Salta and Luke

Do there you have it, there was no room for my mayo in this peanut butter jelly sandwich.

Like I said before, sometimes you play, sometimes you get played. To be quite honest, I dont even think I got played. Often times we read too much into stuff, or misread friendliness for flertatiousness (if there is such a word) I think a good way to look at it is, quoting the great Scottsman Mark Knophler "sometimes you are the windshield, sometimes you are the bug". I eventually met the fortunate Mike and he actually was a nice guy. We hung out for a little bit and I couldnt come up with one bad thing to say about the guy.

I felt good about the whole thing. I love girls just like any other guy, but it is much nicer when we can make a connection with a girl that makes it more than physical. So I didn't get the girl... it is not the first time and probably wont be the last.

Gotta roll with the punches

At least I wasn't scare shitless, like Luke was...

Luke was this Aussie kid I had met my last day in Mendoza. Towering at almost 6'10'', he was a lanky 18 year old fresh outta Adelide.

After landing in Santiago, Chile, he rushed to Mendoza, hoping to feel more at home in a smaller town. His hopes were frustrated as you could tell he had no clue about what he was doing in South America.

I spent a good hour talking to him about places to go and things to do. I recommended Bariloche, which was way more friendly and abounded with kick ass things to do. After explaining all there was to know about Bariloche, even my unborn nephew Pedro could make it there, yet I still sensed Luke had cold feet about it.

Bariloche was twenty hours South of Mendoza, with lakes, mountains and ice-cream shops that are to die for. Salta was 20 hours North, with flat horizons and Bolivia at its doorstep.

After I gave him my very long pitch about how he should head down to Bariloche, he asked me:

Where are you heading ?

Salta, I replied.

Can I come with?

I could have said I was going on a mission to colonize Mars and he still would have asked to come along. I can't blame him, it ain't easy being a first time traveller. I will tell you one thing, he was doing much better than I ever did on my first backpacking trip... my very own London Fiasco !!!