To Laguna Ibera - 19-20 Dec 2013

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Thursday 19^th December (Odyssey Day 41)







It was another long travel day today. There has been a few of these lately with so much ground to cover, especially in Argentina. It is such a large country with so much space in between places worth visiting.







We departed at 0700 and I spent most of the day sleeping along the front bench of the truck – it’s actually a really comfortable spot! None of us really intend to sleep on the truck, but it’s a bit hypnotic really and I start out reading a book and end up falling asleep. At least it makes up for all the late nights and early mornings we have along the way!







We arrived at our new camp about 1800. It is a riverside camp that is absolutely beautiful. The river is huge and the camp quite nice. Unfortunately the fridge in the truck had failed recently and the meat was not quite right, so cook group today had to improvise with a veggie pasta. So I decided to clean out the fridge before having a shower (for obvious reasons), but none of us were aware that the shower block closed at 1900! A couple of the girls went to have showers after swimming in the river and discovered that they were locked for the night.







In response, a few of us ended up just putting on our bathers and having an outdoor shower, which at least served to cool us down nicely and was certainly better than nothing.







Tonight, for the first time, all the girls sat at a table together for a few drinks. It was an entertaining evening as we discussed the trip, further travel plans, our lives at home, jobs, partners, and the inconvenience of being a girl when doing pit stops by the side of the road. It was a good night and the last of us headed off to bed around 0200 after some badly played pool at the camp bar.















Friday 20^th December (Odyssey Day 42)







Departure was at 0700 again this morning. Donna and Lou look rather seedy this morning, which ironically makes the rest of us look much better. At least there is plenty of time for everyone to sleep again today.







It really was a long day as we headed for Laguna Ibera. Along the way we saw our first capybara and our first caiman (South American fresh water crocodile). We also passed a couple of gaucho’s on horseback with a herd of cattle travelling along the road. The cattle didn’t really like the sound of the truck, but they weren’t all that keen to move out of the way, either!







We arrived at the campsite late in the evening and discovered that the truck wouldn’t fit through the gateway arch. Fortunately the area we were assigned for putting our tents up in was really close to the entrance and we didn’t have to lug everything too far. There is a covered area for cooking that we are making the most of. Everything was so late that tonight, we were still eating at 2200.







A couple of people had been for a quick dip in the water, but after being told that we would be seeing caiman tomorrow in the same body of water, most decided that a shower was a better way of cooling down than a swim…



We do seem to be almost the only people staying here at the moment, which means we spread out a bit more with all our stuff and those who want a bit more privacy have ample room to set up their tents.







The showers here are relatively nice, although the frogs, toads and spiders must have been of the same opinion! The reactions of some of the people on the trip were rather amusing. I used the free shower that no one wanted because there was a big spider in it which I had to kill before getting in. I don’t think Danielle was happy with that as she wanted to ‘relocate’ it. However since no one knew if it was poisonous or not, I thought that might not be the best of ideas.







Ellie asked one of the other girls to turn on her shower and refused to close the door all the way, just in case the little frog at the top decided to move – she wanted to be able to make a fast getaway!







There were random screams and squeals from the girls all night as they attempted to use the toilets that the toads and frogs both had already made their homes in (the frogs get inside the bowl up under the rim and make their appearance when flushed, while the toads get in the stall and hide behind the toilet and bins). Truthfully I’m not sure if it is the frogs or the toads that freak them out more. The toads a big and ugly, but don’t move very fast and only come out at night, while the frogs are tiny but can jump quite a long way, tend to climb the walls and are in there during the day as well. The whole thing was rather entertaining – who needs television really?

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Photos

Ithaca
A surprisingly comfortable spot to sleep on the truck

River Camp
Simon working on Ithaca

Laguna Ibera Camp
Ithaca parked outside the gates

Laguna Ibera Camp
Ellie relaxing in the shade

River Camp
Sunset