Return to service.

Ok. I admit it. I have been slack. But as my cousin Simon has observed in his usual adroite style - which, praise be, is for the first time not focused on my personal grooming habits- spinning tales of wit and wonder is less fun when you can´t break up the text with the odd image or two. It is all about rhythm, 1 text entry, 2 photos, 1 text entry, 3 photos. Like that. (Which is odd really, as in normal circumstances I have about as much rhythm as Kevin Rudd on acid) .

But the gauntlet has been thrown and I must have my satisfaction. For I am never one to walk away from a challenge, unless it one involving a chicken, 3 tubes of strawberry yoghurt and the entire front line of the Brisbane Broncos. So, my beloved readers, as of this moment, regular transmission has returned.

I am now in Argentina. I passed thrown a very pretty town called Bariloche which was a bizarre mixture of Switzerland and Isreal. Switzerland in that it was lakes and mountains, chocolates and cheeses, beagles (I kid you not) and buxom lasses with blonde pigtails. Israel, in that 80% of the people (everyone, not just the travellers) were Israelis. Now, they were lovely, it is just that I never considered that Hebrew would be the lingua franca anywhere outside of Israel. Somewhat surprising.

In any case, I found it all a bit touristy and decided to move on. Which brings me to Puerto Madryn, which, to replace the Israels, apparently has a very large Welsh population. What is going on here? I am feeling very twilight zone and fully expect to find a large Tongan community in my next destination. Puerto Madryn is very much more my style. A lazy port town with a national park near by with all manners of wonders. Penguins, whales, sea lions, sea elephants (which are among the ugliest creatures ever, ranking slightly behind hairless cats). I feel very at one with the natural world.

Tomorrow I move down south deeper into Patagonia, to see the largest glacier in the world. I would have gone today, but unbeknownst to me until this morning, today is the day of some saint or other and as such, I could not pick up my laundry. And one of the rules I try to live by is that you should always greet a unfamiliar place in a fresh set of underwear.

Rock and Roll.

Paddy