Farther South Now

Sorry that we can not send photos with this entry, but we did want to check in and let all of you know that we are well and enjoying our inland South American trip.

WE last wrote to you from Cajamarca, Peru. After that we continued south through Peru learning more and more about the Pre-Columbian cultures. The Incas were really the smallest part of these cultures as the Spanish took over soon after the Inca conquests. Because the entire Pacific coast of Peru is desert, the remains of the early cultures were preserved remarkably well.

We decided to travel via air from Lima to Cuzco. It was quite amazing to zip over all of those miles after the slow bus trips to that point. How could we ever begin to describe our amazement at seeing Machu Pichu in person. Totally incredible. We took lots of photos and will have a hard time to decide which ones to include once we return.

From Cuzco we traveled to Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 4,000 meters. By that time Sander had already been suffering from the high altitude and Jane had managed to catch a cold which went quickly to the lungs. We had decided to see La Paz, Bolivia and went ahead with the plans. Soon we knew that we needed to get down from the high altitudes. Because our Canadian friends, Steve and Nancy wanted to stay and see more of Bolivia, we decided to part company. WE are writing this message to you from Mendoza, Argentina. WE crossed into Argentina about a week and are DELIGHTED that we made the decision to hurry here.

Last April Argentina suffered a devaluation of their currency which has made it more that affordable for us. In fact it is the CHEAPEST country for us so far and so civilized! WE don´t want to make your mouths water too much, BUT, the hotels here are $8-15/night for a very nice room, a huge steak dinner (and AR does have the wonderful beef!) with a bottle of domestic wine (AR also has some of the best wine!) costs us less than $10. One litre bottle of Heineken beer costs 45 cents at the grocery and only 90 cents at the outdoor cafe. We could grow to love Argentina a lot.

WE will travel tomorrow to the west into Chile. There we will explore the seaside city of Valparaiso and look into the possibility of seeing some of the Chilean fjords via sea. We have been traveling for over a month now and must begin to think about our return to Satori.

We cannot predict when we will get another message out to you all, but watch for a group message with pics before long.

We are both very happy that we decided to spend an additional year anchored in Ecuador before moving along to the South Pacific. South America has some beautiful areas to explore and discover.

Hope that you are all well and enjoying the fall weather. We would love to hear from you via this address or the ham radio address. WE are able to pick up both as we travel when we go to the internet cafes.

Love, Jane and Sander