Where was I??

Wait, wait!  Backwards for a minute:  CG reminded me that I forgot to tell the story of our run-in with the National Guard.  On the road between Malargue (which, by the way, was filled with an unnatural number of folks on bikes-- easily the bike capital of Argentina) and San Rafael, we passed through a checkpoint.  We've gone through dozens of check points in our journey.  We stopped a least 10 times heading south to be inspected for transport of meat and certain fruits and vegetables.  We knew that drill.  Once, we sat at the side of the checkpoint and quickly ate two red peppers so as not to waste them.  This, done with permission, amused the employees greatly.  We also passed through police check points and often were waved on once it was discovered we were foreign tourists.  Leaving Rio Gallegos, a police officer asked me where I was coming from.   Not understanding if he meant my home country or where I had driven from that day, I stumbled.  "Oh!" he said.  "You don't understand anything.  Just drive on through."  Hmph.  For once, I was annoyed not to be questioned by the police.  Another time, leaving the town of Los Antiguos near the Chilean border, the police officer wrote down my name and passport number.  That was the most intense scrutiny we had experienced.

Between Malargue and San Rafael, we were stopped by a National Guardsman.  He asked us our nationality and to see our car rental papers.  Then he asked me to pull over and open the trunk.  After opening the truck and inspecting our garbage bag (yuck!), he asked CG to step out and indicated that he would search the passenger compartment.  He then systematically removed all personal items from the side pockets, glove compartment and our bags and sniffed everything. 

It was all I could do to keep from laughing.  He picked the wrong folks to sniff-- everything we owned smelled of slightly turned perishable food, campfire, or old sweat.  Most amusing parts?  1.) CG had a tiny empty liquor bottle in the pocket of his rain jacket which he uses as a safety whistle-- blow hard across the top one of those things and you can make your car companion's ears ring for an hour!  Both CG and I looked at that, then looked at the guardsman's face and snickered silently.  And I wonder why Canadians have a reputation for being big drinkers....  2.) The guy found an Altoids container in my purse which was filled with.... yes, Altoids.  Sniff, sniff.  Smells like peppermint, looks like peppermint.  It must be... peppermint candies!!  How confusing for this guy.  In the end, he didn't smell anything that interested him and waved us on.  CG and I got in the car and laughed for several kilometers.  I'm thinking he'll consider it twice before sniffing around a car camper's vehicle again....