The Plan*

I depart lovely Buenos Aires tomorrow after nearly a month here in the city. I have to say I've grown quite attached to porteño life - a beautiful place filled with beautiful people, lots to do, cheap good food, and the weather in summertime is delicious. My apartment is comfortable, housemates are great, and if you can't tell by the frequency of these posts, I have a computer 2 feet from my bedroom door. Moving on will be a bit sad, but of course its exactly what I want to be doing.

Tomorrow I take an overnight bus to Bariloche, in the heart of the lake district, where I plan to spend several days exploring the surrounding mountains and swimming in many lakes. On Friday, my friends Tate and Shawna from NYC will be joining me there and the three of us will drive south to El Bolson, which Lonely Planet describes as "the Berkeley of Argentina," full of hippies, organic farms, crafts, etc. Should be fun, plus Tate and Shawna will have a rental car, which means many more hiking and swimming spots to be found!

Early next week I plan* to hop another bus over the Andes to the fishing town of Puerto Montt, Chile. My amazing ex housemate and RAN friend Hannah lived in Chile for a while, and put me in touch with an environmental forest protection group there, so hopefully I'll have some interesting interactions and adventures in Puerto Montt for a few days. Even better, Hannah's friend Sergio lives on the island of Chiloé and coordinates the Federación Huilliche de Chiloé, an indigenous group that works to protect the forests of this remarkable place. Sergio graciously offered for me stay at his house, and will let me tag along with him around the island to some of the remote forest areas they're working to protect. Chiloé is supposed to be incredible, similar in climate and ecology and vibe to some of the San Juan Islands up in Puget Sound I think. I plan to spend several weeks there at least.

Sometime in late Feb or early Mar I'll cross back over into Argentina, take 2 loooooong bus rides to Mendoza (wine country) and then Salta in the far north, and finally cross over into Bolivia and arrive in La Paz, where I will stay through the end of April or something. That's the plan* for now, at least.

(PS - the photo above was taken by housemate Hannah on Chiloé last year).

* Subject to change without notice. The author shall not be held liable for any unfullfilled expectations or broken hearts due to sudden changes in aforementioned "plan."