Follow the yellow-dirt road

Sorry it has been a while y’all. Finally sent my final (cross your fingers) copy of my thesis to my ‘committee’ to be approved! Now this is a story all about how my map got flip-turned upside-down, and I’d like to take a minute—just sit right there—I’ll tell you ‘bout our crazy journey to a town called ‘good air.’

ummmm….right. And I have been given the title of official navigator. Great:
We left Puerto Natales , Chile—way in the south(51 degrees Latitude)—and finally started our journey NORTH. Almost 50 hours of driving in 4 days! (Marvelous. That is, only when considering that we did not anticipate an additional 20+ in the following 4 days.) Suffice it to say, Hueona was not looking her sharpest . I am sure you can imagine that this update will be short and sweet (for me), because let me tell you: when you’ve seen a mile of the Argentinian pampas, you’ve seen it all ,my friends!

We broke up the journey mid-way with a highly recommended “must see” Peninsula Valdez, known for its whale-sighting (oh wait, scratch that--wrong season! Though, we did see Orcas from afar—alas, we did not get any Animal Planet footage of a seal massacre. How disappointing! ;) ) My only question is if it legal in the U.S. to own an armadillo…Because I fell in love! (Mom, tell my perrito not to worry) I know, how could a hairy pig with a shell on its back ever be cute? Answer: when they beg for cookies in parking lots.

After getting ourselves mixed up in hours of traffic caused by farmers striking all over the country, we came upon an awe-inspiring site: a multi-lane highway with…other cars! We had not seen such craziness the whole trip! We had finally arrived in Buenos Aires—even though it would only be for one night. The next morning we set off on a new adventure to reach Uruguay. Our first attempt (via ferry) was thwarted by Easter weekend. Silly gringuitos! Imagine trying to travel last minute on Thanksgiving and Fourth of July combined!

So we put Hueona to work again even though she desperately needed a break. We picked up and left straight from the port, driving up the Argentinian/Uruguayan border for four hours only to be thwarted yet again by a Finnish paper mill. Yes, a dispute over the pollution caused by a paper mill has halted anyone from crossing the border at the southern most points (the closes to B.A. and Montevideo)—at least that is how it was explained to us by the two French Canadian hitch hikers we picked up later (one of which was going to school in BA to be a MIME! Whiskey Tengo, dudes (!?).

Did we turn back? No, we persisted! (The colorful town kept our spirits up! ) We drove another few hours and crossed our 7^th boarder and arrived in a hot springs town just as night fell. Um. It was packed. All the Coloradoans can imagine Glenwood Springs on the 4^th of July….nuff said.

The next day we packed up and drove another 4 hours to Colonia (never made it to Montevideo L ), a beautiful town with the last remaining bit of colonial architecture in the region (or at least I think that is its claim to fame—too lazy to look in the book again!) . But by that point we were le tired so we took a nap with the flowers (and then fired ze missiles!).

The drive back to BA in the next few days was going smoothly except, literally, for all the LOMOS DE BURROS (read: backs of donkeys) and routine traffic stops (yay for undeserved fines that cause one to miss the big futbol game!).

And that is the story of how we drove to Buenos Aires.

(P.S. I just like this pic of an old Jesuit-mission-turned-orphanage-turned-ruin and this sweet-ass tree outside)

Coldplay and cold pizza

Well, I have some exciting news...after 4 days of listening to Coldplay (what else can you expect from an internet cafe--my new home--in a hippie/trekker base-town?) and eating cold pizza left overs in my hostel, I've finally finished a full draft of my Master's Thesis. Well, more or less. Ha!

I spent quite a few hours in this internet cafeand have become bff with the owner, who has unofficially hired me as his WiFi tech rep. I am not sure whether this is sad on my part because it demonstrates how many hours I spent here, or on his because I am decently computer illiterate for my generation...

My brother saved me from my misery yesterday afternoon...but the look in his eyes trumped my pain. Let's just say he was a little beat up. Enough so that I wouldn't dream of making him return to the park in anything less comfortable that our beautiful Hueona, whom he had missed dearly. So we spent today just driving around what we had planned to hike in 7 days. Exciting and nostalgic moments included a lot of wildlife including a horde of zorros chillin' on the gravel of a mirador (viewing spot)...but that made me sad because they made me miss my little white fox I like to call 'piaga,' and a titastic shout out to Team Tejas (see the pic kids...what do those mountains look like to you? Don't let the name--Cuernos/Horns--mislead you, friends!).
Unfortunately, the the national park's namesake peaks were in the clouds most of our day and only peaked out at the end (pun intended)(caption: you can see the base of two of the torres just to the left of the bridge uprights), but the whole park was beautiful anyways and my brother was overly nice to make it up to me (any bets on how long that one will last!?)

And side note: outside the park is a giant cave that used to be inhabited by a Milodon (aka giant sloth aka my big teddy bear aka my new bff)

Anyways, this is just more of a boredom update because I am back at my second home while my dear brother re-asserts him back into the world....
...dang it, I thought I was done with BREASTFEEDING for the week!

Walking on snow cone...but Im as cold as a girl can be.

Well. That was one of the coolest things I have ever done :)
On Saturday Nick (with whom we finally met up on March 1 in Bariloche, Argentina), Matt, and I strapped on some cramp-ons and hiked on the Perito Moreno Glacier in the Parque Nacional del Glaciares near Calafate, Argentina. I believe, in my heart, that it would be a very similar experience to walking on a giant snow-cone, or (in the center where the ice is harder) a giant, slippery, sand-dune shaped golfball. I know, sort of strange to associate desert with a massive chunk of ice, but I was definitely forced to reminisce about the good times we had in the Sahara--Sarina and Franny panties, I sent a little anti-struggle vibe to you guys.

Before that awesome finale we made the long trip down the unpaved route 40 from the beautiful lakes of Bariloche to Mount Fitz Roy near Chalten. The days in between can be described in one word: Nevada. I often felt more isolated than in Antarctica! Perhaps it was the lack of telephone wires--never thought those would make me feel at home. On the other hand, staying at a hostel run by the only policeman in a town of 35 before seeing some cave paintings probably didn't help the phenomenon. The driving was rough at times (especially for our butts) but we were mostly just running on adrenaline because our road trip had finally started! We've made two boarder crossings successfully, but have already run out of gas one mile from a station (yay for two extra gas cans) and had to buy a new battery. Bring on the challenges!

Anyways, I am going to let the pics speak for themselves (more on facebook) because I shouldn't even be on the internet right now (the bros are doing a 4 day hike while I get my act together and make a dent in the infamous thesis). [Having a huge struggle loading pics, so this one will have to do for now--I'll try to get a few more up in the next few days!]

But, before I go I have something very important to bring up: I had brainstormed with many of you about ways in which I could selfishly enjoy this trip before med school (big insha'allah), while simultaneously make it into something more meaningful. Originally Matt and I were going to volunteer for this awesome NGO called WATER FOR PEOPLE www.waterforpeople.org (they are in need of professional engineers as well as social scientists for monitoring purposes...add in my interest in preventative health care and women's empowerment, and we are a perfect match!) but alas, the schedule of their projects did not line up with route and itinerary. So, NEW PLAN: we are thinking of raising money for this organization through y'all's sponsorship. Some people walk for cancer or bike for MS. We are going to DRIVE for WATER!! We don't know exactly how we are going to pull this off, so that is where you all come in. I need ideas from you! We are in the process of keeping a record of mileage, drive time, and stats like that, in order to keep everyone updated. Perhaps people can sponsor us for every mile/kilometer we drive, border we cross, city we visit---WHATEVER YOU WANT! Of course 100% of the donations would go to Water for People ("In 2006, 82 cents out of every out of every dollar donated was directed to international programs and their work in the field" translation: pretty awesome). If we reach $500 we can specify a certain site that the money goes to, and if we reach $5000 dollars we can donate it to a specific region--which would be ideal considering we are driving through all of the Americas, not just one country! I think it's good to set a goal for us to work towards :) Maybe we'll figure out a prize for the highest bidder ;)

Anyways, my problem is with logistics. How do we set this up? I know that those who know us will trust that we won't take the money if we have it sent to a paypal account or something--so does anyone know of a different way to do this? Any NGOers out there that know about any legal issues with this? And, of course, keep the suggestions coming. Please forward this blog/my email to anyone that you think will donate or help me figure this all out.

Oh, and DOUBLE THANK YOU to everyone that has kept in touch and given updates on their life (I love my brothers, but wow, women really ARE from Venus).