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Salta, Argentina. 27-28th Sept
We stopped off to camp beside the river in Salta, where we both signed up for white water rafting and zip-lining. The rafting was great fun - our guide was not content to take us through the rapids facing forwards but insisted on making our raft do a 360 spin through the rapids, thus ensuring the maximum amount of river crashing over us. We dutifully carried out his instructions as we didn´t know the difference between the instructions that were to stop us hitting a rock or flipping, from the ones that were designed just to get us wet. You could always tell afterwards as he could be heard giggling to himself! Richard had a macho fight on a stop along the river and rugby tackled our driver, however as he came out of the water and struggled to stand up realised his wedding ring had come off! After several very worried minutes trying to find it in the river and a brief contemplation of getting out on the opposite bank he found it! Phew
After that was zip-lining (you sit in a harness that is connected to a cable that stretches across the valley, clipped onto it and then shoved off the edge!). Awesome fun! The first few feet are terrifying as we were so high, but after that you start to relax and enjoy the view down the valley and to the river below. You can´t relax completely though as you have to remember to make yourself stop so that you don´t crash into the cliff on the other side of the valley (they give you big gloves with thick leather palms and you use these to pull on the cable). We both made it out alive and unharmed (although I think Richard may have shortened his life a little as well as that of the guide who had to catch him at the other end after the brakes failed!!!).
The next day we decided to go for a half day horse riding which turned out to be so much more. We arrived at the ranch and were greeted by the owner, Enrique (sadly not as aesthetically pleasing as the famous singer of the same name!), who was a real character. He didn´t speak English too well but his swear words were perfect! We started off with breakfast before heading out on the horses - all of whom were impeccably well trained and responsive to anything asked of them. The ride was fantastic through the Argentinean countryside, villages, farms etc and despite helmets not being part of the deal, we were allowed to canter and gallop a fair bit, which was superb. During the ride one of our friends came out with the now legendary comment - ´Don´t stop now Sally, I´m coming up your arse!´ Following the riding we had lunch in the shade under a tree at the ranch with Enrique´s family and friends. He was a natural host and made us laugh non-stop throughout lunch, aided somewhat by the vast amounts of his specially blended red wine that was forced upon us (Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon). As many of you know, I (N) don´t drink red wine. I do now. The wine kept flowing long into the afternoon and frankly we were all smashed by the time we had to leave at 4! The day continued much like that with a visit to a bar that afternoon followed by dinner with some friends, culminating in Richard enduring a corking hangover all day yesterday on a 12 hout truck journey- ouch. For those of you who recall Simon and Marenthe´s wedding, the end result wasn´t the same (thankfully) but the level of drunkeness was on a par!
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