"I shall stay until the wind changes"

Great line from Mary Poppins.

Well it was time to leave Buenos Aires. I could feel it in my bones....

The skies turned the cold steely grey they get in the winter, we ran completely out of natural peanut butter and my bar of soap receded to a paper-thin soap shaving.

So I opened my umbrella and took to the skies with the first Westerly wind.

Or I just walked my self and big ass backpack to the train station and received approximately 42 dirty looks while I took up the place of three people on the morning rush hour train downtown. From there I grabbed a bus.  The good news is, I saved 65 pesos doing it. About $15 dollars. Man I'm my father's daughter....

Had a beautiful flight into La Paz, Bolivia. I woke up to the tips of the Andes breaking though the hazy afternoon clouds. They are so majestic... sacred spires and gaping canyons with seemingly endless bottoms, smooth and sanded-down curves and sharp serrated cliffs.They seemed so unknowable and vast until upon further inspection, I realized there were footpaths and small buildings spaced out between what might be tens or hundreds of kilometers.

I had a happy cry at the sight. Then again when we passed this beautiful, hanging marshmallow cloud that seemed to contain all the dreams and unicorns and everything perfect inside of it.

I think the Andes are the laugh lines of the world. Deep and telling, aged and wise but content.

From La Paz it was onto Santa Cruz in the south. But not before taking out the local currency, Bolivianos, and buying chocolate. I just need to describe this:

77% dark organic chocolate with cocao nibs and salt from Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia
60%  chocolate with organic high Andean coffee beans

Both from an organic, ethical co-op run by Bolivians. If the perfect life was a chocolate bar it would be this. And I would eat it. I would eat life. Then I would melt it and bathe in life and then eat the bathwater.

For anyone who appreciates chocolate, you see where I'm coming from. So without even knowing what the exchange rate was I handed over 70 Bolivianos. Could have been 400 Canadian dollars and it would have been worth it. From La Paz it was onto Santa Cruz.

This sweet guy named Carlos picked me up at the airport. Luckily it was easy to spot him with a sign saying ALISON VERCAKE. I'm so used to improper spelling of my last name, I don't know if I'd recognize the real thing. When we got to the hostal this lovely elderly man came stumbling out of the darkness explaining that he was sorry but he didn't feel well...

We had quite a long chat about his health until I realized he was the owner and was apologizing that he couldn't come to the airport to get me because he had intense muscle cramping in his leg that has caused him to fall several times. We decided it might be stress. So that's Tom, the German man who fell in love with Bolivia and never left. He's a doll. He say's things like this:

"OK... a little bit about Santa Cruz..... Well now, let's see.... there really isn't much to do here."
"Well of course you can walk around at night, this isn't Pakistan"
"It's a lovely little willage"  - I love how Germans use W's unstead of V's.

He also presses ENTER with great enthusiasm after every click on his ancient computer. Browsing internet, clicks on the link and giant-arm-raising-button-striking ENTER. SO very satisfying. I couldn't bring myself to explain the futility of this action, he just enjoyed it so very much.

No interesting pictures of the above events so I'm doing a final Buenos Aires wrap up here. One picture, one story.

No story here.I  just like this picture. 

Lost in Translation: We THOUGHT we ordered one glass each of Sangria. We ACTUALLY ordered  one pitcher each of it. Love that 3PM buzz. 

Just teaching this nice young man how to do the tango. He was a quick learner. 

Finally found bubble tea! First time in years. Reminds me of when the boys blew the tapioca balls through their straws at innocent bystanders as we cruised by in downtown Hamilton. Man I miss those days sometimes. This picture is honour of Dorothy, queen of the peace sign and lover of bubble tea. 

Double dog poop day. This is a DIY shoe cleaning with a stick, post-dog poop step. The walk TO the train, and the walk HOME from the train resulted in Brooke stepping in dog poop. Same day, I couldn't help but laugh mercilessly without sympathy at her cries of disgust "aww maannn! AWWW MAN! ..... aw... ah MAANNN!"

Glorious glorious ice cream and intestinal chaos. Not only does BA offer the best ice cream I have ever tried in my life, but they also deliver it to your house, at ANY time of the day or night. Thank goodness this service is not offered in Canada. It would be like the night I snuck away from our neighbour's party to eat a whole tub of ice cream, watching television in the dark, alone. This is what my life would become if we had ice cream delivery. 

SO happy to find fresh squeezed orange juice at the market. First time since Peru!  This lady was frightened by my extreme enthusiasm and intense run towards her stand. 

Everything is funnier after a pitcher of Sangria. Like this man who dresses up like a red any. He calls himself "the little ant man." He walks around selling memorabilia of himself . Like magnets with his picture. I  obviously had to buy his magnet. What a guy.

Doing tree by the tree of life. The T-rex/wolly mammoth of all trees. Not only was the trunk big enough to live comfortably in, but the branches stretched out so wide and far away that they were held up by posts and other supporting structures.