I arrived in Santiago, Chile on Feb. 7, after a 13 hour flight from LAX, with a one hour layover in Panama. The flight was actually pretty easy. Stayed at the Andes Hostel for five days, five hot days...in the ninties. A great city, lots of museums and beautiful sights. But, I needed a beach, c´mon, it´s summertime!! So, bought a bus ticket to Valparaiso, which is about a 1 1/2 hour ride, not bad. Got off the bus at went straight to the beach. And of course, got a nice little sunburn due to the fact that the ozone layer no longer exists down here. A few days in "Valpo", went to Viña Del Mar for a day, which is like the "Laguna Beach" of Chile...but minus the SUV´s and implants...from Valpo bought a bus ticket to Puerto Montt, about a 10 hour ride, overnite, not bad, comfortable "cama" seats. Here for a few days, met some great people who convinced me to go on the Navimag ferry with them to Puerto Natales. I didn´t need much covincing however, and so, down we go for a 4 day "cruise". In Puerto Natales, met a guy from Ireland who wanted to do the entire "circuit" of Torres Del Paine 8-9 days...SURE! Let´s GO! Completed that...pretty amazing! Nine days without a shower however, and I felt very sorry for the girl that sat next to me on the bus ride back to town. I tried my best to huddle next to the window. Oh well. Wanted to go even further south, soooo, bought another bus ticket to Punta Arenas, which is where I am currently writing from. Met some guys from Spain and Israel, and went to Isla Magdalena to visit a giant penguin colony. Pretty fascinating creatures, over 120,000 estimated on this island. Headed for Rio Gallegos, Argentina in two days, then up to Buenos Aires on a 36 hour bus ride...hmmm, sounds fun.
Well, I appreciate everyone´s support, and comments....I love hearing about the latest gossip in the "O.C." so keep it coming!! That´s it for now, I´ll do my best to make the upcoming "stories" a little more amusing, just thought I´d give a quick once over with the recap.
Ciao,
Jack
