ManicDDaily

We are in the Barquebus where, unfortunately, we are not allowed on deck. I should explain that the Barquebus is a large ferry that travels from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, and has, as its main seating area, a few hundred well-upholstered seats, four large screen TVs, a small cafeteria and a large duty free shop, which is currently being visited by nearly all of the passengers, other than us, and some children who are drumming on their serving trays.

I don’t much like boats. I say this with a stomach full of ginger, intended to combat sea-sickness.

Correction: boats are passable with a strong breeze in one’s face, or, at least, some kind of outside air.

But a boat with sealed windows and drumming children (did I mention the occasional wailing child? Oh yes, and the one who has made an accordion from a plastic bottle) is definitely not my preferred lugar.

The children are in fact very well-behaved. It’s just that I am on a boat, without a steady breeze in my face, and now that every one’s off shopping, the TVs just say “Phillips” in a completely dark screen.

On the good side, there’s a lot of impromptu percussion.

(P.S. The above is a drawing of a woman on the boat drinking matte. Matte, loaded with matteine, which appears to be very similar to the rhyming caffeine, is incredibly popular here, with men and women carrying thermoses of hot water everywhere to quickly refill their bowl of stimulating herb.)