End of Trip Apr 07

Firstly mes amigos, a thousand apologies for the lack of updates and general contact over the last few days. We have been in a very remote area of Uruguay for the last week and as a result have no idea what is going on at home or around the world so hopefully Helen Clarke hasn't been overtaken in a bloody coup and my share portfolio is still kicking ass.
So where did we leave you – in Bariloche. Spent another few days there soaking up the scenery and deciding to buy a house there when we win Lotto. Seriously beautiful and unspoilt. Jimmy did a rafting trip and made it a couple of metres over the Chilean border.
Took the overnight bus to Buenos Aires which was as comfortable as the last time and then took the ferry to Montevideo where we spent the night and had a fun night out with a local guy Gustavo. We are now his best amigos and we have promised to call him when we get back there.
I even caught up with my little beggar mate Diego, who is an orphan rather than a kid who has been sent out to the streets by their parents. He is about 9 and we see him out every time we are in Monte. Poor little dude.
Next day it was farm time (about time really) and we hired a car and drove out to Don and Nic's brand new house on their farm, in the Rocha district. It was lovely. Jimmy and Don spent the days searching for farms and were even given a leave pass to stay the night out in Montevideo but were so knackered they didn't make a go of it. Nic and I hung out with Oscar making frittatas and bread and waiting for the sun to go over the yard arm.
We made it into Chuy which is a border town on the edge of Uruguay and Brazil. One side of the street speaks Spanish, the other Portugese. The town is chockas with duty free stores and incredibly cheap booze so we stocked up big time. It was like being in a wild west frontier town.
So jimmy has his eye on a farm that he likes the look of, which is an hour north of Don and Nic's which is good. I will tell more when I know more but it all looks pretty good at this stage.
So today is our second to last day in South America and I am writing this in the car on the way to Montevideo. It has been rather fraught so far with 2 blown tyres and we are currently on a thimble full of petrol to make it 28 km to Aigua all in a big hurry so we don't miss the 12:45 ferry to Buenos Aires. I am typing this and keeping my head down as Jimmy is biting my head off big time. Boys. Anyhoo will let you know how we get on!