Valentine Udders

Valentine´s Day, Salta, Argentina: I had forgotten the date and was writing postcards on a bench in the plaza, when but was approached by a bunch of 18 year old Argentinian girls, who sat and chatted me. Obviously, they were too young for me but I had shaved that morning, and with my short hair probably looked about 15. But it was flattering all the same, at least until I showed them photos of my family and they asked me for Duncañ´s email address. Not mine, but my little brother´s. I blocked them on my msn in revenge. This plaza however, was really beautiful, I actually spent several hours every day more or less just sitting in that plaza, sipping coffee, people watching and reading Harry Potter in spanish. It was great just to do nothing for a bit.

Local Cuisine: I ate barbecued cows udder. Hmm. The Chilean couple I hitch-hiked bought the mixed grill but didn`t tell me what I was eating till after and they didn`t eat it themselves. It had a weird texture and was a bit milky... not that nice. Since we´re on the subject, i also ate barbecued cow´s heart in Bolivia, which was really nice, but I was pretty ill that night. Also a whole tongue (of cow) and cow lymph/pítuitary glands... not bad really. I also ate frozen dehydrated potatoes there, a specialty apparently, which are grey and bit a boring.

Paraguay: Stayed with lovely family, in gorgeous house with pool, and became the Lord of the Flies. This was not because I hadn´t showered for a bit. The first day, bees kept following me and trying to drown themselves in my glass, it happened 4 times in 3 days. I saved them of course. And then, 2 butterflies landed on my hand. And then, my least favourite subjects, the mosquito, bit my feet a great deal (they have dengue fever here). Finally, while swimming in pool at night (which had view of a purple starry sky with Orion) bats paid homage to me by flying squeaking over my face several times and interrupting my breast stroke by swooping down and drinking water in front of me.

Brazil: I just like the fact that I am in Brazil. The flag is cool, and the word is cool, and Brazil nuts were always my favourite. We went to a huge huge waterfall (iguacu, for those who know), it was very exciting. So exciting that I threw of my shirt and went for a swim, and realised 5 minutes later that I had my body belt on, with passport, money and travellers cheques. I had to dry them all out on a rock, people gave me funny looks. I was sad because my paraguay passport stamp was running. In general, Brazil is really nice, but I consistently am annoyed by the fact that they speak Portugese! On the 1st day got stuck in this hotel in the middle of nowhere that looked like it was out of psycho and almost when psycho myself out of frustration because he didnt understand a word of spanish, or english, or even nepali!
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ok, enough writing, i will put photos up tomorrow...
lots of love
Michael
p.s. I have spent too long in cafe that it is dark and i have missed bus back to hostel, so will have to walk back in dark! In Brazil. Richard Coelho and Kate Oliver say they are going to tell my parents that my last words were that i didn´t love them, i would like to officially say here that I do love them lots. I think also that my chances of surviving the walk back are very high, lots of people do it and i haven~t spoken to a single one that got killed.