ARGENTINA, Mendoza, 17th September (See below for last week with Posy in Buenos Aires)

"Is, erm, no normale to fly with the condors"
"I´ll say", I thought as I surveyed the distant ground that was swinging to and fro beneath my dangling feet, not a normal occurrence for me at all. Two condors were sweeping above our heads riding the same thermal pockets as we were. I think another "wow" might be in order.
Paragliding over Mendoza, truly amazing. Once, that is, you have got over the initial butterflies made only more acute, I think, in the simplicity of the instruction: "Just run." Right, yes, just run off the cliff? Sure, no problem. That doesn´t in any way go against all my instinctive reactions when perched on top of a mountian at all... However, once strapped in you don´t really have much choice so you do Just Run. I was particularly lucky, we were able to get swept up in one of the air currents and climbed higher and higher where as the others glided in an elegant but swift decent. My instructor was as excited as I was and the other´s hurried to shake my hand on landing so that they might have similar luck next time.
The view, as you might imagine, was staggering. Just floating above the Andes at 2000 ft drifting in the air currents. The closest, I´d imagine to how it really feels to fly. I have literally just landed and am gabbling like a maniac. Needless to say, I´m still rather excited.

It is partially thanks to 2 slightly lost Swedish girls that adopted me on arrival to Mendoza. They had no where to stay so thought they´d check out the hostel I´d booked into. One of them mentioned wanting to Paraglide and I thought "¿Per que no?"

Now, I think it might be time for a celebratory glass of wine. Tomorrow morning I am off on the bus over the Andes back into Chile arriving in Santiago tomorrow evening. A day to sort myself out and then the journey down to Patagonia begins...

La le le la!