ABC stands for Argentina, Brazil & Chile. We are also going to Uruquay for 2 days.
Early August
Start process of applying for Brazil visas. We were told to allow 6 to 8 weeks for processing, so I allowed 10 (of course!); bloody things arrived back in 10 days.
7 weeks out
Only a couple of bus trips still to book (but have to wait 30 days before bookings open). A few other things on the to-do list but the main one now to get done - & over with - is Yellow Fever vaccine next week. Ugh! Two (albeit, rare) side-effects - particularly in the over 60s receiving their first YF vaccination (us!) - being meningoencephalitis and organ failure.
5 weeks to go
Still here. Survived the Yellow Fever shots. Will line up for Typhoid in a couple of weeks. Have started reading Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia which is said to have "redefined the genre of travel writing" when it was written in 1977. It's interesting, but I wouldn't go that far ... I have preferred Mark Mann's The Gringo Trail: about 3 friends who travel through Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia in a drug-induced haze (incredibly imbecilic at times, but unexplainedly interesting nevertheless). I must be a Baby Boomer. Anyway, what IS a "gringo"? That's me, apparently! It means "an English-speaking foreigner" but is also related to the ability to speak Spanish properly. Hmm, def sounds like me - not! And 'Patagonia'? Apart from being a clothing & equipment retailer? It is a region shared by Argentina and Chile.
2 weeks to go
Scary! Not packed yet, apart from stuff thrown on the bed in spare room. In the midst of course of Typhoid vaccine - another live (!) vaccine like Yellow Fever. Last capsule tonight.
3 nights to go
Seriously, I still haven't packed yet. This could be something of a record for me - not a record I'm comfortable with I have to say. Pile on bed in spare room is bigger, although that is not particularly helpful. Tomorrow ... I hope ...
