Back in the USA

Hey! What happened? Last week at this time I was relaxing on the coast of Chile, staying in a fun little hosteria on the coast, by the museum of Pablo Neruda, famous Chilean poet. Tonight I'm sitting in a familiar 5th wheel in Chanute, Kansas, drinking hot chocolate and wondering if it's going to rain on our travels to Dodge City tomorrow. You know what? They're both good places to be. Great trip - great to be home.

Full Moon in Santiago

We've just arrived in Santiago,Chile and I'm looking out the floor to ceiling windows of a 15th story apt at the full moon and lights of the city. This is a city of 5 million people. We spent the afternoon climbing the hill at Sta Lucia to view it from the top. Snow covered peaks all around, then down into the market to buy vegetables, fruits, nuts and cheeses for an evening snack. This is such a change from the areas that we have been frequenting, like Rupanco, a 30 mile long lake ovverlooked by two hundred ft waterfalls and a volcano, Puerto Varas, on a HUGE lake overlooked by two volcanos and beautiful, verdant farmlands. Well I could go on and on. Chile is fantastic and totally unexpected. It's like the Swiss Alps, the California coastline, a little bit of Mexico and a lot of Germany and so pure. Yesterday we were eating at a German restaurant by the lake, a few days before we were checking the surf in Parga and today it's all about the city. The overriding theme is the food. It's time to get back to the basics there, or face serious consequences!! Oh the stress of it all....

Crossing the Andes

Buenos Dias from South America. After many tries on many computers, I am finally able to access our blog. Bien! We have successfully crossed the Andes and are now in Puerto Varas, Chile. A new paradise for us. This town sits on the edge of a giant lake, with snow topped volcanos behind it. We are here at the beginning of spring so the trees are just leafing out or in flower. After leaving Buenos Aires, Stan and I took and overnight bus to Mendoza. A bus you say? These buses are amazing. It´s like traveling first class on an airline only you are on the ground, a big plus for Stan. They serve meals and your overstuffed leather seat folds down flat so that you can sleep. Movies in English help. They even offer champagne!! Mendoza is very like Napa Valley. The water comes down out of the Andes and they have cobblestone canals along all the streets, with the water running through. Beautiful trees line all the streets as well and it has the feel of a very prosperous town. From there we went on to Bariloche, which is a resort town on a lake in the Andes at the gateway to Patagonia. We stayed in a hotel on the street fronting the lake. It felt as if we were in the Swiss Alps. We went hiking, picnicking and Stan and Tom skied at the resort there. Spring conditions but so beautiful. Crossing to Chile took three ferries and four buses yesterday. Oops, and lots of time going through the customs rigamarole. Vicki Johnson surprised us by meeting us in Peulla, which is where her son Alan was born and they were living at the time. It was so great to see her pop into view. We spend the next two weeks in Chile, where we will have many new adventures. One big difference? Seafood instead of bife. I love it all.

Life in the City

So much to do, so little time. So much to eat and drink, too full to take it all in. The other night we went to the Carnitas district and had a dinner with Ben´s friends Mariano, Dominique, Lula and Emiliano. They took us to a great restaurant that is typically Argentine. Lots of meat!!!! It was all so good. You can not be a vegetarian in this city, you would miss out on too much. Although you could live on the icecream. Stan´s trying that out. We crossed the widest river in the world yesterday to spend time in Colonia. It´s a city of cobblestoned streets and stone buildings, reminiscent of Portugal. Good art, nice people and... good food. I´m exhausted! We came back at 11:00 and went out to dinner, which is the time everyone eats around here. Good thing we can sleep in.Zzzzzzzzz

buenos aires

it´s amazing how hard it is to work this keyboard, here in the internet cafe in buenos aires. if you haven´t noticed yet, i can´t find the caps. that being said, we are having a fantastic time here. we spent the day yesterday in the san telmo district, at the flea market and street tango dancing. there were musicians galore, along with lots of art works, leather crafts and jewelry. it went on for blocks and blocks. so fun, i can´t wait to go back. we spent the day at the modern art museum today. you think you´re going to have time for so much in a day but it is all so interesting and along with staying up till midnight just to get dinner under your belt <(yawn) we´re managing one main thing and lots of walking around. we don´t have internet in our apt at the moment so these blogs will come when they can. hasta pronto!

Leaving on the Next Plane...

We're off to Argentina in the morning and looking forward to seeing South America for the first time. The plane thing? If only we could just blink and be there. I'm thinking it will be worth it though. Our next post will be from Buenos Aires . Until then, hasta luego!

As far as the eye can see

Fields of sunflowers in Wyoming. A vision in yellow.