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.