Life on the road over the past month....

Traveling with no real time limits makes for some fun surprises.

Chile was fun, fulfilling both my Pacific Ocean craving and Altiplano longing.

Arica, the border town to Peru, was a small but fun town. The highlight was definitely the 12 mile bike ride southward along the coast with my new found friends. (People whom I met on the border town, Tacna, in Peru (all coincidentally from North Carolina)). The other highlight had to be the fried empanadas, oh man were they good, stuffed with mariscos! We stayed at a nice homey hostel, owned by a Kiwi (New Zealander) and Chilean, literally about 150 meters between both the bus terminal and beach. Tranquilo. But, not as tranquilo as San Pedro de Atacama. A reminiscent taste of Bolivia, which I am anxious to return to. Situated in the Altiplano, and surrounded by salt flats, inactive volcanos, and some of the most incredible sunsets, San Pedro de Atacama entertained my bohemian side. I wound up staying a bit longer than I had anticipated, partially due to the lack of mobility into Argentina and partially because I loved this town so much. I partook in a early morning geyser tour, known as El Tatio, followed by hot natural springs on the second day and basically just sat back, read and relaxed until my bus left 2 days later. Did you know that there are 5 locations with major geyser activity in the world.... and San Pedro is one of them. (the other four are located in New Zealand, Russia, USA and Iceland) Our last evening in San Pedro we decided to splurge and go out for dinner and listen to some live folkloric music. Who do we run into and meet over dinner and music???...... Elijah Wood. I am not kidding you, I shook Frodo Baggins hand! Afterwards we were invited to party it up a bit with the band and being that it was my last evening in San Pedro we took them up on the offer. The next day I was off to Argentina, crossing over the Andes on what I think may have been the most scenic bus trip I have ever been on. I was only in Salta for about 12 hours before Helen and I made our way east to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is a great city, full of life. A city that reminded me a bit of Madrid, NYC and San Francisco all mixed together. Sunday was the day of the marathon and also the biggest open market day in the neighborhood of San Telmo. We were fortunately able to catch up with our three friends who were running in the marathon over some delicious dinner-lunch before they moved on to their next destination. The taxis are supposedly an uber expensive way to travel around town, so we walked and maneuvered the SUBTE (subway) the whole time. We had a fantastic time wandering, tasting delicious wine and eating incredible food, but were also very ready to move on after three full days of big city life.

We spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry to Uruguay after three full days of B.A., to a small town known as Colonia de Sacramento. A gem of a place, located on the delta of the Rio Plata and giving off a small, quaint town feel with cobble stone, canopy-tree lined streets, friendly people and pleasant weather. So worth a visit! I met an older man in the hostel we stayed at, Antonio - who is the brother of the hostel owner in Colonia de Sacramento, probably in his mid 60s who offered me a job; driving him to the campo, where he runs a dairy farm and also working with his cousin who runs a hostel-restaurant. I told him I´d keep him posted and consider it if nothing comes through stateside. ;) The wine in Uruguay is also a hidden treasure. Their version of the Malbec grape is called the Tannant and is absolutely delightful. It has a very nice body and smooth. Totally recommend seeking out the label Don Pascual if ever in a international wine store.

Friday morning we took the 5:30am ferry back to B.A., spent the morning and early afternoon wandering around San Telmo and splitting a bottle of wine over lunch before boarding our overnight bus to Mendoza. Two of our friends met us in Mendoza and we had some fantastic times testing the local wines, eating delicious meat and walking the clean and colonial style streets. You can purchase a hunk of meat here for about $6, a nice cut that would probably go for something like $40 in the states. Incredible! Our last full day in Mendoza we decided to go on the bike tour of the Maipu wine region outside of Mendoza city. So we boarded a local transit bus for 1.80 pesos and off we went. We stopped at two bodegas, La Familia Di Tomasso and Carinae, one olive farm-factory and a delightful chocolate factory, filling all of our savoury needs for under $40. It was a beautiful and delicious day. Mendoza is Malbec country, one of the BEST grapes turned to wine in the world, or at least in my opinion, tal vez my new favorite wine. However, the Tannant grape which is also grown in Argentina, but better known in Uruguay is also very tasty!

On Ryan´s 28th birthday, Helen, Ryan and I decided to continue heading west towards the town of Uspallata. This town is known more recently for the film, Seven Years in Tibet, which starred Brad Pitt. We stayed about 6 km outside of town at a Hostel International, with an incredible view. Day two we decided to board a local bus for 8 pesos, which took us nearly to the frontera of Chile and Argentina, to the Parque Aconcagua. Known for the tallest mountain in the western hemisphere Cerro Aconcagua lies at 6,959 meters, which is just pushing 23,000 ft. This place has defintely been the highlight of my Argentina tour. Pero, in the future I hope to get myself back here and give some time to explore the southern part of Argentina, como Patagonia pues.

From Uspallata, Helen and I parted ways with Ryan and we boarded a bus to Cordoba. Cordoba is a smaller version of BA in my opinion, very metropolitan and fashion driven. Neither of us were really feeling it, so we only decided to stay for a night and 2 full days. On our second day we took a local bus out to Alta Gracia, which is where Ernesto ¨Che¨Guevarra grew up. His childhood home was turned into a beautiful museum, so we took advantage of our rainy Saturday to learn a bit more of the history of this great revolutionary.

Last night we took the overnight bus back to Salta, Argentina, where we now rest. Sunday most everything is closed, so we are catching up on our blogs and readings. Coincidentally as we were exiting the grocery store, we passed a parade of Bolivians dancing a traditional Caporales dance for the Virgin of Urqupiña. It felt just a bit more like home today. Tuesday we head north to BOLIVIA - and I cannot wait!