Short-term schedule:

10/27-10/31 Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes The Lake District in the mountains.
11/01-11/01 Santiago de Chile Just a first brief visit... more in December.
11/02-11/08 Rapa Nui (Isla de Pascua... a.k.a. Easter Island) The most remote archipelago on earth.
11/09-11/14 El Calafate Awesome Perito Moreno glacier and much more.
11/15-11/25 Rio de Janeiro And a side trip to Florianopolis.
11/29-12/14 Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica Well, we'll see about that.

Yowzadlidoo Mr. Kermit - what a busy 11 days since I last wrote. Safely returned from the Andes on another marathon bus trip before diving head first into... Washbear week!!! (inside joke, I know) Another River Plate game on Sunday, another 17-hour bus ride - this time to the spectacular Cataratas de Iguazu, one of the seven natural wonders of this earth. Absolutely breathtaking waterfalls, from the frightening Garganta de Diablo (Devil's Throat) main falls, to the Bossetti Falls and the San Martin Falls with its crazy power boats riding straight into them, to a walk right on top of the rim where the calm water still doesn't know what's going to happen within seconds. Plane ride back, more lomo and even more lomo in Bs.As., and now in Uruguay after a short jet cat ride across the Rio de la Plata. Quiet Colonia del Sacramento is a welcome oasis of silence and enjoys fourth-worldish slow pace after the craziness of BA, not to mention the air-cleaning tropical thunderstorm accompanied by the usual miniscule amount of rainfall to say hello today. Tomorrow Montevideo and back to BA at night.

Hola K... Mendoza. Caught a 13-hour bus from BA last night - nothing to complain about; better than business class on an airliner: Upper deck front row, fully reclining seats (only 3 per row), sherry and wine along with a full dinner, brandy and whiskey to tuck you in while watching a movie - they know how to make you sleep through the night! Some 1,000 kilometers west of BA daylight breaks and the breathtaking snow-capped Andes become visible, still over 200 kilometers away. The volcano Tupungato and the imposing Aconcagua (tallest in America) throne almost 7,000 meters above sea level (that's approaching 23,000 feet for all you SI-challenged) visible from everywhere - that's twice the altitude of most mountains in the Alps! It's Discovery/Columbus Day today, so most businesses are closed and I can explore Mendoza in all its splendor. Completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 19th century, the city was completely rebuilt with sidewalks wider than the streets in most other cities! Everything is lined by exotic trees from all over the world - it somehow feels like a big version of Alice Springs, an oasis within the vinyards of the 4th-largest wine-producing region of the world. Speaking of wine, I thought I start off this week on the proper foot by going on a tour of bodegas and winemakers this afternoon. Tomorrow will be a full-day adventure to the base of Aconcagua, the Puente de Incas and Lago Horcones.

Yowza Mr. K. Jr. - One week in Buenos Aires now. What an amazing place! Don't even know where to start... went to see a Tango show at one of the most classic esquinas in town, attended my first Boca Juniors game, hiked all over Palermo/Recoleta/San Martin/Microcentro/San Telmo, found an apartment, watched River Plate win, and basically went to bed at about 7 am pretty much every day. Oh, did I mention that the diet here is more or less 100% steaks, steaks, and more steaks? Not a problem, though, as the meat quality is impressive. Gonna do the girlie thing and go shopping for shoes these days - with all this beef there's plenty of good leather around here. My apartment rocks... kind of smallish but in one of the best streets of the city in Palermo, on a 9th floor overlooking the zoo and the skyline, very central, full security. Moving in tomorrow - they just completed a full renovation of the place with new paint, new hardwood floors, etc. Should have cable TV, telephone, adress, all that good stuff within a few days.