Geo: -41.87, -73.83If you could gather together all the people you've really enjoyed being with--ones that have made you smile or giggle out loud, or made you feel like a million bucks when all you had was $1.27, you might have a group like we fell into at 13 Lunas.Not really impressed at first 'cause we had a basement room with NO window, I resolved to just not spend much time there and mingle with the 20-somethings instead.How much fun was that? The first night they insisted, I mean ABSOLUTELY insisted we join them on the patio for this asado they had all chipped in to make. They're peeling carrots and chopping up raw chickens and telling us it's time to eat.When?Right now, they say.But he just took the chicken out, I answer.No, no. It's time ... read more

Geo: -33.4691, -70.642No, not 9/11 in New York City when the twin towers came crashing down, but 9/11/1973 when Chile's own military overthrew their democratically elected government.We visited a human rights museum in Santiago and were shocked by the horrible stories. On Chile's 9/11 tanks shelled the presidential palace while aircraft dropped bombs. During the attack, President Allende committed suicide, and thus ended Chile's socialist goverment. During the period between 1973 and 1989 when the military was in power, more than 19,000 people were executed and 24,459, both men and women, imprisioned and tortured in over a thousand locations locations from one end of the country to the other.The descriptions were so graphic we were sickened by their story and had to leave before we both threw up. Like going through a holocast museum, the atrocities ... read more

Geo: -33.4691, -70.642We've veen stuck here on the border--way in the tips of the mountains---for 2 hours now. In a line of buses on our way across the Andes from Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile, we sit and sit until someone comes on the bus and yells something about documentos and we all file out. I'm not about to leave the camera bag, two kindles and an ipad on the bus though, so me and my weighted down shoulder bag head down the steps and into the customs shed for processing--right behind Bob. First we're in line 1--wait, wait, stamp, stamp, stamp---then we're hustled into line 2 for what looks to us like exactly the same wait, wait, stamp, stamp, stamp. Who knows? Then back on the bus for more waiting as all the luggage is ... read more

Geo: -31.72, -65We go to check out of our room and there's a present and a note waiting for us at the desk. Ayelen, (pronounced Ashlin) wife of the manager we've gotten to know while here, has left us a chilled bottle of water and a thanks-for-being-you note. We'd been having a lot of fun with this young couple the last couple of days--them and their 3 Musketeer friends. Ayelen speaks passable English so having her around made a world of difference here. She took us to the donkey races yesterday. I'm going to the donkey races, she says. You guys want to come? Sure! So we grabbed the camera, piled into their car and headed for the races. The race was held in the woods just outside of town. They'd cordoned off a "racetrack" that ... read more

Geo: -31.4053, -64.1804Once a trip, maybe once a lifetime, you get an Osvaldo in your life.Osvaldo's job was to teach us Spanish here in Cordoba and in doing that he became the kind of friend you might spend years developing. He found us very reasonable lodgings and the first day of class even met us at our apt and rode the bus to his house with us so we'd know how to do it.When Bob broke a tooth Osvaldo called his own dentist and begged an apt for him and then took him there and sat with him the whole time to translate.When our apt was so hot we couldn't sleep he arranged for Luli to bring us a fan and after we mentioned we were getting tired of cold showers because the water heater kept ... read more