Uuuuuuuuppppsss, am going to the Antarctic today! Am too excited about all this, my stomach doesn´t know what to make of all this and I don´t feel like eating anything at all. I wish I could just get on the boat NOW, so that I don´t have to wait and get all too excited. Feel like a small kid...

Finally got my camera yesterday! It cost me a lot of hassle, running around telling people to do their work, being angry and loads of paperwork and phonecalls, but it is finally here!! Actually it had been in Ushuaia since the 21st, but noone bothered to let me know. Wonderful.

Well, this is the last posting on my blog for this year. Hope you all have a nice and jolly New Years, I´ll think of you as I´m drinking the toast somewhere in very southerly latitudes! See you again on the 7th of January, *knus* and *kreist*

Jibbi, it´s Christmas!!

A very red Christmas in Ushuaia. Yesterday we had a delicious parrilla (barbacue) here in the hostel, the senora used to have a steakhouse here until 8 years ago when she switched over to a hostel but she obviously hasn´t forgotten anything about barbecuing. An absolutely delicious meal; lamb meat with potato salad and a BIG cake for desert. We were probably 15 people there, 7 Israelis and 8 non-Israelis. Funny proportions, considering. Susanna, the daughter here, read us a short passage from the Bible and then she said a prayer, in English so that everyone would understand. Very nice :)

In Icelandic we have this very true proverb which says "sjaldan er ein báran stök"; basically meaning that trouble usually comes in pairs, if not three together! I´m experiencing this now... grrrr. First, my creditcard became very unpopular with all ATM´s. Then my old camera committed suicide. Then, my creditcard went on being unpopular. Now my new camera (which, technically, still belongs to my friends Erna and Mordur) has spent 11 days on the way from NYC to here with fedex (now, does this name mean "federal express", or "fed up and exhausted"??), thereof the last 7 days on someone´s desk in Buenos Aires. I´ve written three angry e-mails and called them, and their associates, four times. No answers, noone knows nothing. ARG! What kind of an asshole company is this??? My boat for the Antarctic leaves in the afternoon of the 28th, and if I haven´t got my camera by then I´ll have to buy still another one, or go to the Antarctic without one. This is ridiculous. Does anyone know what my rights are in this case? Aren´t they obliged to get me the parcel in time (they said three working days) (this costs a LOT of money, as you all know, to send with these companies) and to compensate for any losses if they fail to deliver it in time? I told you earlier that Arnon was going to lend me his camera but I can´t accept that since he needs it himself for the treks he´s going to. This mess is really making me angry, and I hate to waste my energy and time in having to think about this. I´ll never use fedex again, that´s for sure. Hope you´ll join me in the boycott.

Another question for the wise of you, after a short introduction to the topic: Now, you all probably know that Argentina is in a state of chaos right now. The economy here is just one big, and quite sad, joke. People can´t even access their savings in the bank freely. When I last knew, i.e. yesterday, the Central Bank was still closed. Not for Christmas, but because there is nothing there, if I got it right. Yesterday I walked between all the banks in Ushuaia, asking them to help me in taking out cash on my creditcard. They all politely refused to do so, not because there is something wrong with my card but because they are not giving money to people over the counter because of the bad economic situation. They all told me to go to the ATM. I told them the truth, the very bitter truth, that no ATM wanted to see my card, even if it was perfectly fine. Now, what is the difference for the bank to hand out cash over the counter or through an ATM? I know that I know nothing about how banks work, but I sure never even imagined, at least not since I quit believing in Santa Claus, that ATM´s print their own cash. If they do, I´ll have one for next Christmas, please.

Anyway, problems have a tendency to be solved in a manner as magical as the one in which they are created. Don´t worry!

Almost forgot about the trek. I´ve heard quite a lot of people say that they don´t like Ushuaia and that Ushuaia is one ugly, uninteresting place, and I have to say that I couldn´t agree less. Ushuaia is a very likeable little town in an absolutely beautiful setting, and anyone who doesn´t know to appreciate it should take a few minutes off, walk down to the harbour, watch the yachts on the sea and the gulls on the beach, the Dientes on Isla Navarino and the rugged ridges of the Montes Martial. It was behind these ridges that we went trekking, on a short (20-30km) trek that lasted us three days. We set out in the afternoon of the 21., walked until above the tree line (not even southern Tierra del Fuego escaped being overgrown with trees. Terrible ;) and, after finding out that we were on the wrong side of the river, pitched our tent under the most impressive cliffs of heavily folded metamorphic rock. It was a bit chilly, but I was nevertheless quite surprised to find snow on the green ground the next morning. Since there is no trail to follow and the clouds were very low we decided to stay where we were that day. Wow, how claustrophobic is it possible to become in one tiny tent??? All our clothes were wet but nevertheless I took them on and went out for some fresh air, it was nice actually to get into some small Christmas feeling with the snow falling all around me. Found out that I don´t remember the words to one Christmas carol!

The next day it was much better, so on we went. The scenery is really nice, especially as we crossed a low, open pass way above the tree line, there was not even moss growing there. Mmmm, makes me feel good. On the other side of the pass we found some forest to make our wau through, in places completely without any trail, and a lot of impressive beaver dams. Finally we came out onto a gravel road by some isolated farms/houses, and the first car we saw (a family in a pick-up, with all the 5 kids inside) gave us a lift to town. Wonderful!!!

Another question, that I´ve been meaning to ask you for a long time: What is fuzzy logic, and how can a washing machine in La Serena, Chile, possibly benefit from it??

Have a merry merry Christmas!!!!

This is my Christmas card to all of you. Hope you really enjoy the holidays, wherever you are. Miss you all!!!

Now Arnon and I are going on our Christmas trek, in the mountains above Ushuaia. He´s waiting, actually, and I have to get going. Bank, camera (not here yet...), oatmeal and milk powder...

Guess who just walked in on the Internet-office here in downtown Ushuaia, other than Roger and Petra, the Swiss couple who told me about the Christmas-gathering here. Nice to see them again. They told me, the tourist living in a more or less artificial world, that 16 already died in the riots in Buenos Aires. I had no idea. Knew that there are riots, and some state of emergency has been declared, but didn´t think anyone was dead. Innocent little Icelander. Can´t say I´m surprised at the riots, not after hearing absolutely everyone here in Argentina worry and fret about the situation. Can´t blame them for trying to burn down the ministry of economy either since the Minister seems to be one giant asshole. Actually, pretty much everyone in this government seems to be an asshole. Strange, how people vote the same shit over them again and again; they should know by know that it doesn´t matter if the politicians call themselves radicals or Peronists or whatever. Well, them same thing is happening in Iceland if you ask me. When is anyone going to go and burn down the so-called "Ministry" (I´d call it the lousy-and-very-bad-Joke) of Environment? One giant asshole there, that´s for sure.

My camera is stuck in the state of emergency in Buenos Aires (not because of the state of emergency if I got it right but because someone in Buenos Aires needs some cash for a beer and thinks fedex-packets are a great way of getting it). It will be interesting to see if it ever makes it out. Murphy´s law is still a law, I wonder if it will manifest itself this time. If shit can happen, it will happen. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. btw, I have no idea whether all this is true. My conspiracy theories are still only theories.

Arnon has promised to lend me his camera for the Antarctic if mine hasn´t arrived by the time I leave. He´s great.

At the end of the world! This nine day hitch-hike trip took us to Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego (a place I´ve wanted to see since before I can remember). Fitz Roy can wait until 2002. We didn´t get out of Comodoro that night, found ourselves pitching the tent next to the main highway out of the city, on the grassy lawn of a catering company, and sleeping with earplugs because of the hundreds of trucks and cars driving by all the time. Wonderful resting place, just like campíng on the grass islands of Miklabraut. The next morning noone bothered to stop either so we had to take a BUS (terrible shame) to the next town, something Olivia. There we had to take a taxi to get out of the city... a lot of spending! Got a ride with a nice truck driver who felt pity on us, we must have looked rather miserable after 5 hours of waiting.

Next day we were more or less fed up with hitch-hiking and decided to break it up. We had already decided to go for Ushuaia instead of Fitz Roy, since we were running out of time and everything would be very stressed (and expensive for me, having to fly from there to Ushuaia to catch my boat), and suddenly found ourselves with a lot of time at our hands. Monte Leon National Park was close by and we wanted to get closer, in the hope of getting to see the Magellanic penguins. A lot of luck later we found ourselves at the coast, camping under very nice sandstone cliffs, watching the penguins in their rookery through the binoculars. Penguins, iiiii, I was jumping with happiness!!!

In the perfect weather we had the following day we walked over to the penguins. They are quite small, reach up to your knee more or less. They were quite shy and walked/ran from the coast into the sea when we got close. When in the sea however they felt a bit safer and stayed only a few meters away from land. They are so comic, these little creatures, and so extremely vulnerable. We had them completely in our hands while we were there, they would not move. The parents who were in the sea fishing couldn´t make it back to their chicks, and the parents who were with their chicks couldn´t go to the sea to fish. That´s why we had to take care not to stay too long in any one place but to move. Or not to move; I found myself a comfortable place to lie on my belly and watch them and fell asleep there. Must have slept like a rock because two tourists walked by, only one or two meters away, looking at this strange penguin, and I did not notice them at all. Wow, it was so nice to sleep in a penguin rookery!

On the journey went, with truckers and glue-sellers and history teachers and socialist doctors and other nice people. In spite of all the so-and-so educated conversations taking place during these rides, the only thing I´ve really learned is that you never offer anyone a cookie (because they´ll be polite and say no, thanks) but simply put it in their hand (when they´ll simply take it and eat it). South of Rio Gallegos (an amazingly ugly city) (just like most of the cities we drove through) the wind picked up and at the Argentinian-Chilean border before the Magellan Strait it was blowing so hard that we could barely stand. Very Icelandic in a way, ecpecially with a fresh-looking lavafield in the background. Especially when it started raining.

The ferry over the Magellanic Strait was delayed by 4 hours because of high winds. Perfect. The bloke giving us the ride was nice, but seemed somehow to be quite depressed. His wife left him two years ago, that was about all he told us. Tells you a lot about him, though. He actually was the only one who didn´t ask where we were from. Well, maybe he told us a whole lot more, but he ate all his words on their way out so I didn´t understand anything most of the time. Argentinians speak a bit unclearly... putting it mildly.

Tierra del Fuego is simply amazing. If you don´t like wide open spaces, no trees and the lingering evening that refuses to be turned into night, don´t come here. In the north, it´s just flat, but flat in a variable sort of way. Even a wind-battling tree here and there. Towards the south the rolling hills become steeper until they turn into the rests of the Andes, with an evergreen forest covering the lower slopes. Hairraising roads. Then the Beagle Channel comes into view, and you´ve arrived at the end. Ushuaia.

Patagonia is so big! We´ve been driving for hours today and hardly moved it seems, at least when you look at the map. Amazing.

Had a stroke of tough luck the day before yesterday, when we left Bariloche. Got three rides, but two were very short. Ended up spending the night in a small town called El Hoyo (the hole, what an appropriate name!), in my tent by the river. Next day took us to Esquel with a radical truck driver, and from there at the back of a truck used for transporting livestock (and its shit as well) to a junction truly in the middle of NOwhere. A truck driver was sleeping in his truck at the junction and the guys we´d arrived with said that this trucker was going our way, we´d just have to wait until he woke and he´d sure as hell give us a lift. He was going pretty far, so we turned down the offers of a few friendly passer-bys offering to take us to the nearest town. Half a minute after turning down one such offer the truck driver woke, started up the truck and drove off. Taking care almost to flatten out our toes as we stood beside the road and tried to flad him down. Gave us a wicked grin. AAAAARRRRRGGGG.

Made it to the small town (a lot) later and rested there for a while. Walked to the other entrance of town, watched the whole town drive by at least three times (the famous - or notorious - "runtur" so well known to all Icelanders) but noone was going anywhere. As it got dark the cops at the Gendarmeria, where we were hitch-hiking, got tired of poking around in people´s belongings (and passports, if they didn´t have any belongings) and started to play around with motorbikes and "fjorhjol" (whatever that may be in English) we realised that we were not leaving this town anytime soon and walked back, found a room at a cheap hotel and settled in Gobernador Costa for the night.

Believe it or not, the first car passing today stopped and took us almost 500 km, to a city by the Atlantic coast called Comodoro Rivadavia. Endless flats and rolling hills, really endless. Wherever you look, it´s just you and the wind. Here and there the odd tree, the odd sheep grazing, the odd guanaco. Sanctuaries at junctions, unmarked roads for miles and miles and if you take the wrong turn it´ll be at least half a tank later you find out. The guy who picked us up, Victor, is an artist and a designer of leather clothes, and likes to collect weird things he finds by the roadside. Skeleton of a cow (or something), tin cattle, old tires, torn rubber boots... these things he picks up and places them again in a different place by the road, in a different context, as an installation. Photographs them and leaves them then behind, for all posterity to see and enjoy.

We want to leave Comodoro tonight and get further south. Hope we find a truck driving at night. Still haven´t made it halfway to El Chaltén, even if we´ve been three days on the move. You know how much I want to be in Ushuaia by Christmas. Or at least by the 28th of December. Can´t miss the ship to the Antarctic!

My dear camera died during the Nahuel Huapi trek and noone in the whole republic of Argentina can repair it, I am told. What a perfect excuse for spending some money I may or may not have on a new and really good camera. My friends Erna and Mordur in New York are checking if its's possible for them to buy me one there and send it to Ushuaia in Argentina (which is, it so happens, a duty-free zone). A Canon EOS 2000 sounds beautiful. It's a shame though that Fitz Roy will have to be photographed with an instant camera... hope I get a good camera before the boat to the Antarctic!

Ok, we didn't do the hard and exposed part of the Nahuel Huapi trek, even if we spent one whole day (the perfect day I started telling you about in the last post) checking it out. From the mountain pass the day before it looked steep, then in the morning as we were looking at it from maybe a kilometer away it looked definitely doable, and from very close up we saw that the snow was at least 70 degrees steep. And, if you fall, you fall staight down some impressive rock faces into a nice and pretty little lagoon, still frozen with some electric blue water peering out though the cracks in the ice. A few (or many, probably many) dozens of meters. Every fibre in my body said NO. No way I'm doing this with not even an ice axe in my hand. So, we abandoned the try and spent the afternoon enjoying the views and our old bread, with manjar (sweet, condensed milk), cheese and mortadela. Just about everything is good when you're hungry. Absolutely amazing.

Now we're heading south, Fitz Roy in Glaciares National Park is next stop. We is, btw, Arnon and I; we decided to do more treks together and we'll probably be traveling together at least as far as Ushuaia. Which is, probably, the place I'll be spending Christmas. Christmas would be something new for Arnon, he's never experienced Christmas. Can you just imagine that??? I don't want to imagine life without Christmas... A lot of backpackers meet in Ushuaia for X-mas and it's said to be great. Maybe I'll meet a Swiss couple there I met first in Villarrica, it was them who told me about the X-mas gathering. Then again, we may not make it to Ushuaia in time, and then maybe I'll find out what's it like to spend Christmas in Fitz Roy. Why all this fuss about Christmas anyway???

Well, looks like I'll have to be nice now and hand the computer over to Gadi (another Israeli). The Internet is free here at Bolsa del Deporte... they are just wonderful people here. Really feels like home. Arnon and I are hitchhiking down south and the owner's wife, Nery, is going to give us the first ride, to the outskirts of Bariloche. Just like that. It's so amazing that when hitch-hiking, you always meet such incredibly nice people. They feed you, give you a lift (sometimes even much further than they intented to go), they even give you their Chilean road atlas... do we deserve all this??? Life's soooooo good.

Ehemm... as you know by now we made it back to town from the Puyehue trek, and the bull doesn''t have anything to do with anything anymore. Hitchhiked and bussed back to Bariloche (this involved a night in Osorno and a loooooooong wait for a ride by the Lago Puyehue which ended in us having to camp near some river there without any food...) (plus of course the ride from Rininahue to Lago Ranco with an absolutely crazy driver. He obsiously hates his car, Palomo, and drove never slower than 70 km/hour on the worst gravel roads imaginable. Better to fly over bridges ""in very bad state"" anyway. Arnon almost slept in the car (!!!) but I just laughed hysterically the whole time, since it''s probably best to die with a smile on your face ;))

Now we''re back in Bariloche after the Nahuel Huapi trek. The longest and hardest... oooo, soooooooooo nice! Definitely a difficult trek, but still so heavily buried in snow that we didn''t make it to the very hard part. Am always learning: Stick to your old Icelandic wisdom and never travel with only crampons and not iceaxe. If we''d had the iceaxe I wouldn''t be sitting here now, but sleeping in my tent by the Refugio Lopez.

Never mind, never mind. Did anyone expect that we'd get off early for the trek? Probably not. Left town last Thursday (late...) and after a short bus ride to Villa Catedral (the main ski area hereabout) started the hike up to Refugio Frey. The backpacks were heavy with 5 days worth of food in them, and soon I felt I needed to put mine down for a minute. So, I put it down, and it landed right on top of the home of some billion hysterical ants. Before I could say s*** they were all over my pack, and me, and the biggest ant massacre in modern history began. My Bolivian sunhat is a very effectiv weapon I found out, and all my (usually repressed) murderers instincts came out in full force. A lot of pang!!!!!!! and smack!!!!! and "fardu helvitis ogedid thitt!!!" later the ants were all dead, and on we went. Nothing beats a good ants massacre to make your day :)

The Refugio Frey is a tiny winy little house set on a small saddle of rock beside a small lake. All around there are huge granite cliffs which just make your fingers itch to do some climbing on them (and in summer the place is full of climbers). Really a fantastic place. We camped in a hurry since it was getting dark and went to the refugio to cook. On the treks Arnon and I have done together we eat always the same food, every single evening; spaghetti cooked in little water (to make it burn as well aas possible into the bottom of the pot). maggi powder soup is then added to the spaghetti and still cooked in little water (the powder helps to glue the burnt spaghetti even better to the bottom of the pot, and maybe give some alternative taste to the burned one...). In this way you get a delicious (who said burnt food wasn't good???) pasta meal, and if you want some real delicatessen you add some cheese in the final stages; it melts (i.e. you'll have to imagine it does, because the cheapest cheese in the store won't do it in reality) and *blings* your gourmet dinner is ready!! As we were eating this wonderful meal a Canadian guy came in and wondered who had the yellow Marmot tent we could see out of the window. That was us, of course. Well, you see, it's a kind of a windy spot you see... what an understatement!!! While everyone else was sleeping sweetly in their tents or caves or wherever I spent the night wondering whether the wind would take only the fly or maybe send us to Bariloche again. Woke up once halfsuffocated because the wind made the wall of the tent flatten out over my face! What a wonderful night.

The following day was beautiful, sun and not a cloud in the sky. Actually the weather was like that the whole time, so I'll save those of you wading the slush in Reykjavik (or any other place) up to your ankles from more talk about sun and hot weather :) at least for the time being. Very tired morning. VERY tired morning. I want to sleep-morning. I DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE SLEEPINGBAG-morning. Arnon however left his sleepingbag and when he started taking down the tent I didn't have too many options. Getting up really was worth it though, the hike to Refugio San Martin by the Laguna Jakob was terrific. Most of it above the tree line (who needs trees, anyway??), in scenery so crude and wild it felt as if the last ice age disappeared just last week. Umm, namminamm.

From this place we'd planned to hike on to Laguna Negra, via what the Lonely Planet trek-guide calls the hardest section of the whole Nahuel Huapi Traverse. Last winter it snowed a lot in the mountains here and as you know many of the routes that by now should be open are not. We had heard in Bariloche that the snow was melting very fast by now and that crampons would be enough to tackle this section of the trek (no, never forget the Icelandic wisdom). Wrong. The hut wardens in Refugio San Martin told us the route was closed. No way. No way. It looked so good from the mountain pass we'd crossed earlier in the day - and it was closed?? Who closes it, anyway?? Soft snow, very exposed, loose rocks, you name it. When I heard the word avalanche I began to feel convinced. As we were eating our gourmet pasta (with vegetables-maggisoup, I think) (and burned, needless to say) (and with not-melted cheesechunks) a rockfall from the Pico Refugio echoed in the valley. It still looked tempting, but less so. We decided we'd go and at least check it out the next day. That's like the least you can do. It looked soooo good. Way too good; we just had to at least give it a try.

Another just perfect day. Another perfect reason for trying. Off we went (late, as usually), with the hut wardens shaking their heads and even making us sign a statement that we were doing this section at our own responsability (if not my own, whose then???) (this is all getting to American for me - or would I really sue some hut warden if something happened to me, even when he's warned me about the possible dangers??).

Gee, it's late. Continue tomorrow!

Same thng happening here as in my handwritten diary: Falling weeks behind simply because there is TOO MUCH happening! It''s already late in the evening (night) and I should be in bed because tomoroow we want to get up and go early. Nahuel Huapi is waiting, the longest (and most difficult) trek so far. JIBBI!!!!!

Anyway, Puyehue was great. On Thursday the sun shone in a sky with NO cloud at all. We were lazy and left on the short side trp to the ""small"" field of hot springs (woouldn''t ever call the geothermal field we found small, by any standard, but Lonely Planet people obviously have seen and done it all and are impressed by nothing)at noon, and whiled away 8 hours (i.e. the whole day) in this fantastic area. What views, my oh my. Took a shortcut back to the tent and discovered that this ""brilliant"" shortcut meant us providing the group of Australians who had arrived at Los Banos during the day with evening entertainment as we waded the river... up to the chest more or less :)

Friday was supposed to be TERRIBLE, with a path impossible to find and heavy forest and and and. Everyone seems to think things are impossible here. We found the trail without any problems at all (it helped that we''d seen it from our shortcut the day before...) and the impassable forest wasn''t that impassable at all, my trousers didn;t even have to battle any branches (even if I discovered at least 50 new ways of falling and ending on your head with the backpack thrusting your face into the mud... each of us gave the other one a good laugh every now and then). However, we didn''t reach the end of that days planned walk, it simply got dark and we camped close to some logger''s spot. Were woken on Saturday morning by a breakfast party of some birds who sent half-eaten berries down onto the tent (and shat on it, of course) and as we peered out of the tent we were met by a puzzled bull trying to make its way through the forest and not expecting to see a weird yellow something blocking the way. It showed admirable dexterity avoiding us...

More later!!

Wednesday morning (28th of Nov) we woke up in the fog. Real fog this time. Set off, looking forward to meet the snow which everyone told us was waiting for us further ahead. Strange how everyone makes big problem out of everything concerning these treks; there is always supposed to be soooooooooooooo much snow and the trail sooooooooooo hard to find etc. Ok, we did meet snow and in places there wasn´t any trail because it was buried by the snow but the stakes (few and far between) showed the way and as it cleared up in the afternoon one could see far and wide and making your way through the snow became a very straight-forward matter. The destination for that day was Los Baños, some thermal springs, and it was such a shame that the two Dutch couples who were going there as well decided to turn back because the way wasn´t obvious in the snow. Ok, I have to admit that I was getting a bit tired of slogging in the snow (shich really wasn´t all that deep) but turning around wasn´t an option either so on we went. To our pleasant surprise we found out that the snow was easier to walk in than ever before and also became less and less. At 7 in the evening we finally arrived at the Baños, tired but happy to be there at last.

It´s been a long time since last. And a lot has happened.

Last Monday (must have been the 26th of November) Arnon and I left town, a lot later than planned (we had to do shopping and packing and then I had to stand in line for a liooooooooooooooooong time at the post office with my application) and ended up taking a bus to Villa La Angostura at the other shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi. From there we wanted to hitch-hike to Chile but it was late in the day and we ended up catching a ride with a very nice guy and his kid, plus another Israeli guy who was heading our way as well, to the last junction before the Chilean border. Lago Espejo, or Mirror Lake, was just nearby and a campsite at its shore and we decided to spend the night there. Trying to hitch-hike that late in the evening would have been pointless because the border closes at 8 p.m... strange, in Iceland we don´t ever have to worry about such weird things as closed borders ;)

The campsite was perfect; a calm lake set amidst rugged mountain peaks, hardly a soul around, clear sky... and the next morning the fog was so thick you could almost cut it while watching it evaporate in the rising sun. The birds were really not afraid and came very close, sitting on the tent and the backpacks while we were packing. Something for Arnon, the bird man :)

The first car heading our way stopped and offered us a ride to Chile. Before we knew it we were at the beginning of the trail, by the farm of El Caulle in Puyehue National Park, but we were hungry and a sign on the fence of the farm opposite to El Caulle was very inviting, promising us empanadas (very popular snacks in S America, meat or whatever-sauce in breaddough, baked in an oven or deep-fried). The mom-and-daughter-and-dogs team seemed really happy to see us (always nice to feel someone is happy to see you and not just your wallet...) and promised us one dozen of empanadas for a ridiculous price (I would never have considered it a possibility to eat half a dozen of empanadas in one go but hey, what´s life without trying out new things???) within a "ratito" or "just a minute". When ten minutes had passed I started thinking that maybe at least another ten minutes would go by before the empanadas would show up and mentioned this to Arnon. He looked at me, genuinely surprised at my ignorance, and asked if I ever expected to wait less than the half an hour or however long it would take them to make the empanadas from scratches. I still have a lot to learn about travelling in remote parts of the world... and the concept of time here on this continent is a fascinating one!!! When the empanadas finally arrived we were invited in to eat them and the girls sat down at the table with us, chatting and laughing and having a great time having us around, it seemed. Some few days earlier 4 other Israelis had been there and had a party with the girls, dancing in the living room. The girls of course filmed all this and showed us in their video. It´s so amazing to see all this high-tech equipment inside such a modest house, when one sees it from the road it´s hard to guess that such gadgets are hiding inside.

Finally the trek began, after some filming by the empanadas-girls (I wonder how many tourists have had to watch me and Arnon saying greetings in Icelandic and Hebrew in that house so far??). The owners of El Caulle charge every tourist 7000 chilean pesos (more or less 10 US$) for the simple "right" to pass their land (which is inside a national park, btw) and this had the two of us starting the long walk nagging and complaining. Annoyance is powerful and gave me a good first push up the long steep slope awaiting us. The weather was perfect for walking, overcast and not to warm, and we made good progress through the forest. As the day wore on the small breaks got more numerous and shorter between. When we finally reached the top of this long hill and found the refugio I was very glad on behalf of my thighs and butt, who were beginning to complain about this abuse. This kind of abuse is definitely worth it, we were almost above the tree line (everyone who knows me knows I feel better the further away from trees I get) and the volcanic landscape opening up around us promised to hold something magnificent in store for the coming days.

Yet another lazy day in Bariloche. Now I've been here six days and it feels strange to leave tomorrow. Good that I'm coming back after the trek :) The weather quit improving today, it got cloudy and the usual wind has been blowing all day, accompanied by rain now in the evening. Thus, the farthest I've made it from the house is to a take-away restaurant two blocks away, where dinner was bought: Chicken and french fries. Very healthy indeed. Hope it transforms into a lot of nice energy during the slog in the snow which awaits us in Puyehue.

Helped Carlos a bit in the afternoon, he was cleaning his friends and other climbing equipment since he's off to Refugio Frey on Tuesday with some pals of his; they're going to do some climbing there for a few days. Also borrowed his climbing shoes to try out the small bouldering wall they have here at Bolsa del deporte, that was fun :) Carlos is a friend of Carlos the owner, he's been living here for about 3 months and helps out with maintenance around the house. Actually I'm meeting a lot of Argentinians here and I think it's great, to meet and get to know the locals. It really is a good thing to be able to speak the language when you're travelling!!! Argentinians are a bit different from Chileans in that they talk a lot more about the situation in their country than the Chileans do, and for a good reason: The situation in Argentina really seems to be quite bad. People are worried and angry with the politicians and all the corrupt assholes (summing up the general opnion...) who have wasted the huge foreign loans given to Argentina without ever letting a penny of it (more or less...) get to the common people. So, now people are stuck with a crippled economy, huge foreign debt, insanely expensive food and clothing, low wages and hopelessness reigns. Sounds maybe a bit too dramatic, I don't know, but it's what everyone talks about. Have heard the words 'civil war' on several occasions... although I don't think people are too serious about that. People have lost all faith in politicians (is there any people on Earth still having faith in them???), army and police, and some people have reached the conclusion that having hope is energy wasted so they try and pull themselves out of society, becoming more and more anonimous (maybe that's why one of the biggest supermarket chains here is called La Anonima??). They sell their houses and cars, get rid of mortgages and loans in one way or another, close their credit cards and bank accounts, and try to disappear. If the system fucks around with you for too long, your reaction would be: Fuck the system. Why not??

Wow, I can die happy now! Hiked to Refugio Lopez (a hut, just in case) and it was soooooooooooo beautiful. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Decided I'd have to go all the way and continued to the top of Cerro Lopez, a 2000m peak. There was a lot of snow; melting, wet and heavy snow, and all of it glued onto really steep hills. Thrilling. Reached the top after making billions of steps in the snow (and occasionally falling through it to my hips), and was awestruck; the view which met me on the other side was unbelieveable. Rugged peaks covered in snow as far as the eye could see, a lake shining like silver in the afternoon sun and a pair of condors tending their nest in a huge rock tower. To the west the peaks disappeared, giving way to the endless flats of Patagonia. I'm sure I could see all the way to Iceland!!!

This place I'm staying at, La bolsa del deporte (which translates as The Gym Bag!), is fabulous. The other day there was a big barbecue party here, we could eat as we wanted of that delicious Argentine beef for only 4 pesos (i.e. 4 USdollars), and when I came home tonight, starving, I found a pizza party going on where I could eat as much of Mono's homemade pizzas for 50 cents. Too good to be true!

My Israeli friend Arnon (whom I call Nonni, in the Icelandic tradition) arrived this evening. Looks like we're going over to Chile again on Monday, to do a trek in Puyehue National Park, since the Nahuel Huapi trek we wanted to do is still impassable. I'll have to be back though and do it later in the season. Maybe in January...

Another lazy day in Bariloche, Argentina. Not much hurricaning going on right now :) The weather actually has improved a lot, so it's a shame just to sit around doing nothing!

Finally got the last information I need for my application on the e-mail yesterday evening. Now the computer is my only problem; this computer here doesn't support our strange Icelandic letters. Have to figure that out somehow. Anyway, I only saw this e-mail a few minutes ago and since it's already almost closing time for the post office I won't reach it. The application will probably have to wait until Monday. What a shame!!!

Am really looking forward to going hiking again. Bariloche is a great town, set in an awesome scenery of wild rugged mountains and vast open spaces. The lake, Nahuel Huapi, is enormous and when the wind blows, as it's been doing since I got here (and yesterday we actually had some snow downtown, would you believe that!), it looks like the ocean, with huge waves hitting the shore. The hike I was planning to do is rather "wild" at the moment, two Israeli guys I know started it last Thursday and came back yesterday evening, totally exhausted, after doing three days worth of hiking in two days, walking in snow up to their knees and getting lost time and again. Cool!! I might have to wait a bit longer... it's really a bit frustrating to see all those beautiful hikes still more or less impassable. Doon't even want to think about what Fitz Roy or Torres del Paine will look like when I get there, hopefully in the middle of December. Everything covered in snow... should have practiced cross-country skiing a bit more :)