Sorry I haven’t updated in nearly a month. I’ve just been busy, and some places in South America have fairly spotty internet access, and I’ve been doing enough stuff in the real world that the ‘net just hasn’t been part of my life much for a while. But I’m not gone for good.

Hoping to get more pics from Colombia up, plus stuff from Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and more. Assuming real life doesn’t just keep on being too interesting to leave.

Favorite thing of late was a visit to my new buddy Fernando’s place in rural Chile, roughly fifty miles from that volcano that just blew, in a spectacular area of tree-lined lakes and mountains.

Remember when I linked to a site with a video of a pudu giving birth?

I have now met and hung out with that very pudu. (She says hi.) Also, 17 other pudus Fernando takes care of. Plus a bunch of other strange and wonderful Andean species, some of which I’d never heard of. Pics coming.

More when I get a minute. Thanks for stopping by in the meantime.

For a teeny paperback  that came out over two months ago without any big-paper reviews even expected, a write-up in this week’s Sunday Boston Globe was certainly a pleasant surprise:

Holy crap.  Think she liked it much?

If you want a copy (or ten, heck, it’s the holidays!), here’s the Amazon link.

Or just click on the giant flashing animated gif of the book at the top of the page.  Subtle, I know.

Thanks!

I’ll be in South America for about six or seven more weeks, so I don’t know how often I’ll be blogging.  But I found this place while looking for a room in San Carlos de Bariloche later in the trip. 

I like to think there are actual pudus trotting around the front desk.  And maybe another pudu with a bellman’s cap on, scratching at your luggage.

Greeting you at the Cartagena airport:

Colombia,
the only risk is wanting to stay.

Um… I’m not sure that means exactly what they intended it to mean.

Still, fascinating place so far.

True story: I asked a guy on a plane what he did for a living here.  He said he was in agriculture, but he didn’t get into specifics.

A little later he said it was really more of an import/export business. 

That’s when I found stuff to ask besides what he did for a living.

I’m not completely convinced coming to Colombia by myself was the shrewdest move I’ve ever made.  But damn, beautiful country, friendly people.  Cartagena is like a living museum.  Put it on your life list.