I traveled westward to Mendoza, when I arrived shortly after noon all the shops closed for a siesta of 4 hours to escape from the heat, probably to have a picnic in one of the shady parcs, definitly to have some MATE, a funny sight to see all those people carrying around their MATE-cup in one hand and a thermo with hot water in the other, sipping from it now and then. I crossed the Andes to get into Chile once more - SANTIAGO! I quite liked the city: the artist quarter Bellavista, one of the shiplike houses of Neruda, la Moneda, nightly projections of art upon the Mapocho-river......I also went to the habourtown of Valparaiso: colourful houses on hillsides overlooking the bay, some of them really seem to be hold together by the paint only -the mixture of colour and decay giving it a special flair, even the dogs and cats ( and there are maaany of them) seem to be more charismatic than elsewhere. I walked across the market ( all that fresh fish!), went on a little habourcruise and walked up and down the hills afterwards. I took one of those old lifts once, feeling like in a little wooden shoebox as we got up one of the hillsides. I had a look at another of Nerudas houses over there- what a view over the bay and the whole Valparaiso! I finally made it to the lake district, a place called Pucon, you really can´t blame the Chileanos to choose it as a holiday destination. The vulcano Villarrica greats you with some smoke, and there are nice hikes in the nearby Parque National Huerquehue.  For a stunning, beautiful view of the surrounding vulcanos and mountains I hiked up to a "mirador" in  the Cañi- sanctuary, accompanied by the dog of the information center who obviously had chosen me to take him for a walk that day.

 

I stayed in the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama/Chile for a couple of days to see the surrounding marvelous landscape, especially the "Valle de la Luna" with the vulcanos of the Andes ( the dominating "Licancabur") as a beautyful background and the amazing sky filled with stars at night. I crossed over to Argentina, to a city called Salta, strolling over the main plaza with nice cafes and restaurants certainly made you feel a bit shabby in your old backpacker clothes. The nearby city of Cafayate is surrounded by wineyards, I certainly eared a new pair of shoes there, walking a lot. I went to see the Ruinas de Quilmes ( and the wide land filled with cactuses), I started early in the morning, and it was a nice walk while the sun rose, I saw some birds flying over my head that somehow reminded me of the macaws that I saw in Peru, cows were staring at the "early" visitor (me) as I was passing by, a big hairy spider crossed the dusty street right in front of me - the way back with the sun further up in the sky was a bit more sweaty. In the afternoon I walked to some nearby river to cool off a bit, but getting there took quite a while, and I felt relieved when I finally got there and could put my feet in the cold stream. Another bustrip brought me to Cordoba while the heat was increasing. From there I made a daytrip to the little town of "Alta Gracia" to see the "Museo de Che", and one evening we went to "Jesus Maria" for the Festival of "Doma y Forklore", nice to see all the gaucho dressed up in smashing clothes, there were bands playing music while gauchos struggled with wild horses, even staying on their backs when they went down to the ground.... not to forget the awesome smell of grilled meat from countless BBQ's stands everywhere and other traditional food.

I rushed from one bolivian town to the next - La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, without really warming up to any of them. Finally, I found a great hammock in the little village of Samaipata. There's an archaeologica site called "El Fuerte" 9 km out of the village where I hiked to one day, the last part of the way  the image of that local that saw me leave on food and just said "pero el calor!!!!!" haunted me, but I made it! I also had a glimpse on the Amboro National Park nearby. Another remarkable bustrip brought me to Sucre - the white city -, where I spend Christmas and New Years Eve, there are certainly worse places to get stuck at in Bolivia. I passed through the mining town of Potosi on my way to Uyuni, where most of the trips to the "Salar" start, which I thought would be a Bolivia-highlight and a good way to leave Bolivia ( and it certainly was). The Salar was stunning, nothing but white as far as you can see, but I also liked the EPIC desert landscapes that followed: some little vicuñas almost blending in with the background with their brown fur, and in the distance mountains with a mixture of colours ( vulcanic sediments) - milky white,caramel,yellow,red and different shades of brown blending into each other. And of course there were all those "lagunas", most impressive the "Laguna Colorada" with loads of flamingos , also vulcanos and geysirs to marvel at. I crossed the border into Chile at a little remote outpost and just arrived at the "touristvillage" of San Pedro de Atamaca