Cafayete in Argentina was our first top. Vineyard after vineyard fter vineyard - great we all thought - this also meant tour after tour after tour. Which is not reat considering everyone knows that wine comes from grapes - we only wanted to taste th bloody stuff, its not too much to ask is it!! Word of advice. When visiting vineyards, ask for tasting only. Most will oblige - if not walk out and go elsewhere! What about Cafayate I hear you cry!! Its a nice quiet town, lots of farmers, and lotsa a money there - no-one asked me for cash once. But don´t go quad-biking there Josh said it was rubbish.

Where are we? I don´t know half the time, I have to keep asking Kim. But Bolivia was over in a flash. And its been a hell of culture shock coming from poor Bolivia into affluent Argentina. Argntina has toilets, not just toilets but toilets with lids on!! Never have we seen such luxury in the past couople of months. As crazy as this sounds I miss the humble lifestyle of Bolivia, on´t get me wrong Argentina is beautiful, however I miss the rough roads ot dirt tracks as they actually were. You go from a dust road from Bolivia, across the border, onto Argentina´s tarmaced highways - goodbye civilisation, hello westernism (and high prices). Having said that its still cheap, it´s about 6 pesos to the pound, so it ain´t all bad - just missed out on a helluva lot of bargains in Bolivia and Peru.

Anyways Kim´s Birthday has now made her a quarter of a century old - but sheé hndling it very well and only cried 16 times. A quick slap soon straightened her out - its certainly takn her mind off being 25 aways. If your thinking this is a bit bad of me, remember I am only being cheeky.

I kicked her, but I got her loads of pressies anyways, so it was ok.

Anyways for Kim´s birthday we had a real treat lined up for her. After a days travelling, we pulled over at a service staion to fill up the truck. Lo and behold it had a small campsite at our disposal. Nor to be perturbed by the oncoming lightening storm, we set up our tents under the gentle hum of the powerlines, just 25 metres from the petrol pumps and in the shadow of a beautiful telecommunications mast. The scene was set for a fantastic evening as the lightening came down as frequent as the rain. After kicking the rubbish out of the way the tents were up and we were ready to comence celebrations. Gav set the petrol stations BBQ goin and me and Marg prepared the steaks. This was a true Brit affair, sorry, and Aussie oh and Canadian. Anyways, we had the steaks which were crackin!! Then continued the evening with a few hands of poker, which has become the staple evening entertainment! Hannah & Lisa deciding that poker was not for them, instead dressed up in foil and gaffer tape, drank loads of wine and went off to annoy the truckers on the forecourt - this was a 24 hour garage - no slumming it for the Mitchells.

Next morning after several bad heads, empty wallets, embarrassed faces (Hannah and Lisa) and a continual sonic assault of truck horns thru the night we were all set for   

Estancia Los Potreros - you wanna go to an estancia (ranch) in Argentina? Go here, loadsa wine tasting, horse-riding and lassooing! Yes you did read that right, sorry about the spelling though, lassooing!! Ye-haaaaaa! Ther would have been rifle shooting but the laws have changed and you need a licence. The guys there were great, they fed us steak, got us very,very,very drunk, took us riding, entertained us with music and poetry!!! Yes poetry, from one of the gauchos (a kind of cowboy/rancher).

Thank you guys for a great time (especially Charlie, Nichi and Jose)

We are now in Cordoba, its a big city, it could be Manchester, but its full of Argentinians. If you are not happily married as I am and are a single male - get over here quick, the women are hot,hot,hot!!!

Lots of love,

Rick & Kim

PS Come on the Lilywhites (2nd place), yahoo!!!

Hope your settling into your new place ok Neil & Eddie?

I love steak!

Save horses, ride a cowboy!

Tody is a sad day, we have lost Marg. Gone but not forgotton - see you in June Marg!! - Up the Kiwi´s!!!!!!