Making friends

Since I have been tramping about Bolivia on my own I have had to become desperate friend maker with everyone I meet, sometimes it works out and you meet real quality, other times the company one keeps makes one want to put ones hand in a blender, with the speed setting on slow, on the basis that it will take your mind off the banal, mindless and irritating things that these people have to say....

And sometimes you get stuck for 3 days with the hand - in - a - blender types, which was pretty much what happened in the pampas last week. Except, I was without a blender, my only relief from the rest of my group were constant mosquito attacks (with the resulting itchy bites) and the occasional worry that an alligator had made its nest under my bed.

The mossie bites were a fairly welcome distraction from the group, even taking account of the fact that I tore my skin open in several places, scratching them. I am convinced Bolivian mosquitos regard deet as some form of accompaniment...even my itchy bites had itchy bites, this despite not washing for 3 days and building up a fairly decent layer of deet and swamp mud.

The upshot was that I made friends with the other group in the camp, a real motley crew of Israelis. I am convinced one of them was gay, for the simple reason he cited Sex and the City as his favourite TV show, with Deperate Housewives a close second. Anyway, he was a bit of a character, when I saw him tucking into a cheeseburger, he said to me: 'It's ok, I'm Jewish Lite!'

They invited me to go sky-diving in Argentina. Which I politely declined, on the basis that Health & Safety issues are generally not a priority in South America, having been electrocuted by the taps in the shower 3 times in the space of 2 days.