Bitches on Heat

Slight change of plans...to the better!

2006-05-30T03:52:00.000-07:00

I decided to come home earlier.
I have been away from my (most of the time) beloved country - Iceland, that is - for about 9 months. That is quite a long time, I mean, my friend Unnur will almost have had time to have a baby while I was gone! But she won't - haha - since I'm comin' home in time to see her lovely big belly :) I am so looking forward to seeing everybody, the rest of the familiy (og sérstaklega tig, afi Kalli) and the girls. It's a good feeling - knowing that I get to see them real soon.

I am now with Thomas, my brother, in Bordeaux. He lives near the center of town with his lovely wife Aline and their son Jules. He is soooo cute! And I'm not just saying that because he's my nephew... ;) He calls me tatie ami (aunt ami) - he's 27 months old :)

Anyway, I'm going back to my father's in the countryside today and maybe help him plant some salads...or carrots...or radishes... Yepp, it's just "kerraaaazy" fun here in France! Just kidding - it really is fun :) But on Friday evening the French chapter will be closed for a while: I take a flight from Bergerac to Stansted. So, on that same day, I'll head back to see Cédric (the oldest of my four brothers), his wife Stephanie and my nephew Eugène (who is also very cute, of course ;), for the last time, since they don't live far away from Bergerac.

For the first time, I'll be visiting England a bit! So close to home and yet never been there! I guess that's exactly why. I know I can "come over" any time I want (or almost). It's just a small week-end that I will be shearing with two very good friends of mine: Yael, the crazy psychologist traveller I met in El Calafate (Southern Argentinean Patagonia) and Céline, one of my best friends in the world and whom I have known since we were about ten.

Sunday evening, at exactly 8.40 pm, I'll be boarding the Iceland Express plain to Iceland and land in Keflavik at 22.40 pm. Hurrraaaayyyy! :)
I am very much looking forward to seeing what kind of greetings the Icelandic weather will give me as I get out of the airport: Will there be wind or rain? Or maybe both?
Most often, as you step one foot out the door, the icy wind you know so well creeps right in through your sleeves and neck and into your jacket (if you remembered to bring one) and from there you can just feel it squeezing in through your skin and into your veins...
And you think to yourself: "WELCOME TO ICELAND!"

These are the moments that make life worth living.

;)

-Camille.

Sea lions, iguanas, sharks and Sir David freakin' Attenborough!!!

2006-05-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

Finally!!! All my airplaintickets are finally booked! It's amazing how I seem to manage to get things through at the las minute! A few hours ago, I bought my ticket from Cuba to France - but I had already bought my ticket to Cuba a week earlier. Now, the thing was that I thought I was going to be able to buy the return ticket on the same day I bought the other ticket and I was flying to the Galápagos on Monday 1st and coming back on week later, that is: today (also last minute, of course ;)...but noooo, taking out money from the ATM or ANY cash machine seemed to be impossible and forget about buying airtickets through the internet in South America! So, I went to the Galápagos without having sorted ewhat I needed to sort out. And my flight to Cuba leaves tomorrow morning! People who know me will not be surprised. The old typical Icelandic saying "Thetta reddast bara" (e.:everything's gonna work out) was dominant in my mind, and I just decided to forget about it until my return to Quito. And luckily, after a crazy run through the whole city of Quito and a lot of waiting in line, it did, although I only had a few hours to do so! So at the same time tomorrow I'll be in Cuba!!! Iiii, I'm so excited to see all those old buildings and cars and just listening to good music and lying at the beach... :)

So here is my plan for the rest of the trip:
Tomorrow: flight to Cuba.
May 19th: flight back to Bordeaux where I'll finally get to meet half my family again! :)
June 11th or 12th (ok, I haven't booked THAT ticket yet :): Bergerac - London where I'llbe visiting my crazy (in a very good way) friend Yael ;)
June 15th: flight with IcelandExpress to my beloved home country just in time for Independance Day (17th) after almost 8 months abroad!!!

But maybe I should tell a bit about my little (but veeery expensive - thank god for creditcards!) trip to paradise:
As you know, I had met a lovely Irishman, Peter. The last time I wrote I had just embarced on the 1st class (just had to emphasize that ;) boat "La Estrella del Mar" but was not reaaally impressed... But that changed to the better :)
The first whole day, we went to an island called Bartolomé where we saw tonns of Frigate birds (black, with huge flaming red balloons on their necks :) and blue-footed boobies (yes, that's what they're called! :), and then to another one, North Seymour where we snorkled with tonns of beautiful fish and sharks! Yepp..I saw one swimming around close to me. It wasn't that big (white tip reef shark) so I decided to get a little closer. With a little tingly feeling in me tummy I got so close that only an elbow-length separated us. But then, suddenly, his ice-cold eye turned and looked me directly in my two little irises: "shit!", I thought quite UNcalmly to myself and retrieted cowardly! Oh god, those eyes are amazing: it's like looking stone-cold Death directly in the eyeballs! Ok, they might be a slight exaggeration, but still... The truth is, that this kind of shark is not at all aggressive, but since I was deeply influenced by the movie "Jaws" when I was younger - as I think many were - I felt intimidated nonetheless! So after that, I contented myself with playing with the sealions and cursed creation for not having given humans the ability to breathe under water :)
Now, apart from these "perilous" encounters I did get to see some of the amazing fauna the Galápagos have to offer: land- and sea iguanas, giant tortoises and sea turtles in masses, pelicans, seagulls (creatures I really loath with all my heart, don't ask me why), yellow puffer fish - which according to my dear Peter look like cocnuts ;) - and I think that's about it!
Oh, I'm forgetting: But the most amazing creature I saw, goes by the name of Sir David Attenborough, probably the most famous documentary-making biologist ever to step foot on this earth!
Peter and I were walking down the street in the town of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz (the most expensive and touristy one) looking for tours to spend our money on, when we stopped at a cotorner to get our bearings. My head turns to the restaurant we were standing in front of, and who do I see, but Sir David freakin' Attenborough laid back in a rest chair cahtting to what I presume was a colleage. My heart was pounding, I look at him amazed and he turns his head - he must have felt the amazing attraction of my gaze ;) - looks at me, our eyes meet, and all I can do is smile the best of my so charming smiles...which probably was quite idiotic, but nonetheless we keep looking each other in the eyes and...trrrrrrr (suspense drums;)! the magic happens...this lovely old genious smiles back at me! But seriously, how could he NOT smile, I mean, me being such an amazing human specimen ;) Hehe, but seriously, I don't think I have ever been so excited and overwhelmed over a more than 60 year old man smiling to me!
So I turn to Peter, who had totally oblivious to this magical situation, and say: "Peter, this man is fucking (pardon my French, but that is what I said...quotes have to be correct you know ;) David Attenborough!!!" And Peter goes: "who??". I was so going to go up to him, very respectfully and nicely, shake his hand (like a good educated girl), introduce myself and express my sincere and deep admiration for him and his work. But did I? Noooo. No I didn't!!! Why? Well, I'd like to blame that on dear Peter (yes honeybunny, it does make me feel better blaming it on you!!!) who dissuaded me, saying "I wouldn't to that, he probably gets bothered all the time...". At the time, that sort of made sence to me, and eventhough I reeaaally wanted to, I walked away. "Why the hell didn't you go talk to him?" one of our cruise-partner Kate (Australia) said to me as I was telling my beautiful tale, and then went on: "you had the chance of a lifetime to meet Sir David Attenborough and you BLEW IT!!!". Well, THAT certainly didn't make me feel better! As you can see, I am still quite bitter over this mishap! I have only two regrets from all my seven-month-long trip: Not going to Columbia AND not going up to that man just to say hello!!! But then again, I DID get a smile, and what a beautiful smile it was ;). Don't worry people, I'm strong, so I WILL get over this...one day ;) Hehe, bet you're feeling pretty bad right about now, Irishman...muahhhahahahahaaaaaa ;) Just kidding, I know it wasn't - entirely - your fault, dear :)
Anywho,
The Galápagos really turned out to be what I expected and more. Saw some great shit, managed to get teribly sunburnt after falling asleep on the deck without sunscreen (I know, clever me), and met some lovely people: Samina and Sandesh from London with whom I rode on some huge waves (by boat) through the extremely dangerous entry to the lava-tunnels on Isabela (the biggest and youngest island in the Galápagos - but that's another story) and the lovely fellow passengers on "La Estrella del Mar"...apart from people like the "American Heroes", as Peter loathingly called one US older couple who complained about stuff like "there is no air-con on this bus" when we were going at high speed with ALL the windows open..and shockingly commenting "you shouldn't touch the baby sea-lions, the mother won't recognize their smell and they'll die!", when we sort of told them about our little dearing competition on going to touch one of them while sleeping...Yeah, I know: Americans! ...Although I really do hope that little darling still is alive and well... Those might one of those "oups, I didn't know..hehe", of the trip!

Ok, I think I will cut this short for now, eventhough there is so much more I would like to write about, like the crazy Russians (ok, Latvians) who were driving the smug, sissy-looking and extremely annoying guide Joseph absolutely mad with their constant drinking and rudeness - which he definitley deserved, though ;)... But I'll spear you, don't worry :)

Sláinte! (that means "cheers" in Irish :)
-Camille the noughtynoughty :)

Going out with a Bang ;)

2006-05-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

I am finally approaching the end of my trip, this looong trip which is the longer I have ever made. And I am happy. 7 months have past since I was last in Iceland, and I am quite joyful to be going back soon and meeting my family and friens, whom I haven't seen in such a long time. My crazy (but in a very good way) grandfather, my also abit nutty mommy and of course my lunatic brother Tristan and his son Ýmir, whom I don't know yet if will inherit this interesting and so-not-boring family illness ;) And then the girls, Elín, Unnur - who will very soon become a mom (!), Hallgerdur, Inga Fanney, Álfdís, Cilia, Kolla and all those wonderful people whom I am so lucky to be able to consider friends :) Yes, I am getting a bit cheezy, aren't I?? ;)
Time has passed so fast. Well, it didn't always seem to, but now it does.

But I am definitely going to enjoy the rest of my trip to the fullest!
I am now in the FREAKIN' GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS on a fucking (sorry about the swearing, but in this case very appropriate :) 1st class cruiser! Well...I wouldn't call it top knoch (how the hell do you write that word?), I mean, the food is "ok" and little by little you find out about some extra costs... But I am in very good company. Peter, my new irish Chemical Engineer (always impressed by that profession) drinking buddy (I know, dangerous!) was on the same plane that I was, and then by coincidence at the same hostal, and then the same diving center (but no, I did not dive) and THEN at the same beach...so we finally started talking and have been quite inseperable since. I would define this as a love/hate relationship, somewhat similar to the one i have with my brother Tristan. Anyway, we've been livin' it up for the last few days: going up volcanoes on horseback (my rear still hurts!), diving with giant seaturtles and lying in hammocks on beaches with nice little cocktails...ok, he drinks beer of course, but since the summer of Elín and I in Hungary and Croatia, noone can take the pleasure of a good cocktail away from me!!!
So, today, before going on the boat "La Estrella del Mar", we stocked up: about ten beers, two bottles of vodka, 4 l of Fanta (there was no Sprite) and a bunch of lemons :) What? Can't a girl have a good time???!! Ok, I don't think we'll manage to finish this on our own...well, think Peter can drink infinite amounts of alcohol if provoced...but I'm reckoning we'll share, since there aren't only retirees on the boat!
So you see, I can't really complain...and I bet someone would shoot me if I would! Especially those in the middle of final exams right now!!!

So, final point being, I gonna enjoy the rest of this freakin' vacation until I come home to Iceland, on the 15th of June.

I love you all,
hugs and kisses,

-Camille la vikinga, "drekka meeeeiira!!!" ...nei, segi bara sona... :)

I´M GOING TO THE JUNGLE!!!

2006-03-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know... I have been a very lazy blogger... And? no, just kidding - I do feel a little bit bad about not giving any news of my whereabouts for such a long time :/

Anyway, what have I been doing for the last two months? Well, not that much really...
Ok, let me start my bragging: ;)
I almost went to the top of the Aconcagua with my dear peruvian nutcase-travel-partner, Marcos (went up another mountain next to it 5100m - literally never been so high in my life!!!), visited the Valley of the Moon, went to a carnival in Humahuaca, spent my birthday in hotel made entirely out of salt in the Salar de Uyuni (saltdesert) in Bolivia, did the "deathroad" by bike, went to see Manu Chao in La Paz, chilled out on the Isla del Sol in the Titicaca Lake and am now in Cuzco, aerchaeological capital of the world, and tomorrow I am heading towards the Manu, a national park near Cuzco, which is primary jungle (Amazonia) where I will be in the company of monkeys, snakes, alligators, butterflies, parrots and such for about 6 days.

Allt this, of course, in a very good "entourage" ;) ... of mostly argentinean people (and the occasional Italian stallions :) You see, I finally managed to leave Argentina, but who says I can't enjoy the argentineans' company!

And that's about it :)

See, dear readers - if someone still takes pain in opening this site - how I CAN be brief when I really want to! :)

Anyway, so I am in good health...eventhough I did fall - face down - with all my gear (backpacks, that is) in the middle of the street in Copacabanathe other day in front of crowd of people who didn't know wheather to laugh or call a doctor! When they saw me rise up from the dirt with mud on my face and a look that said "oh dear, what a fool I have made of myself", they couldn't help but smile...
It did hurt though...The "click" in my ancle was not a good indicator of the week to come, but thanks to my Arnica 200 (yes, mom, that's for you ;) I feel so much better and can actually walk witout feeling the squeak in my foot! And I am quite proud that this should only have happened after 6 months of travelling!

Well then, that's all folks,
hope you're all happy and well :) ...I will let no ironic comment of "how you must be freezing your butts off back home and I am not" follow this greating... ;) (ho-ho)

Besos y abrazos!
-Camille

Cerro Champaquí, Provincia de Córdoba

2006-01-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!
Lazy Camille is back ;) I think I can safely say I was having sort of a writer's block! Also, I didn't think it mattered that much, since I don't know if anyone is actually reading this shit! (ok, apart from a few faithful comment-writers...hint-hint ;)
Ok, what has happened since the last time I wrote?...hmmm. Well, don't worry, I'm definitely not gonna describe every move I have made. Or...

Ok, last time I was in Puerto Iguazú, gazing at the waterfalls and being getting sunburnt.
Then I went to San Ignacio, which is also in Misiones (I recommend you getting a map of Argentina to be able to follow this more closely ;) to see the Jesuit ruins. You see, there are plenty of those in Misiones (and many other parts of Argentina, in Córdoba as well, f.ex.).
Sani Ignacio is a very small town and I came there quite late, at approx. 1 am. The driver woke me up and said "acá estámos" ("here we are") and I looked around (med styrur í augum) and saw nothing indicating a hostel or somewhere to sleep, and basically there was not one cat on the streets (or should I rather say "dog" since they are averywhere in Argentina) and thought: "hmm, ok...now where do I sleep?" I got out of the micro (bus), put on the damn backpack and started looking more closely around for sleeping accomodation.
After having stood on the square for about 2 minutes, 2 young girls walked by. I was not going to let this oppourtunity pass me by and asked them for direction. They were so kind to walk me to a sort of hospedaje (sort of hostel)/ camping. But there didn't seem to be anybody there...
So I decided to get installed in the camping. But then the fiaca (lazyness) came up in me. "Oh god, why should I ever put up the tent when I am gonna leave tomorrow?!"So I did something I have never done before, and that is to sleep under the bare naked sky :)
So I just took out my sleeping bag (which was absolutely unnecesary - it was very hot still. Subtropical, you see), used it as a mattress (I didn't feel like looking for the mattress either ;) and slept in that silk thing you're supposed to put in the sleeping bag :) And I slept reeeaaaally well! ...apart from the bleeeeping mosquitos!
Next morning: early rise and off to see the ruins. It was quite nice, since there was almost no-one there and I felt like I had everything just for myself. Quite a luxury.

After that quick stop in San Ignacio, I went to Posadas (capital of Misiones).
There, I had the pleasure to stay with a girl named Laura, her girlfriend Gloria and her mom, Rosa. Wow, those women are what you would call in Icelandic "kjarnakonur", directly translated as "women of core", means really strong women. I had met Laura through the Hospitality Club and she welcomed me into her home with open arms, right from the start - and all of them actually :) Spent my time going out with the girls (really not much to do in Posadas, though) , eating extraordinary homemade (by Laura) gnocchi de papas (potatoe) and sitting in their kitchen in my undies in front of the ventilator, talking to Rosa and drinking lots and lots of maté! So as you can see, I did feel quite at home!

After staying there 2 nights, I went to Córdoba Capital (most of the times, the capital of a province and the province itself have the same name). Oh dear, I was gonna do sooo much. Gp at least to 2 museums, walk around, see the sites and the churches and well, all the usual tourist stuff opne does when coming to a new place. But nooooo. I went out and partied instead! It wasn't really my fault, you know, basically aaaall the kids at the hostel forced me to come with them (as you may know, I am extreeeemely popular wherever I go ;). So, of course, I really couldn't disappoint all of these new-made friends and finally succomed to their demands. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do ;)
No, but seriously, at the hostel (Hostelling International, Backpacker's) there were lots of great people from all over the world. A few crazy Americans, one Danish guy, a German guy, some Argentineans and a few guys and girls from Mexico. So this night (of my arrival), a big party was made and everybody seemed to be having a blast. I must admit that at times it made me think of an Icelandic party. Equals: lots of drinking ;) And of course I had to prove my viking-bloode and drink them all under the table with a final roaaaring burp ;) Hehe, I think I did win their respect...or intrigue, I'm not sure ;) Anyway, it was fun, but of course the day after did not go exactly as planned. Meaning: i slept until 5 pm! God, I was angry with myself! But blessfully I overheard a conversation between a peruvian guy and the guy working at the hostel about climbing and trekking and stuff, and managed to barge into that conversation, resulting that I went with Marco to a gym to climb walls. Well, hehe...I basically watched him climb after having tried and failed miserably! But is was fun. Strange to enter into a gym again - it's been quite a long time...

The next day, I went to Carlos Paz.
Carlos Paz is a small town in the province (35 km from Córdoba Capital) and is extremely touristic. And when I say touristic, I mean the place is PACKED! People come from all over the country (much from Buenos Aires) to relax in the mountains and breathe the fresh air and bathe in some of the many, many rivers and creeks. It's just like the beach...only inland and without the sea...hehe. Hmmm. And the young people also come to party. Every night, the mainstreets are packed (from high up, they really look like ants!) and nightclub people are hunting for innocent blood (=handing out leaflets :) and barely clothed women (or living toothpicks, I should rather say) are dancing (ok, moving bizarrely ;) on especially made platforms on cartops with the appropriate "aha-aha, oh yeah-oh yeah"-music. It is quite interesting. Poor women, I hope the pay is good, at least!

Anyway, it has still been great. I have been here for more than a week now - ok, not only in Carlos Paz, but based here - for one reason in particular, ok two: 1-the place is great and 2-I was so fortunate to have been offered to crash at Noelia and her husband's Vladimir's place, but Noelia is the sister of Sergio, Unnur's fiancé...but Unnur is one of my very good friends in Iceland. Get it? Ok, just take a second to think now ;)
I thought that was really nice of them, since I had only met them once in Iceland! They are really great, I must say. Qué buena onda, loco! (roughly translated: "good vibrations"). Ok, to show just a bit of how great they are I will tell you this:
I was going to go around the province and visit some villages and dandy stuff like that... So Noelia proposes (by the way-I did not try to imply anything of the sort :) that we rent a car and go on a little roadtrip all together. "Okidoki!" I thought, but wasn't sure it was going to happen, since we then checked it out and all the cars in Carlos Paz were booked and/or only the really expensive ones available...
So I go and do my stuff, went to "La Quebrada del Condorito" (a provincial park) and walked there, went then to another town: Mina Clavero, where I strolled around in the artisan's market, got my hand read (quite accurately, actually!) and saw a band playing - Tequilombao - (Mauro, a guy I had met hitch-hiking was playing in it :), partied a bit and ended then up sleeping a)on a bench at the bus-station and b)on a couch in some presumably abandonned hotel reception. Yes, interesting, I know. ...but it wasn't that bad, really! A little sad, but hey ;)
Getting to the point: I had called Noelia the night before to say I wasn't coming home and all and then she told me they had actually gone to Córdoba and rented a car from there! I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised! And the next day, they came to pick me up in Mina Clavero and we started our little road-trip. That day, Vladimir drove all the way to Cerro Colorado (or "cerrhho colooorao" like the cordobeses say ;) , which is quite far and stayed in a hotel. Mmmmm, a BED again. It was quite funny, because we were a little scared that it would be quite pricy, so Noelia goes to the desk and asks if there are any rooms available. Yes, there are. And then for the price: and the receptionist (which also seems to be the dueña) says with an apologising tone: "it will be 17 pesos", and then even more apologising: "all the 15 peso ones are occupied". To give an idea of the cheapness of the place, one us dollar is 3 pesos, and one peso is about 22 crowns (Isk). In my dear Calafate, some hotels were covering more than 200 pesos per night!!!
So Noelia says to the lady in a relatively pensive tone: "hmm, I will have to consult my companions" and looks at me. "Yes, I think we should take it", as in "that seems to be an acceptable price"-tone, and we look at each other and think "WOW, that was cheaper than we expected!!!"
When we entered the hotel room we had payed so dearly I couldn't help but think (outloud): "but, WHERE is the television?". This was totally and utterly unacceptable. ;)

Anyway, we all sleep like angels and the following day we go to see the wall-and cave-paintings which are all over the place, which was interesting - apart from the fact that the guide knew absolutely (or close to) nothing about them: "well, this painting is of a guanaco, this one might be of a sun, and this is some geometrical form.", and then added: "...which we don't really know what signifies..." Well, duh, we can also see it's a geometrical form, you imbecile! The worst part is, that you are not allowed to go see the paintings without a guide, and there are like 2 tours a day. Too bad for you if come between 11 and 4 in the afternoon!
But it was still good. We also went to the museum of a certain Natahualpa Yupanqui, a folklore singer who travelled all over the world and who amongst other things got famous in Japan and sang with Edith Piaf! Hm, so many things I just don't know jack about in the world! And I bought a CD :)

Ok, this is getting a liiiitle longer than I anticipated. That is usually what happens when I start at the beginning. They say it's a guide's best quality to be able to sum up alot in a few words... Hehe, well - I guess I have alot to learn, in that sense! My point with all of this, was just to express my gratitude and appreciation of this absolutely crazy (in a good way, of course) Argentinean/Icelandic/Bulgarian couple! Chicos, ustedes son recopados!!! Y Sergio, que buena hermana (y cuñado) que tenés!
Anyway, we get home after doing lots of other nice stuff I am NOT GOING to go into. Ok, I must only mention Vladimir's rally experience in the Altas Cumbres...hehe. Wiiiiiiiiiiii!!! ;)
Oh, and one more thing: "y acá tenemos la bombilla..." ;)

As you might have noticed, the title says "Cerro Champaqui..."
I was actually only going to write about that (in long terms, of course), but now my writing balloon has disenflated a bit. I know what some of you must be thinking, if you are still there: "phiouhh! At last!". Or am I wrong? Hehe, only a little more torture:

I, Camille Marmié, decided the other day to go climb the Cerro Champaquí, the highest mountain in Córdoba, more precisely 2790m with all my stuff and camp on the top.

Well, it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be. It seemed to be impossible to get any sort of information on the matter whatsoever. And when I finally did, it was all wrong!
My idea was to climb up the west side and go down the east side. I had been told that the upclimbing would be about 12 hours and the going down about 6. "Ok", I thought, "that seems to be doable" and headed on.
Of course things did not go exactly as I planned: I ended up coming quite late to Yacanto de Calamuchita (a very, very small place), where a unnamed person told me that the road to the mountain started. The thing about the "road" was true, since I found out that there was actually a road - as in "for cars" - leading all the way up tp the top! And that the base from which people started trekking, was about 30 km away or something. Hmm. Oh, well. That night I stayed in the camping of Yacanto, which although it was quite hidden, turned also out to have some hidden qualities. The dueña Mari helped as much as she could - for information, and basically everything... she even gave some cigarettes (I was out...cough,chogh), lipbalm (it's dry up at the top), called to Noe and Vladimir to let them know I would probably come later than planned and that the helicopter would not be necesary until at least Monday evening ;)... and then she absolutely refused to let me pay for the night! Horrible people, absolutely horrible!!! ;)
So, what I did, was to start walking that road (only 42km to go!) in the baking sun and hope that someone would pick me up and bring me to the 3rd post - Tres Arboles - where there was supposed to be (or at least I thought) a track to the base of the mountain. It turns out there was - but at that time it was starting to get a bit late, and my plan of sleeping at the top seemed to be fading away... But no! I was going to get there! And I did. I ended up walking about 4 hours on that goddamn road, curve after curve, but got quite a few lifts with some quite nice people. Gracias a Gabriel y Gabriela y el grupo con el Willy's :) And I DID get to the top walking. ...the last bit at least ;)
And oh, the sunset. Nobody but med, Mr Murphy and the setting sun on the valley of Traslasierra (San Luis).
Then I got a bit freaked out: "where the HELL am I going to go down?!?" looking down the very steep west side. I sort of gave myself 2 options and decided to sleep on it.
Woke up at about 6, got up and watched the sunrise. Mmmm, also veeeery nice ;) A private show, once more!
Well, but what was I going to do? I had gotten some very confusing information from a guide I met going up (about where to go down on the west side) and I did have to take into consideration the fact that I had quite a heavy backpack (about 16kg, I presume), bad articualtions and notas good a physical shape as would be optimum for a 9 hour (at the best!) down a "quite" steep mountain, without a track, nor water all the way down. Hmmm, for you, the answer may seem very simple, but I had put it in my head that I was going to go down the other way! But I decided to swollow my pride and be reasonable and went down the other way - I had seen some houses down in the east side valley, without really knowing what they were. I still had a vague belief, that this might be the way the guide had told me. But of course it wasn't.
On my way down I met some guys. Yes, only men! And the first four of them recommended me to stay put at one of the ranches (the houses formed a sort of mountain village with a small school and everything) and ultimately go down the rest (because that was not the end: about 20km to go!) the day after with them and get a ride to town. Hm. That was quite interesting. Gustavo, the group "leader", a blond, arrogant, but also very nice guy, told me i would probably DIE if I went down the other way. "Interesting", thought I, but decided nothing yet.
After about 4 hours of thumpin' and dunkin' (thus my nickname "Hlunkadunka - Thumpin'dunk") down the mountain, I got to the Rancho Ramón Gonzalez. Frankly, I was w a i s t e d. I even asked if they had a mule to take me down to Villa Alpina, the base camp! But there was no-one to take me there...Oh, god. What do I do? I sincerely thought about continuing all the way down...before I fell asleep sitting down and with my head flat on the dining-room table. When I woke up I decided to stay. It was a really nice place. And cozy. And they had everything for everything: beds, food, beer (which I did NOT drink, for this once, btw ;), a dining room and last but not least: a great view and a really nice river running right by. Logic decision, don't you think???
And so I read, and then fell asleep again and read some more. Everything was sort of in a haze. Then I finally woke up when the guys came back. "so you decided to stay, eih? I told it was great here, I don't lie..." Oh, Gustavo is so smug! A typical guide: always, always right! But like I said: a really good guy. All in all they were four: Gustavo (who has climbed the mountain 25 times!), Sergio the tango-dancer (provaste el yogurt? ;), Mario the nice guy and Duilio, a 65 year-old hardball who had been determined to climb the mountain, eventhough people called him crazy! We ended up having quite a nice night (oh dear, the star-filled sky!!!), chatting and eating grilled lamb...namminamm-"á diskinn minn!"

Today...yes, finally!
Today, we went down to Villa Alpina. It took us about 5 hours. I have to admit I was quite tired when we finally arrived. We all took a shower - a very welcome shower, and then Duilio was so nice to give me a ride (although I did at sometimes think I would die, he drove so fast! Well, there ain't no grandpa like Duilio!) to Alta Gracia ("High Grace"?) were I could take a bus to Carlos Paz. And here I am once again.

Next destination: Mendoza - The Aconcagua!

Again, I have to admit that once sat down and stretched in Villa Alpina, I thanked (the) God(s) and my good reasoning for not having tried to go down the other side.

...But I am STILL going to do it some day!!!

And finally:
"In case I don't see ya, good morning, good evening and good night!"
-Thumpin'dunk

p.s. THERE ARE NOW PHOTOS FROM EL CHALTÉN!

Sunburnt

2006-01-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Yepp! I went to the famous Iguazú falls today. It was beautiful. Really beautiful. ...too bad there were so many people there! I meen hello! Did they not know that I (I would put a capital i i it wasn´t already there :) was coming and would need some time alone with this natural phenomenon ("neeih! Fenomon med Anthony Hopkins!" hehe, ég elska tessa senu! Ekki satt, Elín? ;)??? Ok, then you might argue that they too have the right to see it, but lets face it: there is noone on this earth more important than me. Ok, don´t look so shocked - everybody is the most important person on the face of the earth...at least in their own little world. They just might be afraid to admit it. Well I´m not. Eeeeverything is about me...and it feels good to admit it - because that´s the only way you can work on changing it and becoming less self-centered :) Ok...this wasn´t supposed to become some existencial crisis blog but whatever.
So, I went to the falls - it was really beautiful - I took some (very expensive) boat to go under them and get really wet (which I did) - baithed in the Río Iguazú (in the marked zone like a good tourist) - saw some lizards, monkeys and birds and took tons of pictures...but as a consequence of the very hot sun and me losing my hat into the river somewhere along the boattrip I got really, really sunburnt. Oh well, it´s better than freezing your but off somewhere...hehe.

Gotta go jump in the pool,
Camille the biaatch ;)

On the Road Again!

2006-01-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, I did it. On the road again...all alone like a big girl! Now I am in Puerto Iguazú, on the northeastern corner of Argentina with borders to Brasil and Paraguay. As you can imagine, it's pretty hot! But IIII like it!!! :) Ok, don't hold this against me if in a few weeks I'm sick of this frying heat, ok! (can't find the question mark on this fu..... computer!)
I just came today from Buenos Aires, where I spent about 2 weeks chilling and meeting friends. First with my friend Martín (from Calafate), who was watching his aunt's apartment in Banfield, a suburb in the Zona Sur of Buenos Aires. It was not bad, since she has an apartment on the 9th floor with a great view and there is a swimming pool at the back... So, as you see, I can't really complain! I spent New Year´s Eve on another suburb of Buenos Aires with another friend - Ezequiel. Also know him from Calafate, but he came back for a matter of the heart :) And so I had dinner with his aunt, cousins and grandmother (absolutely brilliant old woman!) in Villa Dominico (nice barrio) and the rest of the night in Wilde, where Ezequiel lives. It's funny...I never thought I would get to know the barrios of Buenos Aires! Absolutely brilliant...rollin' with the homies :>
Of course I did a bunch of other stuff and all that - including staying with my friend Jack in Palermo, where all the rich and stuck-up people of Buenos Aires live, and going out in the storm in the middle of the night, just to get wet and jump in puddles (ok, and buy icecream...mmmmmm, chooocolate and dulce de leche!)
But tomorrow I will go to see the falls of Iguazú, which are the biggest (or 2nd or 3rd...) waterfalls in the world and are on the Unesco list of Patrimonial World Heritage. Anyway, it's gonna be very touristy but that's just fine. I am absolutely ready to embrace my tourist..ness... :>

Tata,
camille

Fotos Bariloche

2006-01-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

Hóla chicos y chicos de Bariloche!
Por fin puse algunas fotos de Bariloche en la página...todavía hay que ordenarlas, pero todo bien - acá están :)

Para los Calafatenses

2006-01-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

Hóla todo el mundo!
Ésta vez, escribo en castellano...
Mucho tiempo en Calafate. Mucha gente...o casí todo el mundo me dijo: "te quedas a vivir". La verdad es que desde el primer día me sentía como en casa. Entré en el pueblo y una sensación familiar me llenó. Me sentía bien, simplemente.
La primera cosa que hacer, fue buscar un hostel. El segundo en cual entré, fue el Hostel Moreno. Buena onda...muy buena onda. Darío (el dueño :) me mostró las habitaciónes y todo éso y pensé "hmmm, podría ser mejor, pero bueno" Porqué es verdad, no es el "gran lujo" pero este hostel tiene algo, no sé que es...debe ser la buena energía que la gente le da. Salí y pensé: "tengo que quedarme en éste hostel". Igual, decidí de buscar un poco más. Un hostel..dos hosteles...pero no: ningúno me llamó la atención. Seguí mi intuición (cómo mi mama me dijo de hacer siempre :) y volví. Buena decisión. Me quedé casí 7 semanas en Calafate en el Hostel ése. Me hicieron sentir cómo en casa: Darío ("ordená tu kilombo!";), su mamá Lili (tan dulce - siempre serás mi mamá argentina ;), Andrea - la linda novia ("qué haces, negra?!"), Fede (cómo va el entrenamiento? ;), por supuesto Martín y todos los demás. Marcos, lo siento que no podía despedirte - siempre me voy a acordar del domingo del Cerro Calafate: "lo qué pasó, pasóóó..."; Nestor, espero que has encontrado el amor de tu vida; Franco, un beso enorme :)
Este lugar fue mi casa en Calafate y quiero darles gracias para hacerme sentir cómo una de la familia.

Otro lugar que tambien entró en mi corazón fue Casablanca.
Y sí, casí todos los días allá, gastando en una lagríma o dos, o tres...o cinco! Y a veces, para cambiar un poco: Un cappuccino!! ;)
Una cliente refiel, fuí yo, pero no era sólo el café que me gustó... Siempre vuelve a la gente...porqué si. Daniel, Miguel, Gonzalo, Alejandro y las chicas me hicieron volver también, casí cada día. Siempre con la sonrísa y así dando un poco más luz a los días de Calafate. Casablanca zafa ;)

Pero qué carajo hize en Calafate todo este tiempo??? Para no estar aburrida y no gastar tanta plata, conseguí trabajo. Mosa en la Hostería Meulen, una hostería hermosa con vista del Lago Argentino y de noche se podía ver todo Calafate.
Además de aprender un montón de cosas (gracias Luis y Cristian) conocí a gente con corazónes de oro. Los jefes, Roberto (más amor Roberto, dáles más amor ;) y Gerardo (Gera, sos un masa! "jejejejejee";), Papi Horí (no te preocupes, no te voy a hacer renegar!), Luís Rouch ("muuy bieeeen":) y el otro (morocho, nunca dejés de bailar y guardála bien, tu sonrísa), Cristian ("porqué sos tan lindo?";), las chicas - Heliana, Paula y Jime (Jime, you know I love you... Why? Because you are the best!) y las nuevas caras - Gabriel (haltu áfram ad laera íslensku!) y Enrique, mi poeta preferido!
Chicos, Gracias a todos!!!

Aieaieaie, por una vez me quedo muda. Pensando en toda estas personas que iluminaron mi existencia en Calafate y intentando de encontrar las palabras para describir lo que todos ustedes presenten para mi. Además confezo que me questa un poco escribir en castellano...

Chicos y chicos del infierno de Campbell ;)
Sin ustedes, nunca me hubiera quedado tanto tiempo en Calafate! Santi, Paula y Majo, siempre con la puerta abierta a todo el mundo y la sonrísa puesta (se dice?). Algunos (bueno, muchos!) de mis mejores momentos los pasé en su casa en la Calle 22, Esquina 37 ;) Mmmm, cuando pienso en los asados... :)
José, Damian, Roberto, Ezequiel - ustedes han sido como hermanos para mi. Ezequiel, puteando como siempre; Roberto, me encanta como bailas! ;Damian, el modelo perfecto...mmm, carne argentina ;) Gracias para tu sonrísa y tus canciónes; José, mi hermanito ;) Te adoro - acordáte de nuestra conversación del otro día: te lo mereces de ser feliz.
Marcelo, ya sé que no vas a leer ésto, y igual, ya sabes lo que sos para mi.
Germán, Martín (mil gracias para llevarme al aeropuerto!) y todos los demás, siguen siendo copados como siempre!!!

Y Belén, simplemente te ADORO.
Mandale besos a tus amigas, Natalia y las otras.

En el Paseo de los Gnomos hay una tienda, se llama El gnomo loco y vende remeras turisticas, de los Simpsons y más y más y más... Pero quien es este "gnomo loco?". Es un chico más que copado - Guillermo - que me vestió en Calafate (necesité un cambio de mi pollera de flores - gracias ;) La novia de Guillermo es Eva la Noruega - qué linda pareja que hacen :) Suerte a ustedes y la panza que debe crecer como loca!!! Yo quiero fotos! ;) Og Eva: ha det meget, meget godt og spis hvad for fanden du vil!

A todos los demás que no he nomrado, ustedes también tienen un lugarcito en mi.

Uf..me siento reemocionada! Calafate, para mi, ya no es un pueblo (que va creciendo en un rápidez!) en Santa Cruz, Patagonia del Sur, Argentina...pero un hogar.
Y como lo dije a algunos de ustedes, a pesar de que me fuí de Calafate, Calafate nunca partirá de mi corazón.

Calafate - sin City
...no sólamente fumar, tomar y coger! ;)

Calafatenses,
ÉG ELSKA YKKUR OLL (les quiero a todos)!!!

La islandesa qué algún día volverá ;)

p.s. la proxima vez en internet voy a añadir algunas fotos más...
p.s.2 Commentarios son los bienvenidos! ...hacer "clic"en "Here shalt thou comment" acá abajo :)

Decision, oh, tough decision...

2005-12-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

Yepp, I finally decided. I am leaving. Slight change of plans. I will be in Buenos Aires over the holidays and from the there I will continue my trip up north. It was really a hard decision to make, since this place is really starting to feel like home. But, the chapter here is soon coming to an end and I have to turn the page. It hurts a bit, but it is a relief as well. I will always hold Calafate and the crazy people here close to my heart... and one fine day, I will return.

In case I don't write again before the 24th , then I wish you A L L
A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Especially the family of course...Afi, tú rúlar feitt!!!... og allir hinir líka audda sko :) Hvernig er annad haegt? Ég bara spyr... ;)

...and the girls:
Stelpur: Elín, Hallgerdur, Unnur, Inga Fanney, Álfdís, Nanna Kay, Cilia, Kolla!
Hafid tad sem allra best bara, borda og sofa og borda og sofa og kannski horfa smá a sónvarpid og hafa tad huggó...og svo audvitad skemmta sér!! Sakna ykkar allra mjog mikid og djofull vaeri gaman ad hafa ykkur allar hérna elsku dúllurnar mínar!!!!! Ég veit ekki hversu oft ég er búin ad fá spurninguna :"og áttu ekki einhverja íslenka vinkonu til ad kynna mig fyrir?" ;)
Bid ad heilsa ollum,
Innilegar jólakvedjur og knús og allt tad!

FELIZ NAVIDAD :) :) :)
Ykkar always,
-camille.

Og Eyjó: knúúúúúúúúúúús :)

Pour les francais:
Gros bisous a tous d'ici de la Patagonie! Je vous souhaite de tres bonnes fétes de noel et une bonne nouvelle année et bonne santé biensur!
La famille: Bon, Thomas, puisque tu es le seul avec internet...Fais un gros calins a tous de ma part et surtout les petits qui grandissent si vite!!! Vous me manquez énormément et je pense a vous tres souvent :)
Bisous,
-la petite derniére ;)

Céline:
Joyeux noël a toi poulette et a ton amour. Mes amis, je vous aime!!!
- C

Ok, that´s it. And to all the other wonderful people I know: Take care and don´t forget to just let yourselves be happy in all the Christmas insanity!!!

Love,
C A M I L L E
aka: Thumpin'dunk ;)

"Snow is falling..."

2005-12-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

...No, just kidding! But it should be god damn it - it´s almost Christmas!!! Seriously: for me, Christmas without snow, freezing cold and dark days is no Christmas at all! But frankly, I wouldn´t change it for the world right now. Ok, if I could jump to Iceland just for a few days, I definitely would, but I suppose that is "too hard". Jesus, what happened to magic and Christmas miracles, huh?! ... :) But summer is good :) Just a bit strange to see Christmas decorations when the thermometer shows 25 degrees.
Anywho, I am staying in Calafate over the holidays amongst some friends. It will be different, but good.
Yesterday, an overwhelming feeling of happiness came over me. And for no reason. That has not happened in a long time. I was strolling along the Avenida Libertador (the main street) with the most stupid looking smile ever... People looked at me like I was a lunatic! ...wait a minute, talking about lunatics: yesterday night was full moon... That might have been an important factor. Hmmm... Well, then I also realised, mommy send me a remedy (she is a very talented homeopath, you see ;), medurrhinum, cause I was feeling a bit lost and it really worked. I know this, because last time she gave it to me it worked out very similarly.
But I don´t get it, why do people look at you strangely when you look happy? Is it because they are not used to it anymore?

Ok, I'm not gonna have this any longer now.
Hugs and kisses,

-Thumpin'dunk.

Pictures!

2005-12-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, if I figured this out correctly, there is supposed to be a link here on the right under "Hlekkir", which says "Photos!!!", and when you click on that, you should be able to get into my yahoo photo site. There are 2 albums there now, both from Calafate. This is all in process, and I will put more in when time (and money) allows it :)

Hugs to everybody,
-camilita

A few friends :)

2005-12-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

The "despedida" (goodbye gathering) of Roberto, a great guy who just left Calafate to go back to Buenos Aires. But he will be back, I am sure! Took place in "la Toldería", THE bar in Calafate. There are more (3 to be more precise :) but this one is always the strongest candidate.
From left to right: Ezequiel, Majo, José "el guacho", I, Jorge and Gaston. Plenty of people missing, though...

Me...

2005-12-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

So this what I look like these days..ok, on good days ;)

El Calafate

2005-12-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

View from the top of Cerro Calafate

"Where Everybody Knows your Name"

2005-11-28T22:03:00.000-08:00

I am staying!
...Don´t know how much longer exactly, but I have gotten myself a job so I guess that says something! I really do like it here in Calafate. It´s a small little (extremely) touristic town where everybody knows everything about everybody - sort of like Iceland - but I like it. If I am bored, I just walk to the lake (Lago Argentino - it´s huge) and take a look at the flamencoes or go to Casablanca, a very nice and cozy coffee house/bistro and have a "lágrima", that is: milk with a dash of coffee. Nice that they have a name for that here, that way I don´t have to ask for café con leche "but with more milk than coffee...actually a Leche con café.." and then add an awkward I'm sorry to be such an annoying customer-smile... :) I think everybody who works in that coffee house knows my name now, and almost all of them greet me with a kiss when I walk through the door. "So, shall I bring you your lágrima?" "Yeah, I guess...hehe" Feels sort of silly, - or sad (I don´t know which one), coming there almost every day and always asking for the same thing! Although the last couple of times I have taken a risk in beverage selection: A CAPPUCCINO! ...Exciting, huh? ;) But it´s nice, going to a place "where everybody knows your name" ;)

The best part about this town is the people. Nature is beautiful here, but without the people I met, I would never have stayed this long. There´s Martín, a guy that works in the hostel I´m staying at (Hostel Moreno) and who has become sort of a fifth brother to me, and hos friend Roberto, which has one of the most contagious laughs I´ve ever encountered time; The owner of the Hostel, Darío (and Federíco) and his lovely mother Lili; everybody at Casablanca of course ;) and all the lovely people in my working place and many, many more. I will not bore you with a longer list!

Ah, maybe I should tell you where I am working. It is a small 3 star hotel called Hostería Meulen and is situated at about a 20 min walk from the center and has a splendid view over the lake and Calafate. Basically I´m working as a waitress. Eventhough I don´t think there is much pay (don´t know exactly, only been working there for a week and a half) it´s really not bad. Everybody tells me I should find a job as tourist translater or interpreter or somehting, which is not a bad idea and much, MUCH better pay... But that involves a minimum of 10-12 hours a day and lets face it: I AM on vacation!!!
It´s been a long time since I had worked as a waitress and I never did work in a fancy place like this one... So there are many things I don´t know. This sometimes turns into terribly awkward, but hilarious moments. For example, opening wine bottles is essential to know when you are a waitress/ waiter, right? That might be true, but since I´m not a big wine drinker (eventhough I like a good glass of red wine with my bloody steak (mmmm), I am really not an expert. Really not! My first night, there was a group of 38 tourists and they were all eating at the restaurant ("Sureño", The Southerner). Ok, "big deal" you might think... But they were French. Oh dear, I am French, but I admit that French tourists are probably the most annoyng tourists in the world! Anybody who has gotten contact with a French tourist - or especially a group, will know what I am talking about! They are arrogant, interrupt you all the time and on top af that they are very often cheap! I love them and all and in spite of everything they are great... but sometimes I just wanna scream at them! (now I am also talking as a guide...). And since they are French they obviously know alot about wine... And everybody decides to have a nice bottle of I don´t know what. So of course I get nervous. A really smug guy orders a bottle. And as a waitress I am supposed to do the whole shabang: Show the bottle, pour a tiny bit in a self-elected customers glass, so that he can sniff it, taste it, and then let me know if it´s ok, and then pour the beverage into the other glasses (preferably without spilling it ;) and blablablabla... You all know how that goes... But first of all you have to actually OPEN the god damn bottle! So I come to the table, show the wine and all is fine until I try to put the screwy thing into the cork. "Please don´t screw this up!", I thought to myself... But my hands - troubled by the gaze of what seemed like a thousand eyes - did not seem to want to obey. First thing that happens: I drop the bottle opener on the floor. "Great, just perfect...Ok, one mistake, that´s not that bad..." So I continue after an apologising "woops" - slowly... But the screwer (or whatever it´s called) does not want to have anything to do with the cork and it goes a little too much to the side of the bottle neck. I can feel the guests growing impatient: "on a soif!" one of them said (= we are thirsty!). That did so not help. And so, of course, I hurry up: down goes the screwer, I pull up the cork with quite a force (since it was kind of stuck after my clumsyness) and youhhouuu! the cork is out! ... But wait... There is only HALF of it! I don´t know if you imagine this, but this is just about the worst thing that could happen! And then it gets wores: The whole restaurant was now following my clumsyness and the one who had ordered the wine finally said "ok honey, why don´t you just give the bottle to me, I will handle this!" So all red in the face, I gave him the bottle (accepting my horrenous defeat) and burst out in a nervous laughter and say "haha, isn´t that funny, a FRENCH restaurant waitress who can´t even open one little bottle of wine! ... Oh well, there you go Monsieur, it´s all yours!" They couldn´t help but laugh (thank god) and soon the whole group was laughing at my lousy waiting tactics - but really, I mean, thank god the French do have a slight sense of humour 'cause that really could have turned ugly! I quitted the table as gracefully as I could and went to the next one. Of course, they (and I mean all 38 of them) didn´t leave me alone the whole night- or the other 2 nights either - with funny (and sometimes notsofunny comments about my performance, but at least they were laughing about it. Better to be part of a joke (eventhough you ARE the joke) than having angry customers on your back who then complain to your boss... :)
Oh well, now I can proudly say that my wine bottle opening skills have imroved quite alot and the other day you could not have seen the difference between me and a prise-winning, snobby, 5 star restaurant waitor when I proudly opened an expensive bottle of Malbec for some italians. Now I will just have to see if that was just pure luck or if I will actually succeed again in the face real danger: French wine connaisseurs!

Well, that´s all folks. As usual, this got quite longer than I intended it to be, so those of you who are still reading this: Thank you for your patience ;)

-Hlunkadunka out.

Sunset behind the Fitz Roy

2005-11-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

Fitz Roy, or El Chaltén (= the mountain that smokes). What an amazing creature. And yes, I say creature because it´s definitely ALIVE!

"6 Lovely Old Men ..." Part 3 (and much, much more).

2005-11-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

ok, where was I?
Ah, yes. In the yellow ryebread (Kombie). That was so nice. And they had a great sense of humour... especially when it came to making fun of Argentineans ;) You see, chileans and argentineans don't like each other that much. Argentineans very often feel betrayed since Chile helped England in the Falklands War (Islas Malvinas) ... What they were saying was a little bit true though: Argentineans tend to TALK ... alot ... but actually DO ... much less! This is of course a generalisation, but generalisations always have a bit of truth in them ;)
Anyway, the trip went on and these lovely old peasant looking men (I have nothing against peasants, I must preicise... well, my father is one, so.. :) were talking about digital cameras (they all had one) and cellphones and wireless internet! "Do you have a laptop with you?" Eugenio (the oldest one and the most interested in me) asked me as if nothing were more natural. I looked at him with big round eyes and then replied that no... I didn't really have the space or money (or longing) to do so. "Well," he said. "My son is a journalist and he has a laptop that he takes everywhere he goes, you know, and he can just log on to the internet in a café or anywhere ..." I was amazed. Then he went on and gave me his son's website, the e-mail address and then his own e-mail address. I think Eugenio Moises is the most technologically involved elderly I have ever met!
I also think I have rarely had so much attention at the same time. Everybody wanted to to take a picture of the hitchhiking blondy. Hey, I'm not gonna lie, it was brilliant! :) Well, they also stopped the car to take pictures of the skunk who was crossing the road, but still... I am not sure who would have won that competition so I decided not to give them an ultimatum on that subject!
They finally dropped me off at the intersection of Río Mayo and the crossing to Chile. They were on their way to Coihayque to fish, I think. Had just taken a few weeks off.. well, "off" might not be the right word since they are all retired, but... Anyway, a sort of roadtrip with the boys. The women were left at home! ...they were probably as happy about the vacation as their husbands ;) I took my (huge) bag, stepped outside and asked if I could take a picture of them in front of the car. They were very happy to do so and then started the typical session of "can you take a picture with my camera? ... But then you won't be on it..." and a picture was taken with every single camera. We finally said goodbye and I was left standing by the road once more. My heart was laughing. This was just what I had needed. Jolly people to show me that hitchhiking on the route 40 was not only possible but so much fun!

About 2 minutes later another car stopped. A pickup truck. There are many of those around here. A lovely middle aged man with white hair who was living in Río Mayo for work reasons. He was in charge of the radiocommunications for a few towns on the Ruta 40. Before cellphones he had had alot more to do, but now... He was nice, but there was something really sad in his eyes. He gave me the grand tour around town. Not one street was asphalted and there were more horses than cars. Almost. "where have I landed this time?" I thought.
I stayed 2 nights in Río Mayo.

Saturday: I just wanted to relax a bit so the next day I went and rented myself a horse. Yes, thank you, a HORSE :)
The driver from the day before had given me his address. Very simple: The last house in town. So I went up there, not really knowing what to expect. I came up to the gate... (well, sort of gate and a fence with lots of holes in them :) I wouldn't have mind the fence except because the black, very mean looking dog would not stop barking at me. And his tail was not wagging. Now that is a bad sign. But the bitch (yes, it was a bitch :) did not go through the fence and out came the most kind-looking old man I have ever seen in my life. His name is Raúl. He greeted me with a smile bigger than life and invited me in. I looked at the dog triumphantly ("haha, I win, bitch!"), but she didn't really care. Raúl must be about 1.50m tall, the skin as dark as indians' skin can be and the traits in his face showed something I would like to call wisdom. His house was humble as the owner. One room. In that one room was a sort of couch, a stove (beatiful antique stove inherited from his father), a cupboard, a chair and a table with a radio and behind the radio a a cute little panda-bear that he loved like a baby. I felt quite touched. Not only because I too have a teddy-panda-bear that I love (hey, my father gave it to me when I was 7 - sentimental value! (no-one was allowed to touch that bear except for one person I used to hang quite alot out with when I was younger :)), but because even though he had "nothing" (according to western world standards) he was happy. Just happy. "yo soy contento" he said, and smiled his loveliest (translation of the icelandic: "brosti sínu blídasta).
Then he asked me if I would like him to accompany me. I think he was afraid that I would fall off and break my neck or something :/ I accepted, not because I was afraid I would fall (which was likely though, since there were no "istod"..umm, things to put your feet in..? (french: étrier), but because I wanted to get the chance to know this man a little bit more. Get a glimpse into his world. And I did. He took me to see his sister, his nephew and his kids. He was childless himself, but it just made him love everybody else a bit more. When I think about him, I just get this warm fuzz inside my chest.
After having a cup of tea and a few smokes and some scoobydoo cartoon-watching (Yes, I guess scoobydoo is everywhere!) we jumped back on our horses and rode on into the sunset.
Tíhí...no, there was no sunset yet, but that just sounds really good! ;)

Sunday: The third day in Río Mayo I knew it was really time to leave. I packed my bag and headed out into the dusty streets. The Patagonian wind did not froget to show up, of course, and did everything he could to stop me from going up that long and very steep hill that one has to take when leaving town!
I sat down and waited. And waited. And then I stood up and waited some more. That day I was not lucky. The sun was going down, I was more than 20km from town (a brasilian trucker had had to drop me off in the middle of nowhere because he actually had gotten lost and had to go another way... He was really nice, though) and the wind was not calming down. I knew I had to put up the tent that my brother Tom had been so nice to lend me. And so I did. All alone in the pampa like a big girl, I put down the tent for the first time. I felt proud.
Then i jumped around for a while and talked and sang to myself jsut to see if ANYbody could hear me. But the wind just swallowed my words. I felt like I sould be feeling scared... so I started to do exactly that. Not a good idea. All sorts of crazy ideas starting creeping up in my mind. Then suddenly I decided this was not the way to go, jumped some more and went into my sleeping bag. Funny how a small tent can make you feel soooo safe :)

Monday: I get lucky. I got a ride with a german photographer. Carlos is his name. He was quite shy but very nice. He smokes a pipe. Reminded me of my late grandfather in France. I found out he is big traveller and when he talked to me about India, his eyes sparkled. Carlos was also heading all the way to El Chaltén. "How diggidy!" I thought to myself. We drove together for a day and a half, about 300 km. That doesn´t really sound that bad, but the road was not something the in-charge-of-roadmaking-people in Argentina should be proud of. But it was absolutely great.
We slept overnight in Gobernador Gregores - I in the tent, Carlos under the starry sky (!).

Tuesday: All the way to El Chaltén we went. God, it´s beautiful there. Unfortunately weather conditions changed when we got there and the small town of El Chaltén greeted us with wind, rain and then snow. I felt just like home. The surroundings could have been in Vík í Mýrdal!

El Chaltén

I spent a little more then a week in the mountains there. I must say that Mt Fitz Roy must be the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen in my life! (Apart from Herdubreid and Maelifell on Mýrdalssandi, of course!).
The weather changed and turned out absolutely beautiful. It was like magic. Met some lovely (but little bit flaky) spanish girls who had already been there for more than a week. Christina and Marta. Geniuses though. I could write a whole articel about El Chaltén, but I bet your eyes, dear patient readers (if you are still there), are absolutely killing you right now!
In short: I walked, walked some more, bathed in glaciar lagoons, then walked some more, slept quite alot, talked to the mountains and the people I met and then left when I had gotten sick of the whole thing. I am sure I will go back there though, and with crampons and all that technical equipement and stuff...

El Calafate

It is now Tuesday, the 15th of Novemeber. I cant't believe how fast the days go by! I came to Calafate 5 days ago. I was only planning on staying here for about 2 days before going over to Chile, but... I am still here. I really like it. Eventhough it is really pricy and touristy (the glaciar Perito Moreno is 80km from here. Verrrí feimuss) I just feel good here. So for the moment I am staying. Tonight I will go with some people to the glacier. Full moon... !

And Finally, I say:

OVER AND OUT.
- Hlunk.

"6 Lovely Old Men ... " continuation

2005-11-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

So, where was I? Ah yes:
Saturday: People were staring at me at the bus terminal. It was ok, but the first thing I thought was "I have to get out of here". Not in a bad way, but one night in Gobernador Costa was quite enough. I sat up and bid goodday to the lovely eyes looking at me, through my backpack on my back (ok, that´s a lie ... had to try 3 times before I made it), the big one, that is, and went on to put the other one on my front. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. The dirt roads were dusty and the dogs looked tired. Maybe they too had had a little too much to drink last night. My headache went away surprisingly fast. It was probably te wind - so refreshing. I passed a garden where some indians where having a parrilla party (grill party) and listening to some folk music. It was a family thing and everybody was dancing and laughing. The grill was an old fuel barrel. The old lady in the torn woolen jacket looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and kept on walking.

It was hot. Really hot. But I decided to walk all the way out of town to the next crossing. Didn´t really feel like waiting at the gasstation and asking every single person if they were going my way. So I walked and walked. And then I walked some more. Then I sat down. God that felt good! After about two hours I started getting cold though. The wind, you see. I dressed a bit better and thanked mother earth for Icelandic wool (it´s the BEST:) . And then I waited some more. But I never got bored. All around me was the Pampa. Basically just flatland, barely with grass. It would have been really cool of there would have been cactuses there... But no. But there were flamencoes. So I took photos and talked to Mr. Murphy a bit. I have told you about Mr. Murphy haven´t I? Well anyway, he´s my travel compagnion. He´s very cute, soft and has a nice smile and even better than that, he fits in my bag or my pocket. You can see a picture of him in the October archive :) So Murph - that´s what his friends call him - told me "Don´t worry babe... Someone'll come soon, I can feel it darlin'" (sometimes he takes a southern accent, I love it when he does that ;). And they did. Well, I did have to wait 3 hours more in which time I had already fallen asleep about a dozen times and about 3 cars had burried me with dust as they went by, but yes, finally someone did. Well, not someone as much as 6 lovely old chileans in a old and scrugged (I don´t think that´s a word, but hey) VW Kombie. Já, svona rúgbraudi tid vitid eins og Gudbjartur "jardfraedi og efnafraedikennari" átti...
They were just brilliant. A half an hour before, they had stopped in front of the road sign (which was at about 200 m length from me) for about five minutes and gone the other way. They had looked at me with a "so sorry we´re not going your way"- look and waved. But they had taken the wrong way. But in stead of just turning around and go straight in the other direction like they could have done, they took an extra turn to come and pick me up! I was sooo happy!!! 12 smiling eyes looked at me and bid me welcome. After that came an offer of red wine with strawberries in it (this was stored in a wonderfully kitsch thermos), homemade plum wine - that Chichi had made (he was a funny old guy with a big belly, leather boots and happy smile) and some cake that probably one of their wives had made before they left home. I felt safe and extremely entertained from the moment I got in.

Well guys, gotta go again, but this WILL

"be continued ..." again ;)

-Hlunk out

alive and kicking

2005-11-09T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Unfortunately I have no time to write right now - amazing how busy you can get when you have all the time in the world! Get back as soon as possible and tell you my horrid tale.... nono, it's quite nice actually :)

6 lovely old men in a so-very-yellow VW Kombie

2005-11-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

Hello there yall. I am still alive. I did take the ruta 40 like I said, I am so proud! Getting bigger now (and I don´t mean it in the "size" manner...nor the "pregnant" one either...). Well, I am still on this road since it is more than a 1000 km long...

Friday: took a bus from El Bolsón to Esquel, a very boring town about a 150 km from El Bolsón. So I didn´t insist on stopping there and tried to hitchhike for the nex town. After having waited for about 5 hours (in a gasstation with a nice cup of café con leche ;) I finally found someone who was going my way! Two teachers from a small town on the road 40 called Gobernador Costa (3000 inhabitants) accepted to take me with them, although they looked quite unsure... Probably my so charming and innocent smile convinced them ;) - And no, they were NOT male! Route 40 had started, and you could so feel it. Supposedly this part was asphalted but it rather resembled a gravel road with occasional asphalt spots. It was already starting to remind me of Iceland! And the landscape was basically the same as at home. The same raw colour of the grass (yellow-greyish) and the same sinuous low mountains. I was thrilled :) My "drivers" were also quite nice and offered me some maté (national drink-sort of like green tea if you would leave the leaves in the cup and drink it with a filtering silver straw. Sounds bad but it´s really good :) which I gladly accepted. I think I drunk a little bit too much since I became quite hyperactive, finding it difficult to stay immobil in my seat. So I took pictures of the (moving) landscape and myself. i have been doing quite a lot of that these last few days. Well, I´ve had some time to spare so now i am becoming an expert in self-portraits taken with whichever hand I want - Hahhaaaa... Right.
They dropped me off in the center of town - which I definitely would not have noticed was it on my own - and showed me a hostel where I could stay. So I said goodbye and walked into the hostel, or hospedaje rather (there is a difference, but don´t ask me what it is) but everything was full. I must say I was quite surprised, since I could not imagine that many (or any) tourist would want to go there. Ok, that sounds mean, but there is truly nothing there a part from one pool bar... So I went to another, and another, and another.... and another. But eeeverything was full. Yebb, nothing left but to put down the tent. But later. I headed for THE bar. Walking the streets I couldn´t help but think of the Wild West. Wide gravel roads, dirty old dogs everywhere and desert dust in the air. Can´t really explane it, it was just a feeling. Anywho, I walk into the bar which was empty and order myself a drink: "gin-tonic, por favor" (old habit) and that I got. Only it was as weak as a skinny lizard on his deathbed. I have noticed that here. If you don´t precise that you want it "fuerte" they dose it as if you were in Kindergarten. Just because you´re female. phhhh... So of course I asked for a little more taste in my tonic. And I got it. Yeah, now that was some serious dosing. I took one sip. Oh GOD that was strong! I wanted to spit it out or just vomit or something, but since the barman was looking at me with a nasty grin I swallowed my now excessively-strong gin-tonic gulp as if nothing were and gave the barman a "that was nothing" smile. It was the most disgusting drink I had tasted for a long time but I finished it (hey, i have my pride!) and got frankly quite drunk just of that one drink... Guess that does serve me right :)
That night I slept in the bus terminal.

Saturday: I woke up and found that quite a lot of people were looking at me. A little uncomfrtable when you are hung-over and myglud (molded...can that be said. In french, lit.: pourrie)

Oh, sorry, gotta go but this will be continued... The explanation of the title comes in the next entry :)

-Hlunkadunk.

Barn náttúrunnar

2005-10-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

Explanation

2005-10-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to change the name of my blog. Don´t know why really, just thought it would be cool. Once I was cleaning at a woman´s house who had a beatiful Siberian Huskie bitch. As I was cleaning I found diaper-like thing in a plastic wrapping that said: "for bitches on heat"! I thought this was absolutely brilliant. So then I decided that f I ever started a band, THAT would be its name. Hey, nobody think about stealing this idea though or I will hunt you down and make sure you will never sing or play any instrument EVER again! ....hehe, did I scare ya? Well GOOD!!! :)

muakk, muakk,
hot bitch

Bitches on Heat

2005-10-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hallelujah

On the Road Again

2005-10-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

First this: MY E-MAIL IS WORKING AGAIN
Well, I finally left San Carlos de Bariloche. God it was hard, the people there are just great. Now I am in El Bolsón, which is only about a 120 km south of Bariloche. It´s quite a small town with a very nice market square 3 times a week. I only plan on staying here for the night since I´m headed South.
Next stop: El Chaltén where I plan on climbing the Fitz Roy... Ok, that´s probably not possible at this time of year (too much snow and ice), but at least I´m gonna hike near it :) But I will first have to get there, which is really not that complicated, but the road that I want to go on makes it an itsy-bitsy more difficult. I did mention this road before: The Ruta 40. Except I didn´t find a partner to come with me. This desolate road is just too attractive. I must say that in this case the way to the destination is more important to me than the destination itself. So, I´m not gonna let my being alone stop me. If in 3 days after camping by the road and having finished all my food and started to eat insects and grass (if there is any) and do still not have a ride, I shall go the other way - by the Atlantic coast, that is.
Or maybe I won´t go south at all... Well, I also could go up North before the heat there becomes unbearable...? As you see, this is all quite undecided. But that is also the beauty of it: I can do whatever the fuck I want!!! Oups, I said the F word, that´s not very nice (of course I didn´t really say it, so I could have erased it...but I didn´t really want to, so...), but what the fuck ;)
Well, maybe this road won´t live up to my expectations and maybe I won´t be able to but at least I will have tried. So that´s that.

Smootchiebootchies,
-camille

J u s t Fo l l o w t h e C o w

2005-10-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

First this: Just letting you folks know my mail is not working as it should. They are changing the website (I don´t know why since it was working perfectly fine like it was) and thus: technical problems! So, my mails have been unreachable for 3 days now.
Other than that I am fine... Still in Bariloche! It´s just so nice here, such great people and the nature is just stunning. I have tonns of pictures I want to upload to this site. For example I went up a mountain called Cerro López the other day and it was just wonderful and took some pretty damn good pictures if I may say so myself ;) And also, it was quite an interesting hike for another reason. So here it goes (prepare yourselves for a long, but of course fabulously written, read):
I went alone and had to hitchhike to finally get to Cerro López, but it was so worth it. Sometimes it´s just better to go alone. You see, the thing is that then you are absolutely free. You can behave just the way you want without people looking strangely at you... Ok, for example you can sing as highly (and badly) as you want a tune of choice or even just stop and scream whenEVER you want to. So that´s what I did. God it felt good to just let off some steam :) (Of course you can also do this in good company. Really good company...) So that`s basically what I did. Only, this one time, I thought I was alone and was singing on the top of my lungs an Icelandic children´s song ("Komdu nidur" Já, fannst tad bara mjog videigandi fyrst eg var a leidinni nidur :) when out of NOWHERE came two georgous looking Argentines with a huge grin on their face.... Yeahh, I would like to able to say that I was not at all thrown-off by this quite embarrassing encounter with these terribly good-looking fellow hikers.... But: I was... So, all red in the face and now voiceless I continued my descent and praised the lord (in a manner of speaking) for the fact that they were going in the OTHER direction! And so I continued, a little bit more self-conscious than before, running down the hills of Cerro López.
But after I had recovered from this slight intervention and had starting singin/screaming again as I was thrashing down - I realised that it did not quite recognise the "sendero" anymore... Hmm, that`s what happens when your mind is distracted. But I decided to continue anyway and try to see if I couldn´t find the path again without actually going up again. Baaad idea. So finally, after 20 minutes of a very fast descent (which of course resulted in some falling over and hurting myself) I realised that I had reeeeally taken a WRONG turn. A very wrong turn. I found myself standing on the edge of a 70m cliff and thinking: "hmm, this waterfall was not here before..." So, I admired the cascade for about 2 seconds, contemplated for about a second and a half about taking a picture and then head up. again. I had a bus to catch. But the getting lost part was far from being over. How ironic, a mountain guide that gets lost in the mountain... :/ Of course I laugh about it now but at the time it was not so funny since it was starting to get dark. Hehe, oups... And then - after about 20 minutes of wandering and struggling to get up quite a slope (which had been so much fun on the way down) a strange being appears right in front of me. ...Ok, not so much a "strange being" as a... COW, but it was quite strange to me at the time (and also "a strange being" adds more dramatic effect to the story than "a cow"). So the cow (beautiful, by the way) suddenly stops and looks at me. It was almost romantic: we just stared into each other´s eyes for a moment that seemed an eternity! Then Valentina, as I have chosen to call her, suddenly turned around and started heading up again. So I followed her, and quite soon I started to see my own tracks again. She was showing me the way. Amazing creatures. I knew they were smart - as my country-side cousin Gummi Valur had so often told me - but wow! Hey, she even stopped to look back to see if I was still there! Okay, now you´re thinking "she´s making this up" or "it must have been a coincidence" but I am not so sure. When she had led me to the actual path again, she stopped and looked at me with those big, brown eyes and said to me: "Cammmmille, follow the reeeedm mmmmarkings" (even more ironically, the right path was marked with big, red sprayed dots here and there). And so I did and went down the mountain and lived happily ever after.

So, the meaning of this story (so very true apart from the actual talking of the cow part) is that if you ever get lost because your running down a mountain and singing like an imbecil, not at all thinking about where you´re going,
just F o l l o w t h e C o w.

Muuuuuuu.

Lazyness

2005-10-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, I went hyperactive to hypoactive.
The last two days I have gotten up at more than one o'clock in the afternoon! Terrible... But it feels good to sleep though. Now I going all over town to different hostels to try and find a travelling companion to go to El Chaltén which is a town and a national park about a 1000 km frm here... There are buses and everything but I want to take the Ruta 40 which is a gravel road in the middle of nowhere which noone takes... A sort of route 66 I guess (although I have never actually been on road 66 and my only knowledge of the road is from the song...) and probably a Kjolur times 100! (kjolur is great desolate road in Iceland where you definitely feel like your in the "rassgat" or the "trou du cul du monde" or in english, direct translation: the asshole of the world. I like that feeling :) So, I wanna go. The problem is there are no buses... only very expensive excursions and me a very poor sort of student traveller - but with no student card since it got "lost" with my wallet in Cesky Krumlov this summer (Czeck Republic). Wow, that makes me seem like a big traveller person.."well, when I was in the Czeck Republic the other day.." (with snobbish tone). The truth is this is only my second real travel ever and the first big one all by myself (camille stór núna); the first one being this summer with my dear friend Elín (we have known each other since we were four...for...ohmygod 18 years now! God, I feel OLD!) when we went on a sort of interrail/interplain trip for 6 weeks in central Europe and which ended in total silly- and drunkenness (which often seems to go together) for 10 days in Croatia. Mmmmm, nice memories.
But now I have wondered off track again like I so often seem to do. Ruta 40 was the subject. So, basically I´m looking for a parnter who would hotchhike with me. Thank god my father doesn´t have a computer and thus: the internet, for I really think he would personally come over to stop me from doing this. ...Or maybe he would try to persuade me very calmly over the phone trying to appeal to my reasonableness (hey, I think I invented a word :), which - of course - would NOT work. But mom has internet.... Hmmmm. Hae mamma! Hehe... Anyway.
I have been having a great time here in Bariloche and met quite a few interesting people. For example Gregory, a russian journalist who has travelled all over the world and seems to be able to do anything and go anywhere he sets his mind to. And oh dear god the stories... They go all the way from being chased and hit in the head by an elephant in Sri Lanka and being detained in Iraq by Americans in the infamous Abu Grahib prison! Ok, I have to tell the story: Amazing... After being set free after 3 days, mister Gregory demanded a compensation for this inconveniance: Armyperson: "well, what do you want?" "well, mister (my words, not his..), Could you be so kind to give us a tour around the Palace?" - the palace in question was Saddam´s biggest palace in Bagdad - Armyguy: "suuuure, not a problem!" So he was taken on a tour through the palace and to places in it that no citizen had ever been before, amongst which there was the room with Saddam´s Golden Throne which he used to sit on in front of his generals and all that shit... And yes, you can probably guess the rest: Armyfellow: "So, would you like me to take a picture of you sitting in that throne?" And of course the answer was yes. So, mister Gregory has a picture of himself sitting on the Golden Throne of Saddam Hussein in his most important palace in Iraq!
------ And those were just two of his stories! Quite difficult to beat, huh! It´s okay though... I have time ;)
Okidoki, Think I´m gonna wrap this up soon. Have to go find more hostels. Then the plan is, of course, to explore the nightlife here in San Carlos de Bariloche and take advantage of the low pricing of alcoholic beverages. Mmmmm: Coooocktails ;) Well, I did go last night with a few people from the hostel (mostly Baril. inhabitants) to a palce called Willkenny´s which is the most popular bar here. The name indicates an irish pub, but I have to say that the music did not have a note of irishness in it! So, after trying to dance with 10 year old techno "m-ts-m-ts-m-ts" for an hour hoping for it to change, we finally left and dicided to try the nightlife again tomorrow. (today that is). On the way back, in the car, we had a great time though: 80´music full throttle and rollercoaster driving all the way to the Hostel Destino Sur (5 km). Must admit that was probably the most fun part of the evening! Saaaad, eih :)

Ok, now I´m gone.
- Hlunk

2005-10-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

me.

2005-10-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

The bathroom facilities :)

2005-10-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Rosana, the guide

Technical problems...

2005-10-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I´ve been sitting in an internet café for two hours trying to figure out how to download and post pictures on this lovely blog. Well, the results are, as you may have noticed, a little unorganised! The pictures I succeeded in posting are all from my little hike up to a mountain called Cerro Catedral where I stayed in refuge called Refugio Frey and was quite cozy. And that night, there was a full moon that cast an incredible light on the surroundings. Anyway, I am trying to work out this picture thing, then I might - just might - take the time to write something.

Frustrated but happy - tonight is party night!

2005-10-21T16:25:00.001-07:00

Full moon

2005-10-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

The Refugio Frey

2005-10-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

Mr Murphy on his break

2005-10-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

A burnt tree...

From City to Nature

2005-10-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well...
This shall be short since the "locutorio" closes in 1 minute. I just need to boast a little about my hyperactiveness:

On Friday afternonn I came to Bariloche,
On Saturday I climbed up a mountain called Cerro Otto. About 800m climbing... under the sort of ski-lift that takes the lazy people up there ;)
Sunday I went rafting. My shoulder still hurts...
Monday I went for a 2 day trek up a mountain called Frey, walking with snowshoes and everything :) Going from 500m to 1700m...
Tuesday I went down the mountain... also quite difficult.
And Today, Wednesday, I bicicled with Paul, a newfound traveller-friend, more than 70 km. Yes, I said 70 kilometers!!! And it wasn´t just flat. Noooooh, it went up and down and uuuuup... and doooown.... and then a little bit more up, then down and then up again. Ok, I think you get the picture...
God, I´m such a genious.

But I must admit: I am sooo tireth, I think I´m gonna go to my bethroom and sleep now.
(that was a spaniard saying: I am so TIRED, I think I´m gonna go to my BEDroom and sleep now. Diego, are you reading this?)

And tomorrow.... Well, we´ll see. But sports are definitley OUT of the picture!!!

Ciao cariños,
Hlunka :)

The beginning

2005-10-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Hello yall!
My last (and first) blog was quite short I must admit... So now I will tell you a little bit about my trip so far:
Firstly, the transatlantic plane was huuuge! At least I thought it was. A boeing 747 I believe with two floors and 3 isles... never ever had I entered into such a monster, so I called a friend in Iceland, who happens to be a pilot, to convey my enthusiasm. Normal, right? The stuardess, sorry: "flight attendant" did not seem to share my enthusiasm, so after the 3rd time she ordered me to shut it off, I considered doing it, the 4th time I seriously considered it, and the 5th time i decided it was best to obey her, since she was starting to have a murderous glimpse in her eye, and hung up. Hey, i didn´t know it created electrical disturbances when the plane wasn´t even moving! Now i know better... Anyway, had I waited any longer I really think she would have killed me!
The flight went ok, a part from the fact that i was seated in a window seat so I couldn´t really go freely to the bathroom without bothering the man in the isle seat... And as some of you may know, I´m a really frequent bathroom user! So I ended up keeping it all in for quite a while and wking up with the worst bladder pain I have ever had... But I must admit that the trip to the bathroom was finally realised it was almost blissful :) Anyway, I got to Buenos Aires without any serious injury...
But where was I gonna stay? You see, I had figured that out. Someone pointed out a site to me that is called www.hospitalityclub.org and it´s a club ("ég er í svona klúbbi") where people from all over the world have a chance to meet and where they offer a visit around town, accommodation if they want etc. It doesn´t cost anything, mostly it´s travellers who want to help other travellers. To enter in the club itself you have to give up your passport number so it can be checked out and blablabla... So, basically it´s as safe as the internet can be. So where is my point? Oh you are so clever, yes, I am a member of this club now and decided to try it out. So i contacted 2 persons from Buenos Aires and got one reply. I was so happy... but a little bit nervous of course. All I knew about the guy was that his name was Fernando and that he was a 24-year-old engineer student who had travelled in Europe for 3 months searching for his brother and sister he had never met before (sounded first a little bit like a soap opera screenplay) and had actually found them without almost any information... Oh, and I knew that he lived wis his mother (that reassured me a little bit :) Ok, back to the story: Basically I was going to a foreign country and directly home to a complete stranger! But the funny thing is that everything just went really well and i can say for sure that I found myself a friend for life. Not bad in a week, eih?
Fernando lives with his mother in 5th floor apartment close to down-town Buenos Aires, that huuuge city. Both of them had a real way of making me feel at home. Fernando´s mother greeted me with a kiss and her first words were: "would you like some breakfast?" And it wasn´t just "some breakfast", there was toast, cheese, parma ham, jam, dulce de leche (Arg. speciality) , fresh-pressed orange juice, a latté and some strawberries!!! I felt like in a 5 star hotel!!! Happyhappy-joyjoy :) Anyway, it was a very nice beginning.
I stayed there for a week and Fernando took me all over and the BA nightlife was a part of the tour. I shall not comment any more on that except to say that it was very "instructive" ;) I wish I had had a videocamera - it would have been a fine documentary on basic human coupling behaviour! He also introduced me to some of his friends who are very nice, so hi to Laura, Roman, Pablo and let´s not forget Claudio the hot ;) ...and to all the rest too :)
The city is great, I went to all the mainparts of it and it really has everything to offer... Don´t really feel like writing a guide-book article about BA, but it was really nice.
On Thursday 13th I left the 11 million people capital to go to Bariloche, a small (100.000 inh.) city in nothwestern Andean Patagonia. It took me "only" 25 hours to get there by bus! It´s a really beautiful place, the city is on the bank of the lake Nahuel Huapi and close to a natural park. It´s the perfect place for trekking and adventure sports, like para-gliding..... and rafting :)
And that´s what I did today. I´m still freeeezing but it was great! Made me think of the the Meryl Streep movie from 1997 or sth like that... I think it was simply called "The River" Anyway, my rafting trip was far from being that dangerous. A liiittle bit too calm for my taste but it was really preeetty :)
Okidoki, I think this should be enough for today. So goodbye to you all (if anyone is reading!) and take care,
Tootiloo,

Hlunka.
p.s. feel free to comment as you wish...
p.s.2 i will put i some pictures as soon as know how to (yes, camille has turned digital)
and p.s.3 Take no notice of the grammatical and other english mistakes, don´t feel like going over all of this...
p.s.4 there is no more p.s.

Jaeja!

2005-10-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well...
I must begin by saying that this blog will be (mainly) in English: This way, lazy old me won´t have to write the same things in 2 or even 3 languages :) So, this will be a good English exercise (me included!)
This will be very short this time since I only have money to pay for 8 minutes more on the internet :/

This blog was basically created (by my genious cousin Gummi Valur) so that I could describe my travelling adventures through Latin America... For those of you who didn´t know, I flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina the 6 of October and if everything goes well (let`s keep our fingers crossed, croooo...zd) I will be back home in April 2006. My plan is to go all this the way south to Ushuaia in Argentina and then back up through Chile and more north and all the way to Mexico (if I have the time and money) and finish in Cuba.

Well, now I´ve gotta go!
miss you all,
besos from Bariloche, Patagonia

Hlunkadunka :)