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Well, I've been back in the US for 2 weeks now. Even after 2 weeks, it still seems really weird to wake up in my own bed, in my own room, in a place where I don't have to speak Spanish. I also still can't believe that my trip is over. My life has been pure travel for the last 6 months, it is definitely a bit of a shock to have it be over. My time in South America was probably the best 6 months of my life and I have absolutely no regrets about my trip. I saw so many incredible things and met so many amazing people from all over the world. There are definitely things that I didn't get to do that I wanted to, but there is always next time. I was so captivated by so many different places that I am very positive that I will be back soon. It is definitely true that the social aspect of my trip really made it special.

Besides the unanswerable question "What was your favorite part of your trip?" the most frequent questions that I have gotten are "Wasn't it boring traveling by yourself?" and "Weren't you afraid to travel by yourself?" No and no. Traveling by myself was an absolutely incredible experience. Although I was technically traveling solo for most of my trip (except for the last 2 months or so), I never really felt like I was traveling alone and I certainly was never lonely. By staying in hostels in most places, I always had a group of very interesting people to hang out with, many of whom I ended up traveling with for several days to a few weeks. In fact, I never really met any other travelers that I didn't like. I can only think of maybe two people that I met during six months of travel that I couldn't stand and that I went out of my way to avoid. The vast majority of travelers are truly great people with interesting stories and I am definitely going to miss having the opportunity to constantly meet so many people from so many different places all over the world.

My summer is going to consist of spending the month of May at my parents house in Michigan. A road trip across the US for most of June. A couple trips to visit family in July and then moving to the west coast to start law school. So although I am back to life in the US, I still have some bumming around to do before the heavy stuff starts this fall at law school.

Anyways, this is my last blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading it. All of my photos have been uploaded to Picasa. Check it: http://picasaweb.google.com/jmellgren

Until next time...

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires. I have been really looking forward to getting to Buenos Aires for a long time and it certainly hasn´t dissapointed. BA has a distinctly European feel about it and has provided me with lots to do both day and night.

Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace) and the balcony on which Eva Peron gave her famous speech (and from which Madonna sang ¨Don´t Cry For Me Argentina¨).

By chance, lots of people I had met throughout my trip happened to be in Buenos Aires the same time as me so I had to meet lots of people for meals and nights out and it was definitely nice to have people I already knew here to hang out with. The people in my hostel here were fine, I was just not really up for dealing with the usual new traveler friend thing at this point in my trip. You´d be surprised how old it gets having to answer the same questions multiple times a day (Where are you from? How long have you been traveling for? How much longer do you have left? Where have you been traveling? Where are you headed next? What do you do back home?). Although these questions are great ways to break the ice with people, after 6 months of answering them (and I´ll admit it, asking them) they make me want to vomit.

Buenos Aires has lots of really interesting street art.

Anyways, Buenos Aires is home to one of the coolest bookstores I´ve been to. El Ateneo has several branches throughout the city, but one of them was built inside an old theater. The seats have been removed and replaced with bookshelves, which also line the balconies. A couple of the balconies have couches for reading and there is a cafe on the stage. Really great place.

I feel like I always say this, but I really enjoyed walking around Buenos Aires. It has really great architecture and is a very pleasant city to see on foot. On one of my many wandering escapades, I came across the famous Recoleta Cemetery, the final resting place for some of BA´s wealthiest families. The most famous person here would definitely have to be Eva Peron, famous first lady of Argentina in the late 40´s.

One day after visiting the Museo de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Museum) I stumbled upon a Dia de la Tierra (Earth Day) music festival and ended up spending most of my evening there listening to Argentine rock music, watching the sun set over Recoleta and sitting underneath a giant steel flower. One of the great things of wandering with no real itinerary is that I usually always stumble upon something really great that I otherwise would not have sought out.

My hostel in BA was in the neighborhood known as San Telmo. This area is a very artsy area and is home to lots of old tango bars and antique shops. It is famous for its Sunday antiques market in the main San Telmo plaza. Although it was certainly a sight to see, there was just a whole lot of crap for sale that really looked like it needed to just be thrown away. Not my cup of tea I suppose.

Another thing that really wasn´t my cup of tea was La Boca, a working class neighborhood that is very famous for its soccer team (Boca Juniors) and its brightly colored buildings. The main tourist drag near the river certainly has very brightly colored buildings, but it was so touristy I left after only a few minutes. It reminded me of being back in Ecuador or Peru where I was constantly harassed to come into restaurants or pay money to take a picture with someone or buy some piece of junk that I really don´t want. All of that was on top of the buses loaded with lots of old people that kept showing up. The brightly colored buildings are supposed to be remnants of the days when the homes were all constructed of sheet metal and painted with whatever paint could be found near the boats on the river. Most of La Boca however is not like this however and the little two street tourist drag definitely does not give a true picture of what life in La Boca is like, it was more like the Disneyland version of things.

One of the most emotional things that I had seen all trip came as quite a surprise to me. The Madres de los Desaparecidos (Mothers of the Disappeared) march in front of the presidential palace every Thursday, and have been doing so every Thursday for 31 years. These women are mothers of people who disappeared during Argentina´s ¨Dirty War¨ in the 1970´s and early 80´s. Political dissidents and other people deemed to be potentially dangerous to the military regime were kidnapped and disappeared. Many were tortured and it is estimated that over 30,000 people were secretly executed during this time. The Mothers originally marched in hopes that the Argentine government would fully account for what happened to those who disappeared during this time and fully prosecute all of those who had a hand in the kidnappings and executions. It is only within the last couple of years that the Argentine government has begun to be very open about this part of its history and has begun to be very proactive in finding and prosecuting individuals responsible for kidnappings and executions. Today the group is happy with what the government has been doing and while they still march for their sons and daughters who disappeared, they also now march for other social issues. Thinking about every one of these old women who had had a son or daughter kidnapped and executed, never knowing what exactly happened to them, was a very emotional experience.

Buenos Aires treated me very well. It is truly a great city and I am already very anxious to return. Now I am off to the airport and my flight back to the US. Can you really believe that it has been 6 months already?

Nearly every main square and main street in Argentina is named San Martin. He basically kicked the Spanish out of big parts of South America and I finally got to see his tomb in BA. Certainly a big hero here.

Aconcagua

On the way from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina I had the chance to see the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia. Aconcagua sits at 6962 meters or 22841 feet above sea level on the Argentina/Chile border (although technically in Argentina). Just a shame that I was sitting on a bus and only got to see it for a couple minutes. I guess next time I´ll have to spend some time hiking around there.

Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile represented many things for me. It marked the end of my 6 weeks traveling with friends Becky and Olivia and also marked the beginning of the end of my entire 6 month trip in South America. From Santiago I would head due east to Buenos Aires, Argentina and my eventual flight back to the United States. Despite all of this looming over my head, we were able to enjoy most our long weekend in Chile´s capital city.


Napping dogs in front of the Presidential Palace.

One of my favorite things to do in capital cities (or any city really) is to just wander around without any real itinerary. The first day of exploring Santiago led me around the main business district as well as the area housing many government buildings, including the Presidential Palace. Having heard many negative things about Santiago I was a little surprised, it definitely wasn´t as bad as it was made out to be. In fact, parts of the city really reminded me of a mix between Chicago on a summer day and Bogota, Colombia.

Presidential Palace.

My day of wandering also led me to the Plaza de Armas and an enormous cathedral on the plaza.


Another highlight of Santiago was meeting up with a couple friends of mine. First was Catie from Minnesota. I had gone to elementary school with Catie and had not seen or really spoken to her in around 12 years (since I moved from Minnesota to Michigan after 6th grade). Although a little weird at first to hang out with someone who I hadn´t seen since I was 12 years old, I am really glad we got together. It was great talking about things we had done together in the 3rd grade and catching up on what had happened to us both in our lives since 1996. The second person I met up with was Raul, the Chilean who I went with into the Peruvian jungle back in December. Raul invited me over to his house where we caught up, talked about all the crazy things that happened to us in the jungle and I also got to meet his new wife (they had gotten married the previous weekend and just returned from their honeymoon). It is always really nice to have contacts in new cities. It makes things much more personable and really gives you a chance to immerse yourself in local life, something that you otherwise don´t usually get to experience as a traveler.

Catie and I in Santiago.

We decided to take a day trip to Valparaiso, Chile, a city about 2 hours bus ride from Santiago on the Pacific coast. Valparaiso is famous for lots of colorful homes, some very old elevators that take people up the hills surrounding the city and the site of one of Pablo Neruda´s homes. Although the weather was not the best (cold and cloudy) it was nice to check it out and get away from smoggy Santiago for a bit.

A splash of color in Valparaiso.

View of Valparaiso and the Pacific Ocean from Pablo Neruda´s house.

With the end of my time in Santiago also came the end of my time with Becky and Olivia. By saying goodbye to them though, I also knew that I was beginning the final week of my trip. A brief stop in Tupungato, Argentina to pick up a bag that I had left a couple months ago and then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Travel is starting to wear on me and it will be very nice to get home, but at the same time I really don´t want to face the realities of life in the US, mainly the need to find summer employment and to start regularly using an alarm clock. Oh well, I just need to take advantage of what time I do have left in South America and be grateful that I have had this amazing opportunity to spend so much time traveling in a truly spectacular part of the world.

Ushuaia, Argentina

After our less than satisfactory experience in Torres Del Paine National Park, we went further south to Tierra del Fuego, and island at the very bottom of South America. Ushuaia is a city on the southern tip of this island and calls itself ¨The End of the World¨although there technically is a small village just across the Beagle Sound (and therefore further south).

To get to Tierra del Fuego, one must cross the Straights of Magellan. This passage is very famous for being incredibly rough and the cause of many shipwrecks. Our bus loaded onto a passenger ferry and we began our crossing. We got off the bus and went to one of the platforms so we could see as we made the crossing.

As we were standing there admiring the enormous waves (from about 20 feet above the water), one slammed into the side of the boat and completely soaked my friend Becky. As we sat there pointing and laughing at her misfortune, another wave crashed into the boat and soaked all of us. Then as we were running to get to the indoor observation area yet another wave crashed into the boat and ensured that we had no dry clothing on. As fun as it was to get hit unexpectedly with freezing cold water while exposed to fierce wind, it was definitely not fun to sit on a bus for the next 8 hours while soaking wet. We definitely got Magellaned.

It was pretty exciting arriving in Ushuaia. It was the first time in over a month that we had been in a modern city with lots of options for places to buy things and to go out for dinner or drinks. It is also set in a very beautiful location. Behind the city are really tall snow capped mountains and at the base of the city is the Beagle Channel. Our week in Ushuaia involved a lot of reading, relaxing and wandering around. We did, however, check out the prison museum (Ushuaia was originally founded as a penal colony).

Another day, Becky and I took a hike to the Martial Glacier. This glacier basically overlooks the city and sits at the top of a ski hill. We hiked up the only ski run and at parts at the top were up to our knees in snow, but it gave us some really great views of the city. One of the more memorable parts of this hike, besides the views, was seeing a couple little old ladies at the bottom of the hill start the hike up in their Sunday best. One of them almost got a face full of snow after slipping on an ice patch, but at least they were out there and trying to enjoy a day in the outdoors.

Ushuaia provided us with some much needed relaxation and modernity after our disaster in Torres del Paine. Although not a huge city, it certainly has a lot of charm and was well worth the visit. Along with the novelty of being in the southernmost city in the world, it gave us the chance to recharge ourselves, get some time outdoors and just enjoy the last few days that we would be traveling together.

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

I wish I could tell you that as expected, Torres del Paine National Park was one of the best parts of my entire trip. I wish I could tell you that I spent 10 glorious days backpacking around one of Patagonia´s, if not the world´s most beautiful mountain ranges. But alas, I cannot.

My trip to Torres del Paine turned out to be somewhat of a disaster. The park ate us up, chewed us up and spat us out. We originally were going to do a 10 day backpacking trip called ¨The Circuit¨but we had to abort when we received word that an avalanche had covered up a huge part of the trail over the tallest pass. We were then going to do a 5 day trip called ¨The W¨plus an extra day of hiking.

We started with an 18 km hike into the first campsite. We were a bit weary setting off in rain with near freezing temperatures but assumed it would pass. Unfortunately the rain continued for most of the day and we were pretty soaked upon our arrival to camp. That night, the rain and wind only intensified. At one point the tent started to leak on my head and we also found part of the tent to be sitting in a giant puddle. We decided that the best course of action would be to stay at camp for another day, hoping that the weather would break and give the gear a chance to dry out a little. Unfortunately, the weather only got worse. It got colder, it started hailing, the wind gusts were around 85 km/hr and there was even snow.

After several group discussions, we decided to pull the plug on the backpacking trip. Rangers had told us that the weather would last for at least 3 more days and that they could not make any kind of accurate predictions after that time period. Although we were very disappointed to make this decision, we all knew that since we were soaking wet and didn´t have the proper gear, it probably would not be the best idea to continue. On top of that, we could not see the peaks of the mountains (or much of anything else either), which was really the main point for visiting the park. Even if we had continued the trip in the park, we all would have wanted to return again in the future to see the park in clear weather (and actually see the mountains that make it famous - the Torres and the Cuernos). We decided that given various time pressures, everyone would prefer to abort the trip and hopefully check out another place in Patagonia with better weather. On the third day, we hiked out via the same 18 km trail that we hiked in on starting at 6:45 am in the dark and in a blizzard, eventually making our way back to Puerto Natales. In a typical sick twisted move by the park, the clouds parted for a brief 15 minute period as we were on the bus on our way out of the park giving us a look at some of the mountains. So beautiful, yet I really didn´t want to look.

Although I am still pretty bitter about this trip, it was still fun to be in a place that I have looked forward to seeing for the last few years and makes me really want to return in the very near future.

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

After hiking around the northern sector of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, we headed a few hours south to check out El Calafate and the southern sector of the park. The crown jewel of the entire park is the Perito Moreno Glacier, a massive glacier that is 5 km wide, 60 meters tall (at the edge where it meets the water) and 30km long that is accessible by bus. Although it requires no sweat to get there (and is therefore overrun with tourists), it is still one of the most amazing things I have seen on the trip.

A visit to the glacier basically involves walking around to different lookout points getting different angles on the ice. The glacier truly is alive as it is constantly making various noises as the ice settles, cracks and slowly moves into the lake. We were also treated to several chunks of ice calving off the glacier and into the water below. Twice we saw enormous 60 meter tall columns plunge into the lake and several times we saw smaller chunks fall into the lake.

Before actually seeing the chunk of ice fall, we would hear what sounded like a shotgun blast followed by an enormous crash as it splashed into the water, sending huge waves out in all directions. Really amazing to watch, but something that really needs to be seen in person to truly appreciate.

El Chaltén, Argentina

After our time at the estancia was up, we crossed the border into Argentina and headed south through the mostly uninhabited Argentine Patagonia. Many buses in Argentina are equipped with an alarm that sounds whenever the driver exceeds the speed limit. On this overnight trip, we had a driver with a lead foot and were treated to an almost constant loud buzzing alarm all through the night as he tried to drive as fast as possible. Eventually, we arrived in a town called El Chaltén, one of Argentina´s newest towns (less than 20 years old), to hike in the northern sector of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares.

Despite being a very popular tourist destination, the town does not have an ATM. This proved to be very problematic for us as we did not have much Argentina money with us. We had just come from Chile and after getting into Argentina immediately hopped on the bus to El Chaltén. We even had to move out of a hostel in favor of another one that took credit cards to try to make our money last. Luckily we scraped by and were able to make it to an ATM a few hours down the road.

As I said, we came to El Chaltén to get some hiking in. We chose to do a day hike to Laguna Torre (around 18 km round trip), a glacial lake at the base of Cerro Torre. Although it did cloud up a little after we started hiking, it was still a great hike with amazing views (and tasty ice).

Valle Chacabuco, Chile (March 7-March 30, 2008)

Sunset from the front porch of our cabin at the estancia.

The first week of March I met up with a friend from my two summers working in Glacier National Park, Becky. Knowing that I was going to be traveling for a while in South America, she invited me to join her for 3 weeks of volunteer work at an estancia (ranch) in Patagonian Chile. After a few days hanging out in Coyhaique, Chile, I met up with Becky and her friend from home, Olivia, and we took a 6 hour bus ride to a crossroads in the middle of nowhere. After nearly an hour of confusion and not quite knowing what to do, someone from the estancia finally arrived to take us the 20km or so to where we would initially be staying.

Me, Olivia and Becky.

The estancia where we were working was called the Estancia Valle Chacabuco and comprises about 185000 acres of land. It was purchased a few years ago by an American named Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face and Esprit) and his wife Kris (former CEO of Patagonia Clothing Company). Doug has purchased large chunks of land around Chile and Argentina with a goal of preserving the land as natural areas. In fact, he has already opened one of his land holdings to the public (Pumalin Park). He has received some resistance from locals, as many don´t really believe that an American would want to come in and buy such huge chunks of land for purely conservation purposes. The fact that he has tried to hand over these lands to the Chilean government so that they can indeed be opened to the public has allayed some of these fears.

Crossing a river on the way to work.

Our job for the three weeks was to help, along with a group of other volunteers, remove fences from the estancia. The old fences from when the estancia was an actual working sheep and cattle ranch impede the migration patterns of the local animals (mainly guanacos and a type of deer called the huemul) and also detract a lot from the aesthetics of the landscape. Removing the miles and miles of fences truly did transform the landscape and hopefully will help restore some of the original wildlife migration patterns.

¨La Juanina¨

The first part of our stay at the estancia took us another 50 km into the ranch where we stayed at an old cabin with sweeping views across an amazing valley. The cabin, called ¨La Juanina,¨ did not have electricity nor did it have running water in the bathroom (we did have a spring which fed into a sink in the kitchen). It did have a wood stove in the kitchen which allowed us to make hot meals and further provided us with much needed heat. Baths were taken in a nearby stream which was some of the coldest water I have ever experienced. I have gone swimming in some very cold bodies of water including alpine lakes in Glacier National Park and the north shore of Lake Superior, however nothing compared to the truly icy feel of this stream. Baths were short and to the point and always full of dread, however very refreshing once they were over with and we were back near the wood stove.

Hard at work.

Our days at Juanina consisted of getting up around 8 am for breakfast and hiking up a nearby mountain to a fence line about an hour away. Once at the fence line, we would divide up the labor, some people clipping wires, other people rolling up the sections of fence and others removing the sturdy fence poles from the ground. The work, although not terribly exciting in itself was enjoyable because of the incredible mountain surroundings we were in as well as the amazing work crew we had. There was a also a great sense of accomplishment and I think we all felt pretty good about the work we were doing and how it would help turn the estancia into a giant public park. We would usually end the day between 4 and 5 pm and hike back to the cabin where we would prepare dinner and spend the evening sipping boxed wine and reading. I should also mention that one of our staple food items was sheep. When the estancia was purchased, it came with thousands of sheep. One way to get rid of the sheep is to feed the employees and volunteers lots of sheep. Every so often, someone would come visit us and drop off a huge chunk of fresh sheep meat. Absolutely delicious, especially after a hard day of manual labor.

Cooking sheep on a bicycle wheel grill at our hobo camp.

After finishing up our time at La Juanina, we were moved to a place where we had to camp for several nights. This place was a newer chunk of property that had just been acquired a few weeks prior to our arrival. As such, there was a lot of general cleanup work that needed to be done in addition to the usual task of fence removal. This part of our time was fun because we set up a nice little hobo camp. We constructed chairs, tables, grills and water collection devices out of random materials found on the property. Because we made everything ourselves, we had a great sense of pride in our new temporary home and thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

We also had a few other random days of work that involved driving a large dump truck around the estancia picking up rolls of fence and fence posts to take them to their disposal site. Another day we were working to remove a fence that went through a swamp. Despite having rubber boots, there were times when I was up to my belly button in swamp scum. Part of the fun I guess.

On our second to last night at the estancia, we were treated to an incredibly rare animal sighting. We were driving along a road when all of a sudden about 25 yards off the road we saw a puma (mountain lion) walking away from a fresh guanaco kill. Many of the rangers at the estancia, despite having been there for many many years have never seen a puma as they are incredibly elusive creatures, very rarely putting themselves in a position to be seen by humans. It was really amazing to actually get to see such a beautiful animal in the wild with my own eyes. The picture above really doesn´t do it justice as this is taken in poor light, through glass and with a really basic camera. Please trust me, it was awesome.

My three weeks at the estancia really flew by and I am really anxious to come back to visit to see the progress that will be made over the coming months and years to prepare the park to be opened to the public. I also met some really incredible people who were also volunteers and am really glad to have been able to spend so much time with them in such a beautiful setting.

View hiking back to ¨La Juanina¨ after a day pulling fences.

I am not dead...

Sorry I haven´t updated anything in a looooooooooooooooong time, and sorry that I can´t provide much of an update now. The last month of my life has consisted of lots of nights sleeping in tents, lots of hiking, a puma, lots of guanacos, famous people, some boxed wine, a few blizzards, ripping 100 year old wire fences out of the ground and lots of staring at mountains.

From the ranch where I was working pulling out fences, four of us crossed into Argentina and went to a city called El Chalten for some hiking. From there we went to El Calafate to look at a 50 meter tall, 5 kilometer wide Glacier and then crossed back into Chile to hike around in Torres del Paine National Park. That was an adventure that ended early...more later.

Anyways, I am currently in Puerto Natales, Chile trying to figure out where we are headed next, most likely further south. I will try to post some stories and pictures soon.

John the Laborer

Cerro Castillo in Chile.

After Tupungato, I went to a town near the Chilean border called San Martín de los Andes. Basically a really touristy town full of vacationing Argentines right outside of a national park. I was able to escape the vacationers and get some good hiking and camping in. My thoughts however were on getting further south.

Parque Nacional Lanín near San Martin de los Andes, Argentina.

After a brutal 3 day journey (going from San Martin de los Andes to Bariloche to Comodoro Rivadavia to Los Antiguos - all in Argentina by bus - to Chile Chico to Puerto Ibañez - in Chile by boat) I now find myself in Coihaique, a city in Chilean Patagonia surrounded by the Andes mountains. I am meeting a friend here from the US and we are headed to work at a place called Estancia Chacabuco. It is owned by Douglas Tompkins, the founder of The North Face Company, who hopes to eventually turn it over to the Chilean government so that it can be opened to the public. Before that can happen, a lot of manual labor needs to be done in order to turn it from a working ranch into a park that can be enjoyed by everyone. That is where I come in. I have volunteered to be a manual laborer at this place for three weeks. I will be living in a tent and probably very cold, but I am really looking forward to getting up there.

Wish me luck...

Tupungato, Argentina

A planned two day visit to Tupungato, Argentina turned into a weeklong stay. One of my friends from my days working in Glacier National Park has some extended family that left the US to move to Argentina. They settled in a town about an hour away from Mendoza, Argentina in the heart of wine country. The Smiths were nice enough to invite me into their home and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.

They have a very nice home situated a little outside of town with amazing views of 20,000 foot tall (plus) mountains all across the western horizon. Their neighbors are all wineries, all of which are very beautiful (there is something about rows and rows of grape vines beneath the majestic Andes mountains that I can´t quite express with words). I was there just a couple weeks before grape harvest was to begin so the vines all had large bunches of grapes on them, something I had never seen before.


Anyways, I did surprisingly little in my week in Tupungato. I went hiking twice in the Andes. The first time we were just exploring, following a dirt road that went up into the mountains. We followed it until reaching a small Argentine border post (located about 60 km from the Chilean border). At that point we started to head back down towards Tupungato but decided to follow a trail that we had found earlier that looked as if it would lead to a waterfall we could see in the distance. We started walking until we came to a part where the trial basically disappeared. To the left was a stream and to the right was a very steep and rocky slope. We opted for the steep slope (and the next day would find out we should have gone to the left along the creek) but shortly turned back due to lack of proper footwear (wearing sandals). The next day, we returned determined to get to the waterfall, however when we arrived decided that we knew a shortcut. Bad mistake as this left us climbing along a ridge with a very steep dropoff on one side. Luckily we all made it down to the original trail and eventually made it to the beautiful waterfall. Fun day.


Another afternoon I skipped my daily siesta to visit one of the local wineries, Andeluna Cellars. A very beautiful winery looking out towards the Andes mountains and very good wine. Unfortunately an arrogant American wine maker from Napa who was also on the tour slightly detracted from my experience, however we were able to deal with it and enjoyed sampling the various wines and learning about the wine making process. On the other side of the equation, our tour guide was friends with the family I was staying with and gave us some special attention once the other Americans had left and in the end made the tour very enjoyable.


Unfortunately, my week long stay had to end as I needed to continue my travel south. I really miss Tupungato, it is a great town with great people and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Hopefully I´ll be able to stop there again on my way to Buenos Aires a little later in my trip.

And to the Smith family (or Los Esmits as they are called in Tupungato), thank you very much for everything, I really appreciated the lodging, the amazing meals and the wine.

Me with Patrick and Patricia (two of the four members of my host family in Tupungato) at Andeluna.