Cabin Fever - La Lipela

Although the snows cleared after our return to base camp, the high winds remained and we were informed that a further day´s stay would be required in the camp before we could move out into the forests on the peninsula of Lake Nahuel Huapi once again. All twelve of our party are very active individuals, so the prospect of spending a further day kicking our heels around the camp is not greeted with much delight. Following the rains and snows of Isla Victoria, a day´s rest was welcome to dry out kit and clothes, but a longer stay can only subdue spirits further.

This evening, therefore, a kind of cabin fever atmosphere presided over dinner - a mixture of the wish to do sometyhing entertaining on a Saturday night and the realisation that however anyone tried to pretend it was home the more it was reinforced that it was not.

Three weeks into the expedition, the energy, excitement and ebullience of the group at meeting new people, being in a new place and doing something different has worn a little thin. People have shaken off the permanent cheerfulness of group camaraderie and lapsed further into their habitual and more solitary behaviours: Gavin sitting thoughtfully on a log sipping tea, Tony pacing in grim agitation around the mess tent, Malcolm and John reading outside at opposite ends of the main hut, shirts off trying to gain a thin suntan in the sunny air, which is still tinged with the chill of winter mountains. Ed works alone at the computer, entering data for the BTEC project, Nick has gone out walking with his camera looking for wildlife photos, and Mark busies himself slowly with picking for tomorrow.

Although there is no outward aggression or hostility in the camp, there is a slight edge or tension in the banter amongst the group, and the lingering suspicion that a slight joke out of place made at the wrong time could provoke an as yet unseen unfavourable reaction.

Dinner was a home made pizza - an attempt to recreate the mood of a Saturday night take away. The mood was depressed somewhat by the fact that only two individual pizzas could be cooked at a time in the oven - each pizza lasting ten minutes or more. A suggestion from Nix, the expedition nurse, to dress up as if in black tie for dinner with bow ties made from cardboard or screwed up pasta packets was met by a resounding lack of enthusiasm. Gavin and Keith take turns in strumming tunes on the guitar, but there is no general desire for us all to sing, People have by now read the one or two books they have brought for the trip and are anxiously seeking others to eschange them with - jokes about revealing the plot or the ending are not met with good humour. A vain attempt is made to link an ipod to the computer to provide speakers for the music, but we are defeated in our efforts by the technology.

Due to the lack of women in the expedition, Ed and Keith begin to dance with each other in the cramped kitchen - first a brief Viennese walyz, and then an abortive attempt at the Gay Gordons. The burst of activity encourages a brief stint of photograph taking - in which everyday kitchen signs and objects suddenly take on an extraordinary photogenic significance. A few of the in jokes and buzzwords of the past few weeks are trotted out - but fail to bring out the old laughs due to long over use, having by now become tiresome.

A few moments of mirth are found in reading humorous dating, romance and relationship phrases from the teach yourself Spanish book lying on the table. This also provides some Spanish tongue twisters, which inevitaly develop into English ones. Great excitement and diversion is created when Mark reveals that he knows an Africaans tongue twister involving several different types of clicknig sounds.

While some shut themselves up in silence reading or listening to headphones, others go through the videos taken on their cameras earlier in the week. Most of these also seem to comprise of expedition members doing various forms of dancing.

We try to lighten the mood bt raising the subject of the privations which must exist in the other group, camped out by Lago Steffen in the snow and the cold. We try to persuade ourselves of our good fortune in sitting inside with pizza cooking and beer ready, but such attempts are generally unconvincing - each of us probably eager to be active than confined here to base.

Each one jealously guards his own food rations - a telling sign that of the strict and rigidly enforced eating regime which must prevail in order for supplies to last out. Juan Carlos appears at some stage during the evening, and offers to buy some wine or beer from us - but is met by the dour reply that each person only has enough for what he needs. In the end he recieves a cup of wine, but this is in marked contrast to the generosity which usually prevails in his presence. Some hope is raised that we may be able to ride with him on the horses on the following day, but this is deemed improbable since he is working in the fields.

We are still confined to camp the following morning, and the listless sense of inactivity from the previous day continues. Breakfast is a lacklustre affair, as expedition members emerge sporadically from their tents at any time between eight and ten. The stove is heated and some bread making is in progress, but no great sense of urgency exists. One coffee becomes two and then three. When breakfast is finaly ready around eleven, it isstrung out for almost an hour.

A brief spate of activity ensues when it is confirmed we will be moving out for certain the following morning. There is a sudden urgency to perform the necessary cleaning and packing chores, if only to provide diversion for a few moments. These seem to be done in no time, and the waiting resumes once more.

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