I was invited to a Quince Anos Birthday Party by the godmother of the party's subject. In Latin America a girls 15th birthday is extremely important and marks her passing into womanhood. I would rather take the money and go snowboarding for a month or so. In fact the party was very much like a wedding reception with similar amounts of money spent on staging it and yet no groom. I even had instructions to wear a suit in order to blend in. To get a real impression of what this very formal gathering was like I will take you through the festivities step by step. On arrival guests of which there were 150 odd congregated in a room for 'nibbles'. This room was not on the small side and was topped with an ornate chandelier and appeared to me to be the location for the party. Thinking that the food was to last all night, I somewhat over indulged my belly. 
Little did I know that 30 minutes later we would make our way into the main room where we were seated at allocated tables for dinner. The 15 year old dressed in green then appeared on the balcony like Liz II to rapturous applause. But that was just a taster to whet the guests appetite since she then appeared through curtains in an arch on the stage and entered like a model on the catwalk. Between the courses of dinner there was a magician (see my impression of being a table), numerous powerpoint presentations of her life to date, dancers in ornate costumes, cake cutting, her thank you speech to people/groups that have been central in her life at which they lit one of the 15 candles and being Latin America considerable dancing at which my lambada and salsa skills were put to good use. The finale of this theatrical extravaganza was when she was lowered down on a swing/chair thing from the ceiling amongst costumed dancers. I thought that I was at the Rio Carnival. At 0630 the lights went on and I joined the revelers turning out from the local nightclubs to make my weary way home. I had had a great time and now appreciate how family, parties etc are very important to the Latin American culture.
This is the place where I am renting an apartment. So what do I think of it 6 weeks into my stay? Generally I have enjoyed my time here since there is a gym in the building, on the roof there is a grassed area perfect for circuit training, 24hr gated security, stairs that are perfect for stair circuit training and there is even a restaurant on site. As always there is a BUT. (1) The flat is incredibly dark which is something I knew before signing the contract but I had no idea how depressing it is. This section of sky is the only patch that I see all day and the sun never passes through it. The buildings here are 3 floors and there are 30 flats around the central courtyard 
(2) A shod pony lives in the flat above. Well at least it sounds like it. In Argentina people where shoes in doors and this with high heels and wooden floors makes the ideal setting for the percussion section of an orchestra. The first door is hers but I have never managed to catch her to express my discontent (3) Of the 30 flats I mentioned 12 of them have netting to seal the balconies. This indicates that there is a dog in each flat. The one in flat next door to Miss Clippy Cloppy is a small ratty thing that barks whenever the owner is not home.
and the more you have to pay. Apparently this one is not as good as the ones at The Walt Disney Resort. I cannot think why? 
The people were very friendly and said hello as I passed but the guard pigs had me running in the opposite direction. Thankfully most were tied up but those that were not were climbing fences to get at me. La Paz looked 'run down' in parts but there were clues that it had a strong colonial influence and that there was a tourist industry here. My suspicions were confirmed when I learnt that it was an 'agua calientes' town. It is so famous that it is not even in the Lonely Planet!
Some land had been drained and was being used for arable the rest was used for cattle and horse grazing all herded by mounted gauchos. I am sure that cows and horses are stood in a bath of creosote when they are born since otherwise they would have serious foot rot. I stopped at one place where I met Claudio and his son Manuel they now lived the in house that they had built when they escaped the Buenos Aires 'rat race' 2 years before.
Well it would have been if I could read about the exhibits. That is the great thing about riding a motorbike you still can do the tourist trail but you also get to the unvisited spots.
I continued and passed easily through theBrasil/Argentina border and was heading for Bernardo del Irigoyen a smallish village on a little travelled path. Having spent 40 minutes trying to locate the road I sacked it as a bad idea and chose to head instead for Posada which had the advantage of reducing the riding mileage average over the next couple of days. I began to get worried when in the distance I saw a queue of lorries. Why? The freight traffic is tenth of what it is in Brasil so to see 30 or so trucks did not bode well. Remember throughout this trip I have always reached my destination unless I have opted for something different or simply did not have time to reach it. It now turns out that my record is to be broken in the land of workers protests. 
A group of employees who want more money have cut the road and are not letting anyone through. Reminds me of the French blockading the channel ports! No doubt I am now in trouble with my Argentinian fr
iends. I am staying at an Automovile Clube of Argentino affiliated hotel. The ACA ElDorado Hotel costs £25 a night which is more than double what it was last night. The usual run followed and I stumbled upon another protest. NO it was a rally for one of the candidates for state governor Gregorio Grenobles. I did not hang around to meet Greg but left him my good wishes with a copper to pass on. Argentinians just seem to love to get together in groups. On the way to dinner I passed a group of kids being taught how to play basketball. Some of the 'buckets', 'nets', 'baskets' that they scored were quite amazing.
isability like that and with a lot of hard work can overcome adversity to lead a fairly decent life. Santa Helena was celebrating its foundation and so I ate at one of the food stalls set up in the main square. Throughout the day I passed small communities situated 1 abode deep along the side of the road. The shelters are built from plastic sheet, wriggly tin and whatever else they can find. It begs the question are they forced to live this way on account of being poor or is it their choice? Perhaps they originate from nomadic people! Who knows?
He answered in his best Portuguese so we had to resort to Google Translator. It turns out that the river is 7km out of town and so instead of Rio Brilhante this place should be called 'Proximo but not too Proximo to Rio Brilhante'. For those Portuguese speakers amongst you you will spot the missing accent on the first O for the rest of you I can recommend Google. The river is so far from town they have to pipe in the water and store it in this tower that is cleverly disguised as a sculpture with a prime spot in the town square.
I woke at 0300 and where the was a clear sky there were now clouds from horizon to horizon. No flysheet on my tent, everything else unpacked and top of the bike away from the ants (I remembered that much) and it now blindingly obvious that in very heavy rain this area will flood and I would have to get Daisy up a steep, muddy and if it rained slippery slope. If I got up now I would be devoured by mosquitos and I had forgotten to take my last anti-malarial. I know I know no need to remind me how stupid I had been. What sea
led it was what looked to be a line of darker clouds moving in accompanied by lightening. Either that or the thousands of fire flies were putting on a special show! An hour later I had shifted to higher ground, got Daisy out of danger and avoided getting sucked dry by mosquitos. The result was that I was very very tired and to top it all it did not rain. Though these poor crabs must be preying for rain as the puddles that they are crammed into are shrinking with every day. With the heat of the sun you could feast on this ready boiled delicacy.
