She´s going down!!

Well folks, you get a very, very long post : )

 Well, I made it to Bariloche finally!  It was a rough start to the city.  The ride here was stunning. I have seen just about every shade of green possible on my trip (one park cited 2000 different shades of green!) and now come the blues.  The lakes I passed over were so magnificent in color that they…well..they just leave me speechless.   And I feel that this is just the begining to the beauty of Patagonia.  Everyone tells me how beautiful it is and I have asked for details but none come forward.  Maybe this is what they are talking about.  One ´indescribable beauty´ coming up!  Where I camped in Junin was an island with wáter crystal clear.  Walking to the campsite I saw trout swiming. I felt like I should´ve gone fishing like Hanks in Cast Away. Lanea and Conor, I expect you to be able to spear a fish by the end of your Mexican boating trip : )

Although camping was beautiful, clean, and wonderful, it rained a little and I wanted some comfort. Bunk-bed comfort but, nevertheless.  I was walking to a hostel that sounded promising over 1km away. I was starving so I started to nibble on a mini bread roll when bam! I have yet to fall (as in just a simple trip on the street) on my trip until now.  Let me tell you, falling with backpacks on is a sight!  I felt like I gained about 100 pounds just in my shoulders and thought I was going to flip on my back and wiggle around like a rollie-pollie until someone gave me a stick I could hold onto! That bag is heavy.  Like 30 kilo heavy.  Needless to say, my bread went flying, my hands scraped and knees hit but only because of the weight! I was on one knee and both hands and having a very difficult time getting up. That bag wanted me on the ground!  Fall wasn´t bad though.  Throughly embarrasing, but not bad. It took me a full 20 seconds to actually get back up. Grunting and cursing, of course.  At least the traffic was a good block away so anyone who saw was done laughing by the time they passed me : ) That is the great thing about me and falling.  When I do, usually, and miraculously, nobody is around!

I found the hostel with a note saying it was closed and there was another about 2km away.  Now those blues in the water were not so pretty.  I walked at least 4km until I reached a hostel in my already bulging budget and had space for me.  All issues melted away once I got to my room and now I can´t wait to explore the city!  There is also, no doubt white water rafting.  Good, hard class 5 rafting!  Bring it on agua!

By the way, I am toatlly a trucker. I have spared the hitching stories in fear of another email from my mother.  Don´t worry mom, I always carry a knife in my pocket.  A dirty one, so that if stabbed the person will be infected too.  Once I no longer want new friends, a full belly, great stories and not to know new little towns I would never see in a bus, I will stop.  Until then I have some great wits, dirty knives and a totally different view of Argentina and traveling. 

I´m showing it all for a ride : )

The Inevitabilities of Traveling

You will...

-Have at least 8 conversations where you have no idea what is being said.  Castallano is so different than Spanish, I don´t know where to begin.  A few hints: find someone who likes to talk, a lot. Nod and smile, frequently. When you don´t know whether to say si or no, just smile. This also may be a bust. If they are fired up, feel it out.  Throw in a ´huh´.  Which is perfect because it is slang and not always known but a small enough word to let pass in Argentina : ) When they laugh, do the same, usually followed by a jovial si.

-Oh, cheap TP.  I bought some the other day for about 25 cents a roll.  It is like a hot dog, your not sure of what part of what paper you get, but it gets the job done.  This is of the last piece of the roll. This is supposed to be the last square of tissue! I think the workers just got lazy and stuck a bunch at the the end!

-At some point(s) you will be eating empenadads and drinking beer or, wine and chips for either dinner or breakfast.  Whatever your fancy. 

What? A glass a day is supposed to be good for you.  Nobody said if the glass was a bottle or not.  I have a valid excuse: I have no cups.

-Sometimes the travel clock will be off for up to two hours and you will not realize for up to 5 days.

-There is no guilt about not working, not exercising, feeding dogs daily from the table, or taking handouts from people who think your life is...weird :  ) Free café? ok. Free home-cooked lunch with your tiny old mother? Ok.

-Most importantly, and a feeling I want to remember for the rest of my life:

forgetting every responsibily you have ever had in exchange for a simple coffee and book overlooking a green and populated central plaza for hours at a time.

Peps, if you didn´t know this by now, I love traveling.  If you haven´t, then I recommend it.  If you can´t long distance then do it in your own city. It is something so important to me I will gladly suffer through 5 bugbites on just my forhead at a anti-government road blockade to enjoy the company of strangers in a foreign land to watch a magnificant and new sunset. It is amazing. Make every day new. Amazing how much you can learn. 

People friends :)  They usually come with instruments and a band performance at the end of the night.  If your lucky, they ask you to join with either an instrument or singing.  If they are lucky, you don´t.

Hitch-Hiking, running, and camping!

Well, not in that order but I really like the title :)
Hitch-hiking story will be to come.
Running, well, it was a run. I did stumble upon a free zoo while in the process.  Free means that people can come close enough to touch the animals if so inclined.  Also means that the monkeys were fed chips and I was spit on my a large horned goat. Is anyone really surprised? Lions that roared, pumas that looked like they wanted to rip me apart, bird that could have eaten my eye for a snack with its giant beak and bigger, fatter, cats.  It was good fun :)
Camping.  Well my friends, I do think that my tent has weathered the worst. In a small town of Sierra de la Ventana the weather was chilly but beautiful. Lots of greenery, trees and abundant in birds! These birds were flying rainbows! Yellow bellies, green tops and blue wings with red tossed in somewhere. The campground was fine, and cheapest option in town. I set up and left to explore the small town.  It poured for about 5 min during the day and when I got back to my tent, it was fine.  Good.  For such a cheap tent, it has held up amazingly well.
 I may have had wine, cheese, and bread for diner and counted seconds from the lightning to the thunder while reading.  Then it started to rain. Then the lightning was so frequent I could have read by it! My tent was holding up ok but I was getting a little worried. Then it started to pour. Drip. Drip. That´s ok, I can use socks to soak up the water. Drip. I´m still ok. Drip. Now I am just getting wet. Then the rain gets harder.  I was under the cover of two massive trees and it was pouring under that cover.  I looked outside and saw rats running from their flooded homes. A river was forming inside my tent. Ok, time to move.  I packed all my things inside and zipped open the tent for a millisecond upon realizing, it was quite wet outside.  Maybe I could use the tent as a giant umbrella? Maybe unzip it, bug my packs on and turn it around and run while wearing it? I did seriously consider that.  Then it rained harder. There was a cafeteria type open building just behind me that I wanted to get my things to so at least all of my belongs would not be wet for the next 2 weeks. Taking two trips I got all my things out of the tent. I, of course, was saturated. Some other campers followed suit soon after and we just waited till the rain stopped. A few hours later and I went to access the damage. Well, I got my own little pool inside!  A few more inches of water and I would need a lifeguard :) I cleaned the tent up, moved my things back inside and laid out my sleeping bag.  I was exhausted and ready for bed. I laid down and the last thing I remember is the massive rock I felt between my shoulder blades as I fell asleep. Thankfully it did not rain that night. I did, however, pack up the next morning and move on.  I have splurged and got a room here in Bahia Blanca.  Mainly because the bus driver told me the campgrounds closed and it was very dangerious but tish-tosh!  My plan to train across to Bariloche has been foiled since the train derailed and-or there was a giant9 storm? Not sure but thumbs are ready and warmed up :)

No pictures today because this blasphemous computer has shut down on me twice already and I don´t have the patience to wait another half hour for pictures that may or may not crash it again.  You will all have to suffer with creative images of me runnig with my backpacks and a tent on my head, and a goat spitting on me. :)
Chow!

Dogs and hookers. What else is new?

 I just can´t get over it.  Traffic and the horse drawn buggy.  It just kills me!

 Tucuman at night.  Beautiful.  I met my friends later on this night.

 Some, but not all, of my friends :)

Another beautiful waterfall in the heat :)

Traveling is fun.  I don´t know how else to break it to all you but this is good fun :)  I swear I have been making plenty of friends in all new towns but these ones deserve a story.

So, making my way into Tucuman, I needed to find a hostel.  I knew there was camping but I really couldn´t (can´t) afford to get any more bug bites, they are driving me insane!  So I started my walk away from the bus terminal at about 8am and noticed two very friendly dogs.  They were just too cute to pass up a coo-ing and that is all it took to stick. 2 turned into 6 and they stayed with me the entire adventure to find a hostel.  It was over an hour and by the time people started to come about on the streets they started to point and giggle.  The girl with her two huge backpacks and pride of 6 dogs.  The dogs listened when I told them to be quiet, lingered when I was behind, and always came back to me when they left to chase a car...or bicyclist. They stayed for over an hour as I wandered around the town.  Two in particular never left my side.  I don´t know how more loyality could be possible. And so quick!
I finally found a hostel and the same two stayed outside, waiting for my return while the rest dispersed.  Broke my heart but I was exhausted and needed time to shower and nap.  They were gone by the time I re-emerged at night. Not knowing anyone in town, I went to scout out somewhere to eat.  I walked around and who did I see but one of my loyal beauties about 20 minutes from my hostel! He did not recognize me and I tapped him on the butt when he sauntered on by.  The dog actually did a double take and came running back to say hello :)  I felt like it was old friends finally seeing each other again :)  Within the next 15 minutes another one of my friends emerged slobbering and running in my direction, almost knocking me down when getting to me.  We laughed, played, drooled and enjoyed the night for about an hour.  When I pet one, the other would nuzzle its way under my hand.  When they play-fought, they tried to get as close as possible so that I may have had as much hair on my back as they.  It was sweet and I almost wanted to get my tent and camp so that we could be together :)  I know, whatever.  I am allergic to dogs but the bug bites are so bad I can handle most other itches now :) We said goodbye again that night and the next morning I was off to Tafi de Valle.  Now, here in Cordoba, I have apparently taken to some style habbits I may need to watch out for. 
Arriving very late to Cordoba by bus I found myself wandering around downtown around midnight, looking for a hostel.  Not seeing very many options and still wide awake I took a break to eat my sandwich and rest.  While chowing down I noticed that there was quite a few people with minimal clothing.  They happened to be female. ´Hmm´, I thought, ´it must be very hot during the day´and I made a mental note to wear ´lighter´clothing the next day in anticipation of the heat.  Well, it turns out that I was making style judgements according to the local hookers.  Great. Next mental note, wear glasses and put some clothes on.

Chalk, water, and bugs! Lots of them!

Too much powder?  Did I miss a spot?

Remember how I said I didn´t want to go out into any more Carnival activities?  Well, my curiosity got the better of me and this is what happened. 
In the small town of Humahuaca I had just finished dinner and was ready to get back to my hostel and get to my crazy night of sleep.  But there was this music that had been going for a few hours in the plaza that I just couldn´t resist!  I headed over, knowing that the possibily of foam and water was ever present, and enjoyed the live music.  The Carnival celebration here was completly different and just as amazing.  People still dressed up (all who dressed up had full face masks) and danced but they mixed in with the crowd.  There was no parade but one big public party where everyone joined in.  I was a fan and enjoying the scenery when Andre the Giant came from behind and smoothered my face with some sort of chalk. One hand over my face and the other holding my head in place. Not much use to resist; his hand was about as big as my face. All in good fun.  Can´t get mad at these things so I made some new friends and stayed a bit longer.  A parade started and people all joined hands and ran around the plaza before snaking around the town.  When I got back to my hostle the manager laughed at me before letting me in :)  By the way, not so easy to get off clothes.  My poor backpack is in desperate need of a wash!

 Argentina.  First time in 3 months I have seen a drinking fountain and it was magical!  Free water, yes! There are big streets, lots of cars, and then you see a horse drawn buggy rolling around.  Classic.  the mountain behind has 1075 stairs that leads up to a beautiful viewpoint. Very hot and sweaty by the end!

 My first camping experience and I must say, I don´t think any other will beat it.  The blue in the back is pool that can be called a man made lake.  It was gargantuan.  Never seen another like it and very surprisingly, quite clean!  It was beautiful for 2 days and on the 3rd morning I woke to find it dry.  Boo, but glad I got the first 2 days :)  I think I like camping better than the hostel scene.  Good people, fine fun and cheap entertainment!

 Iguazu falls.  To Erann and Gill, I will be waiting till you arrive since you said you would visit me here :)  It was amazing.  Huge, huge, huge. No chance to swim but pleanty of opportunity to be soaked from the mist :) 

Nearest to the water, soaked in 3 minutes.  It was totally worth it!! :)
I would like to stay another night here in Iguazu but I have been eaten alive by anything with more than 2 legs.  I itch, everywhere.  And I am noticing that there are several golf ball sized bites that are making me crazy. I slept with the light on last night thinking that the bugs would be much more scared of me.  I know, I´m grasping at anything now!  The single most valuable thing I have brought with me is an anti-itch cream.  I use it like a lotion now, everywhere :)