon forget. Purely spectacular and though I´ve taken loads of photos and a few videos none of them can begin to do justice to the feeling of watching that amount of water surge over cliffs, falling into oblivion-- with birds dancing in the spray and rainbows arching over it all. Really an amazing place.

An official bus-ride from hell later and I was back in BA for my last night and off again yesterday flying to Peru. My travels alone where a lot of things: exciting, beautiful, stressful, relaxing and full of beautiful and friendly people along the way. Though I must say nothing compares to reuniting with a good friend, talking non-stop and laughing your way through dinner. I´m excited to be here in Cusco with Christina for Navidad. She´s already been here a week and has loads of friends and invitations for our few days before we head out on our trek. Tonight- La Noche Buena- we´re lucky enough to have an invite to a families home. I´m waging my bets on pollo, arroz, papas, y panetòn. Should be festive and delicious!

I hope where ever life has landed you this day you are happy, healthy, warm and surrounded by love and hugs from many dear ones.

¡¡Fiestejar Bien!!

How much can you pack into one day?

It seem like a lot when I think back...
Mendoza is a nice city. I felt I stayed long enough to get a feel for the place before rushing off on the next bus. I did the tour of wineries on bicycle with Fabio from Italy. It was blazing hot and even the wind couldn´t cool us down. Along with wineries we were able to visit a chocolate and liquor factory as well as an olive plantation. Those were actually more interesting to me!
I then had to plan out my strategy for the job interview I had back home in WY. All things considered it went fairly well, and I treated myself to a haircut from Christian down the street (or maybe I treated everyone else... as I´ve been looking pretty shabby for the last few weeks..)
An overnight bus later- I found myself in Còrdoba this morning and decided to spend the day in Alta Gracias which is an hour outside of town. Ernesto Guevara spent most of his childhood here, so I toured the home of Che this morning and have been kicking around this lazy little town since. On my way back to Còrdoba for another night bus up to Puerto Iguazù where I´ll be able to relax for my last few days in the country.
Still sweating, but still happy. Hope you are too (at least happy that is...)
besos..

and what HAVE I been up to?

On a whim I changed my plans of touring the North of Argentina and bought a bus ticket to Bariloche- the Tahoe of Argentina. All things considered a 20 hr bus ride in Argentina isn´t all that bad. I made it to Bariloche in time to orient myself, walk the streets and sunburn my shoulders. The next day I was off on a 22 km walk to refugio Frey up in the mountains and managed wear all my weather gear. I guess that is the way of Patagonia... or so I´m told. Never trust the weather forecast... Though the mtn and lake views consisted only of fog and rain, it was a nice hike and fun chatting w- the other stranded hikers and climbers at the refugio. After a bit of shared matè and some good eats, I was hiking back to town- desending amist all kinds of varying landscape and foliage.
I hopped the next bust to El Bolsòn the following day and ¨hung w- the hippies¨ for a few nights. Though El Bolsòn didn´t produce as many hippies as the guide book proclaimed, it was a nice town amidst beautiful mtns bordering on Chile. I met a fellow traveler from SF and together we hiked, laughed, dranks local brews and swore about our blistered feet. Mikel... may you find your retreat in the days to come... Thanks for the fun afternoon...
I was again aboard an overnight bus and today find myself in Mendoza, Argentina. Wine country if you will. Though I´ve recently sampled the Malbec the region has to offer with dinner- tomorrow I go on the bike around wine tour of the region.
Today was spent arranging myself in a hostel, scouring the town for what it has to offer on Sundays (virtually nothing...), and catching a sweet tandem paraglide flight that lasted approximately 31 minutes. Little did I know this was ¨the best place in Latin America¨ to catch a flight. With glimps´ over the hills into Chile and stunning tranquillo views of the town at 2100 m.- it was definitely well worth it! My guide Edwardo seemed psyched as well.
I will sleep well tonight- and may you as well.
Til again...

Madonna & Vos

As I landed in Argentina and was traveling into the heart of Buenos Aires I remembered why I had wanted so badly to visit this country. The use of vos! Few countries use this very informal form of ´you´ and Guatemala and Argentina are 2 of them. How exciting is it to see billboards and hear comments in vos!
Though I came down to SA in time for summer, I hadn´t yet felt it until arriving to Argentina. The long daylight hours and warm humid days... summer is here at last!!
I found my way to my friends Keller and Megan´s apartment (who were fresh out of a fútbol match) and we went out for dinner (midnight local time). And within 24 hrs of landing in this beautiful country I was amidst throngs of people waiting for Madonna to appear on stage. We were able to snag some general, ground level tickets and see a legend perform for a crowd that truly loves her. And incidentely- she´s filming for her DVD here in Argentina, so all those Madonna fans out there... when you watch the DVD... I´m wearing a blue shirt.
Though I haven´t yet made my way too far into this country I´m loving what I see. It seems to me the perfect collision of crazy, uncertain and care free Latin America with the Euro-American modernism and roots that I know. Oh and the accent! Nothing I love more than experiencing a new twist and slur to the Spanish language I´m continually trying to perfect.
I´m off on the bus to Bariloche. Until next time...

The area around Huaraz, Peru....

is what you get when you mix the cultivated hills of Guatemala and a similar people, the rock walls, rain, and sheep of Ireland, the sheer cliffs of Yosemite with the trees and foliage of the Pacific Northwest (and maybe a dusting of Sinks Canyon- just for fun)-- ok, ok- and throw some snow capped Swiss Alpes in for good measure. There are many parts of this area that remind me of my time in Ecuador as well. Pero es un poco obvio- that´s like saying South Dakota is a bit like North Dakota, or Kansas is a quite similar to Nebraska. Only the hard core locals note the differences. In any case- I´m enjoying my days in the heartland of the Andes. I´ve been staying in the city of Huaraz which lies between the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra. El Parque Nacional Huascarán is a few hrs by car, taxi or combi away. We have had a week full of mtn adventures and try as I might- acclimatizing to this altitude truly is a challenge for this girl straight off the California coasts. I´ve been loading my body with as much Matè de Coca that I can get my hands on, but my digestion has been slow and my body tired. Regardless Nora, Meche and I have done our best to track down tours and hikes of the local area. The first day we visited the famous Pastoruri glacier. Like all other glaciers the globe over, this one is melting at an alarming rate. Though the landscape and people living up there above 5000 m. gave us enough to experience as we slowly crept up to the base of the glacier.
The next day we decided to do a small hike as the alitude was affecting and rain and snow was in the air. We got ourselves up to Lagunas Llanganuco and did a small hike around the lake and back down the hill a ways through a fairyland forest.
Feeling a bit accustomed to the land of little oxygen, we set out the following day to Lago 69 with a some Frenchmen from our hostel (um... seriously). Luck wasn´t on their side however and their taxi was stopped for over an hr by the Police. We didn´t realize this and went on without them. We lucked out with a clear, sunny day, and the views were amazing. Combine green grass, grazing cows, steep cliffs, rugged trails, white mtn tops and very little oxygen. The last few km to the lake were tough. As we got closer to 4600 m. it was literally one step at a time. I think Budda said, "Just do one more forever." Those were the words that brought me to the edge of the blue lake below the glacier. A truly amazing place. Oh and the french guys did eventually arrive at the lake (after nearly running up the mtn) just as we were departing. On our way down we were crossing an avalanche path that we had previously gone over and Meche commented that a guy at the lake had mentioned it had occured only 4 days beforehand. Hummm...
After a good meal and a night´s rest, Meche and I decided on a tour to the ruins of Chavín (Nora´s sore throat kept her in Huaraz for a day of R&R). The day was brilliant. We crossed over into the Cordillera Negra and were able to see a whole different landscape. This place truly amazes me. The ruins of Chavín that we toured were from a civilization speculating to be 1200 BC. There were many galleries underground that we were able to tour that went on and on. And though it was a 3 hr ride each way, the hill sides, the strong mtn souls of the Andes, the grazing sheep, llamas and cattle, the rock walls and small communities of chosas (stone and thatch huts) and the magnificant mtn peaks surrounding were plenty to keep my gaze constantly intrigued.
Enough said- this is definitely one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been to. Though I haven´t been to that many places... I haven´t been to that few either.
I´m off on an overnight bus to Lima tonight and flying to Buenos Aires tomorrow. Look out!
(Oh and I´m taking loads of pictures and will hopefully have time to download some soon... stay tuned)