Tamarindo is a a beach on the pacific side of Costa Rica and one of the most americanized places I've been to during this trip. I think there were actually more americans in Tamarindo than actual local costa ricans. It's packed with American fast food chains and american food. There's only one single place in the whole town that serves local costa rican food and caters to the local. All other businesses are mostly for the american tourists and dollars are accepted everywhere.

As most of the pacific coast, the surf there is excellent and many people come there for the good surfing. I thought about taking some surf classes, but then got lazy and decided to just bum around the beach.

One good thing about Tamarindo or mostly anywhere in Costa Rica is the abundance of wildlife all over the country. In the hostel I stayed, every morning, we could see/hear howling monkeys on the trees just by the hostel, see huge iguanas roaming around in the yard to catch some sun and by the beach I saw a sea turtle and some great colorful crabs and numerous species of birds !

                           

Some other miscellaneous pictures from Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. In Picture no 2, you can see one of the numerous elevators the city of Valparaiso has. Valparaiso is built on hills and the city offers paid elevators to climb up on some hills rather than doing the stairs. Depending on the  slope, location, the elevator prices vary. In Picture No 3, is the famous Reloj del Flores, the flower clock of Vina Del Mar.

               

Santiago is the capital of Chile and it's the most modern city that I have been during my entire trip. Many other countries in South America are definitely categorized as 3rd world, but in Chile, you definitely feel it's different - very modern metro fleet, clean city, great architecture (earthquake proof) and metro in general.

All this come at a cost - Chile has been the most expensive country out of my trip. Chile is not cheap. A lot of prices are similar to prices in the US and money goes by very fast.

I was there in the middle of the winter and it was extremely cold !! At nights it got down to 2 or 3 degrees celcius on some nights.

Whilst all its modernity and all 1st world facilities, I just felt that I was in any other big city. I did not feel a different identity for the city as such which distinguished it from others as such, but it's a nice city in general with all the big city amenities and stuff to do.

                     

As I had left San Francisco in the middle of the ski season and did not get my whole fill of winter season, while in Santiago, seeing that it was peak skiing season, I decide to go skiing in the Andes. Pretty different experience from the Lake Tahoe Slopes, but great in overall !

           

Continued from this blog post - http://blog.dosooye.com/valparaiso-chile , I am adding some more artwork from the city of Valparaiso, Chile. I loved how they decorated their doors and entrance ways with some great art !

                 

Valparaiso is a coastside city about 1 hour from Santiago, Chile. It's known for it's bohemian culture, great art and one of the hilliest cities in Chile. The city is build on hills and there's not much flat land. Hence, the city has ascencors all over the place to actually climb up the hills. You pay a little fee to get in the ascensor to bring you up, but there are always the stairs if you prefer to climb it up.

But what I liked best about the city were the numerous art work all over the city. Anywhere you go in Valparaiso, there's art and that too, great art. The city commissioned artists I think to paint up all the alleys, houses and every ugly piece of blank wall into the city into great pieces of art.

It was fun walking around exploring the so many different art in the city. The artists in this city are very talented ! Really enjoyed visiting the city which is an art museum in itself !

                           

Today, I was walking in a small village in Mexico and somebody called me by 'Barbudo'... I had forgotten that I am a 'Barbudo' now.... I am very new to being a 'Barbudo'.. bearded dude.. I had started growing the beard while I was in Costa Rica, bumming around on the beach and felt lazy to shave everyday and then felt too lazy to shave again.. I think it's time now to shave it off and stop being a 'Barbudo' before I get back to SF..

While walking around in Buenos Aires, I encountered many tango street performances. It's always great to watch such great shows for a few pesos donation. I did not have too much time while there to take extensive tango lessons, but I did try it a couple of times in my hostels.. the basic steps and beat isn't too bad.. but I am sure combining them together to look gracious is a whole another story :)

     

I had decided to take the chicken buses that the local people take rather than direct tourist buses.. from San Salvador, El Salvador to Antigua, Guatemala. Chicken buses are just old recycled US School buses.. called chicken buses koz the locals carry their chickens in it as well. Each chicken bus is individually painted in bright colors and basically each is it's own individual piece of art by itself.. rather than the dull looking yellow school buses they used to be.

I travelled by 6 buses and 1 tuk tuk and reached Antigua after 8 hours.. for only about $7.. compared to if I took a direct tourist bus, it'd have costed me about $35 and maybe 6 hours.. But money was not the issue.. it was a great adventure travelling by the chicken buses and mingling with locals and eating the local food the numerous vendors come to sell you while on the bus.. The buses are kind of crammed and not much space for legs etc.. but still worth the trip.. as they say.. "When in Rome, do like the Romans.. and when in Guatemala, do like the Guatemalans.. " :)

• Bus 1 : from my hostel (Ximena's guesthouse) to Terminal de Occidente  - $0.25
• Bus 2 : San Salvador to Ahuachapan - $1.25 (2 hours)
• Bus 3 : From Ahuachapan to Las Chinama (Frontera) - $0.55 (1 hour)
• Tuk Tuk 1 : Tuk-Tuk from El Salvador Frontera to Guatemala Frontera - $0.25
• Bus 4 : From Valle Nuevo (Border) to guatemala City - 25 Quetzal (3 hours)
• Bus 5 : from Terminal to other terminal to go to Antigua - 2 Quetzal ($0.25)
• Bus 6 : from Guatemala City to Antigua 12 Quetzal ($1) (1 hour)