Playing two schools today, once again in the radio and television. The whole city of Laguna Larga knows Professor World Band!

I've played a few more towns now and have been in the local newspaper
and on local TV as well. Made a few new friends but time to move on.

Yes, we are Ok and on the road to Cordoba. People really like the Professor World Show here and are very friendly- It's not easy though to always find the right place to play. At least away from the big city it is safer and I dont worry so much about the truck being robbed.

After two days of filing papers and paying fees with the Argentine customs department
I was finally allowed access to my truck, which was parked on it's own in a corner of the
port of Buenos Aires. My heart lept at first sight of her and the thought of having my
home back again finally. As I got closer and closer however my heart sank as I saw all
the damage that had been done to her. All the doors had been forced open and she'd
been smashed into from the back and the front as well,the fenders all dented up and big
holes caused by the impact. She was leaning to the left side because one of the back
tires had been punctured by a big nail.

When I looked inside, my heart sank even more.

All my drawers had been emptied onto the floor and everything was scattered all about.
Of course many valuble items were missing. It would take me days to sort through the
mess and figure out exactly what was missing. On top of that she wouldn't start and they
had damaged her even more in their attempts to get her running before they towed her
off the ship.

With the help of the port mechanics I finally did get her started and replace the damaged
tire and drive slowly back to the hotel. The Hotel staff who had been so nice to me all
along, when they heard what had happened would not accept any payment for my last
week. I was feeling so low however that I was almost ready to give it all up and head
for home.

The next day though I cleaned up enough of the mess so that Olly and I would have a
place to sleep and got back on the road. I was determined to get out of the city and find
a quiet place to pass the night and figure out what to do next.
Big Baby(my truck) was running so poorly though that I pulled over in Barezetegui, one
of the first small towns I passed through to try and fix the problem. After inquiring at all
the garages in town, who were to busy to help at the moment it was time to walk Olly.
On our way down a dirt road I came accross a group of young guys who were working
on a car parked outside a large shed. I told them of my problem and they agreed to help
me out right away.Together we worked on her till we got her running well and fixed the
worst of the damage. I decided to leave her a bit smashed up looking so she would
resemble  more the old wrecks that most people drive here.

My new friends turned out to be musicians as well and we spent that evening and late
into the night making music together.
I was feeling a whole lot better already.

The next day I repaired most of the damage that the thieves had done to the
Professor World Band and went out to do my first show in Argentina on the central plaza
of Berazetegui. Although I was a bit nervous and out of practiceiIt turned out to be a
success with many children playing along and lots of smiling faces. Since then I've been
hanging out with my new friends, playing lots of music with them, getting to know them
better and learning mucho Espaniol.

Now it's time to get on the road again and I am headed for Cordoba province , about seven hundred kilometers to the west. By all accounts I've heard it's very beautiful there. So this trip has gotten off to a pretty rough start but things are looking better now and I have some good friends here I can always turn to if I run into further problems.

I'll try to keep y'all posted on how things
progress,

Hasta Luego, Ramblin' Dan

March 2008

March 2008:
Letter from Ramblin Dan and Olly:

Hello Friends!!

After a long day of travelling by train,bus and plane, Olly and I  
arrived safely in Buenos Aires about two weeks ago. We needed a full  
day to recover from our travels and then we set out to explore the city. That proved to be very tricky here.

With a dog here you are not allowed in buses,trains,metros,restaurants and many shops and even parks.Most taxis wont take us either. We do a lot of walking. It's over two hours to the center. Mostly we hang out in one of the Plazas close to the hotel and talk with the locals. My first priority here is  
to learn Spanish and I'm happy to say that I am progressing rapidly.  

Most people are very friendly and happy to talk with a Nordamericano.  
Olly is also an icebreaker. He is a very unusual dog here and people  
ask me about him all the time. As far as hotels go I was very lucky.

I couldn't have picked a better one even if I knew all the hotels in  
Buenos Aires. I have a big room with my own kitchen and balcony, plus a  
rooftop terrace for about a hundred dollars a week. The people who run  
and own it are very nice and of course they love Olly too. They often  
look after him when I have to be away for the whole day.I'm trying to  
take care of all the neccesary paperwork to clear my truck from  
customs when she finally gets here so I have to go downtown to deal  
with the shipping agents and arrange insurance and do a bit of  
sightseeing while I'm there. I'm hoping that all will go smoothly when  
the ship arrives on March 25'th. If so we will probably get out of the  
big busy city pretty quick. Buenos Aires is an interesting place to  
visit but it's also very loud and polluted. By the time my truck  
arrives Olly and I will be more than ready for some peace and quiet  
and a bit of fresh air.We will probably heasd for the Cordoba area  
first,about six hundred kilometers to the west of us. I'm happy to see  
that there are lots of 508 Mercedes trucks just like mine here so it  
will be no problem to get parts. Diesel and repair work are also much  
cheaper here.I'm looking forward to an interesting trip. As usual, I  
want it to be very spontaneous so we'll just wait and see what happens  
when we finally get back on the road.I'll write more then, Hasta  
Luego, Ramblin' Dan and Jolly Olly.

Well how about that for a start? Anything I forgot to mention that  
anyone will want to know? Eventually I hope to post the new text in  
Spanish as well. I will have to find someone to help with  
that.

written by Ramblin Dan
info @ professorworldband.com

no spam please!