In our wonderfully entertaining Frequently Asked Questions section (c'mon, you know it's wonderfully entertaining), Tim and I wrote the following answer to the ever popular question, "But what if you get sick (while traveling)?":

Ok, let’s be realistic: on this long a trip, to this many exotic places, we will get sick. Even in Philadelphia we get sick at least 5 times a year each. (Have you ever been to Philly?) So, you know, we can do it. (With lots of toilet paper.) Seriously though, stomach aches, the flu, and general ickiness are to be expected....

It should be noted, nearly three months into our trip, we have already used up 3 of those 5 times and all of them have been within the last three weeks.

It should also be noted that we have spent the past three weeks in Buenos Aires. Hmmm.

Although one might deduce Buenos Aires has caused all of our illnesses, in doing so, one would also fail miserably in the section of the SAT where they test syllogisms. (Remember those? X leads to A, so A must lead to X? Yeah, I don't remember them either.)

Anyway. So, yes, we've been rather sicky over the past three weeks. And, I should also mention, I've been speaking Spanish over the past three weeks. And lest I create any confusion: these two things are also not connected. (And god forbid if they were: can you imagine always needing a cold in order to have the ability to speak another language? Although it might help with the more phlegmy-sounding languages....And, yes, I made up the word "phlegmy-sounding" there. But it has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Or, um, not.)

But I digress (into areas that even I, as the writer, have absolutely no understanding of). Ok. So we've been sick and I've been speaking Spanish. That much, I'm assuming, has been made clear. What may not have been made clear, though, is exactly what route we took in order to end up in Buenos Aires (for a third time, oh my!) and exactly where we were before this latest visit.

Now, if you've had a chance to peak at the website lately, you've seen Tim writing about penguins, and orcas, and orcas being attacked by killer penguins (...just seeing if you're still paying attention there...). But what you might not realize is that the stories Tim is recounting are from long, long ago. (Otherwise known as two months ago, or well before our current month-long visit to Buenos Aires.)

So without further ado and in order to assist those readers at home, I present to you the following timetable (which looks an awful lot like a regular table, but I'm calling it a timetable because that sounds fancy and I'm a fancy-kind-of-gal). And this fancy timetable explains our whereabouts for the past few months in chronological order because, well, it's a timetable. Behold:

#1 Buenos Aires, Argentina 7 days #2 Montevideo, Uruguay 1 day #3 La Paloma, Uruguay 5 days #4 Punta del Diablo, Uruguay 4 days #5 Montevideo, Uruguay 2 days #6 Buenos Aires, Argentina 6 days #7 Puerto Madryn, Argentina 5 days #8 El Bolson, Argentina 10 days #9 Mendoza, Argentina 8 days #10 Buneos Aires, Argentina 27 days to date*

* It appears that staying in the same hostel for 27 days in a row is a bit of an oddity. Therefore, we have literally (and I am so not kidding on this part) become a part of the tour for the new guests when they arrive. Imagine, if you will, a twenty-something staff member who speaks little English proudly announcing to the new guests as she passes us in the kitchen, "And these are our oldest guests." (We anticipate a shrine of some sort to be erected in our honor once we pass day 30.)

Now, lest there be even more confusion, we've written about everything up through #7 Puerto Madryn. (And Tim is actually currently finishing up a few final entries on Puerto Madryn.) Of course, it should be noted that I'm lying when I say we've written about "everything up through Puerto Madryn" as there are many more stories to tell up to that point, but you get my drift. (And if you don't get my drift, just pretend that you do because I have a cold right now and you wouldn't want to hurt my feelings. Right? Right. You will also be happy to know – because the news I'm about to share will, of course, create much happiness – that we plan to continually go back and add a few more stories here and there because we're such diligent little hedgehogs like that. Go us!)

Ok, so we've written about everything (or basically everything) up through #7 Puerto Madryn. However, neither of us have written anything about our last three stops: #8 El Bolson (save for one entry), or #9 Mendoza, or our latest visit to #10 Buenos Aires (again, save for one lone entry). But these entries will be coming along soon enough. Have no fear, my fine friend, have no fear.

Yup, so there you have it. Just in case there was any confusion about our itinerary, that little timetable up above should help alleviate all of it. (Although I'm doubting that this narration has helped in the slightest.)

Now, regarding those three illnesses that have taken hold of us and made me call my Mommy more than a few times. The first illness was a violent little bugger that acted without warning and required close proximity to a toilet. And as Timothy described in an earlier entry, that made for an extremely eventful 18 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. (I must admit this little bugger only bothered me for 2 days, while it held Tim firmly in its grip for the first 5 days of our current Buenos Aires visit.)

The second illness hit Tim first while the above illness was still going on. And thus, we had no idea that there even was a second illness...until I got sick one week later (during our second week in Buenos Aires) with a tummy ache that was quite possibly some of the worst pain in my life (and remember, I got hit in the face with a hammer by my dentist). Luckily, it was just a tummy ache...a tummy ache that lasted 5 entire days...but just a tummy ache nevertheless.

Finally (and currently), I caught a rather bad cold last Friday and have since given it to Tim too. (I'm nothing but generous.) And, thus, while the majority of our friends and family are currently living it up in the Spring weather of the good ole' US-of-A...we're currently sniffling and coughing in the Fall weather of good ole' BA.

Ugh. Irony. It sucks...or, at the least, it gives you a cold.