Well, well, it HAS been quite awhile. First I'd like you to please pardon errors, I'm on an english keyboard set to type in spanish. This means that I can't see all of the keys that are going to type.

Let's see, where to begin? I lost my job about 5 weeks ago. SARS. Just not enough students. I was given four weeks notice, of which I only had to work one week. I was lost. Didn't know what to do. This was on a Thursday. By Sunday I had decided to leave New Zealand. On Tuesday I found a cheap ticket to London via two months in South America- beginning in Santiago and leaving from Buenos Aires with the option to change the date of departure. SOLD!! I was waitlisted for part of the ticket and so couldn' t purchase it until it finally cleared on Thursday. I bought 6 months of travel insurance to go with and that was that.

On that Saturday I threw a large going away party with about 30-35 people in total for the night from about 16 countries. IT WAS WILD. Mark has promised to post the photos on a page so that everyone can view them' and NO, it's not a peep show, and they were just wrestling on the bed. Sunday I was supposed to finish packing, but was unable to do much of anything beyond just staring for most of the day- as were the rest of my flatmates. It was like that old song, [Maria's Party[ about the party that you always hope to find but never do. At 4.30am when everyone was leaving, some of whom had been there since 7pm...it looked like the streets of Barcelona lined with attractive young people lying around looking half dead at 7am on a saturday morning. Stunning. I especially love the short videos I took. Hopefully I'll get a link up to all soon.

Monday morning I left with my two friends, Keith from China and Sora from Korea to the South Island. Three weeks of traveling and adventure ensued as we hiked glaciers, rainforests, mountains, took many photos and so on and so forth. The two BEST things on the whole of the south island- overnight luxury cruise at Milford Sound -we paid for the backpackers but got upgraded!!_ and the Speight's Brewery in Dunedin. I know, it's cliche, but it truly was a fabulous tour. My next dream tour is the Guiness Brewery...

4th of June I left my wonderful companions in ChristChurch, flew to Auckland and then to Santiago, Chile where I arrived 5 hours before I left. I was met at the airport by Elizabeth, a friend of a friend, who had a sign with my name on it!! How exciting!! I've always wanted to be a person on one of those signs at the airport! The first hour was a little difficult, but by the second I was doing really well. Elizabeth doesn't speak any english. She invited me back to her house for lunch and then helped me reserve a room at a guest house in Santiago. Several of the neighbors poked their heads in to ask about something else, but really wanted to know who the machilero -backpacker with the guitar was. I was introduced as being from New Zealand and that got a nice warm welcome. I also showed postcards and money and such. They were quite pleased. I was dying to take photos, but it wasn't really a good time.

Ten minutes out of my door on my second day in Chile I encountered my first protest. Apparently, students don't get discounts on bus and metro fares, so they have been protesting and shutting down the city center and intersections a few times over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, it started to rain and it broke up not long after. Or fortunately if you were one of those on the buses.

My last day in Santiago Elizabeth met me early in the day and we went to many museums and a castle and such. My favorite was the Museo de Pre-Columbian cultures. There was a guard that took a fancy to me and followed me around giving me in depth explinations of everything. Invited me out that night before I left, but I had to decline. Also, it was a bit of a spanish overload. I'm amazed at the rapidity that I'm picking things up..but sometimes it's too many new words and too much of an overload. Elizabeth and I left quickly out the side door without saying goodbye.

Spent the night on a bus and arrived the next night in Calama' not much there. Adobe buildings, brightly colored and flaking. Beautiful town center. Basically I was just there to get to San Pedro and Valle de la Luna'- a mystical place in the desert. I also visited Valle de Muerte and a few other places in the desert. Valle de Luna at sunset is the big thing and I had to climb the world's largest sand dune to get there - ok. maybe not, but it FELT like the world's largest!! The best part was coming down. I stripped off my shoes, rolled up my pants and every step my naked feet plunged up to my shins in cold sand. felt FABULOUS.

Back in town, completely parched, sat on the dusty streets playing guitar until my bus left. Got on the bus with the other now brown travelers, spent the night on the bus to Arica, the northernmost city in Chile and from there crossed into Peru. Arrived this morning covered in dirt and dust. my hands are covered in ink from an exploded pen, my nails...well, glad my mother isn't here to see them! grin

having a good time. don't have enough money. doing a lot of praying. also a lot of sleeping on buses and the occasional busking. Id like to do a little more showering..but hey. you take it where you can. besides, it's winter and the showers are cold anyway.
still, after a few days hiking in the deserts...wouldn't mind a rinse.

Tonight I go to Puno to see the manmade floating islands of the Uros. Originally they built the islands to isolate themselves from the Incas. Now there are no pure Uros left, as they have intermarried, but the tradition continues. A bit touristy now, but it's unique in the world and therefore worth a look. Afterwards I'll either voy a Cusco for a week and a half of exploring Inca ruins, or on to Lima and then to Cusco. I want to make the Incan festival of the sun god, Inti Raymi on June 24th, but given the state of emergency in the country and the travel advisory in effect, I don't know exactly what I will do. Although the country is in a state of emergency, the violence has died down. It might be better to travel with a native and a male right now instead of my usual solo ventures.

My friend Inti is supposed to be in Lima and has invited me to stay with him and his family and to do Cusco and Machu Pichu with me, but I don't know when he arrives, or if he has already. I'll just have to wait and see.

I will try to update as I can. Peace be with all of you and pray that it goes well with me too!