Colonel Gaddafi and Bobby ¨El¨ Chalten

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Hola! Pretty late at night now on the 29th Jan but thought I´d do a quick update before heading off to Torres Del Paine for 5 days of hardcore trekking.

23/1/10

Flew from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, which we have immmediately given the nickname Colonel Gaddafi. More snappy. Absolute randomness as we get off the flight and bump into Mr Spivey. A few confused looks between Adam and me as we ask to ourselves ¨is that really Mr Spivey¨ and then finally sum up the courage to ask. It is Mr Spivey and we share some fun Physics/Patagonian related banter. Go to the local shops and buy some brilliantly named chocolate. If Stu is reading, look away now. It was called ¨Rhodesia¨chocolate. Unlike Mugabe´s regime, it leaves a pleasant taste in my mouth.

24/1/10

Wake up and groggily head for breakfast where I conspire to knock all of my Corn Flakes over whilst trying to swat a fly. Food and milk everywhere. Whoops. One of the Spanish-speaking hostel staff with a sense of humour comes up to me and says ´don´t worry sir, that´s not the worst thing that could have happened... but it´s almost the worst thing that could have happened.´ Thanks for that. We´ve been keeping a ´mistake point´system where you´re awarded points for doing stupid things. I get two for this.

The weather is fantastic and we head to the glacier ´Puerto Moreno´. Stunning. A huge lump of ice surrounded by mountainous landscape and beautifully blue lakes. Large chunks of ice regularly come off the glacier and crash into the lake creating a supersonic boom of a noise.

Eat dinner in a fantastic restaurant. Shrennie gets a mistake point for stroking a stray dog which then follows us for 10 minutes all the way to the restaurant.

25/1/10

Get an early bus to (Bobby) El Chalten. On arrival, the weather is shocking and we´re all pretty tired. Adam ¨Rambo¨Smith wants to trek though so he goes off on his own. On his return he forgets which bed he´s meant to be in and sits on a Chinese girl. Mistake point for that. Spanish speaking disasters are still all to frequent. I hear a French conversation and get slightly excited that I may understand it. Ah French, the subject I listened so intently in for about 10 years at school. So intently. Get frustrated when I don´t understand a word so go and play chess with Jude. This language learning thing is hard.

26/1/10

Weather is marginally better and so we go on a trek to ´Laguna dos Tres´. A tough trek, made better by the fact we bump into Spivey again, but unfortunately when we get to the lake the weather is not good enough to allow us to see ´Fitzroy´- the largest peak in the area. Trek home via a couple of lake-created beaches where Shrennie tries and fails to give Jude a piggy back resulting in terminal injuries to both. Foolishly played ´ít´ along an incredibly narrow pathway which ended when Jude falls into a prickly bush at full speed. Mistake point. On getting home, we decide the ´beard off´ is on. We are not shaving for another week. Adam´s facial hair however currently looks more like a lawn mowed by a lazy, underpaid gardener. It´s also getting ginger already. Shrennie gets a mistake point at dinner for spilling boiling water all over my foot. It actually wasn´t boiling water, but it could have been. The intent was there.

27/1/10

Weather is still pretty bad. I´m still pretty tired from the hike before. Jude is keen and convinces Shrenzo to hike with him. They have fun. At about the 10th time of asking, Jude finally beats me at chess. He still can´t beat Shrennie though. Back in our dorm, we meet a new Dutch lodger. I´m convinced that Adam was trying to chat her up. She finds it hilarious that Adam has a teddy bear and tells all her clogg wearing, windmill loving Dutch friends.

28/1/10

Get the bus back to Colonel Gaddafi where it appears our Dutch friend is following us! She´s in our dorm again. Not much done today other than planning for the trip to Torres Del Paine. Tomorrow we´re getting the bus to Puerto Natales. Drink a few Quillmes (the Argentinian lager) in the evening and go to Pura Vida for a meal. We tried to plan it so we could meet up with Spivey but we were a bit late so he probably left. We´d bought him a bottle of wine as well. Anyway, on the mountain Spivey told me to come to badminton club at Exeter School on a Monday which he runs. I´m definitely going to start doing that.

Buenos Notches! x

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Comments

[Margo]

I love it that I´m being mentioned in your blog :) x dutch girl