Hot Tamales in Chile Today

Buenas noches desde SANTIAGO, CHILE! What´s that, you say? Chile? Wasn´t I supposed to be in Argetina traveling with my sister?!? Well..... I DID go to Argentina. One Monday night, I boarded a night bus, crossed the border at 1 am, arrived at teh bus station in Mendoza at 5 am, and spent the day making friends in the hostel until it was time to catch the bus to the aeropuerto to meet my sister. And at 3:30 PM, Annelle walked off her plane and into the life of my backpacking traveling companion for the next two weeks. And what fun it has been having her here with me!

In only 4 days, we have eaten lots of tasty meat, veggies, and ice cream (sorry Alex, we have been unable to keep up with your suggestion of 15-20 empanadas/day, but NOT for lack of trying...). We spent one gorgeous afternoon biking through the rural pueblo of Maipu visiting wineries, eating yummy olives and sun-dried tomatoes, drinking wine, tasting homemade chocolates, and - at the end of the night - being personally escorted by the police back to the bike place - I managed to get a photo of Annelle biking with the police dude driving 2 mph on his motorcycle next to her so that "Nothing bad would happen to us." Clearly, he just wanted the opportunity to spend a little time with two gorgeous girls! We also walked all over Mendoza, admired the Fall colors of the leaves on the trees in the park, ate ice cream and empanadas, and then boarded a bus for the boonies where we spent yesterday walking along a beatuful tree-lined dirt road at the base of the Andes where the mountains are streaked in green, red, and yellow - amazing! And it was WARM - hot even. Which has been much welcomed by Annelle who has suffered a never-ending Winter up in New Haven. And then the best part was the authentic Argentinian asado we were treated to last night at our hostel - Im loving showing off this place to my sister!!

But we have decided that a trip to Bariloche is a must. Weather be damned, we are GOING! Annelle can´t come all this way and not get to experience the beauty of the area - not to mention the opportunity to meet my wonderful friends who reside there. So geared up with our long underwear, hats, gloves, and winter jackets, we are making the journey South. And for a reason that I cannot explain, it is actually faster to go from Mendoza to Bariloche via Chile. And the totally awesome part of all of this is that Annelle gets the bonus of experiencing two Chilean-Argentinian border crossing (today´s was enough to make me want to pull my hair out, but somehow Annelle enjoyed it - we were really really high in the Andes, after all!), see Santiago, meet and hang out with Claudio in Osorno, and do some hiking in the INCREDIBLE mountains outside of Osorno. So this morning, we headed to Santiago, spent the afternoon eating yummy food - including some awesome hot tamales!, climbing the hills around town, and now catching up with family via email. In a few hours, we are back on the bus for a night trip to Osorno - there is never a dull moment when viajando conmigo!!

Off we two hermanas Taylor go. Hasta la proxima...VIVA!!