Playgrounds of South America

HBomb has graciously allowed Anne and Mark to believe that the road trip vacation was their idea and that the point of it was to see oceans, deserts, mountains and forests.  In reality, it has become obvious that the whole thing was just a way for HBomb to tour and rate the play grounds of South America.

The ratings were based on scales of playability, other kids getting in the way, and danger.  Here are the results:

Location: Unknown
The first stop on the entire trip was a  pit stop for gas and then to play in the park.  No one wrote down the name of the town, so we can't check in on Yelp or anything for this one.  This playground was right next to a school and the kids did come outside and play what appeared to be kickball on the school grounds while HBomb was playing on the slide.  So it gets points for that.

It loses points for beer bottles.  Lots of em, on the ground, some broken.  So although it ranked high in playability and other kids staying out of the way, it really disqualified itself with the 0.0 score on danger.

Next up: Mendoza, Plaza de Independencia

An obvious favorite for the HBomb.  It scored very well on playability and was safe, even though it was at night.  It did lose points for other kids getting in the way.  HBomb had to climb around and dodge a multitude of Mendozite kids in order to get to the slide.

Top Performer: Valparaiso.

The park right across the street had it all: slides.   Well, that's pretty much all you need really.  HBomb likes slides.  There was an occasional Chilean kid playing there as well, but not enough to get in the way of some good, clean fun.  And, as far as we know, no real danger - except of course for the infectious diseases that are living in that sand....

Speaking of sand: La Serena, Chile.

La Serena had an extensive set up of slides, all on the beach, a 5 minute walk from our apartment.  There were a few other kids, but not enough to make it crowded.  The beach was clean and safe, with the only real danger being jellyfish that washed up on the shore (although we managed to steer clear of them, for the most part).

Humahuaca: Evita Park for the Children

While we were in Purmamarca, we did not find any parks for the HBomb to play in, but while on a drive north, we found one in Humahuaca.  This little park was named after Evita (like half of everything in Argentina) and even had a bust of her in the playground.

The Humahuaca park was a big hit for the helicopter-go-round and the other little kid who helped push it, so good marks on that.  It was crazy hot to the touch on the stuff not in the shade, though, and  HBomb couldn't even use the slide there (tin in the sun is bad on the buns).  So a good park if you play your cards right, second degree butt burns if you don't.

As mentioned in another post, the trip to Salta was a dumpster fire wrapped in a burning empanada.  However, even amongst this mess, HBomb was able to find some good.  He recognized the golden arches of McDonald's, but not as a restaurant, only as a place that he could play.  So we went there and he ran around the slide for 35 minutes or so with a little Salteno kid named Maxi.  So the play land at Mickey D's might have been the best part of the entire Salta stop for the Bomber.

While living the bungalow life in Bahia Inglesa, HBomb was unable to find a suitable park, which makes sense given that the whole town is only about 500 people.  Luckily, we went over to the next town down the road and found a little park.  It ranks high for safety (it had that bouncy surface stuff rather than the sand that most parks have in Argentina), but low for playability.  HBomb had a heckuva time making it up the enclosed ladder in the middle of the apparatus.

And finally: Not worth the risk

In San Pedro de Atacama, the people have put together a fairly decent parks and rec department.  HBomb played in a skate park (no actual skaters were seen), walked by a soccer field and eventually made it to a little kids park.   At first it seemed pretty nice.  There were other kids, but they were inclusive.  There was climbing, slides, the whole nine yards.

And there was even some cute stray dogs.  Big, strong, stray dogs.  Like German Shepherds.  But strays.  But this German Shepherd at the park was friendly and liked the kids.  He even went on the equipment and waited in line to go down the slide with the kids.  How cute.  He really liked those kids, kind of shepherded them around.

But then he realized that Henry was not one of "his kids".  At first he let it go.  But as HBomb ran around more and more the dog got closer and closer to him and eventually started nipping at HBomb.  To his credit, HBomb did not show any fear, and to his credit, the dog didn't actually make any contact, but to Anne and Mark's credit, they decided it was time to go before giving the dog any more opportunities to earn any more credit.