06 May 2006

it's not a map, it's a to-do list!!!


one of the very exciting reasons i wanted to take this trip down south was for the possibility of a trip through the rest of the continent (or some of it, anyway) after working in the hospital. i'm starting to nail down my path, and i thought i'd show you all a little of the plan and some of the juice. the whole thing begins when i meet janae down in peru to see machu picchu at the end of june. well, i'll probably hit some of lima before then unless janae talks me into waiting and seeing it with her. after that i'm going to lake titicaca (hehe!!!) in peru before heading south down into chile, hopefully splitting my time pretty evenly between their coast and their mountains. i'll for sure also stop in valparaíso and santiago. i probably won't get any further south than that before i head east into argentina and buenos aires and all the fun that argentina has to offer. then i'll head up north to see the iguazú falls at the argentina/brazil border. the dotted line is dotted because at that point my trip will probably be more determined by money and time more than my desire to see any or some of brazil, paraguay, uruguay, and bolivia. (since there's no such thing as the south american union, border crossing down here isn't quite the passport stamping formality and fun it is in europe, and currency exchange is more complicated than...no currency exchange in europe.) brazil seems the overall least likely to be visited, as pretty much any non-coast city there is hard to get to and probably not as exciting as other places you could go in that time. so that's the plan--here's some sights i'm hoping to see:

  • here's machu picchu, one of the main reasons for my taking this trip at all.


  • this is lake titicaca. it has villages like this floating on reeds in the middle of the lake. it's also the highest lake navigable to large vessels, which means it's big and high. this picture doesn't really capture the size or height, but don't worry--i'll go get a better shot and show you later.


  • chilean patagonia.


  • this is plaza de armas in chile. chile is considered by many to be the most european country in south america.


  • buenos aries--it's a big city. and steaks (some of the best in the world, reputedly) are $5. i think there might be a few more draws than steak, i'm just saying--i don't need them.


  • here's the iguazú falls. a friend here describing them to me told me the falls made her believe in God. they're over 260 feet high.
  • 10 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I WANT TO GO!!!!

    jan bretz said...
    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
    Anonymous said...

    big mistake being made by someone we both know. i'm pretending it's ok. i'm good at that.

    Anonymous said...

    dude, i am more than a little jealous. seems like you having a good time. the patagonia looks unbelievable.

    millhouse

    Anonymous said...

    CAN I GO WITH YOU? WHY DON'T YOU USE YOUR SHIFT KEY? NO PUNCTUATION?

    Anonymous said...

    CAN I GO WITH YOU? WHY DON'T YOU USE YOUR SHIFT KEY? NO PUNCTUATION?

    Anonymous said...

    CAN I GO WITH YOU? WHY DON'T YOU USE YOUR SHIFT KEY? NO PUNCTUATION?

    aaron wk said...

    YES! A TRIPLE POST! THANK YOU!

    oh, and all that is really incredible. i thought south america was just boring and lame, but now i want to go there too. i do. and... if you get to uruguay, say "hi" to it for me. i did a project on it in 9th grade and always fancied myself going there.

    Anonymous said...

    I did an article on Honduras in the 4th grade.

    Anonymous said...

    so the titicaca joke made me snort laugh at my desk at work. then i didn't want to explain why when asked (seemed to hard)...it was awkward to say the least. i don't know why that never struck me as funny before.

    and by the way, you stole denise and my trip itineray. funny how reports you write when a little kid stick with you. they are part of the reason i went to spain and the reason i absolutely adore patagonia. (plus, it's cool enough to bet its own brand name so you know it's great)

    and one last thing, about that cheap steak. probably still cheap by U.S. standards but the pres. of argentina was encouraging argenines in general to eat less meat a few weeks ago b/c the price was getting so outrageous. his way of trying to control inflation was pushing chicken. i don't think his comments had a big effect, there were comments from people saying how chicken was full of water and you'd be hungry in no time. they love their beef even more than nebraskans do. wow.
    all this to say...presently, i'm crazy jealous of you.
    -elissa