Santiago- Dec 23 to Present

Santiago is a great city. Considering South America is 3rd world, i would say they´re keeping up pretty well. The public transport is easy to use, the tap water is safe to drink, and there is lots to do. Much to my disapointment, i´ve so far seen, a McDonalds, a Burger King, a Dominos, a Pizza Hut, a Starbucks, a TGI Fridays, a Ruby Tuesdays, and a Dunkin Donuts. All filled with people. I´ve discovered tons of yummy food in Santiago, and am glad i don´t need to resort to eating at a yucky american resturant.

The city, for the most part, is very clean and safe. They have a very easy to use bus system and underground metro that would give the Boston T a run for its money! Like any big city, you have to be careful with your bag, and careful walking around at night. I´ve been told not to wear jewelry becuase theifs will come up to you and rip off the necklace or bracelet that you´re wearing, and run. Yikes!! The biggest problem here is the smog. Its thick and gross, it blocks the view of the beautiful andes mountains, and a few years ago was equivilated to every person in the city smoking 60 cigarettes a day!!! YUCK!

We´ve finally arrived at a more international city. After suffering from severe sushi cravings during my first few months of traveling, i´ve made it to a city, where they actually know how to make it, and, it tastes good!!!!

For the most part, Erin and i have been taking it easy. Its been great to meet all of her family, and they are taking good care of us. We´ve done some sight seeing, lots of siesta-ing, and a little bit of partying. In our future is some beach time (its going to be 98 degrees today!) and some vineyard visiting. The exchange rate isn´t so hot right now, so we´ve been as thrifty as possible. Other than that, we´ve enjoyed our visit so far, and are looking forward to much more!!!

Pucon- River Rafting

Hi All! So we survived the super awesome rafting trip on the Rio Trancura. Due to the excessivly awful clothing items i was forced to wear (full body wetsuit, helmet, life vest, and men sized water blazer jacket thingy and surf shorts) i am not able to provide you with a picture of that adventure (also the fact that we were in the water the whole time, making carrying a camera difficult). Anyways, the trip was AWESOME, they had just opened the river last week, so everyone was super excited about the trip, including our guides. There were six of us in a boat (4 of us gringos, and 2 french peeps), along with our guide, and a guy in a kayak that was our saftey man (thankfully, the only person that had to be rescued was him when his kayak tipped over in some rapids). We went over the basic saftey rules and paddling commands and started on our trip. Being a rafting veteran (yeah maine!) i wasn´t overly concerned. Unfortnately when the adrenaline starts pumping, and the rapids are roaring, its hard to stay focused, especially when you´re guide is yelling at you in spanish. But we all came through it ok. The water was ICEY cold, but with all the layers they had us wearing, we acutally opted to get out and swim at one point. Though the river in general is class 3 and 4 rapids, the section we were rafting was a 4/5 rapid becuase of the recent snow melting. There were some crazy huge drops/ falls that we went down, and some big waves created by surrounding rocks, but all in all, super fun, had a blast. No one fell out, and at the end of the day, we had some Pisco Sours (national drink of Chile) with our guides.

The picture above is of Pucon, taken from the lake where we sunbathed. The Volcano in the background is Volcan Villarrica, which is still covered with snow and burbling. The town here is really nice, very clean, everyone friendly, lots of good vegetarian food (yes, i´m still a vegetarian), thermal baths galore, and lovely beaches to tan on, I could def stay here for a looonnnnggg time. Highly Reccommended!

Today Erin and I are taking an overnight bus (puke!) to Santiago, so we can spend the holidays with some of Erins relatives. I´m not sure exactally what kinds of celebrations the do here for xmas and new years, but i´ll keep you all posted! We might make a pit stop out of santiago, and get an apartment for a month, and really get to know the city, that all depends on weather, money and timing!!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah, and Happy.... everything else, and Feliz Navidad, and Happy New Year!

Iceburgs and Whiskey

Ok, so part of our boat crusie brought erin and i to the San Rafael Glacier- adying glacier. The glacier is receeding and will be gone compeltely within the next few hundred years. It was an awesome sight to see. Thrilling and sad as you see huge chunks of ice falling off of the glacier and crashing in to the lake. The result of this is huge iceburgs floating around near the glacier, which thankfully our boat avoided (no titanics in chile so far). We took smaller boats around the glacier and iceburgs to tour the area. One of the most amazing things about the iceburgs is their color. They are literally electric blue and green. I´m told that this is because of the oxegen that gets into the ice. On a sunny day, the iceburgs just look white, but on a cloudy day (which we had) you can really see the true colors of the iceburgs. Another lovely part of this excursion was the drinking. By that i mean, our boat sided up to a big iceburg (pictured above), and the crew chipped off huge pieces of ice, which we used in combination with a 200 year old wiskey, the ice tasted amazingly good, unfortunatly, i can´t say the same for the whisky, YUCK! but it was pretty cold that day, so i forced myself to drink it down :)

Since the end of my cruise, i´ve stopped in Valdivia and Temuco, cute small towns in the southern lake region of Chile. I´m now in Pucon, where thankfully the weather has warmed up a bit. I´v e been sunning at the black sand beach (on a lake) by my hostal, looking at the snow covered Villarica Volcano, quite the contrast. Pucon is beautiful, and there´s tons to do here, today we´re going river rafting on a class 4 river ( class 5 is the highest). We´ll be heading to Santiago in a few days to spend the holiday´s with Erins family. I will be getting my phone set up in Santiago, and will post the details once i have them!! ciao!

Skorpios Tour Dec 8th-15th 2007

I´ve been out of touch for the past week because i was on an amazing cruise around the souther parts of chile on the Skorpios II tour. Among other things, we visited the San Rafael Glacier (more on that later), and stopped at a few towns on the cute island of Chiloe. I honestly would have been happy to just stay on the boat for the whole week, considering how good we were treated (such a change from slumming it in hostals and scraping together meals). A few highlights of the boat were: Open bar, 24/7, more fresh seafood than i´ve ever had in my life, days spent lounging at private thermal baths, 4 meals a day, and bingo parties with the geriatrics.... Did i mention we were the two youngest people on the boat by about 20 years. luxury living, to the max. what a treat. i´m sad its over. i will be posting some pics from the glacier later today (hopefully). Erin has been a bit more diligent about putting together pictures on her site, so if you just can´t wait for my post. look for pics on hers, under Glacier San Rafael, or from Dec 8-15th http://determinada.smugmug.com ok kids, hope you are all staying warm!!!

Day at the Beach

with the penguins! yay!!!

Yay, big chunks of Ice.

Ok, so i know one of the reasons i came to South America was to escape winter, however, the further south i travel, i seem to be encountering some traces of winter, however, i tend to not stay in these places long :) After hanging out with penguins in Puerto Madryn, and a few stops inbetween, Erin and i headed to El Calafate. A pleasent 12 hour bus ride, which took me to the edge of insanity, which i´m not sure i´m back from. Very much in the southern part of Argentina, El Calafate is known for its beautiful monutainous landscapes and Glaciers. Argentina has one of the few Glaciers in the world that is acutally growning and shrinking. About a 2 hour drive from the main town, i was amazed at the vastness of this Glacier, it went for miles and miles, stretching through the water between 2 mountains. The sound of even the smallest boulder falling is ground shaking. You feel like you in some crazy bomb shelter or something! A nice place to sit and reflect about what a small part you really play in the scheme of things.

After taking in all the cold weather we could, Erin and I headed down to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. It took another madness inducing 12 hour bus ride to get there, but it was well worth it. This area is also known for its wildlife and outdoor adventures (i wish i´d made it here for the snowboarding season, but i´m not sad i missed the seriously cold weather). It is also many peoples launching point when visiting Antartica. Though i´d love to go myself (breifly, bbrrrr), the costs are astronomical, so i will save that trip for another day. We have enjoyed wandering the town, and visiting the national parks. Tomorrow we will be heading to Chile, to begin the next leg of our journey. And yes, that will involve yet another painfully long bus ride (not that i´m complaining, the scenery is amazing). We will begin in Chiles southern most cities, and make our way up to the capital, Santiago, by christmas time, to celebrate with Erin´s chilean relatives.

Again, sorry for not updating in so long, i will try and do better with updates! Hope everyone is well! If i find a faster computer, i will try and post more pictures! For now, adios!

Sea Lions, and Guanacos, and Penguins OH MY!

Hi Everyone! Sorry this update has taken so long! I´ve had trouble finding a computer that will upload photos, and whats a blog without photos!!! Anyways, as you can see, i´ve been spending some time with the natives (animals that is). I met up with Erin in Puerto Madryn where we toured the Peninsula Valdes, known for its wide variety of wildlife. Pengins, Sea Lions, Seals, Whales, Orcas, Armadillos (so cute!), and Guanacos (much like a Llama). The weather has been windy, but sunny, so i can´t really complain. The animals were mostly unaffected that we were visiting them, seeing it more as an annoyance that we kept walking in their way to get pictures of them :) i was very tempted to ¨borrow¨ one for a bit, they´re just so cute. It is also baby time for many of the animals, so we were able to see penguin chicks, and baby whales practicing their jumps!

I was in Puerto Madryn for thanksgiving, and was happy to have the company of Erin and her mother. We went out to a nice Parilla (steak house), and had a feast (though not of the turkey and mashed potato variation), and yes, i did have steak (whatever, i´m a flexitarian!), and it was damn good. I haven´t had any since, but as it was thanksgiving, i thought i should be thankful for the wonderful quality meat they have here in Argentina.

Ok, i´ll be catching you all up with where i am now just as soon as i can get another picture downloaded ( we´re talking like 20min per pic here people, so be appreciative!)