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Published: January 14th 2009
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Hi everyone,
Well we hope all is good with everyone as it is with us. Hoping you are all keeping each other nice and warm as we try to cool each other off in some of the most amazing and very and i say VERY cold lakes, actually ice lakes, as this water flows from the snow capped mountains of the Andes.
As with some of the titles i use there is a little mystery. Well as i said before you are a clever bunch, posible the CSI of europe so you probably figure out how the story goes, but this one i think only a few will solve before i get to the punch line, which i will start getting to right now and stop my waffling.
So here we go!
I left you as we left Uruguay. We really liked our stay there and kinda was a little sad to move on but one must! So with tickets in hand and our minds set on the far side of Argentina we borded the bus in Punto Del Diablo to Montevideo, which took 3hrs, not bad, and a few pit stops in the middle of nowhere for absolutely no reason
just to stop, but hey whose in a hurry. From Montevideo we needed to get to Colonia to get the boat back to Buenos Aires. Exactly the same way we came to Uruguay except alot more expensive!! The guy at the desk said that there was only first class, which i have no problem with, but thats when i have a job and since i have not got one of them we stood there looking very worried and of course like majic there were two seat in regular class which suited the pocket a bit better. It was still expensive but it was the fast boat across so it would save us time and we were more likely to be able to get a bus over to Bariloche the earlier we arrived in Buenos Aires.
So all went well and we got on the bus half an hour later to Colonia which was another 3hr journey. 3+3=6
So we got to Colonia port and we had to first get our tickets printed, then join the long que to go through passport control which was, a bit of a dalilama.
You see when we left for Uruguay we got this bit
of paper which was the entry slip thing with our details on and the date we entered. Joost very wisely said "Gillian put that somewhere safe because we will need it on the way back, probably". And Joost was right, so when we got to passport control i took mine out of its safe place and Joost looked and me blankly while the guy behind the counter looked at us. And where had Joost put his slip? In the rucksack that he checked in and was in the belly of the ship we were trying to get on. He did make an effort to look for it in his bag, i think for effect, and in doing so emptying the entire contents of his bag out on the floor. I must add for effect that the boat was ment to have departed about 10min before so there was some urgency in the air. The guy behind the counter after seeing us sweat for about 5mins just waved us on and off we went feeling a bit hot, but hey we get to leave and go where we need to go. So onto the boat for a short journey over to
Buenos Aires, 1hr. 6+1=7
We knew where the central bus station was and of course will never forget " Retiro" (Bicycle!). So we headed straight there hoping that we can catch a bus out to Bariloche. It was easy enough and we managed to get a bus in an hour from when we arrived. This was going to be an over night trip so we, especially me, like to have a comfortable bus for these trips. And this one was a long one, 24hrs. We looked at the executive cama which is where you can lay down and actually get some sleep and this was the one we were going for but when we got the tickets in our hands we saw that it was only cama. Cama is where the back of your seat goes back a little bit! Thats it! That means cramp in neck and no sleep for me. Joost can sleep standing! But i took it by the horns as they say(i think) and we went with it. So we bought some supplies and waited for the bus journey from hell! Ah no, there not so bad! (Repeated in y headed a number of time before
boarding the bus).
Anyway when we went to board the bus there is a guy who puts your bags in the storage and well sometimes you give a peso or two if you have big bags or alot of stuff. I wasn't aware of this at this time and so when he asked and i must add he asked very abruptly for some money and i was tired at this stage too,not a good combination you might say, i turned around and said we have bought our tickets and waved them at him and turned away and got on the bus. We sat down in our seats and when the bus pulled out we both checked to see if our bags were on the platform and they weren't so then we just hoped that we would see them in Bariloche.
I have to say the journey wasn't so bad but the no sleep did happen and the cramps in neck but we did get feed and i had a good book and good company, so it made it a bit better. After the sleep less night i came out of the haze i was in and took a glance down
at the feet. I thought to myself "i'm sure my toes aren't that fat usually". And i didn't want to say it to Joost in case he confirmed that yes Gill they have always been that fat! So for a while i looked and rubbed and i new they weren't right. Then i looked a bit further up to my ankles and i noticed i had none! AAAAH! What the hell, my toes and ankles had swollen up to make my toes look like sausages, nice cocktail sausages and my ankles were, you guessed it, KANKLES.
I turned to Joost and told him about the situation and he goes he is in the same state. So up we jumped and started to put our legs in the air and wiggle our sausages about. They looked so horrible i thought they would never go back to normal, which in fact it took two days for them to look normal again.
So after 24hrs on the bus, 24+7=Sausages and Kankles, we arrived in Bariloche, when i wanted to get back on the bus back to Punto Del Diablo and its 30degrees. It was raining, windy and cold. I nearly died. I couldn't
Gill in Bariloche
Andes in Backgound believe it. But we stayed and got the bus into town and found ouselves a lovely hosteria where i could lay down and sleep. So i am going to leave it there for this part and give you more in another message. Keep safe ye all Big LOVE G&J
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Trees
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Hey guys
Hi , It's bloody freezing here, we had proper snow in Jan. Niamh had a blast pelting me with snowballs. We are all good here. Glad you are having a good time. Speak soon. xxxx