See pictures at bottom of story!

Hi guys!!! Hope the year is getting off to a good start for all of you!
After 6 awesome days at home, I headed back to Argentina to do some
more traveling, and I went up to the Northwestern part of the country
with my friends C and B.  Its real mountainous, and cool because
the scenery changes from real lush and green to all dry and cactusy.
Blah blah blah, really lets get to the good stuff, because i had my
nearest to death experience.  Granted, i have never even come close to
dying, so this didnt have much to beat, but still, i can call it that,
so i will.

When we got up last Friday morning, and it was hottttttt.  actually we
are probably stupid for going at this time of year, its like planning a
vacation to Arizona in august.  but anyways, we rented a car and
started heading out of the city of Salta, because the neatest parts of
the Northwest are the little pueblos and the valleys and stuff, and you
have to drive to get to them.  After about 2 or 3 hours of driving, all
on unpaved roads, we got to this little mountain mining town, and had
lunch at this little restaurant with the family that owns it.  They
were super cute, and we bought some cute winter hats from them that
their grandma makes, and the dad sent us off with 2 of their little
sons to go look at this famous aquaduct.  When we finally came back to
drop the kids off, it was already like 7, and we still had lots of land
to cover, because the next pueblo was 90 kilometers away, and you have
to pass over this huge mountain to get there.  So we start driving up
this mountain, and it starts to snow, and we are like, hmm this sucks.
We get to the peak, which is about 5000 meters (15000 feetish, higher
than pikes peak), and take some pictures in the snow, next to the sign
that says 45 km in either direction to any sort of civilization, oh the
irony.  Keep in mind I am wearing a tshirt and flip flops.  So we get
back in the car, and about another kilometer later, we go around a turn
and are brutally attacked by a rock hiding under the snow, just waiting
for its helpless prey, aka 3 unacclimated, unprepared americans in a
crappy Fiat 4 door hatchback named Arla.  And then, the car shuts off.
In addition to the whole car wont turn back on thing, we also have a
ridiculously flat tire.  So then, B gets out of the car and pukes
from altitude sickness.  So lets analize this situation.  We are in the
middle of a snowstorm, at 15,000 ft, with a car that wont turn on, no
cell phones, no food, havent seen another car since we left the pueblo,
45 km from civilization in either direction (thats like a marathon),
altitude sickness up the wazoo,  i'm wearing flip flops, and its
gonna get dark in about an hour.  There are plenty of four letter words
that could appropriately sum up our predicament, but dont worry mom all
i kept saying was "wow".  So after weighing our options, we decide to
just stay in the car and hope somebody comes by, and if not, do
something in the morning if the snow stops.  But we got to use the cool
red triangle reflectors, you know what i am talking about, that trucks
set up on the side of highways sometimes, so that was cool. Then we
just sit there, the 3 of us packed in the back seat, say a few prayers,
and i keep insisting that we keep a window cracked open because i think
i saw some show once where people suffocated in their car during a
snowstorm.  My head is pounding, and i feel like i am about to puke,
and my poor toes are falling off.  Thus was the beginning of the
longest night of my life.  I cant breathe real well, partly because the
air is so thin, and partly because my face is muffled by someone elses
arm, or torso, or whatever, as we broke any sort of physical boundaries
and piled right on top of eachother to keep warm.  Its funny to see how
dramatic people get in these situations (aka colleen "your life, or the
oar!!!!!" "im going for the oar!!!!!!!!"), halfway through the night,
B turns to me and tells me he doesn't think he's gonna make it, and i
am thinking to myself, "when i get off this mountain, i am going to
tell EVERYONE i know that i love them".  We didnt actually really get
any sleep.  Finally, the sun started coming up, and it was a really
pretty sunrise. And... it had stopped snowing, thankfully.  So i made
little booties for myself, one out of a plastic grocery bag and a hair
tie, and one out of plastic food handling gloves we found in the first
aid kit, and some medical tape.  Then we got out and changed the tire,
which to me seemed stupid because what good is four functional tires if
the car wont go, but whatev.  Once it was changed, and the car still
wouldnt start, because the thing that was keeping the starter from
turning over wasnt actually the flat tire, we decided we had to go.  We
put snow in our nalgene bottles for water, and  decide to go forward
instead of backtrack to the last pueblo, basically because if we went
back we had to walk up the mountain for a couple kilometers, and seeing
as every movement made us nausous, the least effort possible seemed
nice.  We actually coasted in the car down for about 10 kms, thanks to
the spare tire which i had so adamently shot down fixing, so yeah dont
ever listen to me.  We had to push it through a couple streams and rock
beds, and then we got to a part that was completely unpassable.  There
was a little adobe house there, and we asked them if they had a phone,
and they said no, or a car, no, or a horse, no, but they did offer us
the information that the road gets suckier as you go further, and that
the nearest town is another 3 hour walk.  About 20 minutes of walking
later, we run into some people with shovels and picks, clearing rocks
out of the road.  its 7 local guys with a pick up, and a spanish couple
with a VW golf.  This couple had gotten stuck, too, and were on a spare
tire as well.  They let us know that we couldnt walk the other way, and
we may as well stick with them.  So we helped them clear the rocks, and
ended up back at our broken car.  One of the local guys took a look at
it, and discovered that the hose connecting the ignition to the fuel
was punctured, and the filter was cracked.  i think thats what he
discovered at least, i dont know.  But i am listening to the guys
saying "well i dont have a little hose to replace it, we dont have
another filter", all these negative things so i am thinking then why
the heck are you still under the car trying to fix it, lets just call a
tow truck.  but, with the help of a straw from one of the guys water
bottles, and some masking tape, suddenly our car was starting again.
So, we drove back up the mountain and back 200 kms to Salta, with a
straw and masking tape holding the car together, with the spanish
couple following us just in case it broke down.  So there you have it,
my nearest to death experience and latest adventure in Argentina.  And,
even though now it seems like it wasnt a big deal, at some point in my
oxygen starved state i was convinced that it was important to express
myself, so hey, love you.

--k

PICTURES
"Abra"- the mountain pass we were trying to get through
"Peak"- me freezing, just before the car broke down
"Booties"- temporary shoes to save my feet from sure death
"Sunrise"- the guys were too pissed to think this sunrise was actually
pretty and take a picture
"lifesavers"- the locals who saved our car with a straw and masking tape