A lazy afternoon.

I am trying to fit in a trip to a faraway destination while I am here. The only question is where. I could catch a flight to Buenas Aires for only 50.000 pesos with some friends. Or I could take a bus ride to Mendoza, Argentina for 10.000 pesos. Buenas Aires has around 18,000,000 people, and is around three times the size of New York City. Everything there is extremely cheap as well. Plus, one of my favorite postmodern authors - Jorge Luis Borges - lived nearby and a pilgramage to his place would certainly be in order. Buenas Aires, like any city, has it's dangerous sections, but really the city is quite safe if you stick around the touristy, the rich and the well-traveled sections. Of course I won't be going to La Boca or any ghetto while I am there.

Or I could go to La Serena (where penguins be), and catch a one hour busride to a remote Mapuche village in the mountains. It's a secret little area that tourists don't know about - a teacher of mine told me about it - and supposedly rocks La Serena's world. The village is in the highest parts of the mountains, but it has a lake that should not be missed.

Right now, people are flocking to the currently erupting volcano near Púcon and I would not want to miss it. It's about five hours south and bus services are created a special trip down there. Not to mention that Púcon hosts some incredibly beautiful hot springs you can bathe in. That's another option.

Far south is Puntos Arenas, 100 miles away from Antartica. While the cost of a bus trip there is about the same as lunch in Santiago (cause no one wants to go), I would definitely need my ski jacket as well as iron skin.

San Pedro is another option. But it's touristy and does not have that much to offer. Plus, it's full of hippies and hippies annoy me. I have been told there is a town inside the Atacama Desert that boasts everything Pedro has without the tourists. I'm gonna look into that. Only catch is that both trips take a full 24 hours. So we'll see, dear reader. We'll see.