- got a weekly bus out to a bus stop that the driver initially refused to take us to and would only stop at when he had confirmed with us that someone would be there to meet us, as the bus back was 5 days later...
- ... luckily a friendly Argentinian lady knew where we had to go and made the (nice it has to be said) driver stop at exactly the end of the dirt track we needed to go up.
- Waved goodbye to all the locals on this bus, who had been staring at us curiously for the 2.5 hour journey. At one point, the bus stopped in a remote village, where about 10 people were waiting, who got on JUST TO SAY HELLO to the other passengers, then got off again.
- we were met off the bus
- Went for 3 hour trek in a land of red rocks that turn into black volcanic rocks. Climbed a hill, and the entire view revealed nothing as far as the horizon except land, volcanoes, more land and the Andes. Awesome.
- Spent two nights at this place (www.kinie.com.ar) under 5 blankets as we were there out of season
- They had to get up each morning and start the wood burning stove for us to have hot water for our shower and light the fire in the breakfast room each day. Oh, and the only electricity source was solar power and the generator for evening tv watching.
- We've eaten goat. Lots of goat: goat and chips, goat and pasta in sauce, goat in vegetable sauce, goat soup, pate a la goat, goat steaks.
- Did all day horse trek in the volcanic park. 5 hours in the saddle. Very sore.
- Saw a condor.
- Saw an armadillo type creature. Very cute. Held it by its tail and stroked it. Photo to follow.
- Before that we went to some caves. It's not like Wookey Hole. You're given a hard hat with a head torch. Then you're squeezing into crevices. With just your torch to guide you.
- Spent 2 and a half hours racing (well probably 30mph) across the national park to get back to Malargue for our bus in an ancient Land Rover. We really do mean LandRover. We reckon it was built when the company first started... the reason we were racing was that it had to be repaired before we left the middle of nowhere...
- ... but the driver was very sweet and did offer us each a set of ear plugs for the journey...
- ... it also had air con ie he pulled out the tea towel that was stuffing up the hole between the roof and the windscreen. But we did make our bus.
- Have been killing time in some town that is DEAD.
- Caused a moderate amount of amusement in local pizza place today by confusing the waitress with a woman in a photo on the wall, who Martin claims is blatantly a glamour model.... we now know what Spanish is for "With my boobs, not likely!"
- Went to internet place with computers that claimed to have no internet....
Stuff we're doing next
- Overnight bus from San Rafael (here) to Neuquen, arrive 6.10 Sunday morning, hang around til 9, then bus to San Martin De Los Andes, in Argentina's Lake District.
Making the blog more interactive
We love writing the blog and we want to be caring, sharing blog writers. To make it more varied, we thought you might want to send us questions about our trip (via email please) and we'll then reply to them on the blog.
Techincal note: this is because currently the blog is a piece of one way, push communication, but Kara wants to make it interactive two way. Martin doesn't care as long as he's not more than 48hours away from his next steak.
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