PICTURES!

Okay family and other people I don`t know that are reading this and haven`t already seen these on Facebook, I`ve got some fresh visual evidence that I actually am in South America. Sorry about the shoddy quality of the scanning, once again . . .

This is from the top of a hill that overlooks Salta. The man`s name is Gustavo, he works in the IT Department for a major tobacco company that has prominent fields in the area (and is US-owned), and he was an active and gracious host to me for five nights. We walked the 5k-long road up the mountain and talked about the following things: how cool the iPhone is, basic meditation technique, the fact that there was exactly one blossoming tree on the whole earthy-toned hill and that it was the most lovely shade of pink.

Here`s the main street in Tafì de Valle, a gorgeous little town located in a valley that I stayed at a while back. As you might guess, there wasn`t a lot of rushing around in this here pueblo. Hopefully you can also get a sense for how majestic the valley setting was.

And now we have a vineyard outside of Cafayate. Again, real pretty. The mountains in this area are entirely different from in Colorado . . . much more modest in size, but more rugged and welcoming. They felt like raised, wrinkled lumps of earth. Easy on the eyes.

And here is from the main church in Salta on the holiday I talked about in my last post. A lot of people praying, a lot of people chatting, a lot of people standing around and chilling. So there you go.