The trouble with being nice and relaxed on holiday is that you tend to forget that some things – like internet speed – are not quite like they are at home. So when my MacBook Air suggested that I might like to upgrade the Operating System to OS X Mavericks a few days ago, I thought, ‘yes, why not?’ Well because it seemed to hang the internet connection for the hotel as well as (probably) the whole village! It was calculating download time for the 5.3 GB in days rather than minutes and gave up when it calculated a week plus. So last night, having spotted that we were on a faster link, AirBrain (current nickname for my lappy), suggested I might try again. It reported an anticipated 5 hrs to complete the down load, but lied. Never mind, it had finished by the time that we woke up this morning. Just a few set up questions to complete and we were up & running! Very smooth! But as a result I’m a little behind with the Diaries.
Not much to report really – today was a driving day, with spectacular scenery – again, and at one of the few stops made we found a small clump of Maihuenia patagonica. Angie insisted on ‘finding her own’ which is when I learned that she has not a clue how to pronounce ‘Maihuenia’ – it cam out like Ma-may-Ma-May-Oh, you know what I mean – that cactus clump’! As a result she will not give presentations about Patagonia! We’ll see.
Sad to report that the camera’s plug in GPS unit is no more reliable than the similar one for the D300, so it’s back to taking a picture of the handheld model at the start of each stop. Ironically, Nikon have just brought out the D5300 with built in GPS BUT it’s a DX rather than an FX model. Still, surely this will mean that they have grasped the nettle and will include the built in GPS in all future DSLR models so that I can snap away without having to check the cable every few minutes and fiddle about until it is working. All images today filed as S2872.
Nothing more to report other than we are reaching the land of great steaks!
Maihuenia patagonica
Angie in the field – with Llareta – Azorella compacta? Unlikely, at 1,400 m altitude (too low)
Grass-scape – and not a grazing animal in sight.
The Cactus Trip Diaries 
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