It was all going so well...

I have been told by a veteran traveller that 3 bad things always happen to you on a journey. Just a superstition I am sure! I am in Bariloche now- a lovely town on the shores of a huge lake with mountains all around. The town has been built after the Swiss Alpine model, with lots of log cladding and stonework- some of the buildings are a corss between Bedrock and a Swiss Chalet but overall its a nice effect!!
Did a great hike on Wednesday up a nearby mountain, 2.5 hours up of which the last was in snow over our ankles, frequently up to my knees and in Ian´s case (he´s only 5´4) up to his crotch on more than one occasion- brrrr. At the top was a refuge where we had our sandwiches and marvelled at the views, then headed back down through the snow. Walking downhill in very deep snow is no easier than uphill and I did end up flat on my face once. At one point we gave up on the walking, sat on our arses and slid down!! Fast drying trousers are a great invention!! The snow proved too much for the Gore Tex in my boots and we had to stop halfway down to wring our socks out as the water was sloshing around our toes!!
Anyway it was a great day and I felt completely justified in eating a massive steak that night :-)
On Friday a group of us in the hostel decided to go skiing/snowboarding as the slopes are only a 20min busride from the town and it was a beautiful sunny day. The skiing was great, especially considering the season ends in 10 days, and the views from the top were incredible- snow capped mountains, the sparkling lake below and forested slopes lower down, and condors riding the thermals lazily above us. Unfortunately paradise was shattered, for me at least when I got a bit carried away, lost it completely and whacked myself in the face with a ski pole as I fell. I remember putting my finger into my mouth as I was skidding down the mountain on my back, to check all my teeth were still there (they were) and then having to force my eye open to see if it still worked (it does). When I finally came to a stop I realised my nose was bleeding copiously onto the snow and my eye had closed up completely. Howver I remained lucid enough to instruct Tyler (from USA with whom I had been skiing) to gather up my camera and sunglasses and look for the lens that had come out of them! Anyway the first-aider came out and called for a snowmobile (I always wanted to go on one although this wasn´t quite the way I had foreseen it happening) which took me to a lift to take me down the mountain and then I got an ambulence to the medical centre. They checked me out and prescribed ice and painkillers. A couple of cuts (probably from the sunglasses lens) wouldn´t stop bleeding overnight so I went to the clinic in town today and saw an opthalmologist who checked out my eye, which is fine although currently invisible under the biggest, most unattractive swelling you have ever seen (50 rounds with Mike Tyson was one guys comment!) He also got some x-rays which showed I have actually fractured the bone under my eye. There´s nothing to be done for it though, it will heal itself and when the swelling has gone (in about 20 days!!) I should have it checked again. So for now I am blind on one side and staying in Bariloche until my eye opens enough to see- should be a couple of days as the swelling already went down a lot from yesterday! My right eye has blackened too in sympathy so I don´t even have a ´good´side :-(
Anyway no need to worry as it should all look better in a couple of weeks and meanwhile I will just have to tell the story countless times (if anyone can come up with a more intersesting one please let me know :-) Once I get the photos put onto CD I´ll try to post one but they are not for the squeamish!!!
So off to drink tea and eat Bariloche chocolate and be pampered- thankfully I am staying in a fantastic hostel with the nicest staff ever and they are being wonderful, as are my fellow travellers (the hostel family as it is known out here).
Ax

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