2003-12-30 - 4:11 p.m.

Down Argentine Way, Part VI

Travel Time: Mendoza to San Juan = 3 hours Amount of time spent at the bus station (on my 29th birthday) = 6 hours

Why Sara Doesn't Like to Speak Spanish (first in a series)

Scene: The taxi ride to the bus station with Melch, Nadja, and Pol
Taxi Driver: Where are you going?
Me: San Juan
Taxi Driver: Where?
Me: San Juan
Taxi Driver: Where?
Me: San Juan
Taxi Driver: Where?
Melch: San Juan
Taxi Driver: Oh! San Juan!

So I spent my 29th birthday at the bus station in Mendoza, playing cards and drinking beer and waiting for the bus to be fixed so we could go to San Juan, and make our way to Parque Provincial Ischigualasto and Parque Nacional Talampaya. While waiting, I noticed a businessman nearby, eating alone and laughing at our jokes. Before he left, he stopped by our table, and left us this poem:

Stranger voices
I feel myself in another place
"You know what I miss"
"I've got to wash my clothes"

Drinking water
and just playing cards
they are tripping to nowhere
and start to smoke and smile

We have a lot in common
but we're so different too
just waiting the time comes
they are right here, right now.

"Oh shit" the girl says
It's time to lose her game
they carry their baggage
It's time to leave again

They live in the earth
I live in the same world
they look a bit different
but we are just the same

I don't understand the game
but i'm enjoying it too
the girl is just taking notes
it's my time to leave this place.

Diego
[email protected]

From San Juan, we rented a car, a gold Peugeot, and drove to Ischigualasto, also known as Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley). Some pictures:

And then on to Talampaya...

A rock formation that looks like one of the three wisemen ("Like me!" said Melch) on a camel:

The best picture of me ever:

Pol, me, Melch, and Nadja:

Last night in San Juan, after visiting the national parks:

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