Long Overdue Travel Update

I`ve been a slacker, I know. This travel update is long past due. My many readers(3 or 4 at my last estimate) must be chomping at the bit. The simple explanation for my latent blogging is that I`ve been adjusting to the new surroundings of the southern cone of South America. It`s been slightly challanging to find blogworthy events in the more developed and...lets call them "less adventurous" countries of Chile and Argentina...but let`s be honest, it`s mostly because I`ve been lazy. There`s plenty to write about.

On the third day of my jeep tour of the Salar de Uyuni, I hopped off the tour (which headed back to Uyuni) and headed across the border of Chile. Going from Bolivia to Chile was traumatic. Sure, Chile was nice, but 8 dollars for a hotel room?? If South America were one big boxing ring (what, you never saw a boxing match with 11 competitors?), Chile would be winning in a dirty way. Hitting below the belt...hitting the pockets. Luckily, I have a cousin that lives in the middle of the destert in Chile, not far from where I crossed the border. He makes furniture out of rough cut chilean lumber and on the weekend he moonlights in an Elvis cover-band... Just let those last two sentences sink in a bit. What??? His name is Sterling (or papa-bear)...but more on him in another blog. I stayed with Ster for a little over a week and basically did what I like to call "recharging the batteries" (which involves many activities, and inactivities; one of which is literally recharging my batteries).

We went up to his father in law`s extra house in Calama where Sterling has his improv woodshop, to work on his furniture. I planed his future headboard, and he fixed it. From Calama I took an luxurious and expensive bus to Salta Argentina, Sterling went back to his bizarre life in Antofogasta.

Wow. Argentina at last. Salta was a very beautiful, clean, medium sized city. Immediately I noted the Argentine wanna-be-euro feeling (I think I just "smithed" that word, and just verbed the word smith). Actually, I`ve never been to Europe, but Argentina is what I imagine a country would be like if it were a wanna-be-euro country. They have great italian food, with sidewalk cafès and they give you little glasses of soda water to wash your food down with. That`s nice. Thanks Argentines. In Salta I hung out with the Roma-blooded German and The Falconer (more in another blog). They were a most pleasant couple to third wheel it with.

From Salta I went to Córdoba, where I stayed in my first dorm style hostal. I let a group of Israelis convince me to go out dancing with them. We were sitting around chatting and learning hebrew. When 1 a.m. roled around I asked if they were still going out. Yes. Really?? Apparantly people in Argentina don`t even show up at the disco until 3 a.m. That explains the fact that everything shuts down from 1 until 5 every day...recuperation afternoon naps. The Argentine schedule is another euro (Spanish) carryover...siesta in the afternoon and open until late. Dancing was fun until I almost got my ass kicked by a drunk argentine a-hole at the coat check. Then, recognized as a week link, I was elbowed and shoved and yelled (argentines are great at yelling) out of line by another group of a-holes. It was shameful. An Israeli girl ended up getting my coat for me. My friends laughed.."come to Israel, we`ll teach you how to push". Well, come to the US and we`ll subsidize your pushing classes. In Cordoba I roomed with the Traveling Acrobatic-Dance Team...two colombians. Again, more in a future blog.

From Cordoba I rode to Rosario because someone said it was nice. It was nice.

From Rosario I came on an overnighter to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is mammoth. It reminds me - and once again, I`m making comparisons based on knowledge I just don`t have...but bear with me - it reminds me of a mixture of New York, Rome, London and Paris. It`s got a few parts with big lights and whatnot that are Time Square-ish, but not quite. It has several walking streets, with street cafès and pizzerias that remind me of what Rome is like in my imagination. Some of the big avenues are reminiscent of Paris`s...in the movies. And Bs. As. is full of old, tall buildings with that euro-feel that must come from London.

I`m staying in a hostal right next to the world-famous Milhouse...we get the rejects. The Milhouse is famous amongst backpackers for it`s "ambiance". Which means that it`s a nonstop party, and the receptionist makes jokes about threesomes to you and your friends. Buenos Aires is supposedly THE place in South America for nightlife...easy access to all the goodies. Cocaine, weed, E, booze, sex, etc, etc. My roomates, Casper and Jasper, the Decadent Dutch Duo (more in another blog) would definitely seem to corroborate these rumors. There timetable seems to be the inverse of mine. I usually wake up when they come in from their nightly debauchery, and I generally wind down when they`re gearing up to head out in search of coke and an easy score.

I`m anxious to get on the road again. I`m waiting for my visa application to wade through the cesspool of red tape at the Brazilian Consulate. Supposedly I get my passport and visa back on Monday. It cost me 100 bucks...tit for tat...very cute Brazil, very cute.