..Ready to go home..

..it seems the Epilogue of my trip has come :)

so the biggest news is my Jobsearch.. I found an incredible offer at (how could it be different) the ABB and I´m willed to do whatever it takes to get that job!! (well, if it doesn´t include dead bodies ;) ..but when I was looking through job offers in Santiago, I figured out that the ABB has the most jobs that could fit me.. big company, something with rectifiers and internationality. A place where they look after their employees and where you can find a good ambient.. so simly ABB :D

I don´t want to get to crazy about it, before I have it, but I´m really concerned at the moment to make this happen and next week, there will be a Skype-Interview and I hope we can carve it in stone from then on. ..the job I want to get is Teamleader for electrical maintenance of Gearless Mill Drives (GMD).
GMDs are totally the shit!! :D you should google that up.. that are huuuuuge grinders, directly connected to a huuuuuge synchroneous motor and use up to 20 MW .. that´s quite some power that´s used to crush stones and ore. Reading the job description its exactly what I want to do and demands for lots of special skills that I actually can provide, such as handling an international team, conflict management and having Hands-on-mentality with lots of self initiative and flexibility..
so the details of all this will be talked about next week, but so far I informed myself in the internet about it and I´m trying to get a guy from ABB Argentina on the phone to ask for some further explanations about GMDs, so next week I got an idea about how it works ;)
I checked a schematic and I really like the complexity of the plant.. there is even an excitation system, but now it´s just one of several modules. In other words, the technology is interesting and will challenge me for sure :)
so if the how much and when is clarified, I get my ticket back home and you see me probably very soon!! :D

Then I had another fun week-end in Santiago with lots of other crazy experiences I´m glad I made ;) not too much to mention next to swingers and meeting people in the city ;)
played more magic with Cyrill and had great conversations (Swiss German is a wonderful and funny language!! ;D was concerned with finding a job and could finally wash my clothes.
my back still hurts and it´s not really getting better, but I´m also doing fancy Kung-Fu and somehow was irritating more nerves doing that :P well.. if I get to pissed by it, I take some anti-inflamatory medicine, but I´m still trying to avoid that :)

then it took me quite a while to get out of Santiago and while the weather was nice, there was SOOOO much smog in the air.. haven´t seen that very often. The mountains closeby appeared very whitish and just by crossing the boarder to Argentina, it cleared up and the colors of the Andes were shining clearly.. so poor Chileans.. it´s quite hard to live in so much pollution I guess (to mention, haven´t seen Mexico city).

crossing the boarder was easy again.. I´m really getting into that ;) haha ;) but was the second last time with my bike I guess.. from here on just straight to Bolivia and hanging out with Karen for some more time and organizing my trip home. For none of the people answered I wrote in Rio Cuarto y Cordoba, it made it even easier not to bail out to see anybody.. and going to Cordoba would have been 700km flat.. 2 days of being bored on the bike.
So I decided to just follow the Andes up to Bolivia and can do it in 5 days of riding + making some stops along the way. But not interested to do lot´s of stuff here in Argentina..

I´m trying to see my friend Renzo along the way.. he´s kinda close, but decided not to drive to Ushuaya, but going home instead (well, it´s anyway already too cold down there..) got some rain in Bolivia and I hope it might be over when I´m getting there again. once more.. it´s incredibly HOT here in Mendoza.. tomorrow will be better, having the wind in my face :)

then I had a really crazy encounter yesterday.. since that psychopatic woman from Isreal that I met in Canada, I haven´t met another psycho, but there are still some around.. so when I went to pick up my stuff, I asked for the way and the lady freaked out, yelling at me she could not read the map with her eyes, while I was telling her, she doesn´t have to, but I need to see it to know where to go.. then she asked me 30 pesos for having my boxes during 6 days under her stairs. I said.. "you didn´t say anything about that, but what about 20 pesos?" (offering 5 USD instead of 7.5 USD seemed fair to me, especially because I asked her a favor and she agreed). So she was so mean to me that I fired back and said: why are you so bitter? ..and then she really exploded and ended up kicking my metal boxes outside.. well, nothing that could brake anyway, but what behaviour is that?! people outside were asking if they should call the police and I was just.. "never mind". but I got to my limits as well.. so she yells at me, kicks my boxes and then takes my didgeridoo and my fireswords (they are all plastic tubes) and throws it outside past my left side.. and for Jedi Knights presence the future, I grabbed all of them right away out of the air with my left hand and was so suprised by it, that for a second, I was just looking at her, wanting to tell her: "have you seen that!?!?! I just grabbed them all in the air!" but of course wasn´t saying that, because she got even more angry and when she tried to pick up my stuff to damage it, I shouted "STOP IT!!" and sent her inside.. I got REALLY mad for a second.. I hate if this happens, but she had to do quite some work to get me there.. I feel sorry for somebody having such a fucked up life! maybe she couldn´t read or I don´t know what was the matter.. but I guess it took her another few days of her miserable life by getting that angry.. it took me then almost 10 minutes talking to some other nice guys to calm myself down and I was happy for feeling some good vibes after that unexpected interaction picking up my boxes..

then I met two Swiss guys at the gas station with also 650 BMW, but rentals from Chile and riding just one month around Chile and Argentina.. well, a bit late in my opionion and must be crazy expensive getting bikes in Chile. and furthermore there are not many places you want to drive down here.. as I´m trying to get the nice roads, it´s not for riding all over the place.. it´s the Rute 40 and some smaller roads through the mountains, but there are other countries more recommendable for riding (well, then you should spead Spanish ;) ..they didn´t and they were not really enthuiastic hearing about my trip ;) maybe they envied me a little for it..

but then the really good news: had many Km of beautiful road and fun riding while getting here from Santiago.. first the Andes with all their different shapes and colors, topped with blue sky and bearable temperatures (more hot than cold) ..then the guys showed me another way from Uspallata to Mendoza than I took.. a gravelroad that leads over some more mountains.. the guy was: it´s pretty steep and narrow and you have to be careful (what I really did), but turns out it´s a bad-ass trip to Mendoza.. many, many curves and stunning views! I think, I´ve even seen two Condors!! :D ..the guy told me I could see some if I´m lucky and then I´ve seen to birds in the very far and while I ran on top of a hill, they came so close that I didn´t see them any more in the far and when I spotted one, it was passing by much closer, but against the sun.. so no confirmed sighting. then by turning my head further, I noticed that the other one must have flewn almost directly above me, but I just gasped the view from behind.. would have been the first Condors I´ve seen as wildlife! :)

Then there were some kilometers of loose gravel.. almost sandy.. or at least deep enough to sink in and drive in 1st gear, while sliding on the road.. no steep slopes on that part, but tyring in my arms for holding the bike upright. Managed that without dropping it and passed even a few cars that confirmed to me that I´m on the right path ;)
I took some pictures.. hope they turned out good.. was driving down a very steep and curvy road with an incredible view!!! ..honked a lot, a lot.. after I hit that car in Peru, I rather honk 10000 times too much than 1 time to less ;)
made it then to the airport and asked the information desk about a place to stay.. they couldn´t really help me out, put pointed a direction.. for I was just 5 minutes, the dude at the exit left me out without charging me the 1 USD I would have to pay and I really appreciated that!
then I drove into Mendoza.. this time from north and it was way less stressful than the first time. Stopped twice to ask for the way and then finally in some corner, somebody told me about a hostal.. just 1/2 block away, cheap styaying in a dorm, having parking lot for my bike and a super cute dog!! it´s a Scooby-Doo-type and white/grey with black spots.. a blue and a brown eye and the size of a small calf :) have to love it!! :D
they did some checkings about skydive and paragliding here.. but skydiving is expensive (rather wait until being home) and paraglide I got no answer, but I may just leave that out.. would take me 2-3 extra days, would need good conditions and good site instruction, for it´s more technical here.. all in all, I feel like going to Bolivia (and flying there if it´s possible again).
So I had an easy day today.. just relaxing and studying GMDs (it´s a while I read about technical stuff, but still get it and still find it interesting!! :D ..putting it out a 100% into the Universe that I want to get that job! :D
now I´m going to bed.. sweet dreams and gonna hear from me! :)