Playa Campanario Hotel La Serena

... Millions, billions, trillions, gazillions of stars shine from horizon to horizon with not in the cloud in the sky. At first it looks as though there is a long thin cloud running right above you but of course that is the Milky Way. Through the 30cm telescope we saw a new star forming, an old star dying, what looked like a fuzzy haze but was actually a million stars clustered together in a far flung corner of the galaxy and best of all, Saturn and its rings (all the ...

... if he read some of these English translations! In some cases, my knowledge of Spanish isn´t sufficient to disagree, but some of the side-by-side translations are blatantly incorrect, either adding words that shouldn´t be there, getting it completely wrong, or instead providing the meaning that the translator felt Neruda wanted to convey. Isn´t the point of poetry to allow the reader to experience it as the author wrote it, in its purest form, and ...

... conversation with me so enthralling? :( It was getting pretty chilly in only my t-shirt and shorts (I was without my hoodie) - Mario noticed this and that was my chance to escape. It was good to practice my Spanish with him, but eventually my eyes just glazed over and I was simply nodding to whatever he said, kinda like how my conversation went with the Chilean dude at the rest stop, earlier today. Back to the hostel to grab my hoodie, before ...

... Andes and drove through the valleys. It was absolutely gorgeous. This is the know as the Pisco region of Chile - where they grow the grapes that make Pisco alcohol. They serve this at all restaurants here in Chile as an aperitif - Be careful it is VERY strong! We went on a little tour of the distillery and I sampled a pisco mango sour at the end of the tour. Valle de Elqui We continued to go through the valleys and ...

... to Mendoza - a town in a wine growing region in central Argentina (which took about 15 hours). We plan to stay here for about a week - do a few tours (possibly wine tasting, horse riding, and paragliding) and meet up with a couple of aussies we met two weeks ago in Salta. And the good news is that we're back in hot weather again!

... things are going well here. We got this "emotion graph" during pre-orientation that is supposed to rougly outline our general moodswings over the course of our ventures. When we first get here is called the "Honeymoon" (luna de miel) period, which I recently realized I've slipped out of. Now we're in the gentle 'decline to reality' period which ends up with a pretty decent dip into the negative zone. Let me explain why I think I'm there. Starting about.. since when I ...

... describe or to read though. It was very cold up there. So we were glad to have the bumpy journey on the way down made fun by pisco and biscuits. Then crawling into bed, trying not to wake sleeping people, and having the next day to explore the city. And then back to Santiago. Things start to get a little more urbane... The not-too spectacular views... And yes, in the city again.

... Peru zu reisen. Fangen wir mal von vorne an... Nach San Martin de los Andes, wo wir den letzten Abend schoen gegrillt haben (Steak und Wein, wie sich das in Argentinien gehoert), sind wir nach Villa la Angostura (DmsS) gefahren, ein klei9nes Dorf umgeben von Bergen und Seen und mit vielen streunenden Hunden (superlieb und schoen, aber voller Viechzeuch). Und im Herbst ist es hier echt superschoen, alle Baeume sind rot, gelb, organge, gruen, pink,... Danach gings ab nach ...

... Björk. And in my hostel in Lima, Peru they were playing Sigurrós at the bar. I am also constantly coming across the music status messages from my South American friends on MSN Messenger, and they're often playing songs from bands like Quarashi, Sigurrós, Emiliana Torrini, Björk, Mugison, Múm and Gus Gus! And this isn't even music I've been introducing to people, because none of those bands are my cup of tea except Quarashi and now lately Emiliana Torrini with her new CD "Me and Armani ...

... i gota bit of a shock, it was literally an oasis in the
middle of the desert, with mud walls and dust track roads! I got
quickly adjusted though and it became our favourite place in Chile! It
was supposed to be the tourist capital but it managed that without
seeming to loose its own culture and charm. We did a few trips here,
one our to the valley of the moon, where you watch the sun set over a
huge dune (that we climbed). Once it dissapears the colour change on ...