Reached Salta in northwest Argentina by myself about a week ago. We're approaching the stage now where I'm in a bit of a precarious passport situation. It is going to be VERY, VERY close to see if I end up with enough space to finish out the trip as planned. Technically, most countries require two blank pages for admittance. At this point, I have zero completetely blank pages remaining, but about ten "boxes" left over for entry and departure stamps. Keeping my fingers crossed.
This is lovely town I'm in. It sits at the base of the mountains, has a beautiful central square and houses half-a-million people, but feels much smaller. While here, I've taken the gondola up to the top of the adjacent mountain to "go up and look down", went rafting, did four ziplines starting at 130 meters high and extending over 600 meters across, laid by the pool lots and ate too many empanadas for lunch and red meat for dinner.
Met some nice young folks while rafting. Ended up going to dinner with two sisters from Edmonton (that's Canada!!) and a couple who just graduated from the University of Colorado. Was nice to eat out with others after too much eating alone, but the conversation was dominated by "camp" discussion. And I'm not talking "Dame Edna Camp"...I mean "Bill Murray-in-Meatballs-Camp". Who knew there was a whole sub-culture of former camp counselors? These four at dinner were finishing each other's sentences and nodding knowingly as stories were told. I, the youngest of five, having never attended overnight camp, sat silently and ate my cheese-filled fried dough.
I also did a full-day trip to the Valles Calchaquies town of Cachi. Gorgeous drive, but among the driver/"guide" and the other participants (parents and daughter), I was the only one who spoke a word of english. It's good for me to be quiet sometimes I suppose.
Used up essentially the last of my Starwood hotel points and am living large in a two-room suite for about $45 a night....with evening turndown service and brownie! Definitely nice after gritting it out in Bolivia and the unpleasant accomodation that is before me. My six-night stay here was composed of four different reservations....something that caused a virtual Sheraton board meeting to sort out today.
Tomorrow night I switch hotels in Salta and meet up with a tour group again. I actually went to the opening meeting with these folks last week in Bolivia, but then elected to skip the first week, as they were hitting places I had already visited. To say the least, the group appeared.....YOUNG. Not sure how fun the individuals will be, but there are some cool destinations on the itinerary.
After a couple more nights in Salta, we'll head south to Cafayette and Mendoza in Argentina. Then we cross the border and stay in Santiago, Chile where we pick up additional folks for the group. From Santiago, we head further south to Pucon and Puerto Varas. The we finish out the tour by crossing BACK into Argentina and the town of Bariloche and the capital, Buenos Aires.
In B.A. I meet back up with Victoria from Ireland and hopefully Kevin Connell (and Jean). After a few days there, I fly to Rio and celebrate the end of Lent. That's what Carnival is, right??
Today I also made a decision that six nights in Rio for Carnival at the end of this adventure was excessive, so I cancelled my flight and re-booked for two nights earlier. Among other advantages, it saved me $700! Get that third-floor suite ready, Mary and David! I now fly out of Rio late at night on Sunday, February 23 and arrive in Washington D.C. at 6:34am on February 24. Who in the DC area is ready to pick me up!?!!?!? Not all at once.
Few last exciting tidbits:
-I bought a new toothbrush today after going 13 months with the same one
-This evening I watched my first episode of "The Office" in over a year
-Mark Mahar (who evidently doesn't do mass emails) is getting married
-While in Bonito, Brazil last month, completely randomly, a Canadian fellow named Bryan was staying in my hotel. He was on my tour in Egypt and Jordan almost a year ago. As Steven Wright says, "It's a small world...but I wouldn't want to paint it."
-I forgot to mention that I visited San Pedro prison in La Paz about three weeks ago. Made somewhat famous in a book called, "Marching Powder", which everyone on the previous tour read except me, this is a jail like no other. They have essentially just built walls around a city block and allowed the inmates to operate it as their own little town. Kids and wives reside there too. You may open your own "business" if you want. You get basic accomodation for free, but if you have the money, there are nicer rentals. The guards stay on the other side of the bars. Oh, and they openly process and sell cocaine. Seriously. It is Bolivia after all.
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4 comments:
rstrick... you can have pages added to your passport at any US consulate or embassy if you're going to be near one.
It's usually a walk-up service with minimal delay (and as of 2007 it was gratis).
miketown on VUsports
I already had 23 pages added. It's a one-time thing.
Appreciate it though.
do you fly into iad or dca?
where do you need to go?
if you are flying into dulles i can pick you up. i might be able to swing national, but that would probably have to involve you buying breakfast...
Brad W.
Brad, I fly into IAD and I really do appreciate the offer. Think I have it handled though.
Nonetheless, will buy you a meal next time you're up in Philly.
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