By late afternoon we were both feeling better but with our best effort we can´t shake the lethargy or hanging-tired feeling, I know we´re expecting too much too soon, that said it didn´t stop us going out in the evening and wandering aroung the brightly lit and bustling Plaza Independencia. We were going stir crazy in the room.

The park opposite our hotel was lit up like a Christmas tree. Today was the start of ‘Semana Fedral’, Medoza´s main festival period kicking off with Fiesta de la Vendimia celabrating the wine harvest. Over the years the festival has grown, now attracting wine buffs and arts and crafts vendors alike from all over the world…and here we are on heavy Med´s and not able to drink a sodding drop!!!

We´d milled throught the dozens of small wooden stalls, each one packed with hand crafted trinkets crafted from leather through to the most intricate of necklaces made completey from simple electrical wire. A chorus of small motorised generators purred in the background providing power for the make-shift lights that had been strung in large loops from stall to stall and strectched down to the end of the park.

The large stage to our right had caught our attention as had the wafting smell of BBQ´d lamb and meat that was now lifting into the still cold air of the night. The crowd was growing and so following the swell of people we moved towards the stage. 12 body conscious teenagers, each striking their rehersed ´model´pose stood nervously on the raised platform. Eager parents stood in the crowd anxiously awaiting the announcement of the compare who was stringing out the procces of announcing the next festival Queen. Much as we desperately wanted to see the crowning (yeah, right?) the lure of the racks of whole Patagonian Lamb cooking over the huge open fire to our left had got the better of us. On one stall alone (there must have been half a dozen of them), was 6 whole sheep, split from top to tail and splayed across individual metal frames and simply leant over the roaring, white hot flames. Our eyes were saying ýes, yes, yes´unfortunately our bodies were saying ´no way´. 20 minutes later and we´d compromised and had settled on a bowl of hot Giso (traditional Argentinian stew) for 4 Pesos (80p) each. Sat at the low wooden table we chatted a little nervously with a local war veteran about the ´dreaded subject´the Falkland/Malvinas Islands. We´d been warned repeatedly about the dangers of this particular conversation but to be honest after 10 minutes of chatting we not been backed into any hard to get out of corners. Actually this had been the first time the the subject had even come up during our travels in Argentina. We said good-night to our new friend and wished each other well. It was time to head back to the room

Feeling tired but better we´d lugged our heavy bags downstairs from where they´d been lying in our room and nervously handed over our emergency credit card, hoping and praying that ´World Nomads´my new insurance company would cover the bill of over 200 pounds for our stay. Filled up with gas we set off for Buenos Aires, knowing full well this was going to be a long slow ride back. By 5pm concentration was fading, we needed to stop. The effects of Malaria had left us exhausted but now the anti-Malaria med´s were wiping us out as it attacks our blood and leaves us anemic. By 6pm we´d found a small municipal campsite in the small town of Rufino and had set camp. This is what we´d been missing; the tent, our camping stoves and just us being outside. Being holed-up in a hotel room for ages is a bit stressful after a while!

We were both looking forward to seeing Javier and Sandra again and so with the help of the GPS we´d managed to get back to Dakar Motos easily enough. A few good honks of the horn had brought Javier´s grinning face to the door. It was great to be back.

And so here we´ve been in BA for a little while and are now almost ready for the off again. It´s been a productive time but hey, it needed to be. With the malaria med´s now fully in our system Javier and Sandra have been stuffing us with huge quantities of meat and morcilla (blood sausage) with a seamlessly endless Parilla (BBQ-only better) burning away in the back yard. I´ve even managed to finish off the Dakar Motos new website inbetween sorting out the bikes. With more help from Mariano and Sergio Trepat we´ve managed to finally sort Lisa´s dodgy rear brake issue, which has been sticking for months. The master cyclinder was screwed and needed replacing. We were already panicking, where the hell are we going to get the money for that? Enter the star of the moment Mariano. To our surprise and delight Mariano had made the neccesary arrangement and the labour and parts were being put through BMW Motorrad Argentina as a ´good-will´warranty claim. We couldn´t believe our luck.

We´d managed to see a fair bit of BA when we were here before but hadn´t managed to get to see the La Boca area. An impoverished part of BA famous for it´s nightlife and brightly colured painted buildings. And so with the bikes sorted and our energy returning we jumped on the train for the 15 minute ride into downtown BA before catching a taxi to La Boca. Check out the photos. Buildings of every colour imaginable line the streets, each one demanding your attention. The bright colours of the houses are due to original customs of the Italian immigrants painting their houses with the left-over paint from their boats. What a bizarre but wonderful place.

With most jobs done we´d planned to leave today- 5th- but on closer inspection my left hand pannier was in need of a little attention. Since my Amazonian spill It had been sitting a little askew on the frame and now looking at it closer it was easy to see why. The bottom inside edge had buckled and had now begun to let in water and with a heavy ridge of aluminium bent, was now not sitting true on the frame. Nothing a little more time and a hammer couldn´t fix.

We´ll make a move tomorrow for Azul in the mean time I´ll get some more work done on the ´Men´s Health´magazine article for South Africa.

We´d managed an hour later to push and shove our way into and through BA´s traffic and had accelarated hard down the slip road on to the Ruta 3, which would lead us all the way to Azul. We were now paying the price for our lazy slow morning as the bright sunshine of the morning had all but gone. The heavens had opened and we were getting a right royal soaking. Within munutes we were sodden. I could already feel the slow trickle of cold water making it´s way down from my suits collar, everything was done up tight…why does the water always find away in. And so it continued. With our heads down we picked up our speed, mindfull of the slippery tarmac and pushed on naively thinking we´ d eventually ride clear of looming dark clouds…dind´t happen. They´re was seemingly no end in sight.

By 9:00pm the riding was getting tiring, the rain hadn´t let up and the mixture of water on the visors and bright headlights was making visibility frustratingly bad. Azul couldn´t come fast enough. The last two hours seems to have really dragged. Thankfully with good directions and a GPS co-ordinate we´d managed to ride into the centre of Azul and picked up the main avenue out to La Posta. We just needed a little luck. We had no idea if Pollo (George) would actually be there or if there´d be space for us.

We needn´t have worried. The bright light streaming through the dirty windows of La Posta looked invinting and Pollo alerted by the noise of the bikes was already stood in the doorway, grinning and raising his arms in welcome. It didn´t take long for us to see why La Posta and Pollo are talked about by travellers so fondly, his enthusiasm is infectious. No sooner had we shod our soaking kit and poured the water from our boots than Pollo was on the phone to friends. 15 minutes later and we´d been welcomed and congratulated by a room of new friends and were happily tucking into hot freshly bought Pizza and cold beer. Someone had even manged to cut fresh wood and fed the stove that would provide our hot water for the showers later on. Wow, what a welcome.

Our original plan had been to stop over with Pollo for just a night. The morning after we arrived we realised that clearly just wasn´t going to happen. Patrick, Jannick and Mike had pitched up a few days ago and so with a full house of travellers the occasional beer and the bikes parked up, Pollo had decided it was time for ´FIESTA´. There hasn´t been a moment when some type of animal hasn´t been sliced and diced and been slowly cooking over the home built parilla that takes up a corner of the gargage. Not a moment has gone by when La Posta has been without at least two of Pollo´s friends. We´ve shared daft travelling stories in German, English and Spanish and loved every moment of it.

In between the eating and laughing I have managed to get some website work done, but not to ours. Pollo had mentioned how he´d love a website for La Posta and so between me putting one together and Patrick offering to host it on his server in Germany, La Posta now has a shiny new pretty website at www.laposta-azul.com it was hard work building it from scratch but felt great to be able to give something back to Pollo and La Posta. Pollo has been providing friendship, food and a warm bed to bikers from all over the world for 15-years. A living legend! After staying for a while we can tell you this place´s reputation is richly deserved. If youré travelling on a bike in South America don´t miss out on a visit…you won´t be disappointed.

A big thank you must go to Patrick for not only hosting La Posta´s new website but for offering to host our new guest book and forum. Thanks Patrick, see you on the road.