Quick run through...

Left Bariloche bc of boredom and lack of snow in the moñtanas and headed north to Mendoza. Weather was gorgeous there, and being the famous wine region of Argentina, had to get in some tastings so drank my far share of Malbecs - the local favorite. The last night was the Argentine Independence day, so drinking til ungodly hours of the night seemed to be a necessity. Hit the road to Santiago and ran into a whole mess of Americans at the hostel. We all got in a good day at the slopes. I ,ofcourse, had been hauling around ski gear for 3 months and the one chance I get to use it what do I do? Leave both my goggles and gloves at the hostel...classic McCarthy move. Managed to rent the appropriate gear and had a lovely and long overdue day on the mountain. The slopes weren´t huge, but good enough, kinda reminded me of the resorts in New Zealand - no trees, short runs, but good fun. Ended up hanging out in Santiago for an extra day bc my brain was too cloudy to make the necessary reservations to get out of town. The hostel I was staying at filled up in the interum, so I ended up sleeping in the luggage room which was actually much nicer than the normal dorm rooms. Got a room and a double bed to myself for less than the price of an 8 bed dorm. Couldn´t get a bus ticket to my top two destinations the next day, so took the 26 hour ride to Iqueque. Ran into my Patagonian road trip buddy, Paul, and then yesterday went to the Festival de la Virgen in La Tirana. Huge Catholic festival with people dancing for literally 10 days straight. Last night was the climax with a big ceremony and fireworks show. It is by far the largest gathering of people I have ever seen where there is no alcohol involved...100,000 plus. Pretty awesome...Tomorrow heading north for Arica and hopefully La Paz, then its another long haul north to see mama and papa McCarthy.