Decisions . . . Decisions . . . Decisions . . .

Well, I finally went out and made some arrangements. First of all, I changed my flight to the U.S. I was originally supposed to leave on May 18th. I´d been avoiding changing it because I didn´t know when I wanted to return. I have a wedding at the end of July, so I used that as a point of return and booked my ticked for July 18th for nothing more than the $125 change fee. So, that´s done. The new return date is July 19th. Listo!!!

Next, I booked myself a bus ticket to a place in Chile called San Pedro de Atacama. It sounds amazing. Frommers describes it as,

¨Quaint, unhurried, and built of adobe brick, San Pedro de Atacama sits in the driest desert in the world, a region replete with bizarre land formations, giant sand dunes, jagged canyons, salt pillars, boiling geysers, and one smoking volcano.¨ It goes on to say, ¨But it is perhaps San Pedro's intangible magic that captivates its visitors in the end. Many will tell you it is as much of a place for one's "inside" as it is for one's "outside," meaning a spiritual sense of peace San Pedro puts forth, with its soundless streets and rarefied air. This is one of the top stargazing areas in the world; once you leave the village and are enveloped by a thick blanket of twinkling lights, you'd be forgiven for feeling that the galaxy was not so far, far away after all.¨

I´m sold. I could use a little something ¨spiritual¨ I think. I don´t know where I´ll go after, Buenos Aires, Bolivia . . . No se. I guess just where the wind takes me. I´m not going to worry too much about dates and restrictions. The best thing I can be doing with myself right now is traveling and exploring. It´s good for the soul. For mine anyways . . .

The last thing that I did was book myself a tour for tomorrow to the South of Salta. So, I´m out and exploring at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.

And, (drum roll please), I did all this in Spanish!!! I haven´t officially studied in weeks, but I have been speaking more Spanish than ever. And, I understand people. And, they understand me. I´m not by any means fluent, but I´d say I can definitely survive on my Spanish. And, on top of that, people keep telling me that my Spanish is good. I know they´re just being kind, but still, it makes me feel good. I even noticed that when people do speak English, I still want to speak in Spanish with them. Now that is a new one!!!

So, things are going well. I´ll update before I leave for Chile.