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Hurrayyyy we have arrived home safely!!!!!

The drummers in the Montivideo Parade.

After BA the bus took us to Corrientes which was not all that exciting and 12 hours was enough. From there we did another 3 hours bus trip back to Mercedes (Arg) which also was not much. However, it was a stop along the way to a nature reserve - Esteros del Ibera - which is at Carlos Pelligrini. This 3 hour trip was made in a small mini van with 16 people and luggage inside and a pile of luggage strapped to the top and no air conditioning. We had to change a flat tire enroute. At the nature reserve we did some touring by boat to view the local wildlife which was very interesting - carpinchos (the largest rodent in the world - about the size of a wild boar). two types of deer that live in marsh areas and caimans (small alligators). There were also many beautiful birds and flowers.

The van during the tire change.

Us at the sign for the park

When the caiman is bigger than you the best option is to stay in the boat.

From Carlos Pelligrini it was off by 4 wheel drive truck/bus over a rough and dustyy road to Posadas. Here we did a tour of three of the old Jesuit Missons from the late 1600s. There are about 20 in the area. Some are restored and some are just as they were found with some trees removed so the ruins can be seen.

From Posadas it was off to Iguazu Falls by bus again - 6 hours. Iguazu Falls is absolutelty stunning. A good thing as there is not much else in the area. We did both sides of the falls - Argentina and Brazil. The trip presented problems later as on return to Arg we did not get our passports stamped when leaving Brasil and when we went back through on the 23rd they were querying why we were still listed as not leaving Brasil. Some fast talking got it straightened out.

Us at Devils Throat, Iguazu Falls

From Iguazu it was another 15 hours by bus to Sao Paulo. The countryside we saw was quite picturesque and may warrant another trip someday if we ever forget the hassles we had with Brazilian immigration.

Two days in Sao Paulo was enough as it is a huge city of 20 million with lots of poor people sleeping in the streets. Otherwise it has many tall buildings and some interesting art galleries. We caught the plane out at 2200 hours on Tuesday arriving in Calgary via Toronto at 1100 hours on the 27th.

A good trip all in all, however, we would do it differently if we ever decided to do it again. That is always the case as we learn as we go.

Now for a couple of untold stories......

While doing the "world's most dangerous road", you remeber the one with sheer cliffs and ditches 1600 feet deep, one of us had a major wipeout on the bike. We were all going too fast at some times for abilities and conditions. I ended up in the shallow ditch when I fell over while stopping. The other unnamed party did a major wipeout in the middle of the road landing on rocks. She had a big bruise on her left thigh, a scrape on her elbow and some other hurts. The bruise has finally gone away but she still has a dent in the thigh muscle and can just now straighten her arm out at the elbow.

While doing a leisurely stroll in Mendoza at 3 PM in a residential street with cars and people passing by a male tried to get us to go into a driveway by brandishing a gun at us. It happened very quickly and was very unexpected (what he wanted I think) and we are still not sure what exactly happened. However, the one closest to him knocked the gun to the side and in the struggle a shot (real or blank??) was fired off to the side thankfully not injuring us or univolved parties. The guy pulled away and ran off with no further incident. It took quite a while for the adrenalin rush to subside.

They were stories better left unreported until we got home safe. And we are home safe.

A word of warning... if we come to visit be prepared that we are used to putting used toilet paper in the trash can, not flushing it. South American systems can not handle TP so we have been trained not to put it in the toilet. We think we are retrainable but heads up just in case.

Take care and we will be in touch.

Love

Guy and Heather.