Romania
2001
Bolivia
24 September 2001 12:11 & 12:23 & 12:43
From a reader: Egypt is a real challenge to cope with but I think Ian might win on that front by the sounds of things!
I don't get that. Maybe he's referring to my ability to cope with MSIE in Hebrew (including the keyboard) while I sit in an internet cafe in La Paz, Bolivia. The go-away box, for example, is at the top left. Actually, everything is backwards. But he couldn't have heard about that yet.
Yes, I'm in Bolivia. The toilets have seats. After much blessing by God in my travels I have decided that I don't need to change my flights, which is just as well, since because Qantas only has two trans-Pacific flights a week, they're all booked up for weeks. So expect me back on 30 September as previously planned.
I finally managed to get out of Cusco, spent a night in Puno (last stop in Peru) then I spent last night on Isla del Sol at about 3950m. To fill in a bit of time yesterday afternoon I walked to the top of a hill at 4065m.
Tomorrow I'm booked in to go mountain biking at 4600m, dropping down to 1300m over 80km of what is called the most dangerous road in South America. [Death Road.]
God bless.
Ian
8 )
I'm fixing computers for the locals again. Changing the display size of the on-screen text isn't easy when everything is in Hebrew. The "helper" here couldn't do it. He tried to change the screen resolution.
God bless.
Ian
8 )
From a reader: Yes, I can understand the unhappiness with having a pocket knife. But it is harder to understand the fuss over finger nail clippers and nail files as reported from the USA!!!
Well, apart from not being allowed the pocket knife and having my hand luggage very quickly hand searched, I wouldn't say I've been affected. The problem with the batteries was only from Rio to Santiago, not the next flight.
However, I haven't mentioned leaving Rio...
Somewhere in between my hotel in Rio and the airport the cap came off my large can of antiperspirant in my hand luggage and something pressed against it - for what must have been the whole trip to the airport. I discovered this when my hand luggage went through an xray machine and the lady got almost excited and said there was a knife in there. So an official looking man asked me to show him the knife, and I looked blankly at him with my best "I don't understand Portuguese" expression. (Actually I asked him in Portuguese to repeat it in English.) He then showed me a razor sharp dangerous looking vege knife, and something clicked in the old noggin.
I got the knife out - basically a butter knife, part of a knife, fork, spoon set. Everyone thought it was extremely funny, and the guy even grabbed it off me while I was putting it away to show someone else who had just arrived. And of course I found the mess from the antiperspirant. A week later I was still shaking little white flecks off things.
Tchau (Portuguese for Ciao).
Ian
8 )
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