Day 6
3:30am, Nate knocked on my room. Gawdamn, I said in English, "it's only 3:30am". "But we're far away from the airport" Alrighty. I got up turned on the lights, he rushed in to my room, started helping me tie my shoes. Wow, it has been eons that someone would be as attentive and helpful as this guy. I think I had been quite independent that it feels strange having someone assist you on a task as mundane as tying shoelaces. I still wanted to do the task myself as people usually wouldn't get it the way I want it.

His Dad was waiting for me at the living room. It's so sweet, the man woke up at 3:30am just to see me go. We hugged, so tight, a few seconds longer than most hugs that we customarily(?) do. He said something in Spanish that I looked at Nate so he could translate it for me. "When are you coming back?", was his question. In my broken Spanish I responded something like 'whenever I get a vacation again'. I immensely thanked him for their warm hospitality and complimented how close-knit the family is, and how well behaved his childrend and grand children.

Day 2 in DR

The breakfast at Quality Inn Hotel is satisfying, something I didn't expect - fresh tropical fruits - papaya, pina, the usual melon and whateveryoucall that green fruit thing, plus egg omellets cooked to your liking, the usual American fare - ham, bacon, sausage links, cereals, milk, coffee and jugos - pineapple, melon and naranja.

Check out the ocean view from my hotel room this morning. Please note, this is weather in the 70s temps.

Today, I expect to explore Boca Chica, 8 kms away from the hotel, with Jessica, the Honduranian girl whom I met at this hotel. At en punto 10am, I showed up but she was still having breakfast with her fellow Honduranian officemates. Bad news, she couldn't go, her boss say they needed to work, however, she assured we will have dinner tonight "en la Suissa Ristorante en Boca Chica" Ok, that's fine, so I head out on my own...

Hailed a QInn cab to Boca Chica for $18, yes, US$. The uniformed cab driver I thought was nice, he offered me to pick up at the same place at 3pm. Then here comes Juan Carlos, an 'official' looking tourist helper, offered me to help whatever I need. He ended up accompanying me on all the tasks that I needed to do - comprar a sombrero (I lost my REI one in Nassau), get a car rental, a hotel for Monday, etc.

Boca Chica beach is a reef-protected lagoon of tranquil blue waters and powder-white sand. One can wade out 100 yards from shore into glassy waters and still be only waist deep with nothing but soft clean sand underfoot. It’s the perfect beach for small children because there are no waves and no deep waters. Boca Chica is crowded on Sundays when capital city dwellers make the half hour commute to the beach, returning home at dusk. I heard, for the rest of the week, the sand and sun is for the tourists.

No entry yet, I'll get back on this one sometime.

Hey all,

This blog is 60% complete. The missing entries are, our 3 day tour of Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia), my 2 costly nights in Chile, and our steak-filled week in Argentina. Updates are made daily/time permitting. All photos here are owned/taken by myself, unless stated otherwise.

Let me interrupt you with this sandboarding photo in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile - something I missed doing while in the area due to time constraints. (of course)

Mauret dusting off his board for sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama Desert, Chile. Check out this photo of Dave descending on his board on the sand dunes! (Photo courtesy of Mauret from Turkey)

Tips to maximize your blog-reading pleasure:

1. Feel free to click any picture link. It's a harmless pop-up photo, geared for your enjoyment and to add flavor to the story. Survey says people like to see pictures than words. After all, a photo is worth a thousand words. (Photo by Elaine from Canada. Funny pose Diogo!)

** I made up the survey, though you may argue that there's truth to that. Speaking of surveys, they say 67.85% of all surveys are made up.

2. All external links open up on a separate window. (I added a little html code just for that, so have no fear on clicking outside URLs.)

The March calendar to your right should guide you on my daily journey. I left Seattle on March 10 flying in to Lima, Peru. From Peru, I flew to La Paz, Bolivia, spent 3 days there, then to Northern Chile, and back again to Bolivia for another 4 days. From La Paz, I flew to Buenos Aires, spent Holy Week in Argentina, explored the Patagonias, then back to Buenos Aires where I flew back to the US.

Unfortunately, the 'Comments' section has been 'closed' by BootsNAll if an entry is past 21 days. It's mainly to avoid spammers. However, if you want a comment posted just email me and I'll post them for you, guaranteed unedited, unless it's in violation of the BootsNAll content guidelines.

As always, for your viewing pleasure, here's a color coded map of South America tracking the places I visited. Map is viewable in its totality if your screen settings is 1280x1024. I'll post a smaller one. Notice the blue dot between Peru and Bolivia? That's Lake Titicaca(ca).

Blatant self promotion - if you're on the market for a film camera, I'm selling my Nikon. (yes, I'm a Nikon girl :) It just doesn't make sense keeping 4 film cameras in my closet. Here's the ad details.

BTW, the guys on the sandboarding shot, Dave and Mauret, I first met them on the bus on the Atacama Desert crossing in Chile. Then again, I met them on my 3 day Salar de Uyuni tour to Bolivia. Dave, from Ireland has been travelling for 1.5 years! Mauret, a Turkish, how long have you been away from home Mauret?

And let me share you Mark aka "English Stud Muffin"'s travel blog who's been religious on updating his blogs.

Mark, on his 4th month of travelling South America, is an English guy I met on my 3 day trip to Salar de Uyuni from Chile to Bolivia. Our group appeared to be the demented, craziest, wackiest and made the most noise reverberating on all hostel rooms in the Bolivian desert from among the 3 groups of this particular Colque Tour.

You don't have to be from England to understand everything he wrote :) Check out his wacky blog, photos1, photos2 and this amazing photo I took of him at Salar de Uyuni. Pls note, it's not sizable. Having a camera with no shutter lag is definitely beneficial on this kind of shot. Folks, timing is everything.

I'll have the complete story and more photos of the Salt Flats on this blog. Hiroko, may I post your photo links?

Middle of the night, probably 6am Argentina time, I found myself half-awake and wondered "Where am I? How come the window is far from my bed? And why are there books on the shelf?"

"Right, I'm home." I'm no longer under some thick alpaca wool blankets that So American hostels provide. Frankly, sometimes I wanted to shove the blanket into my luggage and take it home. They're so cozy and warm on your skin!

My flight from Atlanta landed 30 mins early today (10:30amPST) at Seatac Int'l Airport, Delta Airlines is proud about that. I felt like the the flight was too long compared to my flight from Buenos Aires to Atlanta, GA. Sat next to me was a dashing bachelor, an Air Force guy who's visiting his folks in West Seattle. The conversation was nothing exciting to write about. (or take it as Rowena refusing to share you the details :)

Speaking of airlines, you know when the airline company is in financial hardship when they start selling you meals on board and charge you for using the headset. I've flown South American airlines, Lloyd Aero Boliviano, Aero Sur, LAN Chile, Aerolineas Argentinas, you name it, and they all offer meals for free! Their jugos taste better too, but on domestic flights on this US airline, you only get the salty pretzel and a boring drink. However, meals are offered free to Business Class passengers.

Day X (sorry, i forgot what Day #)

Blog not complete yet. Watch out for more photos + stories.

Cerro Fitz Roy a El Chalten (3405 m) from a distance ...oooohh.

Utterly majestic, I definitely want to come back here, not because I don't have enough Fitz Roy photos to last a lifetime, but I've other unfinished businesses to do - do ice trekking, and also visit Torres del Paine.

This blog is not fully completed yet, I'll update more + with photos.

Perito Moreno Glaciers, 60m high, 100m deep. Notice the people on front? (Photo by Rowena) Click this bigger photo.

The glaciers shown here are 60m high and 100m deep. Elaine and I just visited Parque Nacional Los Glaciales, the largest national park of Argentina. Not my intention of visiting a park with a superlative description, I just found that out later from a Park Ranger. We saw the amazing Perito Moreno Glaciers, the fastest advancing glacier in the world. We'll tell you more about this. Here's my photo #1, and photo #2. I gazed with awe here almost all day! I've been fantasizing of seeing this since 2001 together with Fitz Roy. (the towers of Del Paine!)

Here's Dodo, an Argentinian tourist who requested me to take a photo of him. Forgetting I was no longer in Bolivia, I asked him "Tu eres Boliviano?" Elaine said Bolivians may not be able to afford to come here.

I like the fact that this is flocked by mostly local tourists. (for now) Mind you, I know 2 Argentinians living in Seattle, and both have never ever gone here.

Weather's mild but the air was unbearably chilly, wearing my windproof parka was such a big relief. And for dinner, we headed to Rick's Parilla, a LP recommended dining place. Oh boy, the roasted lamb was heavenly! The blood sausauge... oh my. I'll write more on this later.

6am tomorrow, we'll bus to El Chalten to see Fitz Roy. Will update this later. This keyboard is f&%$xk up, sorry.

Got up at 7:45am today, Elaine and our guy roommate, presumably another English, are still asleep. I´m ever itchy, the Argentine Caladryl we bought from Pharmashiety (er, PharmaCity) doesn´t seem to work. Glad someone spoke English there. Good for Elaine. But I'm starting to wonder if I bought the wrong cream.

Today, we plan to explore ritzy Recoleta. Cementerio del la Recoleta sits in the plushest of neighborhoods. As y'all know this is the cemetery where Evita Peron and the Duarte family are buried. Time permitting we'll possibly visit Puerto Madera, and other dining areas by Rio de Plata. (whatya callit!)

First off, we'll have brunch at Grants. This is recommended by backpackers in the hostel as well as Lonely Planet. LP says it is the grandest of all tenedor libres. The US$2.50 lunch is such a great deal with all you can eat steaks, Chinese dishes, pasta, dessert of all kinds (ice cream, pies, cakes, fresh fruits, flans, etc) . This is one place a lot of tourists buzz about. After being seated, Elaine declares, "Today is a day of gluttony" Ooooh, oh.... guilt guilt guilt! Bad girl.
Will upate later.

This blog is not complete, will post photos as well.

Liz, my roomie "for the day" (in backpacker´s world), inquired if I have heard from my friend. I said ¨"I haven´t", despite my attempts to leave messages at her hostel, V & S Hostel.

The story was, I arrived at V y S Hostel only to find out Elaine had booked only for one. (Elaine later told me it was an HI staff in Chile who booked for her). Being a Semana Santa, vacancies are premium in this predominantly Catholic populated city/country. V & S then arranged for a room for me at Colonial Hotel, just 4 blks away. This is where I'm staying now. I woke up early so I could catch her, had breakfast, the famous bread with marmalede as usual with tea, showered and walked up to 4 blks in Viamonte where her hostel is.