an update: i think that the last time i talked with you we were in quito, about to get on a bus to lima, peru from where we would take another one to go to santiago, chile. well, we made the bus to lima just fine (although it took 3 days and there was some really weird border crossing stuff that i can explain some other time). we stayed one night in lima to relax a bit and shake out our legs before the next 3-4 day bus ride. when we went to the bus station the next morning to ask about buses to santiago, it turned out that all of the buses headed that way were booked through mid march so we started to explore other options. we found that pretty much every bus was booked for at least a few days and we started to stress out a bit... then we found this kid from colombia who was in the same boat. he was starting grad school for graphic design in buenos aires, argentina and had to get there as quick as possible and told us that one bus company had a bunch of people who had bought tickets to buenos aires and didn't have all of their paperwork in order to enter argentina and that if they didn't get it sorted out in time they wouldn't be able to use their tickets and the seats would be open. so we wound up waiting ALL day in the bus station, with fingers crossed, hoping that these people wouldn't be able to use their seats. (a little sidebar about waiting for this sort of thing in peru: everything is wildly unorganized, lines hardly exist, no one working anywhere really knows whats going on, and its SUPER hot.) so after much frustration, and a lot of arguing between a family of 4 without their papers and the bus company, it turned out that they wouldn't be able to enter argentina so they would't be able to use their tickets. so, with the bus scheduled to leave at 4pm, the three of us bought our tickets at 4:45 and RAN to where the bus was leaving from, checked-in, and collapsed into our seats...
this was SUCH a long bus! over 72 hours in total. look at a map, from quito, it seems about the same distance to LA as it is to buenos aires. and we didn't stop except for gas. the entire time, they blasted terrible american movies dubbed in spanish. all we ate we crackers, and combining the previous bus of 40 hours, we realized that we hadn't had a fruit or vegetable in over 10 days. we did pass a lot of very beautiful landscapes throughout the trip though. we drove the entire coastline of peru (incredibly beautiful, look for pictures later), through the driest desert on Earth, crossed the andes, and passed through the entire farmland of argentina (which is really just as flat as you could imagine with green fields stretching all the way to the horizon, with only a few poplar trees and houses/barns obstructing the horizon). we also had MORE than enough time to practice spanish on our captive audience of fellow-bus riders so we're feeling pretty good about that now.
BUT, now we're in buenos aires - "the paris of south america". it is, by all accounts, an incredibly modern, gigantic, sophisticated city and it feels VERY good to be in such a place after so much seated time. we got in last night, checked into a cool hostel downtown, and slept SO soundly in our real bed. the weather is absolutely perfect right now and we just ate a giant, breakfast with real coffee for the first time in WAY too long. i think we'll be here for about 2 or 3 more days.
from here, we're going to take yet another overnight bus back to the farming area around mendoza, argentina to a wwoofing farm that wrote us back about helping them with their apple harvest. their main production is apple juice and cider and march is the big go-time for them. we're thinking we're going to spend most of march there, drinking apple juice mostly.
that's all for now! going to go explore this awesome city now. also, i think we're planning on taking you up on that argentinian steak dinner tonight! the battery for the camera is charging and we'll make sure to take some pictures!
love you guys, hope all is well!
scott
this was SUCH a long bus! over 72 hours in total. look at a map, from quito, it seems about the same distance to LA as it is to buenos aires. and we didn't stop except for gas. the entire time, they blasted terrible american movies dubbed in spanish. all we ate we crackers, and combining the previous bus of 40 hours, we realized that we hadn't had a fruit or vegetable in over 10 days. we did pass a lot of very beautiful landscapes throughout the trip though. we drove the entire coastline of peru (incredibly beautiful, look for pictures later), through the driest desert on Earth, crossed the andes, and passed through the entire farmland of argentina (which is really just as flat as you could imagine with green fields stretching all the way to the horizon, with only a few poplar trees and houses/barns obstructing the horizon). we also had MORE than enough time to practice spanish on our captive audience of fellow-bus riders so we're feeling pretty good about that now.
BUT, now we're in buenos aires - "the paris of south america". it is, by all accounts, an incredibly modern, gigantic, sophisticated city and it feels VERY good to be in such a place after so much seated time. we got in last night, checked into a cool hostel downtown, and slept SO soundly in our real bed. the weather is absolutely perfect right now and we just ate a giant, breakfast with real coffee for the first time in WAY too long. i think we'll be here for about 2 or 3 more days.
from here, we're going to take yet another overnight bus back to the farming area around mendoza, argentina to a wwoofing farm that wrote us back about helping them with their apple harvest. their main production is apple juice and cider and march is the big go-time for them. we're thinking we're going to spend most of march there, drinking apple juice mostly.
that's all for now! going to go explore this awesome city now. also, i think we're planning on taking you up on that argentinian steak dinner tonight! the battery for the camera is charging and we'll make sure to take some pictures!
love you guys, hope all is well!
scott
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