King David Cordoba

... who once ran a bit of an empire in Argentina. We went on a guided tour of two churches and the Jesuit library, which is now part of the university here. The churches had ceilings shaped like half a barrel cut lengthwise, because the designer of the churches was an ex-boatbuilder. The exterior of both churches was plain, but the inside had been beautifully decorated in carvings and paintings by Guarani converts in the Jesuit missions near the ...

... down it was in the same spot we took off, the parachutes were kept at the same altitude by thermals in the air! I took loads of pictures and tried to get the perfect silhouette against the setting sun to no avail but fortunately Ang got a beaute picture as I was landing.
Went out for nice Indian food that night with Duncan & American fella Tom, the food was amazing, actually as good as anything I ate in India. Got a bit lost on the way there mind, but Ang came to ...

... our usual munchy-bag filled with sweets, biscuits and the new corner stone of our diet, cereal bars!! So trying to fit all this baggage and 3 bodies into what was comparable to a 1986 Fiat Panda was quite the task. So, with a backpack in the front, one in the boot with some of the other girls bags, the rest of the bags between the other girl and me with Miriam sitting on my knee, we sped off in this mechanical abomination, that cut out anytime the driver ...

... deur klaar en als beloning kwam de broer van Carlos in zijn zeilbootje aanmeren. We gingen heerlijk een stukje varen op het San Roque meer. Goed geregeld Carlos! Afgezien van het feit dat we vlak na de start al 15 cm van het dek onder de waterspiegel zagen verdwijnen (wat snel door de kapitein gecorrigeerd werd) was het een heerlijke afwisseling. Echt gaaf hoe zo´n boot als door het water snijdt. De nacht hebben we buiten onder het muskietennet doorgebracht ...

... sister Merina, apart from that, myself and Lorraine were the only guest for the next couple of days. They also have 3 guides, Nikki, Sam & Lydia, all of whom are from England and working there for 6 months (They are volunteers, but get all their food and drink as part of the job), as well as 2 cooks, a couple of cleaners and 10 Gauchos - the Estancia has over 160 Horses (90 of which are used for riding), and about 1000 Aberdeen Angus cattle. The Gauchos spread their time between the ...

... thinking that the trip had left without us but finally after some time in bacame clear that Salta had not been affected by the time change and that it was actually an hour earlier than we thought. Anways, wed better go as off on our very long trip - from 7 this morning until 9 pm, but it should be incredible. More about that and Cordoba later.

... way because of farmers blocades around the country. the first day we got there, it was the second day of full moon, so there is a special tour at the park. We did it at 9.30 at night. It was incredible. there is no light in the park, only the light from the moon, the only one guiding the way, a reason why if it's clouded there are no tours. It was so cool, because it's all darkness and it's a lot to walk, and you can't see the falls but you can hear them ...

... girls to get lost while they continued to grill me. I told the girls it was ok and that I would handle it. The ****ers were persistent, but I held out longer than they did. After about a 10 minute ordeal of answering their questions, they let me go, and said 'You can't enter the concert, we take the stuff, but you don't go to jail. Ok?' SWEET! In the end, I think the fact that I was calm, relaxed, and ...

... destination (or close enough cause we didn't actually know the address of our place) and he tries to charge us double what we payed to catch a cab to the club in the first place. Which proved to be quite the predicament as the price was also in fact double what we had in our pockets. So we think it over (in the mad states we were in) and decide that the only option available is to do a runner. We will leave the door open (we figure that will make the getaway easier) and ...

... refreshed, our long shadows beside us, our horses' tails combing the pampas. The horses were a mix of Criollos and Paso Peruanos, and all were exceptionally well-trained, so there were no breaks for the border at the first sight of open space. We even managed a game of polo on one afternoon, but were suitably thrashed by the Argies, who made it look like childsplay - us cantering behind, waving sticks, like a right motley crew. One of the dogs, Pippa, had just had ...