mike, kris and priscilla, our new extended chilean american family, took us in for some shelter from the rain, for homecooked meals, and to show us around the provincial capital of Valdivia. it was great to have a little taste of home along the way, pets and all. thanks a ton norris fam, we had a blast!

cocinar-ing algo con mucho ajo

che the dog and his favorite chew toy, puma the cat. dont even know how to explain this one but you can see by how happy we are that theres something fantastic about this place sea lions gather along the water a local fish and seafood fair in valdivia. the scraps attract these guys.. they must only like white wine

a picture that defines the few weeks that were a few weeks before a few weeks or so ago. LOTS OF VINO. Arriving in Argentina we immediately hunted for a restaurant for our first argentinian steak for lunch, followed that up with another one for dinner, and then once our arteries had cleared up a bit had some steak and eggs for breakfast. too much of a good thing? not when it's argentinian steak. or wine.

there are over 400 wineries in this beautiful countryside surrounding Mendoza. so naturally we decided to do a biking wine tour to all of them on the morning of jers bday. unfortunately we only hit about 6. you'd be amazed how much harder it is to ride a bike after a few glasses of the region's finest wines. that glorious day was followed up by a gorgefest at the local and epic-ly delicious tenedor libre (all-you-can-eat restaurant) for jer's birthday dinner. they did not make any money that night. in fact, we may have put them out of business!

do not do this at home

or this

our brazilian amiga, aletea, who we passed in the middle of patagonia. she started in our destination of ushuaia, at the end of the world, and is headed to alaska... her dog, jack, travels in a box on the back of her bike and jumps in himself when she says...you guessed it... ¨jack in the box.¨ mucho suete amiga!

a classic and still chuggin

camping somewhere in argentina. we like fire


southbound after mendoza in our beautiful Subi to the lake region of chile and argentina. cruising by glacial lakes, snowcapped volcanoes, and thermal springs - this area could not have been more gorgeous. . . unless the rain had let up for just one day. doh!

ping pong with the chilean customs officials. this match quickly turned sour when he found argentinian produce in our car.

shh.. while poaching a nice indoor hotsprings in the middle of the night. we proceeded to sleep inside by the pools and sneak out before sunrise... its so unlike us to do such a thing

made from car parts, barb wire, and scrap metal.. seemed to us that this was a sheep getting sheered but its up to interpretation