salta

yay, internet at a resonable speed! this is a photo of me in southern bolivia sitting on top of a plant called yareta. it looks like a giant head of brocoli, but actually belongs to the same family as carrots and parsley. everything is southern bolivia was crazy looking.
this is laguna colorado. the lake is red due to some kind of mineral deposits. all these birds in the forground are flamingoes. there were probably 60 mph winds sweeping across the lake while i was there.
on the last day of my tour, we stopped at this little pueblo for lunch. i didn't totally understand what they were talking about, but eventually i got that there was some type of special bolivian mummy that we could go see. so... these were not mummies. they were literally decomposing bodies layed out on a rock. it was so crazy! like i literally could have reached out and touched these bodies if i'd wanted to. i have no idea who the the "mummies" were or why they were on that rock.

this is the last photo i took before that hail storm got really bad.

and then this is a photo of those truck drivers who rescued me from the strom. i gave them post cards of california, and they totally loved them. it's funny, people in bolivia went crazy for those post cards. there was one day in this market, where i gave one to this kid, and then next thing i knew, i was surrounded my kids and adults with outstretched hands all wanting post cards.
this is a photo of one of the truck drivers with the quirquincho. pandemonium broke out shortly after i took this photo because the quirquincho got scared and had diarhea all over the restaurant table.

i am so, so happy to be in argentina. pretty much all i've been doing since i got here is eating steak and icecream. for the first three days, i literally went downhill all day. in the afternoon there was a pretty strong headwind, so i didn't go that fast, but three days of downhill was great! i think i dropped from maybe 12,000' to about 3,000'. as i've dropped in elevation, the scenery changes have been really dramatic.
i've been cycling along this river valley called the quebrada de humahuaca. it's a UNESCO world heritage site because people have lived in this valley for 12,000 years. lot's of archeological sites and cave-paintings and whatnot. the colored sediments in these rocks are from about 65 million years ago back when dinosaurs disapeared.

i'm totally out of the high country now, and it's been super tropical and warm. the air smells like flowers and i've seen so many butterflies. for me, it's really nice to be somewhere warm after all that cold weather and hail! yesterday i was coming to this town called calderon. i crossed a river and saw a pavillion with a large table full of people eating steak and drinking wine. i rode up and asked them if it was a restaurant, and they said it wasn't, but that i should join them for lunch.

oh my god they were so nice! i totally ate this huge lunch of steak and potatoes and salad and bread. they wouldn't let me pay for anything! they were from buenos aires and on vacation and they said they all had kids that were my age. today they are coming to salta and they said to give them a call because they want to take me fishing! after lunch they all started fighting about who's son i should meet when i get to buenos aires. i love argentina! this would never have happened in the US.
so... i've decided i'm going to keep biking south for another month, then take a bus to buenos aires when i'm finished. so should be home in the beginning of may. hope everyone is good! love,
-jessie