As we flew north from Valparaiso the Andes were on our right and the Pacific was on our left. As the Andes turned inland we did too and followed the mountains north for about 200 miles. On our left the green disappeared and was replaced by red/brown and red/orange, the color of the desert. Every so often there was a small village and square ponds of fluorescent green looking liquid, looking incredibly out of place. These were the copper and Lithium mines which are the most important industries for all of Chile. Aside from that, the scenery was spectacular. A small strip of grey green trees, scrubby and thorny appeared on the left side of the plane and we landed nearby. The town is called San Pedro de Atacama and it lies pretty much in the ... read more

Yesterday afternoon, after a swim and nap by the hotel pool we drove to the highest point in Santiago to view the sunset. Our driver, Hector, was challenged by the hoards of bicyclists also climbing the hill. Also, some of the vehicles that were going up were crawling so that they would arrive just before sunset, not a moment earlier. I taught Hector an American word that if taken literally, described an antiquated device that women used to use to clean their unmentionables. It was very hard to explain this with my limited Spanish but once it was clarified, and once Fran was finished pummeling me for being immature and disgusting, both our driver Hector and our guide Alwin, found the term hilarious. They practiced their pronunciation until they got it right. Now Hector knows what ... read more

Yesterday's entry, after lunch, et al, was devoid of photos. On the oft chance that you found this to be a problem, this morning's entry will contain photos from yesterday and today. There are pictures of us and pictures of us and more pictures of us. I hope you don't find this aspect of the blog too off-putting. I worry that it might be like when I was a kid and we had to go to my grandmother's house to see slides of her trip to the "Orient". I remember those times well because I didn't like them at all. Fran never had to do this as a kid and even if would have had to she'd remember it fondly. She seems to only remember the good things about her youth. Truly we are of different ... read more

I started this final update in the Hong Kong airport. I'm finishing it in my office in Florida. We're glad to be back. I was thrilled to see my house and my dogs and they were thrilled to see us. I had coffee made with the coffee I'm used to in the drip pot I'm used to, not the Vietnamese or Cambodian coffee made in an espresso machine. Their coffee is good but our's really packs the caffeine. It was wonderful to be able to brush my teeth with the tap water. Bottled water tooth brushing is not my preferred method. It was great standing in the shower and letting the water pour over my face with my mouth open. Damn am I spoiled. Thank you for putting up with my ramblings on politics and culture. ... read more

Update from yesterday's post. I've heard from at least one fellow traveler that I should have written about a part of our visit to the Ci Chi tunnels, the part where they gave us AR15s and M16s and sent us into the jungle. Well not exactly. Anyway we were given a chance to try these rifles. Fun. A couple more pictures are attached.... read more