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Talking about straydogs … Last night we bumped into a Dutch guy who had been wandering the streets all day, confused and in shock because he had been robbed of absolutely everything but his clothes. They even cut his pants to take things out of his pockets. We drank coffee and borrowed him some money. Gradually he calmed down and started to tell us the amazing story of his life. He turned out to be full of amazing stories. One of them is that he´s a footbal fanatic and he invited us for a famous match in Buenos Aires in the Holy Boca-stadium. I don´t know much about football, but I have heared enough about the Boca-stadium (it breathes, trembles, people can sing scarying softly for 20 minutes) to know that its´s an the experience of a lifetime.
His biggest problem right now was: how to arrange money. His family is transferring money to my bank now. So later today we can ‘pin’ it from the cashmachine (thanks heaven for internetbanking!).

Driving back south, we saved the best route for last (Cafayate to Tafi del Valle). A great route through big valleys and canyons, with hairpinroads and that sort of stuff. After a few cactusses and hairpins, we drove into a huge cloud of fog. Besides an occasional cow suddenly appearing on the middle of the road, we saw nothing but grey mist. Aaargh!
Next morning we appeared to be in a beautiful area, reminded us of a rainforest. Luckily, the rest of the ride was beatiful after all (with a bit of fog, but hey…that is extra cool in a rainforest!).
Right now we are in Cordoba. The couple that wants to buy the car is really sweet! Tomorrow they take us out on a little trip. They like the car!

Had a great hike to some waterfalls (near Cafayate). A place you could only reach by car or a tourguide, so it was nice and quiet. The trail was totally unclear. Jumping on and from rocks, climbing, and jumping over water and avoiding huge cactusses it felt like an awesome adventure. Especially, because a stray-dog followed us all the way!! When we parked the car for the hike Maurice gave him some chunks of bread. The dog probably thought he would be with us from there on :) He climbed even the steepest slopes. Sometimes he slipped into the water after bravely jumping on a wet rock. But he didn´t make one sound, just kept on going. We gave him the name ‘Peligro’, which means ‘danger’ in spanish. Back at the car, five hours later, we gave him a whole bread and plenty of hugs. The poor dog begged us to get into the car. Our hearts tore apart when we drove away cause the dog ran after us, faster and faster, like the car …. I can still see his face with his ears flapping in the wind. Eager eyes. Aaaaaaaaaah …. Maybe we should have kept him, and sell him eventually with the car.(flashback to`Sophies choice`). We feel bad …. (and hope he is not still running).

Geee, our blogs are so old! We already hit te northern town Humahuaca (yup, still with the Fiat Uno!), and are back on our way to Cordoba. A couple there mailed us they are seriously interested in buying our car. Wel, whatever happens, we are planning to paraglide in Cordoba. And if the car doesn´t make it, we´ll take it paragliding with us and sell the video (ha ha, thanks Like!).
So what happened in the meantime? After El Bolson, we camped in a national park full of blue lakes and mountains (I still don´t uderstand why some people use a noisy generator to burn a lightbulb in front of their campervan …) . Then Bariloche, a place where some nazi´s made their new home after the War (they say). That could explain wy it´s full of chocolate, St. Bernhard dogs, and wooden cottages. At night really great performances (for free) at the square.
Then we drove to Mendoza (something like driving from Holland to Spain), but chose the alternative route, hoping to see some volcanos. We slept in obscure litlle towns (again, the movie U-turn …). And a big part of the road turned out to be a ride in hell; the concrete was falling apart, leaving big holes (sometimes filled with rain). High speed was 30 km an hour …
In Mendoza Maurice got robbed of his bag. Luckily no passports or expensive stuff in it. But we lost our chargers and handy accessoires (iPods, camera, phone, etc.) . (and ofcourse that made it extra difficult to upload photo´s on the blog..). Besides the robbers, Mendoza is a great city! They have the best icecream so far, and the best pasta, and the best wine (it´s ofcourse full of ex-italians). We did an ehm… experimental winetour (long story). And there was a parade with beauyqueens who threw fruit and vegetables to us (even a pumpkin!) .
After that up north. In Tucuman I did a tai chi lesson (from the brother of the Latin-American champion Kong Fu!). Finally Maurice experienced that Tai Chi is not a dull girls sport, and a master can really throw you on the floor (oops, did it hurt honey?). Humahuaca was the most northern town we reached. It looks and feels like a town in Peru. Lama´s, dark people, more indian looking (with big heads), shops with coca leaves, coloured blankets, panflutes …
We left for Yujuy (great pizza!). Then Salta (nothing special, but nice to see locals relaxing in the park on a sunday afternoon). One of the best expriences was a night in a nearby town (ALWAYS try to spend the night in the middle of nowhere!). A few gaucho´s drove by and saw a few guys with a guitar (next to us, while eating at the pub). They hit the break, got out of their car and started to sing, clap, shout, laugh, and all of that gypsy-stuff. More and more beer came on the table. More and more people gathered around them (we, as foreigners, were especially invited, and they even dedicated some songs to us). We tried some coca leaves (cool!). And we all clapped like experienced flamenco-gypsies. When the place closed, a dramatic goodbye followed (a big speech of the singer, aplause, hugs, kisses from everyone to everyone). They explained us a night like this is quite a normal thing in the north, wow!

El Bolson was a town we almost drove thru. But we stopped the car and I had a feeling we should check the place out. Im glad we did. Had a great time at the hippie festival there. It can be compared to a goa trance festival back home but at a very nice spot in the woods next to a beautiful river where people bathed and kids played. People were really into the lunar calendar there. Makes sense to go with natures cycles instead of that ticking clock speeding you up. If you wanna know more about that go here: www.tortuga.com.
Here´s a pic of Lo, a former manager who worked with top tech companies and decided to quit and do what he wanted to do most: write books and make music. He lost all of his possessions when his house burnt down. All of his writings were gone so he literally had to start from scratch. I surely like his writings!

dinner time…pfff