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...We passed briefly through Bariloche on 13th, when I last wrote, and spent the next four days driving north through the national parks of the Lakes District in our silver Suzuki Fun! Areas were really lovely and we particularly liked Parque Nacional Lanín dominated by Volcano Lanín where we stayed on a lovely campsite at the side of a lake and Simon spent hours trying to make a fire from damp wood! The surroundings were nonetheless beautiful and the family (native Indian people) were really kind and funny....
On the Saturday (17th), we headed back to Bariloche and enjoyed the next day catching up with Knut and Astrid from Germany, who we'd met way back in Puerto Williams. In true Bariloche style (started by German and Swiss immigrants when everyone from everywhere was coming to Argentina for land handed out free by the government) the four of us chatted while getting very big fixes of chocolate with hot chocolates and a chocolate fondu! Yum!
On Monday we spent the day rafting on the Manso River south of Bariloche. It was fun and exciting but tamer than what I've always considered to be my 'near-death' experience nine years ago on the Zambeze! I've never really recovered from that day and as I stood last week on the banks of the Manso being given final instructions for the 'ride' and my mind became flooded by dejá-vus, I really started to wonder what on earth I was doing there... But, despite fleeting moments of fear as we paddled towards each rapid, it was great, and with lots of welcomed calming boring bits inbetween that were just fine with me! Afterwards we headed back to a lovely spot on a farm for what was our last asado (Argentinian barbecued meat) before the drive back to Bariloche when four Spanish 'boys on tour' really got the rest of us and the guides going, singing along to Argentinian oldies on the radio - altogether a really memorable day!
On Tuesday we took an overnight bus to here, Mendoza. It's lovely with all its tree-lined avenues and nearby bodegas - being the wine-growing region of Argentina. On Friday we took a bus out to the neigbouring town of the unfortunately named Maipú (especially if you're silly English people with senses of humour that have been somewhat warped after seven months of travelling through lots of quirky cultures and towns with funny names!), and from there hired two (cruddy) bikes to cycle between the local vineyards and bodegas - the difficulty in handling the bikes having, of course, nothing to do with the wine-tasting sessions once at the bodegas. It was probably one of the best and most purposeful bike-rides I've ever been on!
Otherwise, we've spent our days here enjoying the relative luxury of a room in a hostel after about two and a half weeks of continued camping... wandering through the plazas and between the street cafés of Mendoza, getting in under the shade out of the hot hot sun... enjoying good restaurants and better wine... and anticipating our departure from South America and arrival in New Zealand, in the next few days. Tomorrow we take our last South American bus over the Andes to Santiago de Chile from where, on Wednesday 28th, we fly to Auckland... We're looking forward to it but am sure will think about this last seven months for a very long time to come with hundreds of wonderful memories and a lot of fondness for an incredible continent...
During this last stint of our journey, we learnt that Simon's Grandad Howitt very sadly passed away. He was a very lovely man, proven not least by his upbeat and well attended funeral... He meant a great deal to Simon and he'll be very missed. He's been very much in our thoughts.
See you in New Zealand xxx
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