A few bits and pieces

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We have now officially finished our trip, though here are a few stories, useless facts and tips for fellow travellers, we omitted to mention on our previous travel blogs.

Resturants.
80% of the time we ordered our meals, the meals never came out as expected. It was nearly always a different dish or side dish, to what we ordered. The bill was the same deal. There were always taxes, tips, and charges added on. The food and bill always made eating out an exciting experience, very much like a lucky dip, as you never knew what to expect.

Whilst still on the subject of food, if you love Pizza, you will love South America, it is Pizza heaven. Without exception, every country we visted had so many pizza shops, boasting exotic pizzá and different ways of preparing and presenting it. In fact I had the best pizza I have ever tasted in Puno, Peru.

Cyber cafes.
We visited cyber cafes a lot, generally to stay up to date with whats happening at home and also to do our blogs. The computers used in the cafes were generally very old, many were taped up after apparently being thrown on the floor by disgruntled users. We were quite often joined on the computers by lots of teenage South American nerds playing computer games similar to 'Dungeons and Dragons'. Though, nerds may be a bit of a harsh description as it was still good to hear good old 'Filha da Puta ' yelled when someone got killed.

Shoe shiners.
There are an abundence of shoe shine men in South America. In fact it is a male dominated industry, I never once saw a single female employed as a shoe shiner. A quick word of warning though if you have big feet....beware of what you are charged. I was quoted 5 sols in Bolivia for my boots to be cleaned. Once the shoe shine guy saw the size of my feet, he wanted to charge me double as he claimed it was too much work. After hours of intense negotiation he cleaned them all the same for 5 sols.
You know what they say about guys with big feet.........

Cross eyed people.
Now I know its probably a little bit non P.C to describe people as such, but we did notice an awful lot of people in South America who were severely cross eyed. In fact we saw them quite regularly on our travels and it was always a bit of a challenge to determine which way they were looking as they approached. Oops too late they have walked straight into you.

Night shift.
Oh to be a female in Argentina....though preferably not one who smokes and looks like Chewbacca. Females in Argentina don't have to do night shift. How good is that.

Dodgy sales people.
Im usually pretty switched on when it comes to detecting rip off merchants and con men, but I am honest enough to admit that even the best of us get fooled sometimes. Maybe it was because I had just completed my very first tandem paragliding experience, maybe, it was heat stroke, maybe it was because it was the very first real Inca salesperson I had encountered. Whatever the reason, do not buy mens Onyx necklaces unless they come with some sort of money back guarantee. I shelled out at least $10.AUS for this item to the Incan salesman named Richard, (Really, an Incan called Richard....I don't think so) When I got home and had a shower whilst wearing said necklace, I noticed my body covered in black dye. So much for the genuine Onyx, I think he must have been working with the shoe shine guy.

Ice cream vendors.
How can I put this........the ice cream vendors in South America, scared the shit out of us. We would be walking down the road innocently minding our own business and checking out the sights, when an ice cream vendor would appear from behind us, obviously picking us as tourists and yell in his loudest, deepest, nasally tone, 'Helados' (Ice cream). This made us jump out of our skins and happened in nearly every country we visited. On a side note I got in trouble from Dom for mimicking the ice cream vendors Helados sales pitch....evidently I do it quite well.

Hygiene.
It is safe to say that at some point on your travels you will get a 'funny tummy'. We both did, and fortunately only once each, it is no fun having to sit on the toilet for extended periods, though Dom did manage to complete quite a few Suduko puzzles this way. However, on the positive side, it can be quite beneficial if you need to lose some excess kilos or maintain that slim and trim figure. So, Matt, this means you no longer have to purge. Fortunately we packed a good first aid kit with prescription drugs for such problems as well as rehydrating mixes, I would suggest to anyone travelling, do the same and pack a Suduko book as well, just in case.

Video cameras
Now we are in the 21st century there are plenty of options available to record your trip and share those special moments with loved ones. We didn't have a video camera, per say, but we did have a Sony Bloggie which is a handheld mini video camera which you can upload onto the net immediately with any good footage you may have, that is if you can work out how to upload it. Though why Dom chose to record a Tortoise in the zoo on the Bloggie I cannot comprehend. What did she expect that the tortoise was going to do ? I haven't viewed the footage yet but if the tortoise moves I will let you know. If anyone wants a copy of the footage please contact me ASAP.

Money changers.
Money changers are not known for their sense of humour, and who can blame them. They have a very boring job, and having to deal with stupid tourists each day probably doesn't help matters much either. So it was very refreshing when Dom entered a Buenos Aires money changer to change her $2,000 Uruguayan Pesos into Argentian Pesos, that a money changer displayed a sense of humour. In fact he laughed and laughed at her, and it was so contagious I couldn't help it either. After he stopped laughing and completed this big financial transaction Dom walked out with 4 coins totalling just under $1. AUS. It must have been the transaction of the day.

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