Places we've been . . .

Cafayate, Argentina

Laguna Verde, Bolivia

Photos of Karen #7

Karen, The Amphitheatre, Cafayate, Argentina

Karen, as near to a bird eating spider as she dares, Argentina

Road

Hitch Hiking Grannies

Hired a car. Done. A new sense of freedom that doesn’t involve being accompanied by a minibus full of Germans, Aussies or over keen photographers documenting every morsel of their travel experience (we actually saw a non descript European snapping a way, excitedly, at electrical pylons, last week. True.)

Our solo adventure: a three hour drive into the mountains South of Salta, Argentina.

Why? Quite possibly the most incredible drive known to man...or maybe just Tommy and me. Mud roads, overhanging valleys, deteriorating bridges, rocky 30km hillside climb in a Corsa (no 4 wheel drive), rising through the clouds 3000metres to reach the Los Cardones National Park (Cactus National Park). Literally cacti everywhere.....look! above! Stood on an evil, low lying, mini cactus....6 pins inserted into the soul of my foot. Ouch.

Went to hillside Mexican style village and picked up a lonesome hitch hiking granny. Where was she going? We didn’t know. Through some negotiating; her in a local dialect and us in our ‘no understandio your espanol’ she hopped into the passenger seat, and talked constantly en route. To fill the gaps, left for our responses, I recited whatever ‘personal information’ I could...from ‘hi, I am 27 years old’ to ‘i don’t have any children’, for all I know she could have been asking me for a light. Mid desert highway, she suddenly slaps the dashboard which I interpreted as ‘Stop’, which we did. She clambers out, and spends the next 10mins, trying to communicate something that appears to be of great importance. Eventually a passerby translated that she was asking us ‘how much for the ride’. I took a tenner and we went on our way. (This last bit is actually a lie)

Kinky Shorts?

Monday was a free day. I had my mind set on spending it by the pool. Tommy had a slightly different agenda, and after a little persuasion I was to accompany him to Itaipu; a massive dam and one of the wonders of the industrial world. (yawn)

A 1hour journey and we arrived at the border between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil and asked for our tickets. Without hesitation, our request was declined as the tour operator disapprovingly pointed down at my shorts saying ‘no entry, your clothes are too small’. Don’t get me wrong, I had shorts on, but these were American Apparel- non-sexy shorts, not some cheek clenching numbers. Nothing I did could persuade him to let us in so we were demoted from the special tour of the dam’s operations to the bus ride, panoramic tour. You’d think that would suffice but in reality we were shoved onto a bus full of tourists, did a 30min circle of the dam (with 2 stops of 5mins allowed for photo taking...the best of which above) and returned to base. On completion of the tour, Tommy and I reflected on a bit of a crap day out, Tommy sharing the wise words ‘sometimes on our trip, we need to do things we don’t want to do’. Hmmm

Photos of Karen #6

Karen, Beaux Artes Gallery, Santiago

Karen, Lazy, Sao Paulo

Places we've been . . .

Rocinha Favela, Rio de Janeiro

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Bite Review

Luckily I have been blessed with skin that for some reason is repulsive to Mosquitos. I can count on one hand the amount of bites I have receieved for the 2 months we´ve been away. I don´t wear insect repellent and don´t go to any great lengths to prevent insects from breaking into my room at night. They just don´t like me.

Karen however is not so lucky. Mosquitos LOVE her. Her milky white skin is an irresistible destination for all passing bloodsuckers and she is relentlessly bitten all day and night. Obviously I feel very sorry for her ( . . . secretly relieved for me . . .) and try to be as compassionate as possible, but that is not enough for Karen. Karen wants me to know the exact location of every single bite she has. She will place her limbs or part of her torso as close to my eyes as possible and point out each individual bite saying, "look, look at that one, bas-tuds!" At this point she will look up from pointing and give me a look that indicates I have to give her my opinion. Now, these bite review sessions can happen anywhere, on a bus, waiting at a station, even at meals and as a result there are usually quite a few witnesses who, when Karen looks to me for an opinion all do the same. . . What do you say? Wincing whilst sympathetically saying, "Oooh baby" or "Ouch, nasty one", just gets boring and I think everyone knows this. Maybe they´re hoping I´ll give them a new option for when they´re in a similar situation in the future, but each time I fail, mumbling, "oooh baby" and quickly try change the conversation.

(this post has now been corrected . . . thanks Dot)

Photos of Karen #5

Karen, in mask, in shared Bathroom, Santiago, Chile

Karen, drinking, Santiago, Chile

Rain

Hello,

Brazil, famed for it's easy going beach life and hot climate (is it famed for that? I don't know, but go with it) . . . has been washed out by a bastard cold front that has drifted along with us for over a week. What has made this worse is that every location along our way during that week, Buzios, Ilha Grande and Paraty are all beautiful paradises, perfect to relax on the beach for a few days . . . not to sit miserable in your hostel praying for the rain to stop.

Anyway, not to moan too much after two days on the bus we are now in Sao Paolo and are being very well looked after by Karen's friend Fernanda. Our day yesterday was spent wandering through the city, going to galleries and ignoring the rain . . . very nice.

p.s. Please see below some photos of places you haven't seen yet.

View from Sant Christobel, Santiago, Chile

Sexy Lady, next to Moai, Easter Island