¡Hola chicos! This will be a fairly quick update on the weekend events, as I am heading out with some classmates in the next few minutes for a city tour.
Before I begin, some greetings, and some trivia:
Hi Mom, have a great trip to Mexico. Look forward to seeing your blog! Happy 12th birthday Myriah. Hard to believe you´re nearly a teenager, and I am REALLY sorry to miss your birthday song this year. Chris, if you know Megan´s big news, I won´t tell if you tell me! Sheri Lynne, aren´t you getting ready for a little warm weather yourself? Vivian (and other LUSH club members) the beer is cheap and plentiful here. And as we have already established, comes in the bulk 1 litro size for $5 pesos, or roughly $2. To the smokers amongst you, take a lesson from me and leave the duty free smokes at home...they are less than a buck a pack here. Steve, I understand the attraction of the southern hemisphere. Especially during a Canadian winter, and on that note, my most sincere regrets about all the weather I am reading about in Canada. Um, ya, like I´m not laughing my ass off, but I feel for y´all. lol. Celia and Hugh, I´ll have some references to new places today that you can google.
Some items of trivai that never made it into previous posts:
First sight in Santiago, Chile, coming into the international arrivals area: Starbucks! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My landmark to get off the trolley on the way home in Mendoza: the corner of McDonalds and Blockbusters. Sad, but true. And I take the trolley because I know for sure it is going down the street I want. The buses have a habit of turning in unexpected places, and I still haven´t got around to sticking a bus map in the backpack.
I´ve never felt so rich and so poor at the same time: the ATMs here spit $100 peso notes at you when you ask for $100 pesos. Nice, but totally useless, as nobody wants to change them when a beer and a pack of smokes comes to $5 pesos. And taking $90 pesos is a waste, because I get charged $5 Canadian at home for each ATM transaction! So I´m carrying a bunch of $100 notes, but have no useful money. A buddy suggested that I try multiple withdrawals of $90 pesos, but without taking the card out each time. His bank considers that to be one transaction - mine might be the same. Hmmmm.
On the subject of ATM´s, they are everywhere, including the courtesy type little ones at the Esso for example, and easy to use. If Scott and I had put our fortunes in ATM´s instead of those freakin phones, we´d be billionaires. Or we would have been hit by the Russian mob. Oh well, things are pretty good for us, so no biggie...bigger adventures await.
On the subject of the word ´freakin´, I used it in class last week, which the instructor used as a teachable moment. He taught us the minor curse ´miércoles´ which actually means Wednesday, but is used by people when they really mean ´miérde´, which anyone with a little French will recognize. (The next day, the other instructor taught us a bunch more swear words, which was rather hilarious!)
Hmmm now I really am out of time, so will not get to the weekend. Quick summary for the google keeners if you want to get ahead of me:
Sites seen - Villa de los Penitentes, Puente del Inca, Christ the Redeemer statue at the top of the mountain at the Argentina / Chilé border, and of course, Anconcagua Mountain. Truly spectacular. Plans coming up - I´ll be leaving here, likely Saturday afternoon for Salta by bus (18 hours), spending a few days and hopefully getting onto the Train to the Clouds, then overland to the Iguazu waterfalls on the Argentina / Brazil border. That should take care of next week.
Final thought: I think that empanadas, vino tinto, and flan con dulce de leche provide enough nutrients to live forever. Simple, but very pleasant.
Love to all....
