8th December

Carlotito and I left at about 10am. A longer ride today and no stops. He was in a better mood and free of itches. The sun was even stronger and the need to wear long trousers an irritation.

A bit of excitement when Karen got thrown, twice. Not badly, she kind of just fell off. But in all fairness to her she dusted herself off and got back on and persevered. We were joined on the trek by Kevin's wife. I don't think I have seen a woman look more like a horse before. I was so tempted to ask her "why the long face?" but thought better of it. We trekked for about 4 hours, had a cup of warm lemon squash back at another part of the ranch, I said goodbye to Carlotito and thanked him for my not being able to feel my undercarriage and then we got pick up trucks back to our tents.

After a quick game of football, I tried to find a quiet spot to read my book in the afternoon but I have only just realised how loud the voices are on the truck. I tried the tent - too hot, by a tree but it was full of ants, indoors although a lot cooler was being overrun by Carlos and his chefs who are cooking our dinner. This lasted for 2 hours and then finally I went back to the tent which had cooled, read 2 sentences, fell asleep and then missed the first course at dinner.

Tonight we are being treated to BBQd beef, chorizo, morcilla (black pudding), salad, and lots of wine. Regrettably Kevin has joined us and spouting stories of when he was a gaucho. Zzzzzz. The meat was too well done for me but the black pudding brought back happy memories of BA as I lathered my bread with cooked blood. Sat next to Jon and Sarah at the table which was nice as I'd not really spoken to either of them at length on the trip.

The drinking continued after dinner and after playing a game of intimate questions with the others I crashed out on the longer couch at about 2am. It turns out I seems to have an enemy on the truck. We shall see how that pans out over the next few days. We are off to Mendoza tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I can't wait to sit on the truck with a hangover.