how do you say "cliffs notes" in spanish?

yola.

many adventures since my last update so i will skim through it all and get ya up to speed. bear with, por favor.

mendoza turned out to be crazy cool and lots of fun (despite my turbulent digestive region). what this reinforced was that a huge factor in the enjoyment of any given location--especially when journeying solo--is the strangers you meet along the way. through my hostel i came to link up with a few young argentine girls, and a mixed clan of boys from just about every english-speaking nation. we picnicked in the park, went to the movies ("sherlock holmes" with subtitulos en español), attended an intra-hostel asado (heaps of meat on a grill and sketchy tequila), and so on. one of the days, two american guys and i rented bikes and went on a wine-tasting tour, evading death-by-truck on the open road and singing "my humps" and other classy pop songs aloud while coasting through tunnels of tall trees. the night i left for chile, we all cooked a family farewell dinner (asian stir fry followed by brownies & ice cream!) and i left loving mendoza.

after mendo i ventured back to chile (border crossing is not the pinnacle of excitement, i will say) since i had cut it short the first time and missed out on valparaiso. when i arrived, the weather was gloomy (reminiscent of the thing i miss least about SF) and the town, at first glance, looked like the slums out of some documentary about prostitutes who, say, learn how to knit and quit the biz. i had been forewarned multiple times about the incidence of crime in this town so i was sketched from the moment i got off the bus. i had planned to stay with a girl from couchsurfing (named clementine, likely a transplant from france, also incidentally a part-time clown who juggles at the traffic lights in nearby resort town viña del mar--enough red flags for you?), but she had become a bit flaky via email and i could not confirm a time to meet so, in my early morning fog, i sought out a hostel that luckily had room and hunkered down. i was in a bit of a funk and everyone at the hostel seemed to be checking out so i was wondering how i would spend my day and turn my salty mood around.

luckily, thanks to my wonderful friend amanda who loves to connect people, i had been in touch with a girl named sabrina, also from cali, who is in the midst of a year-long voyage with her boyfriend (both on hiatus from advertising as well). i met up with sabrina and reece and, just like some heavy-handed cinematic metaphor, the sun came out. literally. we ate lunch and took one of the town's famous funiculars up to the top of a hill to walk the streets and scope the views and walls painted with epic artistry. this is my kind of museum. word. sabrina and reece were so much fun--within an hour or so we were warmed up as if having known each other for far longer, making countless inappropriate jokes, curving around the alley streets, and finally ending up at a "disco" for dinner. (their hostel had organized this: tons of meat, potatoes, and veggies are thrown in a huge paella-like metal dish over fire and cooked in wine.) the next couple says were spent with them and also some fresh imports at my hostel (all guys, american, british, and german) venturing through the hills to see old condemned prisons, quaint arty streets, a nightclub, and a quick trip to viña del mar for a stroll at the beach before sunset. oh, and i escaped with all my belongings and didn't get assaulted so my record is looking good so far.

i left valpo on a bus with the american boys (from montana) and returned to santiago (where i started my trip) for one last day. i had wanted to connect some family friends of my mom who i had missed the first time through, and, as luck would have it, they were all convening for a birthday celebration my one night in town. but first, a guy from couchsurfing, boris, who i had met a couple weeks back and taken a walk with, offered to put me up at his family's house for the night and i gladly accepted. they lived a bit out of the city center but boris was happy to drive me anywhere i needed. such a score. i met his whole family and they were so kind and hospitable, offering tea, bread (god, please, no more bread), and wanted to see pictures of my family. i love these people. i then set out for the other family gathering where i would have otherwise felt rather out of place (mostly chilean women in their 60s) but they were so welcoming and happy to meet me. i admittedly missed the humor of some of their jokes as their spanish is rapid fire and laden with local vernacular, but all in all i had a wonderful evening and it was interesting to see how the chilean life is in the realest sense. when hostelling and hanging with fellow travellers, it is easy to miss out on that huge other aspect of the native culture so i was happy to have a peek.

earlier in the day i had opted to buy a bus from santiago back to mendoza for friday morning and would just wing it and hope to get right on another bus from mendoza to buenos aires. the buses in argentina seem to be much more plush and posh than in chile and i wanted to ensure i had "cama" (seats that are wide and recline pretty far) and food service for my overnight journey to BA (instead of just booking a direct bus from santiago to BA which was likely pretty shitty and nearly as expensive, and didn't leave until saturday). well, my plan went off without a hitch. i got to mendoza, went to book a ride to BA and found they only had "semi-cama" (a glamorous term for a seat which reclines slightly and doesn't remotely resemble a bed and is squished very closely to the stranger next to you who very well may smell or be unaware of how far their elbows extend) or first class, but no cama. it turned out that first class cost only about $12 US more than cama so i figured, "f*ck it, let's do this" (the only foreseeable downside being that i may never be able to ride anything lesser again).

wow, this bus was so legit. the seats fully recline and have a foot-rest that comes straight out to align with the seat. i mean, this guy can actually can pretend it's a bed! big fleece blanket, no one even remotely close to me, personal space curtains, wine, champagne, hot beef meal, adorable french canadian neighbor-boys (which are not part of the standard service, i'd imagine, but a lovely amenity nonetheless), decent movies, WIFI!!! so yeah, i'm kind of in love. but one of the things the wifi provided me was the onslaught of concerned emails from people who had just heard of the massive 8.8 earthquake near santiago (and tsunami warning) and were concerned i was still there, perhaps buried under rubble (though i imagine my gregory™ backpack would be just fine, as this thing can endure anything, or so claim the guys at REI). first of all, i was feeling extra grateful that i just happened to take that first santiago bus instead of waiting for the next day service to BA. a little too "sliding doors", really, but great luck nonetheless. i will say that, man, it feels nice to have so many people wanting to know i am safe and sound and that are even aware enough of where i am or may be. in a seemingly self-centered world, it's a beautiful sign that people are real and caring. so, big ups to all of you for that.

i am now sitting in a hostel lobby in BA, waiting for sarah (my friend from the states and bariloche cohort) to wake up so we can situate ourselves somewhere and i can begin my tenure here. i know a few friends who have recently moved here, as well as a few travellers who are passing through, so i should be able to keep busy for a while. it's such a big city with so many barrios and so much to see, and i need a break from switching proverbial area codes every 3 days, so i plan to nest in BA for a couple weeks and see what comes.

big love--AMOR--from the land of empanadas. keep rockin.