yu-en-me ´a man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher, .. he who goes from country to country guided by blind impulses of curiosity is .. a vagabond.´ - oliver goldsmith

after delaying my departure from santiago (chile)
several times, i´ve finally made it out. my experience
there was like the times you wake up starving after a
night out, and find some strange-looking leftovers
that you´d forgotten about in the fridge. you have no
idea what it is, and you´re not sure you should give
it a go, but you do anyway, and despite some unusual
surprise flavours (fermenting always adds more..),
it´s not that bad. in fact, even though it´s far from
what you originally intended it to taste like when you
cooked it 3 days beforehand, it´s actually quite good
after the 4th mouthful. and when you finish it, you´re
left with a slightly sad twinge of nostalgia that you
didn´t savour it more while you were eating it, but
know logically that it´s probably for the best that
you´re not having any more for the moment. and
besides, you know that your future will be full of
forgotten leftovers. so even though i leave some
*very* dear friends behind, i´m glad to be on the road
again, and look forward to seeing them again when i
eventually make my way back to chile.

in the less-than-2-weeks that i´ve been travelling
again, my breath has been taken away so many times
that i´m starting to feel asthmatic. many surprise
adventures including:

one dream come true was being detained by armed men in
uniform when i crossed the argentine border (nothing
to worry about, slight hiccup with my passport missing
a stamp), and sleeping in the police barracks.
trekking through the snow the next morning to get the
requisite stamp, with a lab-X-husky frolicking at my
side made me feel like Fraser in Due South. i left the
barracks with 2 marriage proposals and an offer to
stay and work as their cook - proposals i´m all
seriously considering, of course. (did i mention that
they were *uniformed*? and *armed*?)

unfortunately none of these gun-wielding friends of
mine were around when i was approached by an audacious
young buck in San Juan, who tried to pick me up by
saying ´can i tell you a secret: i´ve always wanted to
sleep with an oriental woman.. whaddya say?´. i said
good luck and goodbye.

arriving at Parque Nacional Sierra de las Quijadas
just before dusk a few days ago meant that i didn´t
have time to trek the 6km to the campsite and still
have light to pitch my tent. which meant i had to take
refuge in the open-air hut that the rangers use for
their bbqs. snuggled in my sleeping bag on the table
was absolute bliss: watching the night sky slowly
revolve in the silent desert night, being woken by a
skunk-like animal scruffling around my things, and
waking up in time to watch the sun rise.. who needs
nirvana, heaven, or enlightenment when there´s so much
on earth?

amazing scenery (will be sending photos soon) and
meeting cool people are also plusses in this life.
strange, of all the people i´ve met in the last 10
days, i´ve connected really well with (at different
times) 2 men in their 40s, staying up to wee hours
chatting about life, and seeing things from a
different perspective - ie, male, in their 40s, one
was a salts-of-the-earth country guy with conservative
views. both of them absolute gentlemen, and i know
i´ll be seeing them again when i pass through their
areas again.

i´m having visitors over! Good Friend Lucy arrives in
december (i haven´t seen GFL since august 2005)! much
excited jumping around and enthusiastic hand-clapping.
equally bounce-worthy news is the possibility of being
joined by someone else early next year, but i´ll not
jinx it by talking of it just yet...

conclusion: a combination of having spent 6 ´stable´
months in santiago; the fact that my spanish is a lot
better now; the thought that these are my last few
weeks travelling sola, all add up to me attacking this
leg of my journey with a new energy, and i´ve never
felt more alive.

´til the next one!

ps, if anyone goes through san luis, argentina,
anytime soon, make sure you check out the shop ´Todo
Dodge´ (todo = everything)...