Strangers

One unexpected outcome of the trip so far has been a rekindled faith strangers.

There was the father at a gas station who offered me a place for the night, after my desert drama.

Or the hostel owners who offered me a free ¨upgrade¨ when they had a nicer room open, for free.

Or the woman selling cookies on the street, who returned money when I overpaid (I wouldn´t have noticed... and those extra pesos probably meant a lot to her.)

Or the mechanic who fixed my battery for free, and then asked that I don´t forget about him and his shop in Salta.

All these stories are even more remarkable given that these people will probably never see me again.  A cynic would say  - hey, here´s an American with money.  Let´s get something from him.

But it doesn´t happen.  My paranoia says more about me than them. 

Or how about NOLS?

12 strangers sharing food, tents and gear, totally isolated for 30 days.

A recipe for disaster, right?  Especially when food is running low or weather gets ugly?

But there was no drama.  The group dynamic had more in common with Friends, than Survivor.

And the story repeats itself - the boat to Antarctica was a blast. Cruising through Bolivia with total strangers  (most of whom didn´t know each other either) was no different.

I was expecting everything to be much harder.  Anti-Americanism!  Bandits!  Danger!  Random strangers in hostels!

It´s too bad that in our culture we´re so primed to expect the worst.  All the news reports about crime, extremist politicians and drug violence really distort the kindness of ordinary people.  Most people - locals and tourists - are wonderful, friendly and helpful.   

Odds are she won´t try to steal your passport.

Studies would suggest that we will be surprisingly good friends because of a random cabin assignment.

Peruvian Police Checkpoint

Shack in the middle of nowhere.

Contents include:

1 chair
1 desk
1 registration binder
1 topless swimsuit calendar
1 framed portrait of the Virgin Mary
1 flat screen LG HDTV playing Katy Perry music videos

She forgives your nude calendar pics and corrupt ways.

April 10 - Canyon Country Peru - 500km

Finally started heading inland after a 1,000km along the coast.

The coastal desert drags on for another thousand kilometers, past Lima.  Heading inland, you quickly run into massive canyons dug by the water flowing down from the highlands.  The valleys are fertile, while the rest is completely barren.

Peru doesn´t have many paved roads (only 14%, in fact).  The good news is that all the major cities are connected by beautiful highways so it´s easy to avoid trouble in the backcountry gravel.

500km plus a border crossing made for a long day, but the riding stayed spectacular.

Sandy cliffs and green valleys.

Watch out for the cows that sometimes jump out of the bushes.

Hard to capture here but the green and tan combo is really striking.

...and sometimes its stretches in this foggy dessert.  

Southeast Peru is a big exporter of hot peppers.

Not a fake picture... this is a power plant smack in the middle of the desert.  The loading dock for ships is way off the left there.

Self-portrait for the collection (this is for you, KJK).

As the desert gets pushed up into mountains the views are absolutely Martian again.

Back up into the stratosphere.

Glamor shot of the Don.

Cold cold cold.  The rivers and lakes were frozen and I wound up driving in my glacier mittens!  

Alpine lakes start to appear as the desert starts to make way to high altiplano steppe.

The bluest blues and greenest greens you´ll ever see.

Incredible road twisting and turning through the steppe.

Traffic on the highway.

This cab doesn´t have a speedometer...

...instead has a Jesus statue where the speedometer used to be.

Fabulously Dysfunctional Argentina

After a few run-ins with dysfunction in Argentina, I was curious:

Were these isolated incidents, or something bigger?

So I leafed through Argentinian news a bit.  Here is the latest:

June, 2009 - Buenos Aires runs out of change.

January 10, 2011 - Argentina suffers shortage of banknotes.

January 16, 2011 - Farmers angry over policies that curb exports to keep domestic prices low.

February 3, 2011 - Government threatens independent consultancy with $125,000 fine for publishing inflation report pegging inflation at 30%.

February 16, 2011 - Government adds import restrictions to 200 goods.

March 11, 2011 - Government blames shortage of gasoline on foreign oil companies, imposes restriction on oil exports.

March 19, 2011 - Union leader calls for a strike of all transportation workers.  Why?  To to protest a Swiss money laundering investigation into his personal accounts.  The entire country could be shut down for a day.

Argentina is a beautiful country, loaded with natural resources and an educated work force.  The people are wonderful.  It used to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

That´s what makes this all the more shocking.  The Kirchner government´s mismanagement is so bad it almost has a kind of tabloid appeal to it (for me, at least...)

It´s like watching a Hollywood celebrity´s life spiral out of control.  There´s the denial of any problems.  The person shoots the messenger.  Then they blame others.  Hopefully it ends with rehab and a start at a better life, and not a downward spiral.

It´s almost like Argentina is the Lindsay Lohan of South American economies.

Hopefully things will get better one day... in the meantime enjoy the wine and steak and carry extra gas and dollars with you!