Don´t cry for me Argentina

Today I write to you form the thriving metropolis of Mendoza after spending a wonderful week down south in Bariloche.  But tomorrow, tomorrow Keith and I leave argentina in our wake, trading in the wonderful steaks, great wine, attrociously difficult accents, beautiful countryside, and somewhat tidy streets for the TJ Banick or possibly even Evan Piepenbrink proportioned country that is Chile.  It is a 7 hour bus ride (a seemingly miniscule pennance after some of our earlier attrocities) across the towering Andes mountains.  I greatly look forward to the views, although i can´t say i´ve heard great things about our first destination, Santiago.  Even with the tales of smog and my own apprehensions about staying in cities with 6 million plus persons, it will be a welcomed change after being in somewhat more rural areas for the last 3 weeks.
And about those rural areas, I must say my favorites have been San Carlos de Bariloche (kudos to Matt for this pick), and Uspallata.  A nice google image search (or going to Keith Bergey´s blog) will provide you with stunning images (if you are on Keith´s blog, i will be clear that the figures in the foreground might not be quite as stunning as those in the background, although feel free to flatter and disagree) of snow capped peaks, rugged terain, and rich blue waters.  We were lucky enough to go up to Frey (again thanks matt) where all of these things can be seen within the same 20 kilometer hike.  Plus, we most definitely provided the locals with some chuckles as we hiked through snow in our barely midlength shorts only to find that the hike was not a loop but a there and back (boo not knowing that we could have camped at the top)
This being my last full day in Argentina, I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Although, I wish that we could have started perhaps a month later so that I could watch UofO beat USC on the teli, as well as enjoy my favorite month of October and all the fall festivies that come with it.  None the less, the trip so far has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to look at the world from a different perspective, and I am stoked to continue doing so for the next few months.
Written with love-Logan

Lost and Found

Hitting the three week date, here is a list of my lost and found so far
Lost:
One watch, a bracelet, and a brown hair tie to a 35 hour bus ride
One pair of sunglasses to a stream connecting with the Rio Mendoza
Some blood and a little bit of skin to the Andes Mountains
Between 2 and 5 pounds

Found:
That some mountains are not meant to be climbed, only stared at with awe and wonder
The ability of a book to keep its pages together is not as important as the words written within
A renewed sense of appreciation for all the people and places I left behind
That one shower with soap twice a week and replacing cologne with febreez can keep people from cringing when you stand next to them in the subway
People, especially children, are the same everwhere
The ability of mountians and waterfalls to capture the imagination makes absolutely no sense when they are broken down to their simplest parts
Speaking multiple languages is highly underated in the US
Movies that are bad in English can actually become more bearable when dubbed poorly in Spanish (see Jean Claude in Kickboxer)
I eat more than Keith, and most everyone else we´ve come into contact with
The Bad Romance music video makes a lot more sense after watching hours of 80´s hits on long bus rides
That leaving Oregon during October will make every other place seem a little less worth traveling to

Miss everyone, we leave Uspallata today for Bariloche, trading in what looks like the Himalayan steps for the lake district

Wine is Red, Somtimes White but i like them both in spite...

First I am sorry to all my friends and family who like wine, knowing in the States that I can rarely get more than a glass down without a grotesque look on my face.  But I must say after our very enjoyable wine tour (where one of our guides frequently enjoyed making fun of Keith and I without our understanding what she was saying, Estados Unidos+everyone looking at us and laughing=clear indicator of the joking).  However, seeing as the Argentine version of wine tasting is to fill your glass half full of each different type of wine, we were relaxed enough not to mind too much.  Of all the wines we tried the Malbec aged 9 months in oak ($130 US per bottle) was by and far our favority.  Apparently you can only by the wine directly from the company (and by that I mean in person) and sadly i am too broke to send any home (sorry Mom, Spammy, Richard+Charlotte).  With my amazingly adept pallet I give you the following description of the Malbec wine, it was smooth and after tasting it I could not stop smiling.  That´s about all I´ve got.  Honetsly for the majority of the time I was starring out into the Andes as they loomed empirously behind each of the vinyards.  Needless to say with the mountains as a background the county is beautiful.  Kind of a Napa Valley meets Central Oregon and went for a walk with a distant Himalayan cousin.  After getting a view of the peaks Keith and I have decided to take a short detour about 3 hours towards chili into Uspallata where we can literally walk out of the hostel right into the Andes Mountains.  Hope to send you some pictures soon.
Logan

Iguazu

So if any of you have never read any romantic poetry, google Mont Blanc, Shelley´s Defense of Poetry, maybe some Wordsworth or Coleridge and then come back to reading as you should have a much better understanding of the experience I am goint to attempt to describe.  Or if reading in beautiful metered verse doesn´t quite get you going (then again shame on you) put aside any sense of foolishness the modern world might conjure within you and go have a nice long look at the sun setting over a mountain or sit next to the ocean, do some meditating under a waterfall or anything that makes people stare at you and wonder if you might be on acid (again see Coleridge) and perhaps again you might not think I sound off.  Anyways, Iguazu is by far one of the most powerful and mindblowing sights in all of nature, once you get past the lines of tourists and globs of small children (or in Keith and my case stuck on the path with a group of small children and then if your me getting past them and looking back to find Keith and not being able to pick him out immediately and then feeling bad cause a. you might have left your friend behind and he doesn´t speak spanish or b. he is a 22 year old bearded white male and you are having trouble picking him out of a large mass of 10 year old Argentines)  any ways, suffice it to say that there were lots of tourists but you can find ways around the crowds. 
So, lets shift away from crowds, and back to me staring into the abyss that is Iguazu.  Fun fact, the amount of water coming off of those falls can fill an Olympic sized pool ever two seconds.  More importantly, standing there watching can bring you to a place where possibly you step outside of space and time and simply are aware of yourself and your relationship to the world.  The name of the lookout is called the Devil´s throat, while I experienced something more along the lines of divinity through the awe inspiring power of that sight, its fitting enough that the name reflects something other worldly.  It was as if in that moment the entirety of my life was compressed and I saw the purpose behind not only myself, but all being in the universe.  The simple act of breathing became an act of divine inspiration.  It should go unquestioned that after walking away I was somewhat speechless for ten minutes and probably looked like a stumbling drunk, but seeing as I felt like Adam in the Sistine Chapel (the finger reaching out and almost touching God) just appearing a wee bit woozy isn´t too bad. 
So that experience kept me sane through out 35 hour bus ride to Mendoza from where I am now typing.  But a French couple is sitting here looking envious of the only computer in the Hostel so I will be on my way.  Love to all, hope everything is well-Logan  (PS read more poetry)

Eating out: Buenos Aires

After eating here I´ve decided that Odysseus must have landed not on some island but instead in Buenos Aires when his men partook in the eating of Helios cattle.  The meat here is about as good as anything i´ve ever had in the US and cheaper than a super sized 1/4 punder with a McFlurry.  Last niight after taking a few sips of wine and nibbling on some bread, the waiter arrived with a succulent portion of beef tenderloin medallions.  I said a quik prayer, and then sinking my fork into that first delicate piece, i found that the meat folded right apart, making th use of a knife superflous (perhaps as much so as this description).  With just less than copious amounts of flavor, the niblet took my tastebuds on a wonderful journey that started in a green pasture and ended in some blissful community just south of heaven.  Next a small fried portion of potato caught my gaze and took me, be it along a different route, right to the same local.  The rest of the night continued as we were serranaded by a multitude of different languages, only one of which was our own.  Then the check came, slowly we unflolded it.  3/4 of a bottle of wine, two extravagently tasty steaks, one water, bread, what had we done?  Would i be packing my bags early, could my somewhat dimishing undergraduate pocket book servive such a thrashing.  The check turned gravely in my hands, and there it was. Few times had numbers with so many digits appeared on bills belonging to me (even on those occaisions my parents were the ones gracious enough to provide the monetary backing for such eyeboggling expenses).  And then, a discovery.  122 pesos only amounted to around 30 dollars americana, and since I still maintained my somewhat stingy ways from times past, Keiths portion and not my own comprised the majority of the cost.  Thougths of lonely plane rides were ommited and and I scoffed the idea of an early return as the equivalent of around 13 dollars easily left my once perspiring palms that now confidently gripped a seemingly meager amount of money considering the magical feast that had just transpired. 
After taking one last breath full of remembrance, we departed our oasis of mastication to return the bohemian residence curerntly serving as our place of rest.

Day 2

So far the only person I have following this thing is my girlfriend Charlotte, who also happens to be one of the few people who was apathetic about my writing one, so the rest of you better get on it. 
Today was a wonderful day in the wide world of Buenos Aires.  I had my first experience on any Subway where I felt like a sardine moving at high speeds through an enlargened worm tunnel, but such is life.  Keith and I managed to take in the Japanese gardens where I could not tell the difference between a drinking fountain and a decoration.  We also went to teh botanical gardens which felt like a set for Jurassic Park.  Then we took a nice long walk over to the cemetary.  If you have ever been to the one in New Orleans just multiply that by about ten and you´ll have an idea of the scope of this place.  My degree finally paid off (Thanks parents) and I am sure that I bored Keith with my continual remarks on the Chi Rho symbol, mandorlas, cruciform halos and a short history on stained glas.  None the less I was like a kid in a candy store looking at all the amazing sculptures.  Speaking of which, the romanesque sculptures proliferate the roadsides here in such a way that by the end of our walking on more 60 foot tall galloping horsman served to do nothing more than give off some shade while we stopped to look at a map. 
All in all things are going swimmingly, after two days I´ve decided that while culture changes durastically people are the same all over.  Hope all is well-Love from Buenos Aires

goodbyes and thanks

So let's start off with thanking everyone who helped me in getting out of the country.  Thanks to Charlotte for setting up my blog post (yes I am that pathetic), thanks parents, and thanks to everyone else who helped me to plan the trip (so far we have a total of four days planned out and we leave tomorrow, go ducks).  For all of you who will be reading this I will try and keep the philosophical jibber jabber to a minimum and instead put that English major to use by relocating you to some remote portion of South America if only for a few sentences.  Thanks again, hope you enjoy the reading.
Logan