Many Rare and Precious Things I Have Tried to Call Mine

Saturday 6 February
Buenos Aires – Puerto Iguazu

The next morning on the bus brought much better weather, clear blue skies and sunshine. As I looked out into the fields I saw my first rhea – an ostrich but smaller – in fact three of them standing in a field. Which was another thing to tick off the list, though I hope to see one closer up at some point.

The bus is running late from the bad weather from the night before and we arrive much later than planned, and hungry given there was no lunch. And then as I got off the bus – bam! The heat hit me. My god it was hot. It was oppressive. But I know I have to get used to it as it’s gonna be like this for the rest of the trip. Apart from the Andes maybe.

But that wasn’t the worst thing, just as I got to the hostel I realised that I had lost my phone. Damn! So I went back to the bus company and luckily they arranged for me to go and look at the bus to see if I could find it, but it was long gone. I get all shitty about it and have a bit of hassle finding a place that I can call from to cancel the SIM but find one eventually. Luckily it only costs a quid to make the call. But having to do it all in insufferable heat was no fun.

Eventually I get back to the hostel and have a bite to eat and generally feel sorry for myself for a bit before putting on my shorts and jumping in the pool! Yeah, that’s the best thing. It actually felt cold in the air once I’d been in the water, so that was some respite at last.

At the pool there was a bunch of typically unsociable Israelis, three bogan Australians getting drunk and pissing in the bushes (you can take the man out of Australia...!) and three English people. I end up talking to one guy, his name’s Sam and we get chatting. He looks like a thinner version of my friend Drew, but unlike Drew’s optimism and playfulness he has a dark and cynical streak. Still, it takes all sorts and we have a bit of a chat and take the piss out of the Aussies.

Turns out we’re both into music and play guitar and have both been having fun while on tour. We compare notes on what mischief we’ve been up to so far. Sam is an incorrigible flirt and so he’s had his fair share of fun. We go out for a meal and have a large steak while being serenaded by a singer at the restaurant. Very romantic.

After that we go back to the hostel and completely fail to impress anyone there with our guitar playing. They were all unsociable Israelis anyway. Although to be fair my guitar playing wasn’t that great!