Always Safe, Always On Time

When Heidi and I were on our honeymoon in Cozumel, I saw a sign on the ferry between the mainland and the island that read "Mexico: Always Safe, Always on time". This statement was funny to me because it is in no way based in reality. I have often reflected on this idea in the 3+ years since, realizing more and more that in this sense most places and life in general are the same: they are never guaranteed to be always safe or always on time. This is not the nature of the world we live in, even less so when you are traveling. Patience and flexibility, that's the name of the game. Even now, in the second day of our trip, there have been multiple misunderstandings, minor irritations and inconveniences to go along with the excitement, fun and new experiences. For example, who could have predicted that I would be sitting directly in front of a 12 year old girl on the flight here, who's primary drive in life seemed to be kicking my seat every five minutes throughout the 9 hour flight? Things like this cannot be avoided or changed, you just have to go with the flow and hope for the best.

February 14th at 6pm: screaming down highway 101 in Wesley's CRV, a car that boasts over 250,000 miles and where 65MPH feels like 100MPH. With Wes at the helm however, we made it safely to SFO on time, full of adrenalin and alive- thanks Wes! We left on our first red eye flight at 12am, SF to DF, where we would spend the following day. Heidi's family stuffed us with delicious food, we showered, napped and recovered as we prepared for our next, and much longer red eye flight to Buenos Aires, leaving at 11:40pm and lasting just under 9 hours. It was a long flight, they served us dinner at 3am and then put on a movie, I'm still not sure what the logic there was but the pasta was delicious! (I say that now, but when they flipped on the lights 2 hrs into the flight and brought out dinner, waking me up, I was not too pleased).

February 16th, sometime in the afternoon: Roughly 6,500 miles, 36 hours and 2 red eye flights later, we are in the southern hemisphere for the first time, relaxing in our hostel "Puerto Limon" (http://www.puertolimonhostel.com/) in the San Telmo neighborhood close to the city center. My first thought on dismebarking from the plane was "wait, it IS summer here!" (don't ask me how I mixed that one up). Now I just have to decide which pair of pants to abandon.

After crash landing in Buenos Aires last week (no not literally, I am referring to our lack of planning before arriving), we have had a week to explore, rest and plan our next move. Some days are more eventful than others; for example on Saturday we spent 14 hours outside our hostal visiting different areas and sights, eating, drinking until well after midnight, and then yesterday we spent over half the day trying to figure out how to buy ferry and bus tickets to and around Uruguay. Frustrating? Yes, but we now know how it all works and we got our tickets.

Yesterday we went to a soccer game in River Plate stadium, which holds about 55,000 people; soccer games have a reputation for being dangerous here, so we went with a tour group. Imagine 55,000 people chanting, singing, clapping and yelling in unison, children swearing and chanting alongside their parents, and the home team won 2-0! After the game, we got the real scoop from the owner of our hostel (this is a new hostel, Hostel Rayuela, much much better than the last one!). He explained that in Argentina, "futbol" is like religion for people, people take it very seriously; he added that back around 2004 there was a soccer season that was cancelled half way through because so many people were being beaten and killed at the games... now they don't serve alcohol during the games and the visiting team's fans get to leave (escape) 40 minutes before the home team fans flood out into the streets... these two things have changed the soccer scene in Buenos Aires, making it a passionate and crazy, but also family-friendly event. We had fun, I recommed this to anyone passing through.

Buenos Aires is enjoyable and exciting but it's also a city and has it's stresses (for me anyway), like noisy busses, dirty air (compared to the country), dog shit everywhere, etc. While I was there, I was thinking to myself that to some extent cities are cities and they are all alike; they offer more to see and do but they also carry more stress, noise and people. I prefer to spend less time in the next city we stop in.

Another highlight of Buenos Aires was seeing two Tango shows, one that we paid for and included a lesson (very fun!) and dinner, and another that was put on in a public plaza and was attended by thousands of people. Tango is a huge part of the culture here; one could perhaps argue that Tango is to Argentina as Salsa is to Cuba.

The weather during our time in BA was both sunny and rainy but always between 70 and 80 degrees F and always fairly humid. At night is was largely the same as during the day, and in the first 2 nights, jet lagged and disoriented, I was turned into what my friend Owen knowingly described as a "mosquito burrito". Now I cover myself in deet spray every night before bed.

That brings me to our route, which we are still modifying almost daily as we think, plan and talk to other travellers from all over (germans, portuguese, brazilians, french, australians, brits, and an overwhelming number of israelis). There is so much to see, so many places to go, and an always limited amount of time and money. The expensive nature of the travel scene here does not help, everything is marked up due to two things: travellers have money and therefor can afford to pay a lot (otherwise how would we be here with our cameras and backpacks?), and it is the middle of summer here and the "peak" (expensive) season for travel. I suppose this is how value is placed on good and services in a free market: how much are people able and willing to pay for them? Anyway, back to our route. We started in Buenos Aires, Argentina, then we took a 2 hr. ferry accross the Rio de Plata to Colonia, Uruguay, were we spent 1 night. Next we went on to Punto del Diablo, literally across the country (4hrs by bus), located on the west coast about 1 hr from southwestern Brazil (we will not be travelling to brazil because of lack of time and because they now require that American's get travel visas for a couple hundred dollars, more on this in the next entry). We have been here 2 days and tomorrow we bus to La Pedrerra, another small beach town in the middle of nowhere about 2 hrs between here and Montevideo. Next we will either return to Buenos Aires or stay in Montevideo to either fly or bus to Iguazu falls (in Argentina)... it's 20 hrs by bus and very expensive to fly so we are weighing our options. Next we fly south to El Calafate, Argentina (in the enormous Patagonia region) and spend 2-3 weeks hiking in what is said to be some of the most incredible mountains, glaciers, and natural beauty in the world. We are debating going to Ushuaiah, which is nicknamed "the end of the world" because it is the southernmost settlement in the world, just accross the strait of Magellan from Antarctica. The debate is that it's out of the way, supposed to be very touristy and expensive and all of the other areas that we want to explore in Patagonia are relatively close (El Calafete, El Chalten, and Torres del Paine, which is in Chile). In the end, things are far apart and time is limited, we are always torn between the fast (but expensive) route and the slow (and cheaper) route.

I will write about Uruguay another day, for now I have to go figure out how and when we are going to Iguazu. Then maybe a surfing lesson and a nap? Also, please excuse any typos and errors, if you could only see the places that I am writing from, you would be amazed that there aren't more.

February 24th, way too early in the morning: late for our ferry to Colonia, Uruguay with a madman taxi driver at the wheel. He's one of those guys that drives so crazy, weaving in and out of traffic, that you constantly feel that your about to crash, and yet you know he won't (probably) because he drives a 2009 VW Jetta which he has managed not to crash or even scratch in the last 2 years of driving this way... hooray, we made it through immigration and were the last 2 poeple to slip through as the gates closed! Speaking of immigration, Uruguay did not charge me to get a "visa" like Argentina and Brazil now do (I can't remember if I addressed this in a previous post, so I will do it now); both of these nations recently started charging travellers of certain nationalities (such as the United States) to enter their boarders. They call them "reciprocal fees", and they are quite clear that these charges exist only to "reciprocate" the fees that we charge them as tourists in the USA. Even the amount is the same in Argentina (i.e. I paid $140 USD to enter Argentina because that's what the USA charges Argentine travellers to get a travel visa). It's good for 10 years and it seems fair enough to me really, although still slightly annoying (we're not #1 anymore?)

Anyway, we spent 1 night in Colonia del Sacramento (Southwestern corner of UR), which lies just accross the wide mouth of the Rio de Plata from it's "cousin" city of Buenos Aires. It's a beautiful, relaxed town of about 15,000, with cobbled streets, less humidity than BA, and a constant coastal breeze. We got to our hostal (www.elviajerocolonia.com/), which was acceptable but not great, rented some bikes and road all over the town, including a 15K stretch of highway that runs along the beach. We didn't swim because the water was brown; it looks like ocean with waves breaking and the wole bi, but I understood from locals that it's a mix of salt and "fresh" water due to the enormous quantity flowing out of the Rio de Plata (it's rainy season in Southwestern Brazil, where the river comes from). Later that night we took a walk at sunset and had a nice outdoor meal by candlelight under the stars- some wine, fish (not from the dirty river, we asked), and other goodies. It was perfect, a great place to visit for 1 day and night.

In the morning we woke up late again and almost missed our bus, but our luck held and we made it. Before I go on to talk about our next destination, Punto del Diablo, I wanted to rant a bit about the Uruguayan bus system. Since we were planning to spend 3 nights in Punto del Diablo, then 2 in La Pedrerra, and then Montevideo and back to the ferry which goes from Colonia to BA, we naturally wanted to buy all of our bus tickets for this week (about 5 tickets each) because it's peak tourist season here and things fill up and people can get stranded. However Uruguay had other plans for us. The following is a more or less direct translation of the converstion I had with the clerk selling bus tickets:

Clerk: "here are your tickets to Punto del Dibablo, sir"

Me: "Oh, thanks, I also wanted to get a ticket from Punto del diablo to La Pedrerra and another from La pedrerra back here to catch our ferry on March 6th"

Clerk: (looking at me as if she suddenly realized she was having a conversation with an idiot) "I don't know when THEIR schedules are, I can only sell you tickets for the first leg"

Me: "But it is the same company, right? You really don't have access to that information?"

Clerk: (with increasing irritation) "No, of course not!"

Needless to say everything worked out, we got our tickets mostly step by step but some where also available in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Still, this irritated me, and I kep asking myself the entire time I was in Uruguay, how does the country function is this is how things are done? How can you actually plan to be somewhere and make sure you are there when you said/made reservations for? You can't. Welcome to Uruguay!

On the other hand, Uruguay was amazing. Friendly people (except those working for the bus companies), beautiful beaches and countryside, and a very laid back attitude made this my favorite part of the trip so far. People seem to worry less and enjoy life more, and in the end things mostly work out, although you might not get things (or bus tickets) when you want. Maybe this is the price you have to pay to exist in a more relaxed cultue; sacrifice efficiency and control for calm and peace of mind. Go with the flow.

Uruguayans drink TONS of Mate, a bitter herb drink that is put into a round gourd cup and then hot water added and sucked up through a metal straw that filters out the chunks. It is also very popular in Argentina, but they add sugar and usually drink it at home; in Uruguay, 8 out of 10 people or groups walking anywhere, have a mate gourd and a thermous full of hot water (for refills). It's a social drink and the gourd is usually passed around. Uruguayans say their mate is much better than the Argentinian stuff, but a little research suggested that it is all produced in Brazil anyhow and exported to both places. I am trying to develope a taste for it as a potential coffee substitute. So far... mas o menos.

Punta del Diablo was great, it looked to me like an old "wild west" frontier town, complete with dirt roads, a "sheriff" station and roaming dogs. I guess the hippie travellers are the big difference. Located about 30 minutes from the Brazilian boarder in the northeast corner of Uruguay, the long-stretching miles of beaches were amazing (some with giant dunes, some flat), the water not warm but not cold either- perfect. We stayed in a hostel (www.hosteldelaviuda.com) with 38 other guests, sharing 1 kitchen and 3 bathrooms. It sounds like a lot, but it seemed to work well somehow and this ended up being our favorite hostel so far. We met tons of nice people from Israel, Canada, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, England and even a swiss guy who told me an entertaining story about being arrested in Pakastan. He talked so much, in fact, that we almost missed our bus to La Pedrerra! The hostel was a bit overwhelming but fun, and taking off to the beach was always an option to escape the crowd. Heidi and I were sleeping in a tent on the front lawn, which was actually really comfortable and much cheaper, plus it gave us some extra privacy since we weren't in the main building with everyone (we still have not done "dorm" sleeping, agreeing that privacy and space are too important to us, but other couples travelling together all tell us "we started out that way, and then we got somewhere where that was the only option, and it wasn't so bad... now that's all we do" It is much cheaper). We visited the national park nearby, which is full of Eucalyptus (sp?) and Pine forests, as well as an old Spanish fort/museum on top of a hill. The other day was a beach day, in which I attempted to surf, caught a few waves and realized how out of shape I am. It was fun but now I am incredibly sore. We left Punto del Diablo after 2 days and 3 nights feeling like we wanted to stay longer. "Next trip", we keep telling ourselves.

La Pedrerra (located around the Southeastern tip of UR) is more deserted and equally as beautiful. We spent both days on the beach, I body surfed and boogie boarded in some waves that were too rough to surf, and I got an epic sun burn on my back from just 30 minutes without a shirt or sunscreen. The color difference between my but and lower back is now truly startling, but I live to surf another day. This town felt more remote and relaxed, had fewer travellers and more families, and seemed to have even more miles of beach, stretching out of sight in both directions. We also went from staying in a hostel (www.lacasadelaluna.com.uy) with 38 other people, to a hostal with 2 other people, a nice couple from Buenos Aires. It was really totally different from Punto del Diablo. Our eccentric hostel-host in La Pedrerra was Martin (pronounced Marteen). He liked smoking pot, talking, gardening and composting, listening to Led Zepellin and Jimmy Hendrix, and smiled ear to ear almost constantly. The first day there, he gave us a ride in his 1960 station wagon (the make and model escape me at the moment) to the store for "supplies", and then dissappeared for 40 minutes, later explainig that he ran into a friend who invited him out for coffee. It's hard to be irritated with someone who is so damn happy all the time. Unfortunately Martin did not take care of everything, indluding flea protection for the 3 cats and 1 dog, so the last night there we did not sleep at all, because of the feeling of little fleas climbing all over us (the deet kept them from biting though). What can you do? we didn't have any problems the first night and it was too late to move somewhere else... we arrived in Montevideo truly exhausted.

Finally, we went to Montevideo for 2 nights. Arriving after no sleep and with no hostel reservation in the Montevideo bus terminal was probably the low of the trip so far. we called and called but everything was full due to carnival. Then we found 2 places and chose one quickly and hopped in a cab. It was bad, real bad- our tiny, dirty room was hanging right over a very busy street with buses and TWO bars but we were tired and almost everywhere was full. We paid for 1 night (40 bucks) and stayed for about 2 hours before coming to our senses. I called the only other place that had even dorm rooms available and struck a deal with the manager: since we wanted a privare room (which they didn't have), but they had an entire dorm room with 10 beds that was unoccupied, they rented it to us for the price of a private room. So we strapped on our packs and fled... that was without a doubt the best 40 bucks I ever threw away. We ended up at the Palermo Art Hostel (www.palermoarthostel.com), which was much cleaner, quietter and nicer. Plus we had an entire dorm room to ourselves. Montevideo is a large city, with large city problems like noise and traffic, but it still has the laid back Uruguay vibe.

The coolest part of our time there was walking around at night and discovering a free, open air rock/orchestra concert along a small pond. There were a few thousand young people there, very friendly scene, light show and everything. We rented a paddle boat for $2.50 USD (works like a bike, you use your fet) at the opposite end of the pond and paddled over for a front-row view of the show. Don't ask me what the name of the band was, but with the friendly crowd, lights, music, and energy of the whole evet, it was very cool.

That's all for Uruguay! Stay tuned for more on Buenos Aires, Iguazu and El Calafate/Patagonia.

Has it really been a month since I wrote in the blog? The time has been flying by, but at the same time, it feels like we have been travelling for a year. We had our first touch of home sickness a few days ago in Santiago, but we are glad that we still have roughly a month left to see Peru, Ecuador and Columbia. We have been and will continue to move fast, trying to maximize our time here and see and do as much as possible; some friends and family have argued that this method of travel is exhausting and that it would be better to slow down and rest in one place for a week or more. I agree, but who knows when, if ever, we will be in South America again with the ability to see all these places. So onward we go, rarely staying in one place for more than 3 days and constantly planning the next move. It's been fun, exciting, unpredictable and frustrating. We are currently in Iquique, Northern Chile and tomorrow we leave for Peru. Here's a quick recap of the last month, and hang in there, this is going to be a long one.

Iguazu

We took a 19 hr. bus to Iguazu, our first of many such journeys. It was a "cama" bus, so the seats reclined completely; meals were served with champagne or whiskey, movies in English rather than being dubbed (now a thing of the past). It was cheaper than flying but more expensive than the basic bus service. If your going to be on a bus for more than 10 hours, I recommend paying a little more for the first class treatment.
The town of Puerto Iguazu itself was nothing special, just a place were travellers slept and took buses to Parque Iguazu, about 30 minutes away. We had our first shared dorm experience here, and it wasn't half bad; there were 16 beds in our room and it was pretty full. What we discovered is that in cities people go out and party a lot so private rooms are essesntial, but in places where hiking and park visits are the only reason to be there, dorms are fine because everyone goes to bed around 9 or 10 and gets up around dawn. It's also way cheaper and a good way to meet other travellers.
Iguazu itself was amazing but expensive. This was my first experience with Argentina's "two tier" system, in which foriegners pay a different amount than locals. In this case, if you are from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay or Brazil (Arg neighboring countries), you pay 60% less than eceryone else. This really pissed me off. I am used to the USA where most parks are free, and if not, at least we all pay the same amount! I kept thinking "could they be more obvious about this discrimination?" So we paid the $25 per person admission fee to get in, which i's only good for ONE DAY! Parque Iguazu is enourmous, the falls themselves stretching over 5Km, so it is really a 2 day visit. We also decided to skip the brazilian side of the falls, which offers more of a panoramic view, because I would have had to pay for a brazilian tourist visas (which only Americans pay, see "The two-tier system and tourist visas" below) of $150 to enter Brazil. No thanks. Brazil is huge and by far the most expensive country in Latin America to travel in so we have decided that Brazil is another trip unto itself. Anyway, we spent 2 days in Iguazu, walking along the catwalks and looking at the various waterfalls, which vary wildly in size and volume of water. The highlight was "La Garganta del Diablo" (The Devil's Throat), which is by far the largest of the falls. We also took a boat tour, which takes you up to the face of the Devil's Throat, and goes under the falls, drenching you and giving you an idea of just how powerful they really are. This was expensive but well worth it... when are we ever going to be in Iguazu again?

El Calafate

So after Iguazu we flew to El Calafate (southern Patagonia) since the bus ride would have been around 40 hours, much more than I am willing to put myself, or Heidi through. It's a tourist trap town that one visits to see the national parks that are around it, namely the Parque Nacional los Glacieres. As the name suggests, this main attraction has glaciers! It's also very expensive, and once again we paid twice what the locals paid (after paying for transportation to and from the park). The glacier, however, was incredible (see our pics on facebook).
A funny story from our time in El Calafate took place on our trip to the local "reserva ecologica" on our first day there. This ecological reserve was very inexpensive to visit and had more bird life than I have ever seen in one place: falcons, eagles, ducks, flamingos and more. We took a lot of pictures, enjoyed the 2 hour loop hike, and got really close to some of the birds; we were also adopted by what might be the cutest stray dog in all of Patagonia, who accompanied us on the trail. The only thing that was odd about the "reserve" was the smell... I thought it was bird poop, Heidi thought it was dog poop from the strays that roam freely there, but wait! About a week later in Chile, another traveller from Buenos Aires told us that this "reserve" is actually the place were all the sewage from the town of El Calafate is dumped after being processed... the fact that they charged us to see a fecal holding ground is offensive to me, how is that an ok thing to do??! The glacier was incredible, and watching it calve peices of ice the size of apartment buildings was unbelievable but overall Calafate was dissapointing.

El Chalten

Chalten, 3 hours north of Calafate and still part of the Glacier National Park, was like heaven on earth by comparison. The park entrance was free here, the town small and inviting, and the day hikes beautiful. We did 2 hikes and stayed 3 days. The first hike took 10 hours round trip but took us to the base of Mt. Fitz Roy on an incredible sunny day, which is very rare there. This was a truly unforgettable hike, and I have since promised myself that I will return to Chalten at some point in the future, to explore the backcountry there for a week or more. If you are ever in Patagonia, don't miss El Chalten!

Puerto Natales and The "W" hike in Torres del Paine

After Chalten, we decided to head east into Chile instead of South to Ushuaia, the self-proclamed "end of the world" that other travellers warned us was little more than an overpriced tourist trap (and after all, wouldn't Antartica really be the end of the world?). Puerto Natales, Chile was a nice enough town but once again, a place that people visit almost exclusively for the hiking. Boasting 5 local microbreweries and only an hour bus ride to Torres del Paine national park, Puerto Natales had me feeling right at home. One thing that worried us, however was the weather; since we arrived in Patagonia we quickly discovered that the Fall in Patagonia is COLD, about 40 degrees F during the day, and very windy. But hey, we came this far, and we wanted a piece of the famous "W" hike in Torres del Paine.
The hike itself is about 50K, and takes 5 days to literally walk in the shape of a W (hence the name). You can see the pics on facebook, but let's just say that the views were beautiful and the weather terrible. Our rental tent did not keep water out, our sleeping bags were not warm enough and our sleeping pads very thin. The hikes between camps took 7-10 hours a day and camping is only allowed in the designated camps. It was so cold that taking more than 10 minutes to rest along the way was uncomfortable and one day the wind was so strong that it literally knocked Heidi over, forcing us to just hike faster because there was nowhere to go. Apparently the giant glacier and hole in the ozone layer directly above Patagonia makes the weather here especially unpredictable. It was a true test of endurance and willpower but we did it. Unfortunately the last day, in which the famous Torres del Paine (towers of pain) are visible, it started snowing while I was making breakfast at dawn. So we rolled up our cold wet little tent and retreated to the base camp for Irish Coffee and sandwiches, a move that neither of us regret. We took the first available bus back to Puerto Natales and had dinner at one of the breweries. If you are ever in this area, I recommed taking your own gear and going in Summer (December to February).

El Bolson

The day after the W we did nothing other than take our clothes to a laundromat and watch tv in the hostel (The Singing Lamb, to date the best hostel we have stayed in). The next day we took the 7am bus to El Calafate (Arg), arriving at noon. Not wanting to stay there, we hopped on a 22 hour bus to El Bolson. Needless to say we arrived in El Bolson dirty, tired and with no hostel reservation. But the town is small enough that after walking around to 5 different places we found a suitable hostel- we learned the hard way that many, if not most hostels are somewhat shitty, so it's always worth looking around for a good one.
El Bolson, oficially out of Patagonia at the center of Argentina´s "Lake District", was cute, full of locally brewed beer, free hiking, and a fantastic Saturday afternoon market with crafts, food, and more; we bought local cheese, honey, beer, soap and some crafts. The coolest thing we did though, had to be the taxi ride up the mountain to the "Bosque Tallado" (carved forest, once the site of a wildfire, local artists have since carved the dead tree stumps into various sculptures). The taxi charged us 25 bucks for the 30 minute ride up a mountain road that can best be described as Hearst meets Lost Coast (two of the worst roads in Mendocino County)... and we did it in a 2002 Honda. I have no doubt that the damage to the brakes alone was more than what we paid the guy to take us up. We had a great view of El Bolson and the sculptures were cool too. Later that afternoon we took a flight in a 1958 4 seater airplane that a local guy rents our for tours; we saw lakes, farms, mountains and more. On a side note, farming hops is the main business in El Bolson (next to tourism, I imagine). The ride was very shaky but exciting as hell, we came off it grinning and ready for our trip north.

Pucon

Pucon is about 5 hours east of El Bolson in Chile's Lake District. This was our favorite place on the trip so far. Pucon is small and inviting, everyone is friendly (Argentina often seems to suffer from a lack of friendly people, particularly people working in the service and tourism industries). And to make it even better, it's perched just between a giant lake and the still-active and smoldering "Volcan Villarica". To answer your obvious questions: no, we did not swim in the lake because it was freezing and yes, of course we hiked to the summit of the volcano! The best part of the 8 hour hike was probably being at the top and peering into the smoking crater at the top (no lava visible though), but sliding down the face of the glacier on our backs was a close second. We had a 5 minute lesson from our guide on how to use our ice picks as a brake, but it was almost impossible to stop yourself and at one point I abandoned my pick to avoid impailing myself- I know that sounds awful, but it was super fun.
We stayed 5 days in Pucon, and mostly did nothing but walk around and hang out in cafes; that's the kind of place it is, it just makes you want to stick around. We left reluctantly for Santiago, another epic bus journey that took 24 hours.

Santiago and Lollapalooza 2011

Santiago was an appealing city, nice people and cleaner than Buenos Aires by a long shot (people clean the streets daily, I assume they are paid by the government), this makes a big difference. The first day we arrived on our all night bus and went right from the hostel to a 6 hour walking tour of the city; it was free and totally worth it. The highlight was seeing Pablo Neruda's house and learning about the 1973 Military coup of the Chealean governemtn, in which thousands of chileans were killed or simply "dissapeared". The regime had power for about 20 years and was notorious for torture and oppressing the people. I am fascinated by this kind of thing and enjoyed seeing how the young people born since the regime ended, much like in Spain, have blossomed. The generation gap is huge, I'm guesing mostly due to how much the country has changed in the last 2 decades.
We originally intended to skip Santiago and continue to Mendoza and Salta in the north of Argentina, but then we realized that we were passing by on the exact dates of the Lollapalooza 2011 music festival (http://www.lollapalooza.cl/en/) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSQEr0PPG_8&feature=related), held for the first time outside of the US. How could we pass that up? The festival was 2 full days and the lineup consisted of many bands we hadn't heard of; two that I really wanted to see though were the Flaming Lips and The National. It was also my first "dry" festival, apparently public drinking in any event is prohibited in Chile and Heidi and I enjoyed this because people were more relaxed and there were fewer assholes to deal with (almost none, really). Also, without any planning on our part, our hostel (which was awesome) was a 5 minute metro ride to the festival. It was 12pm to 11pm both days, and they even had a 2 acre area with hammocks that you could chill out in for a break. There were 5 stages and we used the time to get to know a lot of new bands as well as enjoy some already familiar ones; the following is a list of which bands we liked and why:

- Best Performance- Flaming Lips (the lead singer crowd surfed in a giant bubble, they shot out confetti and giant balloons for the crowd to bat around... and the music was great... also 2 drunk canadian guys right in front of us who snuck zip lock bags of rum in and would not stop screaming "yoshimi" (the name of a song) gave me a shot when I also screamed "yoshimiiii", pumping my fist in the air. I don't think they realized I was making fun of them)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RCHdJ8Ku0Y&feature=related) This video is poor quality but I am sick of looking for a better one... besides, this is how it was from the crowd.

- Adam's Pick for best music- The national (shout out to my friend Chris for introducing me to this band!)

- Heidi's pick for best music- two way tie between the Flaming Lips and the National

- Band that my mom would liked the most- Jane's Addiction
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L-1KF_2toE&playnext=1&list=PL8A429E545683428B) Low quality video but it gives you the general idea.

- Best electronica performer Adam & Heidi- Armin Van Buuren, voted number 1 DJ in the world 3 years in a row. Wow.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTeNGh3rS6g)

- Band that we were the least prepared for and decided to go into the middle of the crowd for- Jane's Addiction

- Best new reggae band- Quique Neira

- Best chilean band- Los Bunkers and Quique Neira

- Worst singer award- Mala Rodriguez (why did we wait 45 minutes to hear this?)

- Worst performer- Empire of the Sun- If you like this, there might be something seriously wrong with you.

- Band that I loved in High School and never thought I would see in concert- Sublime! I still remember most of the words to their songs too.

San Pedro de Atacama

This was a cool town about 20 hrs by bus to the north of Santiago, we spent 2 1/2 days there and did several cool excursions. It's located in the heart of the Atacama desert, which is the driest in the world and also home of the worlds second largest salt flat. We visited some awesome places here, later I will put pics on facebook. Other than the cool excusrions, this place is a tourist trap and I calculated about 5 tourists per 1 local. Also our hostel was terrible (though cheap) and we barely slept for 2 nights.

Iquique

I hereby declare Iquique the armpit of Northern Chile. Do not go there unless you have to. Cockroaches, rotten fish smell, dirty beaches and not so polite people. Heidi had an especailly hard time here, it was just gross. We planned to stay 2 or 3 days but obviously decided upon arrival that 1 was plenty, we hopped on the first bus outta there... viva Peru!