Bubbles and needles.

You may recall at the start of the month our washing machine went out on stress leave and we resorted to a mixture of wearing our clothes while showering, hand washing and carrying a basket of dirty washing several blocks to wash at a friend’s place.  Thankfully we didn’t need to go to a stream with a rock.

Our good friend Rosario gave us a recommendation for a repair man and he explained that we didn’t break the machine, it just broke.  He was worried that the repair may not be worthwhile as the machine was old.  As it turned out, the repair was about a quarter the price of a new machine.  We opted for the repair and found true service.  The repair man drilled, improvised, reconfigured and in the end stood over our gas stove heating up metal to melt part of the plastic casing so that the new part would fit. 

When it came time to pay we tried to round the price up to allow for his extra time but he simply said that, that was the price.  It’s nice to see good old fashioned service.

In a couple of weeks we are heading up to Iguazo falls in the north of Argentina.  While it has been some years since a reported case of Yellow Fever in Argentina, it is still recommended that people have the Yellow Fever vaccine before heading to the falls.  We were going to have the vaccine done last time we were in BA but Depp and Talluah were so sick with the flu that we couldn’t.  We were worried that we had to travel four and half hours back to BA to have the vaccine but Rosario came to our rescue yet again telling us about the hospital in Pehuajó (100km west, population of 38000) that does the vaccine for free.

We caught the bus to Pehuajó, stopping at some little towns along the way, to be greeted by gale force winds.  We had dressed for spring but Pehuajó had a little bit of winter left over for us.  By the time we arrived at the hospital our hair looked like we had skydived into town.

The doctor who did the vaccine said that mum and dad should go first so that the kids would see that it was OK.  In theory this sounded like a good idea as the kids had no troubles with their vaccines in Australia less than a year ago.  Talluah and I had our injections and can honestly say that they were the least noticeable injections we have ever had.  However, Depp and Truce saw it differently.  The colour drained from Truce’s face until she matched the table top in pallor and she said she felt like she was going to faint, and Depp burst into tears and showed everyone his impersonation of a koala clinging to a tree, I was the tree.  After some fanning for Truce and coaxing for Depp we all left the hospital protected and ready to battle the gale back to the bus terminal.