Patagonia = Paraíso

There is something very sensual about arriving at a place you have long dreamt about — especially when it is above and beyond expectations and time transposes itself into slow motion snapshots. Yep, I have felt this kind of buen suerte before in my travels, and it is quite liberating to feel it again. I thrive on the seat-of-the-pants approach to my travels — it’s so easy when you’re solo — and roll with what comes, knowing that, no doubt, the first thing i´ll recognize in the southern night sky is Orion, only much brighter, and out of place in ths spotlight — right in the middle of the sky. Perhaps I’ll get some aurora action in the coming days as I cross the 51st parallel into Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia — where I plan on spending New Years. New Years at the bottom of the world. Yes, I know, it sounds so Waitsian.

Everything you’ve heard and read about Argentina is true. I’ll leave it at that for now as I’m still sucking it up and knocking on cypress with my continuing good fortune (yes I received my luggage on my second day in Buenos Aires) — scoring the “last room” in hotels I really want to stay at only days before my arrival, seeming scoring the last available non-4×4 in all of Bariloche after arriving to the Hosteria — as you’ll see in the photos, this is a very popular spot for vacationing Argentines. And tomorrow I’m going rafting on the Rio Manso along the Chilean border. Check it out:

More photos tonight. I¨ve become quite accustomed to eating dinner at 11:30 p.m. (it is after all 6: 30 in LA at that time) and find it very difficult/unnecessary to get a whole lot of sleep (except a very important nap before dinner) what with 16 hours of daylight and those hours bound to increase as I continue south. There you go — that’s all without looking at my haphazard notes but as you’d imagine, i’m on the go — off to drive the Ruta de Siete Lagos — 7 lakes road … if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. Or just assume that the answer is ¨¨yes.¨

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