Sick in a Great Place

Our 18-hour bus ride went off almost without a hitch. The overnight portion was on a bus which smelled heavily of gasoline. We arrived in Salta as the sun was coming up. What a sight. The bus crested a pass and the city opened up in a wide valley below, bounded by steep mountains, some with patches of snow on their south faces.

All was not well once I got off the bus, however. We had a short breakfast while waiting for things to open up, and by the end of it I was definitely feeling ill. Like being drunk or very depressed or otherwise out of sorts, the feeling is the same: the distance between myself and things in my foreground increase by about 10 percent, the new space is filled with the fuzziness that is sickness.

I spent a full day in bed. Today we got out and saw some of the city: fun, scenic, lots of activity.

Gondola ride above Salta:



Sand dollar from Brazil:



Beach dogs:



Some details to keep up on:

Finished The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink. An absolutely fantastic novel full of delicious irony.

Consumed some Cancao Vinho Tinto de Mesa Seco, by Antonio Basso and Filhos, Flores da Cunha, RS Brazil ($2). Brazil does make wine. Most of it comes from a mountainous area a bit north of Porto Alegre, which is the southernmost big city in Brazil. Unfortunately, this wine was absolutely, totally disgusting.

Consumed some Fernet Vittone. Fernet is a popular drink in Argentina. It´s made from water, alcohol, sugar, aromatic herb infusion and caramel. I got a small bottle of this for the bus ride and a mixer of Coke to go with it. I guess hard liquor is not the thing for me. Bad times.