ON THE EVE OF DEPARTURE

Finally my time of departure has come, and I suspect that this will be my last post until I have arrived in South America. Today I finished with the last few odds and ends that relate to making this new trip, and I must say that it is a relief to have taken care of all those little things and can finally start to concentrate my thoughts on images like what you see above - which is a glimpse of the countryside along Argentine Ruta Provincial 16 east of Susques in remote Jujuy Province, in the far northwest corner of that country.

Being out in such a wide open place has always held a special appeal for me. It gives me such a sense of space, much like I also find in the many empty parts of my own state of Nevada, which I suppose is one reason why I ended up living in rural Elko County. But of course, there are differences as well, not the least of which is the fact that Nevada is on the cusp of ste start of another winter, but down in the other hemisphere, it is springtime, and soon another austral summer will be commencing. So I go, and can only feel good about getting back into this other realm, to travel and hike, soaking in the warm rays of the brilliant sunshine of the long days ahead.

I have chosen to again journey northward after spending my first few days in Santiago, which means that I will return once again to the driest place on earth - that strange and oddly wonderful place known as the Atacama Desert. Along the way, of course, the familiar and the absurd will be revisited in the guise of certain landmarks - such as La Mano Del Desierto, which pokes out of a small rise in the terrain in the midst of the barren valley traversed by the Chilean Ruta 5, also known as the Panamericana, about 70 kilometers south of Antofagasta.

My vagabond amigo Roberto sent me a preliminary Chilean highway report that describes the principal stretches of routes that sutained damage in the earthquake of November 14th, and it appears that the route I have chosen, which will go north from Santiago to the Antofagasta turnoff and then to go east to Calama, San Pedro and the crossing into Argentina over the cordillera will miss the bulk of the damages, which are for the most part, from Maria Elena and on north to the approaches of Arica, on the Peruvian frontier. All of that is further north than where I will be going, so that is a relief.

I'll also be hoping to re-connect with some friends I've made on some previous journeys. Here you see Eugenia, who was managing the hotel and resturaunt known as Pastos Chicos, outside of Susques, in Argentine Jujuy Province, along with Elizabeth, aka "Ellie," who is her best employee. Now I'm not sure that Eugenia and Ellie are still there, because I know that the work was hard and the pay was less than it should have been. When I was there in February, Eugenia was saying that she didn't think she'd still be there too much longer, and Ellie said that she'd go too if Eugenia left.

I could tell that the tasks of running the place were wearing Eugenia down, but I also was impressed with Ellie's energy and how much of a help she was for her immediate boss. Of course, Pastos Chicos has an absentee owner who lives in nice, big house in the city of San Salvador de Jujuy, some 150 kilometers away. Well, I'm still going to go back to Susques, and I do hope that these two friends are still there.

But you know, even though I am leaving home tomorrow, I won't be getting down to South America for another week. That's because I will be driving up to Ashland, Oregon first, to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner for my son and his friends. Then I'll travel up to Portland next Saturday, for an early morning flight to Atlanta and a 7+ hour layover before my long, overnight, non-stop flight to Santiago.

Anyway, it's time to be "on the road again."

Cheers to you all...