The Lake District & Santiago

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I´m not feeling too eloquent, but Im sitting in the Tacna bus station and have an hour before my departure, so this gives me something to do. After my aforementioned "Adventurous" bus ride from El Calafate to Bariloche via Rte. 40 I was struck with conflicting feelings of exhaustion and restlessness. Unfortunately, due to the 6 hour delay caused by the bus breaking down, by the time I found a vacant hostel there wasn´t much I could see. On Thursday I rented a bike in town and cycled a touristy loop overlooking Lago Nahuel Huapi and some smaller lakes in Reserva Llao Llao. After the first 20km in which autos and buses zoomed by giving little heed to cyclists, the traffic desisted and the scenery turned magnificent. There were a lot of short side trails to hidden lakes and mountain vistas, but my ankle as still bothering me. After taking a bike path to Colonia Suiza I found out that the return was blocked by an impassable road slide, but I´d had enough anways. When I got back to Bariloche I was able to meet up with Kelly Dwyer, which was awesome. I temporarily filled my long-seated craving for Mexican food, although my burrito was basically a gian empanada.

The next day I set off for Santiago via Osorno, a 24 hour ride in total. I had planned on spending the day in Valparaiso, since Santiago proper isn´t the nicest city. But it was midday before I was able to get out, and the distance just didn´t make sense. Instead I explored Palacio de Bellas Artes, Museo de Historia Natural, la Plaza de Armas, and Cerro Santa Lucia. The highlight was a seemingly spontaneous performance of the "Beat It" (they LOVE Michael Jackson) in the Plaza de Armas. I was on my way to see an Asian exhibit at El Palacio de Monedas, but instead followed the crowds and found a bar to watch the match between Santiago rivals Cola Cola and Universitario -- much more exciting than a museum.

Yesterday I travelled from Santiago to Arica, via Iqueque. Then crossed the border and am now headed to Lima, where I fly out on Thursday morning.

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