Two Fathoms Deep

Never let someone in a poor, small, international town know that you’re a foreign tourist before you pay for accommodations.  Livia’s Spanish was good enough to get a decent price on a room.  Her English translation to me was good enough to have the price raised by 40 pesos.  Having no options, we complied with the price gouging.  This is actually fairly common practice in Argentina, although most places actually post the price differential.  Even in national parks, there are different prices posted for national citizens, Latin American residents, and visitors from other continents.  

The hotel prepared a full dinner (for yet another 40 pesos each) that came very professionally served in courses, and was one of the few truly wonderful meals I’ve had since crossing the Argentine border.  We broke bread with a French girl and a Canadian girl who were traveling together, as well as an older gentleman from Buenos Aires.  He was one of those distinguished types who was quiet in tone, but could hold amazing conversation.  Although he didn’t brag, he gives the impression that he is rather affluent, as his stories about sailing great distances would attest to.  The two girls said they had met each other in Viet Nam and became friends.  I asked if there was a war story involved, but I think my joke fell flat. 

Tomorrow we are going to see Cuevas de las Manos, which I’m pretty excited about.