Antofagasta, Chile

Waiting in the airport here for our flight to Calama, Chile and our shuttle on to San Pedro Atacama...google that place...sounds incredible: geysers, mudpots, starfilled night skies, ...and one of the driest places anywhere...will write more about that after I have seen it.
Been waiting to get to a computer where I can upload some photos...but all computers seem to be very old here and don{t take camera chips...
We started over a week ago in Buenos Aires, ARG then onto Iguazu Falls in the very north of ARG....incredible, powerful, take your breath away, awesome...are just a few words that inadequately describe Iguazu Falls...bigger than either Victoria or Niagra..there are l27 individual falls there covering about 2 miles...we stayed on the Brazil side and walked that side then spent a day on the Argentine side..at every turn I would say [ I think this is where the scene in MISSION was filmed[ then I would round the path and another similar scene !! To get a fuller experience we took a zodiac ride into the falls...well the spray anyway...enough to scream alot and get really soaked!
Unlike what I might usually do, we visited a dam/hydroelectric plant on the Brazil and Paraguay border...think it is 5 miles long...anyway until the China dam is completed, this is the biggest dam in the world. But the most amazing part is the cooperation that built the dam....50/50 everything Brazil and Paraguay....the builders, the current employees, supervisors, and the electrical output goes 50/50 to each country...Paraguay doesnot need all it gets so sells some back to Brazil!! They even created their own language ParaÑol. I think that is amazing story.
The past 4 days we have been in the most norther part of Chile...the town of Putre in the Altiplano...the part between the foothills of the Andes and the Andes peaks. Elevation at the highest we went was over 14,500 feet....thanks to diamox we had no problem--just tingling of fingers, toes, lips due to diamox and soft drinks tasted very flat....but that is easy choice over what here is called puna..altitude sickness.
Putre seems much more Bolivian than Chilean to me...the people are short, dark and weathered skin, fedora black hats, sturdily built, and women with several layers of skirts on...We went to Lake Chungara ..saw lamas, vicunas.. must go to the plans..more later...
Unli