allez les blacks!!!!

blimey, it's been about 10 years since i last wrote and i can't even remember what i wrote or where i was so it's kinda difficult to comment on the inbetween.... so i'll go in reverse order:
i've just finished watching the all blacks totally cream south africa in a very scrappy match (t'was the springboks, messy bastards). i watched it with pascal and an audience of french gentlemen; the game was commentated by two french blokes which was a source of constant amusement for me listening to them pronounce the names of the kiwi players. it's always nice to watch the home team, even better when they kick arse!!
the weeks previous to that has seen us both working like slaves in a town called crap ferret on the atlantic coast in the south of france. while the location itself is stunning working every day for 2 months and sharing a house with the people you work with isn't ideal. n'er mind. it's nearly the end of the season and time again for us to hit the road.
the pair of us work for 'emma photo', pascal works fulltime as a photographer and i teeter between being lab assistant (developing films) and surf photographer (standing almost waist deep in the sea trying to take pictures of kids having surf lessons). while neither of us will become millionaires doing it we've earnt enough to buy a car (maggy, peugoet 205, extraodinaire) and to keep us in food, petrol and wine before the next job.
we started taking some surf lessons last week. i should have done it earlier then i would have appreciated the sometimes dire expressions on the kids faces i try to photograph.... let's just say that i don't think pascal and i will be entering in the surf competition at the end of the week.
oh, right, i just looked at the blog and noticed last entry was from the other hemisphere. oops. don't know where the others went.
so. we're in france.
we spent a very brief 3 months hopping, bumping, walking and wobbling our way through south america. the original plan was to hitchike to colombia to catch a cheap plan to europe but you know how we are about plans. we nearly made it but at the last minute chickened out of going to colombia for fear of being kidnapped/blown-up (or both). and i'm not even exagerating. colombia has a very long history of guerilla warfare and not too long ago foreigners became the target, kidnapped and held to ransom (or simply escorted to the cashmachine). about 2 years ago they entered the guiness book of world records for the amount of kidnappings in one year (5000+). fortunately for colombian tourism, they've recently returned to the traditional methods of funding guerilla activity by cultivating/selling coca. however, there's still a few living out in the sticks who haven't got wind of the new trend and every so often snatch someone...
i am serious.
the day before we were going to go there colombia experienced its most peaceful, troublefree elcetions in more than 10 years with only 12 people being murdered during the polls.
right, so we didn't go.
we hung our in ecuador (which was surprisingly cold and rainy) for a bit. trekked a wee bit in peru. looked at llamas in bolivia and drunk far too much coffee and wine in argentina. as you do.
we hit the road again friday (hoping) on our little tour de france. obviously we shall be visiting the region's vinyards en route and camping like peasants. i shall try to give you an honest review (of both) more frequently.
xxxxxxxxx
b
oh, ps, i'm nearly french!!! got a work contract listing my nationality as french and am currently 'signing on' as well!!! never mind being able to order myself a coffee!!
x