Update on Adventure

The title might be a little misleading. I actually haven't had an adventure lately. I've been sitting in bus, or buses, for over 50 hours now. In our first 48 hours away from La Paz, we were on a bus for 45 of them.

I'm in Osorno. This is the first time I've ever heard of this city.

I have a ticket to Punta Arenas, the southern most city in the world. We have to take a bus into Argentina first, and then back into Chile to get there. We will then be hiking into Patagonia and the beautiful mountains and mountain lakes that are surrounding the area. I'm not sure how long we will stay, but it might be 4 or 5 days of just camping and enjoying the hikes and scenery.

Once we get there, it will not cost a thing. We have fishing poles, water filters, tents, and hammocks to live off the land for quite a while. Apparently the mountains just run straight into the Pacific Ocean all over the area. I am more than excited to see this amazing site. I probably won't be able to post again for a while, so I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone, especially the family, whom I will be away from for my second Christmas (which is way too much).

Mom-Merry Christmas. I love and miss you. Christie- You're in my prayers all the time. I love you. Dave- Michigan for christmas huh? too bad it's not back to Bolivia, but i understand. Dad- Give Mark a hug for me and have a Merry Christmas with everyone.

Christmas Plans

I am off to Chile for Christmas Break. The US Embassy gave me a temporary passport, and now the plan is to get as far south in Chile that we can (randy, caity, and I). I'm going to take cash, and when I get half way through it, I will turn around and come back. Randy and Caity have the morbid goal of finding a penguin and kicking it, while my goal is just to get to Patagonia.

I'm guessing this adventure will last about 2 weeks, which will leave me with one more week of freedom. I'm hoping to hike over half of the mountain range (the Cordillera Real) with this one extra week. We'll see.

Anyways, Merry Christmas to all. You are all in my prayers over this holliday season.

Updates on Life

So an update is necessary on a few things: I do not have my passport, and I will not have it for a while longer. I went to pick it up today at the Embassy, and they tell me "OH, we need an original of your Birth Certificate because, it turns out, we lost your registration with us and we now need an official document". I asked them why they didn't call me and tell me two weeks ago, only for them to say that they are busy. So now the goal is to get another original copy from a family member, and have them send it, and then wait the 12 days to process another passport. Does this mean that I probably can't travel over the Christmas Holiday, and that I will be in Bolivia during the chaotic elections? precisely. The elections are coming up real quickly. It is going to be super interesting, and have a big effect on the country. There are good chances that things could go very badly here. to read an interesting article that Scott sent me, go to http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/112005H.shtml I'm currently planning some of the next trips with the students. One is going to be in January, another in February, and then I'm planning a 9 day hiking/climbing trip in March (during our spring break). So far most of it is just on paper, and I'm planning on getting out into the mountains for about 10 days over Christmas break to get to know the mountains a little bit better so we don't get lost on the long hike in March.... If any of my readers have ANY ideas on some financial funding for the upcoming trips, please let me know as soon as possible......I need to look into different options, as my salary is not enough to fund these trips....