well all I know is that I felt an earthquake in my third floor Santiago hotel that already had big cracks in the walls from the last big earthquake…. amazingly, I went right back to sleep.
On Sunday I went with a group from the big group to Valpariso on the coast of Chile. It was supposed to be 1.5 hrs on the bus and it took almost 2. We walked all over taking feniculars up and then walking down the old streets. We did walk up a giant set of stairs where one fenicular was shut. It is supposed to be one of the best port cities in South America…not so sure about that. The trip home was a traffic jam and took 2.5 hours but the bus was nice.
Yesterday we had a long day in the truck. The border guards held us up for an extra 4 hours..not sure why but eventually we made it through. The drive over the Andes was amazing. There were NO tress, just dry scrub. LOTS of switchbacks and slow going but smooth enough. I slept in the back of the truck because I had a headache from the altitude and a cold.
We got to Mendoza, Argentina last night and are staying in a hostel that is pretty good.
Today I walked around the city and saw the main plazas. It is a city full of trees..very pretty. On a whim, I decided to go paragliding. It was less than $70USD…so cheap. We drove to the mountians over the city where there are radio towers. I was put into a loose harness with Dado the pilot behind me. I had to run until I lifted off. The conditions were ideal…great thermals and we gained even more altitude. We were in the air about 15 minutes but it was actually long enough. It was a little tough on my stomach when we did some acrobatics coming down but really fun.
Tomorrow will be another long day in the truck with bush camping at night… so no internet…btw..bush camping means no toilets… nothing…. 
