Bariloche

Bariloche is a popular ski resort, famous for its chocolate shops, but it was off season and there wasn't any snow. There are hundreds of chalets, or bungalows, all built in a swiss ski resort style. We arrived at our log cabin style hostel (with jacuzzi) to be told that they didn't have room for us, so Luca had to find somewhere else for us to stay. Fortunately the chalets that he found were even better than the hostel. 6 of us had our own little house with 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. There was also a table tennis table (which I won at) and table football table (which I lost against Jurgen the German). Dee was still on her "deetox" so everyone else went out for a meal at a famous steak restaurant and left Dee to watch chick flicks in her pants. The steak at the restaurant was probably the best I've ever had and it came with a mountain of crispy fries - yummy. Luca, as usual, had his steak 'blue' which means its cooked for only a second on each side. It looked like he was eating the meat straight out the packing - it would have made Dee feel ill.

Mac has an affinity for Irish pubs and it was happy hour all night so we drank a lot of cocktails before heading out to a club. Carl and Simon didn't beak from traditiion and got absolutely wasted. I had a cocktail that required drinking with a handful of sugar but I had too much sugar so, as a joke, I tipped it on Carls hair and blamed it on Mac. By the time I had come back from the bar, Carl had turned a deep purple colour and he had a look of madness in his eyes, like the Hulk. He was about to attack Mac. I had to calm him down and tell him it was me that did it really, and now its become a running joke on the truck that sugar makes Carl mad.

I didn't get in till 530am, Carl and Simon had to be taken home earlier, Simon minus 1 flip flop. Predictably, we didn't manage to hire bikes the next day. I felt a bit rough so we walked round the shops and bought some chocolate and a big burger and went home early. It felt strange sitting on the sofa and watching tv after so long.

We headed out early the next day. After about an hour we slowed down to go through a guard station and suddenly there was a huge bang, like a gunshot. After a few seconds of everone looking alarmed, someone shouted "fire!" and then there was panic on the truck, especially by some of the people that weren't there when the wheels fell off on the previous leg. It was funny seeing how people react to that situation, Chris even went to the extent of shoving Mac out of the way when he was trying to get the fire extinguishers off the truck. We all jumped out to see flames under the truck. One of the wheels had caught fire and exploded. It looked like we were having another night in Bariloche. That evening we went to a mexican restaurant, but I was still hungover so I didn't drink. We left Bariloche at 5am the next day to make up for the lost time. I thought about bursting a crisp packet when we got to the same point the tyre exploded the day before, but I was advised it wouldn't be funny.