La Paz

I want to live here

Listen we got Flickr, and it has a lot of pictures on it now

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97499416@N00/sets/

Also, the google map (see earlier post) is being consistently updated.

San Pedro de Atacama

This is an oasis town, full of all types of backpacker wanderer types from all over, in the middle of the Atacama desert, the world´s driest. We got into town last night in a taxi with two cool Mexican guys after our bus caught fire en route to Calama from the coast... camped outside the city limits in a ditch. The sun was hot from the minute it came up, and we packed up our things, found some coffee and churrasco, and rented bikes. Spent the day in the desert, in a national park kind of place called Valle de la Luna, which was remarkably free of other sightseers in the middle of the day. Did a big loop on these old clunky Trek mountain bikes, which feel like they have flat tires all the time to me, and returned to town at 7, more tired than we´ve been in weeks. The places we rode through were bizarre and beautiful: jagged spires and canyons made of salt (believe me, we licked it to make sure), caves, sand dunes, rock formations said to resemble the virgin mary in various states of prostration. Pisco sours and 2 liters each of water have mostly eased our exhaustion, but we´re really looking forward to camping in our ditch again tonight.

Other highlight: 79 km ride from a beach town called Hornitos to the modest city of Tocopilla in the back of a pickup... incredibly desolate mountains of loose rock and sand slipping down into the ocean, a stretch of empty road interrupted only by little mining towns and invitingly deserted beaches.

things to write about (since we haven´t actually written since Buenos Aires, a month ago??)
we left Buenos Aires, took a bus all the way across Argentina to Bariloche, camped illegally after dark on the bank of the lake, then to Neuquen then to Aluminé, two days camping in Aluminé, hitchhiked to Ñorquinco, volunteered for two weeks, built a fence, chopped some wood, went swimming in the glacial lake, baked bread in the woodburning oven. Then Aluminé again, then bus to Neuquén, Nora sick in Neuquén, bus to Mendoza, couchsurfed for five days? six? Sam sick in Mendoza. on to Santiago, overnight bus, 2 am border crossing, then four days in Santiago. stayed with couchsurfers. Sam with a fever. Then Valparaíso for two days in a hostel, the Pacific!, and the adjoining town, Viña del Mar for two days with a couchsurfer. Afterwards an hour north to the hippie beach town Horcón, camped for two days on the nude beach. on our way out Larry Flynt´s lawyer bought us lunch and Julio from Madrid approached us on the street, offered a ride north. Five hours driving. Stayed in a house in Coquimbo on the ocean then onwards to Vicuña and Valle de Elqui. Observatory at night, saw those nebulas and clusters. spent the night camped in Vicuña. and today? headed north. have a date with Machu Picchu in nine days.

Google Map

Of our route. <http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=es&msa=0&msid=115511600506942137266.000461e75fe466356e174&ll=-30.977609,-62.402344&spn=33.297553,78.75&z=4>

pictures from the beginning

cabo polonio





you can still see the tent in the distance



I have a stupid face. but it´s sunset! the beach!



this is a milanesa. a steak, breaded. plus melted cheese, ham a fried egg, lettuce, tomato..... all over the place here.


the fisher boats from punta del diablo








sam flying his christmas present kite.







the town of punta del diablo





parilla



milanesa neopolitina in a cheap restaurant close to our house








cooking in our two burner no oven shoebox apartment


the apartment, sam´s maps...



austin texas, chiquita´s work!








jenny and sal! austin before the trip. (sorry I can´t figure out how to format this. match the picture to the caption!)

I'm done with my spanish classes today

our time in Buenos Aires is over. today was my last day of class. as I write this sam's making fun of me for my inarticulateness.

drinks we've made/drank:
fernet and coke
quilmes*
salty dog
schneider fuerte*
mate (canarias, rosamonte)
cheap red wine from mendoza
cheap champagne on new years

*marcas de cerveza

slang (lunfardo):
me mande una cagada
me mande una recagada
che boludo!
barbaro
tengo que mear


books read here:
if on a winter's night a traveler - calvino
under the jaguar sun - calvino
the hours - cunningham
henry and june - anais nin
no one belongs here more than you - miranda july
the idiot - dostoyevsky (reading it now)

youtube videos we've watched with other americans:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU4uEWyRt_U





in the making of video look out for isaac (obv), sam, me and dan taggatz in the background. ha.