Written: Day 1, Thursday, March 30, 2006  12:15 PM Sacramento International 
Airport 


	I’m off to Argentina! Just a few months after traveling for two and a half months 
to the South Pacific, I am on the road again, in another airport headed for another 
continent. South America is the only inhabited continent that I have not yet visited, so 
this trip will complete the set, so to speak. Antarctica will have to wait for a future trip!

	A few months ago, my friend and former housemate Lenny Hellman told me that he was 
planning a trip to Argentina, and asked if I wanted to go with him. Never one to turn 
down a trip, I was immediately interested, but I didn’t know if it would be possible. My 
wife, Susan, was almost finished with her Master’s degree at U.C. Davis, and was 
looking for a job. I had no idea where we would be in April, what we would be doing or 
if we could take the time off. As it happened, Susan is still looking for work, and we are 
still in Davis, so the trip was possible. 

	I asked Susan if she would like to come with me, but she was not enthusiastic 
about the prospect. After thinking about it for a while, Susan decided to stay home and 
work on her job search. So it will just be Lenny and myself on the trip.

	We will be flying into Buenos Aires and then traveling on to Mendoza the same 
day. From there, we will travel to Cordoba and then up north to Salta at the foot of the 
Andes mountains and near some Inka and pre-Ika ruins. The last leg of our journey will 
take us back to Buenos Aires for a few days, with a possible side trip to Uruguay. In all, 
we will be away for twenty days. 

	Susan just dropped me off at the Sacramento airport, and as usual, I was checked 
in and on the other side of security within fifteen minutes. I love small airports. From 
here I fly to Chicago, and then take a ten hour flight to Buenos Aires and then on to 
Mendoza.

	I am excited about the trip, especially our time in the north. I have never been to 
any part of the former Inka Empire which at its height was larger than many of the 
empires in Europe. And the Andes are supposed to be beautiful!