to buenos aires, continued

I'm on a bus watching a French movie with Spanish subtitles. Awesome.

the busride back to mendoza

heading to buenos aires

Right now I'm on another Isilin bus heading back to Mendoza where we'll be catching another bus to take us to Buenos Aires overnight.

It was a good stay in San Rafael. Got to chill put a bit after the first week in Santiago and Mendoza. We chilled at the pool a bit, explored the property a bit, and hung out with the dog. And did I mention the food was fantastic?

In addition to just chillin, we also went to check out a winery that made champagne, went rafting and also horseback riding.

So here I am on the road back to Mendoza. On the left in the distance are the snow capped peaks of the Andes. To the right is a whole lot of nothing. Much like most of Nevada, actually. There really isn't much here outside of the mountains and the areas that are irrigated. Without irrigation not much grows here.

Word on the street is that the area around Buenos Aires is grassland. I also hear that it will be hot as hell. It's supposed to be 100F there for the next few days - and probably humid. Wish us luck!

the bus to san rafael

heading to san rafael

It's 6:05 in the morning and I am aboard a brand spanking new bus
heading to San Rafael. Bus is run by iselin and it's a double decker
with huge seats and flat screen TVs. And it looks like we're getting
coffee. Yay.

the drive across the andes

It's ten in the morning and I'm on a bus to Mendoza, Argentina. We're still not in the mountains yet, so not much to see. It's been an interesting morning so far. Got up early, went to the bus station, had an interesting time anxiously waiting for the bus that eventually showed up after a good wait. We were asked to arrive at eight for our bus, which was to leave at 8:30. That was around when the bus actually showed up, although I have to say we did leave within fifteen minutes or so, so not too bad. Some better signage would had been nice, but I suppose the busses are nicer than those back home (especially after the driver fixed the a/c), so I can't really complain.

Yesterday we did a nice long walk to a fancy mall. Allegedly the "best mall in South America." It was like a regular mall in the US, complete with a Starbucks, TGIF, etc. Perhaps anticlimactic, but it was a nice day for a walk.

Overall I've found Santiago pretty nice. Great parks, fantastic public transportation, and pretty lively overall - so long as it's not a Sunday or holiday. Everything closes then, which was a bit annoying since we were here around New Year's. Still, I enjoyed it. A bit more food diversity would have been nice, but Santiago isn't the most diverse place in the world, so that's understandable. They do like their food salty though! Even for my tastes.

Well, we're getting into the mountains so I'll stop writing and pay more attention.

patrick likes taking photos of his food

last dinner in santiago )-:

hanging out at the "best mall in south america"

stupenda!

the confetti from lifshitz's hair after new year's

hello from santiago!

Yo. This is the first of an unknown number of updates from the trip. I finally got around to finding out the Wi-Fi password at our hotel, so I'm rocking the phone.

Anyway, it's New Year's Eve. Tonight we'll be heading downtown for the countdown and fireworks. Earlier today we went to a winery (Concha y Toro) for a tour. It was quite the adventure. We got to take the metro to the outskirts of the city, where we were supposed to catch a bus. However, it wasn't as straightforward as that - it wasn't clear where the bus stop was or exactly which one to take. After using my Spanish skills and talking to a few people, we found the right bus to take.

It was an interesting ride. We actually took a minibus, not a big bus. When we were boarding some guy came on board with us to sell ice cream. Later, someone came on and played guitar for the rest of the trip. He was actually pretty good!

The wine tour was also great. Great tour (delivered in Spanish, which I understood 80% of) and also partially in English because the guide knew we didn't really know Spanish. And great wine too!

So we've been here about two days and I feel like I'm settling in - getting bus tickets in Spanish and everything. Tomorrow we'll go on a hike to get a look of the city. We already did this day one, but we didn't have our cameras (because it was really supposed to be a run, that ended up being a three hour walk). We'll take photos. After that, we take a bus and head over to Mendoza, Argentina!

riding the subway in Santiago

hello from hotlanta!

and i'm off

Heading to bed. With any luck, you'll be getting the occasional post and photo from while I'm away in South America. If no updates here, check here.

Quick Itinerary:
Santiago, Chile - for the New Year!
Mendoza, Argentina - any Malbec fans out there?
San Rafael, Argentina - chill at a friend's mom's B&B
Buenos Aires, Argentina - perhaps hop across to Uraguay for S&G's?
El Calafate, Argentina - My second Glacier National Park. Still haven't made it to the one in the US.
Parque Torres del Paine, Chile - badass hikes
Puerto Natales, Chile - because we couldn't find lodging in the park all nights
Punta Arenas, Chile - Penguins?

three weeks of clothes

Looks like I have room for boots!

thanks, jerks

My hard drive on my desktop is running out of space, so I'm cleaning house. I'm a bit surprised at some of the culprits:

• Google Talk
  Apparently the archive of auto updates isn't cleared out. Saved a good 20MB or so.
  
  
• Apple iPod, iTunes
  I saw over 100MB of updaters laying dormant in my Program Files folder. Uninstalled. Result? 1.1GB released. I have no idea where the hell that came from, but that ain't right! UPDATE: Just found another half gig of old iTunes and iPod updaters in Windows\Downloaded Installations. Thanks again, jerks.
  
  
• Java Updates
  About half a gig of old versions chillin' in Program Files. Unfortunately I need to restart for changes to take effect. Saved about a quarter gig. I'll take it.
  

stupid photo of the day

crash!

I continue to bore with talk about my phone... but then again, it is novel to have my iPod crash, right? I've had Safari bail on me a few times so far, but this is the first time the music player threw up chunks. That said, I still haven't had to reboot this thing yet, which is quite an accomplishment considering I would have to reboot my Blackjack every few days.

Last weird use was listen to music while using the timer (I was making dinner) while using the calculator... Then my mom called. Handled gracefully. I still like to think about how my Blackjack was stuck in an endless loop of ringing one time when I got a call while doing e-mail. I had to take the battery out. T'was amusing though.

So I'm back in New Haven. I should be packing... or planning. I'll get to that after food.