On the road again...

Since we last wrote, Marisa and I have been bouncing back and forth between Chile and Argentina, spending countless hours watching life go by through bus windows. Our first stop in Argentina was the town of Salta. As far as vacation destinations go, Salta was more of a means to and end than anything else. Other than a bus terminal and city to surround the bus terminal, Salta just sprawls until it runs out of a reason to sprawl any further. I guess what it comes down to is this, buses need to stop somewhere. In truth, the city itself was much bigger than we expected, and the weather much hotter. There were a few plazas and churches to check out, so we checked them out.
Other than that, we did what tourists are supposed to do in Argentina, eat steak and drink red wine. Immediately off the bus, we checked into a hostel and inquired about where we could get some great steak and palatable red wine. Fortunately, we picked a hostel with a "parrilla" (translation: bomb steak spot!) right around the corner. Upon further investigation, we soon learned that there are parrillas on pretty much every corner... awesome! But the parrilla closest to our hostel apparently had a superior reputation. When we arrived it was already pretty late, maybe 10:30pm and the place was pretty much empty. Marisa ordered a filet mignon for about $5 and I ordered an equivalently expensive mystery steak that the waiter personally vouched for. When the steaks arrived we couldn't believe our eyes. Honestly, we though the waiter botched our order and brought us a couple extra steaks. We even inquired as to whether or not he had made a mistake, because we had like 6lbs of grilled perfection sitting between us. Nope. Not a mistake. Marisa was sitting behind a literal mountain of filet mignon about an inch and a half thick and over a foot long. My steak wasn't far behind. Along with a $3 liter of house wine, this was the perfect introduction to Argentina! And it was also a learning experience, because by the time we left, around midnight, the restaurant finally started to fill up. Most restaurants don't even open until around 9pm. This is not a country for morning people...

From Salta, we hopped a bus to the town of Cafayate, and in doing so officially entered the wine country of northern Argentina. Our hostel was lined with grape vines! On our first day, we rented bikes and hit the road to sample the local goods. While in Cafayate, it occurred to us that we hadn't planned our trip very well. We found ourselves a little behind schedule and on the verge of 40 hours worth of bus rides to get to Santiago in time for our hostel reservation. Oops. Live and learn.

To make matters worse, on our last night in Cafayate, we joined a backyard bbq hosted by our hostel that continued into the wee hours. After a mass amount of great beef, many bottles of wine and a guilty conscience from our new friends who we probably would never see again, we agreed to go out to a bar with everyone. It was about 2am at this point, and we had to be at the bus station at 5:30am. Well, this supposed bar that our hostel owner took us to was in actuality another hostel that we think his friends owned. Because we did the same thing there that we were doing in our own backyard. It did offer us the chance to taste Argentina's national liquor, Fernet. It tasted like Anise and it was always mixed with Coke. Gross. After less than 3 hours of sleep, we started our epic bus ride...

But after almost 40 hours of sitting on buses, waiting for buses, transferring buses, and waiting on the side of the highway because our bus overheated, we arrived in Santiago, Chile! I actually snapped this pic from the bus window while our bus was stalled on the side of the road.
Santiago is an awesome city, full of parks, museums, history and culture. The national library was one of the coolest libraries I've ever seen. The whole city was incredibly developed, and impressively expensive compared to the majority of South America.


Furthermore, Santiago is also home to the first Starbucks we've seen since we began traveling through South America! And, yes, they still have the red holiday cups... which made for a very happy Marisa.

Marisa here for a moment. Just need to paint the picture for everyone, as you are all probably annoyed already by the mass amounts of Christmas music and decorations covering the streets, malls and shops. Well, turns out Americans are known for their over indulgent celebration of the Christmas season. It does not exist here. We have yet to hear any Christmas music...other than when I can convince Mikey to let me play some from the computer. The holiday cups gave me a small taste of home and the beginning of holiday season. Very happy does not even come close to the emotions I felt when I saw the sign. It's a big deal when we willingly pay about the same price for a cup of coffee as we do a steak in a restaurant.
Just outside of Santiago is the vineyard Concha y Toro.
Concha y Toro makes one of our favorite wines imported from Chile, Casillero del Diablo. We took a tour of the winery and got a chance to descend into the cellar where the legend of the Casillero del Diablo began. Its actually a funny story. Back in the day, the owner got tired of people stealing wine from his cellar so he started a rumor that the devil himself lived in the cellar. Being a devout Catholic population, the wine stopped disappearing. The name stuck.

We stayed in Santiago through Thanksgiving. While we felt a little bummed about not being home for turducken and smashed spuds with the family, we managed to drown our sorrows in wine from Concha y Toro, a burrito, and a Manu Chao concert in the national stadium. And for all our family out there, fear not, we did not spend the holiday alone. We stumbled upon an incredible hostel in Santiago, that truly made our experience in the city. The owner, Pato, was a crazy dude, who loved to party and created a true home for travelers. He rounded up a large group of us to experience this concert together and we had a great time.
We didn't actually take the picture posted above... so don't sue us for copyright infringement. But this is pretty much what our concert looked like so we pirated it anyway. Don't hate. We forgot to bring our camera. The concert was awesome. Picture 20,000+ Chileans on their feet cheering and singing the whole time. Marisa and I squished our way to the front of the crowd and I hoisted her up on my shoulders. She was in awe of what tall people can see on a daily basis. She insisted we post the concert picture because it was like her view from up above. Happy Thanksgiving!

We woke up the next morning tired and a little worse for wear from the concert the night before. Alas, we had another bus to catch. Destination, Valparaiso, the bohemian pet city of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda's house is now a museum. The tour provided a great history of Valparaiso as well as great view from Neruda's living room window.
Also in Valparaiso, we sampled two traditional Chilean street snacks worth mentioning. The first, the chorrillana, is a mountain of french fries topped with cheap steak, two types of hot dogs, cheese and gravy. Its almost like nachos, but with french fries instead of tortilla chips. Healthy, no. Tasty, not really. The second, the completo, is a hot dog complete with sauerkraut, onions, tomato, guacamole, guacamole, guacamole, and mayo, mayo, mayo. Healthy, no. Tasty, split decision. I finished mine...
Dude, check out that picture one more time... That's not cheese on top of the hot dog. It's mayo. I did a little research, and it turns out that Pablo Neruda was a huge fan of completos... he even wrote a poem about them. "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way." Ok. He was actually talking about a woman... But I'd like to think it still applies to completos. From Valparaiso we took a day trip to the less bohemian and much more yuppie town of Vina del Mar. We saw our first Christmas tree in Vina del Mar. I think Marisa cried she was so happy. I felt like this.
Check Marisa posing on the sea wall. Refer to Neruda's poem about completos.
From Valparaiso, we took an overnight bus back across the border to Mendoza, the true epicenter of Argentinian wine and the chosen locale to celebrate Marisa's 26th birthday!!!
In Mendoza, we splurged for a real hotel (per Mookie's insistence and financial support), with our own private bathroom, consistent hot water, even air conditioning!
After being budget for so long, it felt nice to let loose and live it up, eat good food, drink good wine, and pop a bottle of Champagne on December 1st in honor of Mariquita Chiquita, our favorite 26 year old world traveler!
Funny enough, on Marisa's birthday, we ran into a friend that we met almost 2 months ago crossing the border into Bolivia. This isn't the first time we have run into a friend we made along the way. This continent is getting smaller and smaller! Its great! We brought together a wonderful group of friends to enjoy the equally wonderful wines of Argentina.

Just outside of Mendoza are two of the best wine regions for lovers of Malbec. We spent a day in each region, sipping as many different wines as we could get our grubby little hands on. In the Maipu valley, we again explored the vineyards on two wheels with a company called Bikes and Wines, which gives you a bike and a map and a glorious day of wine tasting.
Biking is hard work, especially when you would rather be drinking wine. So we spent most of the day relaxing on the rooftop terrace of Tempus Alba, our favorite vineyard in Maipu.
It was so chill that we actually went there twice... in one day. Also on the road we came across a jolly old man who enjoyed the hobby of creating artisan liquors and olives. Among other things, he distilled his own Absinthe.
For the life of me, I can't remember the dude's name... or the name of his establishment... I blame the Absinthe.
I realized while writing this blog that we completely failed to take fun pictures over the past few weeks. Sorry. I think Marisa and I overdosed while traveling through Bolivia and the salt flats. In truth, we've spent most of our waking hours lounging in our hostel with new found friends, sipping on coffee in a coffee shop, or wandering the streets and settling into a sidewalk cafe to enjoy a glass of wine and a steak. My bad. We promise to do better next time...

Until then... We'll keep eating steak and drinking red wine in your honor.
Besos y abrazos!

Mikey&Marisa

Mikey & The Track Suit - Episode 2

Before I attempt to reveal the phenomenal abilities that accompany the Adidas track suit, I should probably hit you with some words, pictures and fluff about Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. A lot has happened in the last two weeks and three countries. I can't believe we're already in Argentina. Time flies when you're rockin the world in a red and black track suit!

From La Paz we hopped a bus to the city of Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia... whatever that means. The supreme court still meets in Sucre. But La Paz is the de facto capital and the place where track suits are sold. Nuff said. In truth, Sucre is a really nice city. There isn't much of a tourist draw, but the city is large enough that you have access to everything you could ever want and its much cleaner than La Paz. If I had to live in Bolivia, I would most likely live in Sucre... but luckily I don't have to live in Bolivia. Aside from being the constitutional capital, Sucre has one site worth mentioning. The Parque Cretacico!
As you can see, we went there. The Parque Cretacico is actually located within a cement factory. It turns out that a company was mining for the raw materials needed to make cement and slowly dug their way deeper into the side of a mountain. Eventually they hit a part of the mountain that had too much magnesium or whatever and they stopped digging. Lucky thing they stopped digging too, because what they uncovered was not only the first pair of dinosaur tracks in South America, but the largest known area of dinosaur tracks in the world!
You can't really see the tracks in the picture, but I promise, they're there. They are actually all along the wall along the left hand side of the picture. When we arrived, one British girl asked in awe, "Wow! How did the dinosaurs walk on the wall like that!?" They didn't. She was dumb. The wall used to be the shore of a lake and the dinosaurs left footprints in the mud. Over a few hundred thousand years the Andes were formed and the shore of the lake now stands vertically as part of a mountain. Although, I think it would be pretty cool if dinosaurs could walk on walls. Aside from the tracks, they turned the whole thing super touristy.
The bus that drove us there even had a dinosaur head hanging off the front... and a Marisa hanging out the side.
From Sucre we headed to the town of Potosi. According to the Lonely Planet, Potosi is the highest altitude city in the world at 4090 meters above sea level, or 13,500 ft. According to my dad, and wikipedia, the highest city in Bolivia is actually a suburb of La Paz called El Alto, at 4100 meters. And the highest city in the world is a place called Wenzhuan in Tibet at 5100 meters, or 16,700 ft. Now, I did a little research, and it turns out that the highest city in the world really depends on your definition of a city. There are a large number of settlements at very high altitudes all throughout the Andes and the Himalayas. The problem is, they lack the permanent residence, infrastructure or government required to be considered a city. I couldn't find enough info about Wenzhuan to disprove its title, and Tibet is a pretty cool place in my book, so I'll let it slide... but I'm not entirely convinced. As a side note, the height taken for the suburb of El Alto is taken from the highest point in El Alto, and the height reported for Potosi is taken from the city center. Since Potosi also has a mountain within the city limits, I think it wins in absolute height. Sorry for geeking out on you guys there...

The reason Potosi is even on the map to begin with is because the Spanish found massive amounts of silver within the adjacent mountain. Millions of slaves were imported from Africa to die in the silver mines and fund the Spanish empire for centuries. Today, the mountain looks like Swiss cheese from the number of mining shafts. Scientist think the mountain will most likely collapse within the next 5 years.
When we heard that the whole mountain might collapse, we did what any good tourist would do... suit up and check out the mines before they all cave in and there's nothing left to tour. Thankfully, we made it out alive. But you best be sure we tried our best to shake the mountain down. Just check out the stick of dynamite Marisa is carrying and you know we mean business!
In her right hand she's holding enough dynamite and ammonium nitrate to do some serious damage to herself, the building behind her, as well as the camera man standing in front of her. In her left hand is a 5 minute fuse attached to a blasting cap full of nitroglycerin. Shortly after I took the photo Marisa dropped the dynamite on the ground and we both freaked out a little. We're still alive though. Our guide demonstrated the fact that you can slam the dynamite around all you want, even try and light it on fire with your lighter, and it won't go off... Just don't screw with the blasting cap. Marisa took the dynamite and ammonium nitrate and put them in her backpack. She put the blasting cap in mine.

The tour of the mines was truly crazy. Of all the tours we've done, this was by far the least touristy. It was a functioning mine with miners blasting sticks of dynamite and carrying out tons of rocks. Miners are nuts. They work ridiculous hours in awful work conditions and live off of coca leaves, alcohol, soda and cigarettes. They work their asses off. And the mines are just plain scary. We climbed, crawled and slithered our way to center of the mountain and prayed the whole time that it didn't fall on our heads. On the plus side, a few lucky miners got to take a picture with Marisa, and I'm pretty sure that made their day, if not their year.
The fat guy in the picture is the operator of the elevator shaft. He's one jolly, pudgy, drunk hombre. The green bags in their hands are full of coca leaves. We brought them as presents, along with soda and dynamite. At this point, I should mention that the alcohol miners drink is as crazy as the men who drink it. Its called Ciebo, and it comes in a bottle that looks like it should contain gasoline, or bleach. Did I mention its 96% alcohol?! The manufacturer even mentions on the bottle that its potable... Just in case you were second guessing your decision to drink it.
We both had to try a little swig.

From Potosi we took a bus to the town of Uyuni, the last town we would pass through before crossing into northern Chile. Uyuni itself is a dump. It looks like a truck carrying plastic bags exploded and littered the streets with a layer of garbage. To make matters worse, Uyuni is a small desert community and we arrived in the middle of the most incredible sand storm I have ever encountered. The only reason we even passed through this little dump was to visit the neighboring salt flats, or Salar de Uyuni.

The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world, approximately 4,085 square miles. Across the entire salt flats, the elevation changes less that one meter. Super flat. Super desolate. Super place to throw on a track suit and take some incredible photos. Just wait and see...

From Uyuni, it would take about 3 days in a jeep to cross the salt flats, weave our way between active volcanos, hot springs, geysers, multicolored lagoons teeming with pink flamingos, and pop out across the Chilean border in the town of San Pedro de Atacama. Our trip started with none other than a visit to a nearby train graveyard.
It is within the confines of the train graveyard that I began testing the limits of my newly acquired bootleg edition red and black Adidas track suit. As a precaution, I only wore the track pants... I had no idea how powerful the full track suit would make me.
Apparently, wearing the track pants alone, I am able to leap trains in a single bound. Through mere proximity to the track pants, Marisa acquired considerable hops too.
From the train graveyard, we began to cross the salt flats. Marisa, a certified salt addict, was thoroughly stoked to be amidst so much salt. We got to see how the locals make ordinary table salt, pretty cool salt statues, and extraordinary houses and hotels made from bricks of salt. We actually spent the night in a hotel made entirely from salt!
In the middle of the salt flats, away from any town or large population I could possibly decimate with the power of my track suit, I attempted to wear both the pants and jacket at the same time!!!
Marisa and I started small, with a little kung-fu fighting. She was no match for the track suit...
From there, I tested strength and agility...
Then I tried my hand at manipulating inanimate objects... you know, a little Jedi mind shit. Next thing I knew, Marisa's shoe was as big as a car!
Then I tried some "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" magic. Unfortunately, when I tried to shrink Marisa, it totally backfired. Marisa took advantage of my vulnerable position. I didn't expect my own girlfriend to be so jealous of my track suit powers! Thankfully, I was able to fend her off long enough to regain my normal size.
All track-suit-foolery aside, the Salar de Uyuni was awesome. We spend the day cruising through the salt flats, soaking up the incredible scenery and trying our best to finish the biggest beer we had ever seen in our lives!
While crossing the salt flats, we caught an incredible view of the sunset then spent the night in a salt hotel.
The next day continued our 4x4 journey through the high deserts of Bolivia. We passed active volcanoes.
Crazy rock formations.
And visited a number of different color lagoons (blue, white, green, red). Some were filled with pink flamingos, others with arsenic. While most of the lagoons didn't come out that well on camera, the pink lagoon with pink flamingos was truly breathtaking... no photoshop required!
On our last day in Bolivia, we got up at the crack of dawn to drive to the top of a volcano and catch a glimpse of some natural geysers. It was well below freezing outside, but within the steam of the geysers it got pretty toasty. We actually saw the sun rise on top of a volcano in the middle of a geyser!
After some time at the geysers, we drove back down the volcano and jumped in a natural hot spring at the base. I know its supposed to be summer in the southern hemisphere, but keep in mind at this altitude it was freezing outside!
From the hot springs, we drove another hour or so through the desert until we hit the border of Chile!
Goodbye Bolivia...
Hello Chile!!!
We spent the next three days chillin out in the desert oasis of San Pedro de Atacama. Two things about Chile initially shocked us. First, as soon as we crossed the border, there was a brand new road with sidewalks, street lights, and even paint on the road. Second, as soon as we got into town we realized that we were out of the poorest country in South America, and into the most expensive!
The picture we took of the town may not look like much, but it was a pretty cool little town. We spent the first day wandering the streets, eating good food, and drinking good wine. Our hostel had a nice outdoor lounge with a fire pit and we spent the night drinking Chilean wine and making new friends. As far as tourism goes, San Pedro has everything Bolivia has to offer, yet at twice the price. Since we had already covered the salt flats, volcanoes, rock formations and multicolored lagoons filled with flamingos, we didn't have much to do but chill out.

However, we did find a pretty cool activity to do on our second day in San Pedro... sand boarding.
As you can see, it pretty much like snowboarding... but without the snow. All you have to do is hike up the dunes, rub a little candle wax on the bottom of an old beat up snowboard, strap in, and take off. Its a lot like riding in powder really. The tour guide that took us out to the dunes even build a sweet jump. My first attempt at the jump didn't go so well. Unlike snow, you slow down very quickly once the hill flattens out...
I totally stalled at the top of the jump! If you look closely, you can see Marisa in the background laughing at me. The next couple jumps went a little better.
I even had enough energy left over to throw in a little style at the end. I strapped my hand into the snowboard and went down the mountain on my hands!Ok... I lied. I just posed for the camera. Sandboarding was awesome!

By the way, Marisa is staring at me because its dinner time and I haven't taken a shower yet... hehe. Its time to hand you over to the lady friend. We love and miss you all. Peace out. One love. Go out and buy yourself a track suit!

Marisa here. We left San Pedro and took a 10 hour bus ride across the border into our 6th country...Argentina!!!! The bus ride was a tour in itself, full of crazy rock formations, more salt flats and beautiful countryside. We're currently in Salta, Argentina enjoying steak and wine. I think it'll be the trend over the next couple of months. Rough life folks.

Much Love,
Mikey&Marisa