After being kindly woken by the dogs again, first stop was the kayak shop to check the lay of the land. Weather wise it was looking good, the problem now was a lack of petrol in the guy's truck - and also in the local petrol stations...

With the kayaking not scheduled until the afternoon anyway we tried to follow a footpath along the lakeside to a viewpoint. It sounded straightforward enough, however there were no signposts at all and a vast array of small paths going in all directions. Still, we followed the coast as best we could and caught a few glimpses of the lake, town and surrounding landscape as we went. I think we also managed to create a few new mini-paths of our own!

Back in town more quickly than we had thought we ended up eating our picnic in the hostel rather than joining the local kids and the odd drunk on the town square. There's only so much fraternising with the locals one can do ;)

The petrol situation resolved, we then met Thibaut (Mr French Kayak Guy) on the beach. The wind had picked up a little but our intrepid adventure began nonetheless. We were in a two man kayak and with the waves it was a little unsteady to begin with, but we soon (kind of) got the hang of it. We struck out around the edge of the bay towards the main body of water. As we left the bay, still hugging the coast, the waves picked up and things got a lot more interesting. The adventurers that we are, Thibaut seemed assured of our ability and we kept going towards a small island further along the coast. However further on the wind was getting stronger and the waves bigger, and we turned back. Thibaut later admitted that he would never normally have taken anyone so far in such conditions - we are inclined to believe him and accept the compliment!

With the wind behind us and the waves providing boost, the return journey was far quicker and we had to be careful to control the speed in order to maintain stability. This was trickier than it sounds but we managed to avoid a soaking.

Thibaut provided a very interesting insight into life as a foreigner in Argentina, and also on life in general in the country. With the current economic situation food prices have more than doubled in the last few months and more generally prices increase on a monthly basis. That is clear to see, although our guide book is only a year or so old, most prices are at least double those quoted. Bus travel costs as much as four times what the guide suggests. Ouch.

Back in town we randomly bumped into Eva, the German girl we spent time with in Salta. Good to catch up and get some advice on where we were headed on our travels. Everyone really does go to pretty much the same places, it is hard to get off the beaten track even here. The notable thing in S America is the lack of Brits, we really have come across very very few. Interestingly, the French are by far the most numerous, and across all age groups. Even Aussies are rare by comparison!

We went back to the eat-all-you-can grill. As it was now the Saturday night of a bank holiday weekend the place was packed - and they didn't staff up accordingly. To put it politely, the food took its time to arrive and didn't always match what we had asked for. However grilled meat is grilled meat, what's not to like?! Lacking chips, or any other accompaniments, I took it upon myself to go and grab a plateful from the serving hatch. This didn't go unnoticed by one (of the two) waitresses, but she found it funny and was impressed with my ingenuity. No-one had done that before!

A saving grace that evening was a Debbie Gibson song being played on the sound system. Ahh! I forgot to mention one also being played on a bus in Chile. South Americans have taste, ha ha.