Buenos Aires, Argentina: Feb 10th - 13th

A beautiful cosmopolitan city with colonial buildings, great parks (including a rose garden) and cute outdoor restaurants...

Photos to come... currently on the cruise to Antarctica, so it's a bit difficult to upload the pics.

Mendoza, Argentina: Feb 6th - 9th

Ahhh... wine and steak country... I was looking forward to Argentina for the wine, while obviously, Mark was looking forward to the steak.



- At the Vines tasting room, trying our first wine tasting... HIGHLY recommend the Perpetuum Cabernet Sauvignon. Mmmm...

- Steak dinner at Don Mario's (apparently, the best in town)... just look at the size of Mark's bife de chorizo (aka rump steak)!!! I was so thankful that I only ordered a half portion.

- Every day, in the main Plaza Independencia... there's always some sort of entertainment in the evenings. Here's one of a puppet show for kids...










- The wineries we visited (aka bodegas, which mean wineries not delis as the word is known in NYC) were: La Rural, a chocolate liquor place (not wine, I know), Trapiche, La Cerna, Hacienda del Plata, Carmelo Patti, Belasco de Baquedano and Achaval Ferrer. The photos are from La Rural... of the vines and of a cowhide vat where they would squash the grapes and then drain the juice down the tail.





- We visited a WalMart after the first day of wine tasting... since the next day was Sunday (most wineries and shops are closed), we decided to buy some food for a picnic, including a lovely bottle of Torrontes (a white wine varietal specific to Argentina).












- The park entrance, near where we had the picnic


















- Mark about to pass out from overdosing on wine tastings...

Santiago, Chile: Feb 3rd - 5th

We LOVE the Casanovas!

Many thanks to Manuel for helping us, by contacting his sister Elisa. And a million thanks to Elisa, who took us in (What an amazing home!!! A thousand times better than any 5-star hotel)... and of course, her boyfriend Tomas. They gave us a tour of Santiago - favorite being the outdoor fruit/veggie/meat/dairy/everything market... cooked us a great BBQ, treated us to "As" hotdogs... and gave us plenty of tourist information.

- Tomas invited Mark to play soccer with the locals, who were all in their mid-20s!

- After soccer... The amazing BBQ Elisa and Tomas prepared for us on our first night at Casa Casanova

- Just chilling on the balcony of Casa Casanova... Beautiful views! Me showing all of my scrapes and injuries from the bike accident.

- Elisa and Tomas at the "As" hotdog shop

- Mark eating "As"... it was HUGE!

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: Feb 1st - 2nd

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama with plans to stay one night and then head out to Salta, Argentina. But we soon learned that buses to Salta are few and far between... next one wasn't until 5 days later!!! So we decided to go to Santiago instead... gotta love the flexibility of having nowhere to really be, by a certain time. :)

Anyway, San Pedro de Atacama is nothing special... an oasis town in the middle of the desert. But, we did take a tour of Valle de Luna (aka Moon Valley) with a pit stop at Death Valley. Photos below...


- Road to Death Valley and Moon Valley








- Death Valley: This used to be covered in green vegetation 80 years ago, but changes in climate dried it out!







- More Death Valley








- The moon in Moon Valley... of course this photo had to be taken!









- The "ampitheatre"








- Sunset

















- Active volcano in the distance

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia: Jan 29th - 31st

- The 3-day Uyuni tour to Chile (San Pedro de Atacama) began a visit to the Train Cemetary. The train system didn't really take off in Bolivia... so hence why it's a cemetary. Anyway, one of the trains is apparently one that Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid robbed. Huh.

- Here are the actual salt flats where it's just salt for 12,000 sq km! It's about a couple meters deep in some areas, but can be over 20 meters deep in others!

Other photos from the tour, which involved some lakes - like the Laguna Colarado (a red lake) and Laguna Verde (a green lake from the copper) - and the desert... oh and we ran into the same Downhill Madness bike group who were on a similar tour of Uyuni. Rich, the nurse, looked at my stitches to make sure my knee was healing properly.

La Paz, Bolivia: Jan 24th - Jan 28th

- Jan 24th: We arrived in La Paz during the Alasista Festival, where you buy loads of miniature items (e.g. money, cars, houses, etc) and have them blessed by a witch doctor, in the hopes that the mini items become life size. Our hostel (Adventure Brew Hostel) hosted a witch doctor blessing... photos of the event to the left.

- The Witches Market with dead, dried baby lambs and other animals for sale. Ew.

- The San Pedro prison... A self-run prison where inmates pay anywhere from $250 to $3000 per room. There's a "democratic" system in place for the inmates to govern themselves. Very tranquil and relaxed... had 3 bodyguards escort us around on the tour, but didn't feel as if they were necessary... it was that safe. The first photo is of us with a very cheerful and pleasant murderer in his room, wallpapered with half-naked photos. On the day we did the tour (Jan 26th), the prison was having a soccer tournament between each of the cell blocks. The last photo is of Alex (a guy we met at our hostel who joined us for the prison trip) with our 3 bodyguards and tour guide, who was in for drug trafficking.

- The World's Most Dangerous Road with Downhill Madness (tour agency). 64km bike path down 3km of altitude on a narrow rocky road. We were broken into 2 groups, one slow and one fast. I was in the slow group, but picked up confidence later and speed. Unfortunately, in the last 20meters or so, I was a bit too confident and found myself trying to keep up with a girl, who knew how to mountain bike. I saw her jump over a speed bump and thought, "F*ck, I don't know how to do jumps!" I tried to slow down, but couldn't reduce my speed enough... I hit the bump, went flying in the air and came crashing down. I think I landed on my knee, because that's where I have the most harsh of injuries. And then I slid on my down the rocky terrain for another 10-15 feet. My elbows and a bit of my back were cut up and I lost a lot of skin. I looked at my knee and was surprised to see that whatever I had fallen on, had cut through the pair of thermal pants, my blue khakis and ripped into my knee, exposing layers of skin and fat. Ew. The guide quickly came onto the scene and provided some good first aid. Mark was there to make sure I was calm. And luckily, there was a nurse and an EMT who were part of our bike tour group!

- Photo of my torn up pants (most of the tears are from whatever I hit)... and me at the private clinic in La Paz. I had the opportunity to go to a hospital in the village near where I crashed... but I was more comfortable going to a modern facility. I was very impressed with the doctor who gave me about a dozen stitches and made me stay overnight, out of fear of infection. My total bill (x-ray included) came to only $430! Wow... not bad.

- Jan 28th: Even with my bum knee, we decided to make the 12 hour overnight journey to Uyuni. But we made sure to get some codine and I took a valium as well. Unfortunately, the bus seats made it impossible for me to keep my leg elevated. So Mark was kind enough to let me rest my leg on his lap for the entire length of the ride... what a great boyfriend!!!