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...