We were victims of a scam, but it didn't work!

Peter and I were out walking in the city today and decided to walk down a leafy street.  I felt something wet on my back, but when I looked, I couldn't see anything.  But something was wet in my hair.  We crossed the street and a man and a woman called out to us.  She showed me the back of Peter's shirt which was covered in a muddy substance and running down the back of his pants. She got out a tissue and offered to wipe it for us.  Peter backed away as the woman went to wipe him.  I took the tissue, said 'thank you', and wouldn't let her wipe us.

Peter was a dirty mess, and when he looked at my back, I had 'whatever' on my back as well.  As we wouldn't let the couple near us, they walked away, but kept glancing over their shoulder.  We caught a taxi and went back to the B&B.  Our host was mortified when he saw the mess on our clothes and explained that was a scam where they would distract you and then steal your wallet while pretending to wipe you down.  Peter was their target as he got the brunt of the goo.  I was just collateral damage.

Good Day in Buenos Aires

We are feeling human again, although Peter was sort of 'glassy' most of the day.  Did a fabulous walking tour of the city, for 3 hours yesterday.  Learned about history, culture, politics etc., and in the evening, we attended a Tango show.  Dancers were very good.

Our host at the B&B asked me if I would lik to go to a Tango lesson.  I said 'yes' until I found out it started at 11:00 pm and finished at 4:00 am.  He assured me that I didn't have to stay that long, that I could leave at, say, 1:00 am if I wanted, too.  I declined.

It seems Buenos Aires doesn't come alive until about 9:00 at night.  We went to a restaurant after our tango show around 10:00 pm. Families with little children were still arriving at 11:00 to have dinner!

Good Friday in Buenos Aires

Good Friday, you would think, would be a quiet day.  But business went on as usual, although some stores were closed.  We ventured out, taking a bus to the city centre but it never got there due to some road closures.  So we found the subway and succeeded in getting to the centre.

People sell things on the subway train. A man came by and dropped a packet of tissues in my lap, as he did with everyone.  No one took any notice of him.  Two minutes later, he came back and collected all of the packets unless you wished to buy it and you gave him money.  At the next stop, a man dropped a packet of chewing gum in our lap.  And the next was a 'knock off' Mont Blank pen.  As Peter said, 'That's a hell of a way to try to make a living.' But it is better than drugs or stealing.

We have arrived in Buenos Aires

We have arrived in Buenos Aires safely, but have not gotten off to a good start.  We purchased a Lonely Planet Guide to South America at the Sydney airport and then left it on the plane.  I arrived with a splitting headache despite flying business class. (I am not travelling well as I get older. ). And after flying all night and having breakfast on the plane just before we landed, we realised it was 9:00 pm in Argentina and time to go to bed.  The only good news is we are staying at a lovely B&B.

Tasmania

We are back in the Hunter Valley.  It is raining here at the moment….   Well, really, it has been raining for DAYS!.  Our front yard looks like a swamp.  Funny how all the kangaroos come in close to the house when it rains.  Sometimes when we wake up, there are 20 kangaroos in our yard!

 Peter and I have just returned from spending a month on our tree property in Tasmania.  It is called 'Liena', rhyming with Hyena.  We camped....  i.e. cooked over an open fire, although we do have a small van to sleep in at night.  But we have no electricity, no phone, no internet, etc.  (We have to drive about a kilometer down the road to get a phone signal.)

But what can I say...  the wilderness is fantastic.  The property is incredibly beautiful with 3 running streams on it.  I have enclosed a picture of our ‘mountain hut’  When we bought the property, our hut didn’t have windows and doors and the flooring was covered in 2 feet of sheep poo.  Half of the hut was in such bad shape, we pulled it down.  But what we can salvage, we will build a verandah out to the open fire place.

The hut is now cleaned out, and we have bought secondhand windows and doors.  A builder should be putting them in as I write this.  He will also be putting in a new wooden floor and lining the walls.  Hopefully, the next time we visit our tree property, we can sleep in our little hut.  

But we still won’t have electricity or phone.  So I will be cooking over an open fire with my ‘camp oven’.  I made a beef roast one night...  with some of the left over beef, I made 'stroganoff' the next night, and the remainder I made into a wonderfully rich beef stew.  My next adventure is to learn how to make a damper in an open fire.