Salta, Sarah, and the World Cup

We're down to our last week of school, and in less than a week we'll be heading back to Chicago to start our winter break. Leaves have been turning red and the snow is back on the mountains, so it's been a pretty beautiful last couple of months in Santiago. Here's a shot of the city from our apartment a few days ago:


In April we met up with my dad and Lynda in Argentina. We went to Salta, which is a town in the eastern foothills of the Andes on the north side of the country. It's known for mining, but in the past few years it's become a pretty big tourist destination because of the hiking, food, and history.

The mountains in Salta have a lot of different minerals and so the colors are pretty spectacular:


We took a trip up into the high-altitude plains to check out one of the world's largest salt flats - it stretched for miles and miles in every direction:



We were excited to have Sarah come into town last month for a 3-day weekend where we spent our time hiking in Cajon de Maipo and wine tasting in Casa Blanca.




Last weekend we made our last trip of the year to Buenos Aires with our friends Ian and Lissa. I was excited to see this mural for Gaucho Gil, my favorite (and the most underrated) gaucho in Argentine history. Legend has it that he was supposed to be hanged for stealing cows from the rich and giving them to the poor. Just before his death, he supposedly gave a policeman one last chance to release him, and warned that if he didn't the guy's son would soon get gravely sick and die. The policeman got angry and slit Gil's throat, and then his son soon fell sick. He set up memorials for Gil and prayed that his son recover. The kid got better, and since then it's been tradition for some Argentine's to set up memorials for sick family and friends with Gil's name on them:


Last night was a despedida (going-away party) for the Nido people that are leaving - people were free to play music and so Claire and I played a few songs with our friend Brett (and I got to play on a full drum kit for the first time in two years!). I'm pretty sure our version of Come On Feel The Noise was the crowd favorite.


Like everyone else here, we're excited about the World Cup! Go USA! (We're also hoping for a strong showing from Chile - we'll be watching the entire game as full school during an assembly on Wednesday.)

We hope all is well at home, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone soon! We'll likely try and get a temporary cell phone while we're in the States, but in the meantime you can always call our US skype-line at 773.546.9300.