We get a Ben and go some more places

When last heard of I think we were in Argentina. And there was a dead cat. The dead cat was on the side of the road, looking very much like an alive cat asleep in the sun, albeit with some branches on top of it. The Irish chap we were walking with was obviously as confused as I was as to whether or not the cat was alive, so he approached it slowly, so as not to scare it, I assume, and threw another stick at it. Cat did not move, ergo, cat is dead. But, usually cats hit by cars look like cats that have been hit by cars, NOT peacefully sleeping cats. Irish and I had speculative conversation about whether someone had arranged the cat in said position - out of grief perhaps?

But enough of that. We made our way up to Mendoza where I got fleas. Nasty, itchy, huge fecking bites that I suspect were made by genetically enhanced fleas. Serves me right for patting stray dogs. But Kruse does it all the time and he´s completely unscathed. I even have bites on my face. And they´ve gone all icky and I spent most of my time trying not to think about itching them. And hoping they don´t turn into the pox. Penelope doesn´t like the pox. It makes me look so unattractive. Fortunately, bites are only on one side of face so I just try and give people the nice side. Kruse has started calling me Bumpy Face.

Came back to Chile over the Andes. They are quite nifty, as far as very big mountain ranges go. We were driving parallel to them for ages and quite frankly, they looked strangely more like a movie set backdrop than actual mountains. Got quite suspicious that that´s all they were until we drove over them.

Ben arrived on Friday. We very kindly went out to the airport to meet him, hungover. A few pisco sours at the bar and we were much more cheerful. Ben finally arrived, complete with someone to carry his bag up to us as he is a cripple at the moment, with flesh-coloured tape on his belly. This all bodes very well for his conquering the Inca Trail in a few weeks. We gave him a pisco sour as a nice introduction to Chile.

My bites are really, really itchy.

And then we, like, did some stuff. And now we´re on Rapa Nui. Where people ride horsies down the main street. Poor Kruse and Ben are slightly hungover after sampling the night life. I was too scared to go out as a local man kept calling me princess and turned up at our hostel with a sprig of flowers.

Hired a jeep and looked at some moai today. They are quite large. And probably rather heavy.

Also, simultaneously, Ben, Kruse and I all had very sad tummies today, whilst we were climbing a hill. No toilets around and our need was not for open fields but for toilet paper. Surprisingly, no one had an accident but our hostel bathroom was not a good place to be this afternoon.

On the island for three days then back to Santiago. I like the island -it´s warm and I could wear shorts if I hadn´t already tried them on only to discover that two weeks of eating bread and drinking beer has made me quite pudgy round the middle. Will have to try to avoid beer and bread. This is going to be tricky as bread is produced with every meal. And beer is so cheap. And so am I.

Right - tummy is making curious noises that might require a bathroom and privacy. Time to go.