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Buying a Diary

I bought myself a diary yesterday. One of those tasks that I always tend to leave until about half way through the year. It works out well that way anyway, as I often find a great discount now that the book is only half useful.

So wandering into the store, I was delighted to find just the thing I wanted. A lovely A4 leather-bound diary with one week to the two open pages. Everything about it was great, until I discovered why something this good had not already disappeared. It was for the year 2001.

Discounted from $25 to $10, it did not take away from the fact that this diary had been sitting around for four years on that same shelf. It seems that nothing goes to waste here. I have seen magazines from other eras still sitting on the shelves of newsagents. It is like going to the backorder store at times, where you can browse through every edition of a magazine for the last year or two. Cleptomaniac’s paradise.

So back to the diary. It was old, discounted, and very lovely. But old. Rather than go looking for one that was not old and was less lovely, I decided that I could use the dates in it anyway and went ahead and bought it. Thus I proved that hanging onto stuff for ridiculous amounts of time sometimes really does pay.

But I am happy, and they are happy, and we both got something near to what we wanted. I wanted a diary for 2005, and got one for 2001. They wanted to sell it for $25 but at least got $10 for it. A happy medium. Just like a garage sale, but more convenient. Very cool really.

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Left to Die!

Crowding Around
I saw the most horrible thing the other day. As I was walking along one of the main roads with my friend Chris, we saw a crowd of people up ahead. It seemed strange that such a crowd of people would have gathered around on the main road, but we are getting used to seeing such unusual things. I never once expected to see what we found however.

On getting closer, I could see that amongst the crowd there were both young and old, professionals and workers, locals and visitors. Yet not one of them moved. They all stood there standing around the center point of interest, not doing anything more than observing, and occasionally talking amongst themselves.
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Joining the Wedding

When we were choosing the place that we were going to eat dinner, the thought of a wedding did not even enter our heads. After all, it was food we were after. But that did not stop this fairy tale adventure from happening to us this night. A sign that not all is so bad in this big old world of ours.

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The “Great Little Bar”

The Choice
Meeting up with some friends in town, we headed off looking for a quick meal. Upon reaching our first destination, a small diner on the corner of two main streets that had just been upgraded from “Greasy Joe’s” to something like “Greasy Joe’s with a facelift”, but with its cheap prices and acceptable food it seemed like a good choice. One of our friends however, was aghast that such a choice had even entered our heads, his reaction indicating that eating at a place like this was somewhat equal to commiting a very slow suicide.

After a number of attempts to encourage unity amongst us concerning this eatery, we finally realised that even though everyone was now saying they would eat there, some would remain very uncomfortable with the choice. So to keep the group happy, we decided to eat at another place. But which place would it be?
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Back from the Abyss

Well, I know it has been a while since I have written anything here. Goodness knows that there was more than enough things to write about…

* Buying a new laptop and digital camera in one of the cheapest cities in Latin America.
* Making it through the anal-retentive Argentine customs with this new laptop.
* Losing my new Sony Ericsson telephone with my only copy of everyone’s addresses and telephone numbers.
* Getting broadband internet access (from Arnet) from my bedroom here in Corrientes.
* And I am now about to go on a “Survival Camp” or something like that called a “NIKO” from the greek word which means “to overcome”.

So let me treat each of these one at a time…
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One Year in Argentina – Tourist to Missionary

Well, I have reached a landmark moment in my time here in Argentina. I have now been living here for 12 months as of today. That is pretty amazing really. This day, 365 days ago, I landed in Buenos Aires from Chile and although there have been a number of excursions that have covered every surrounding country, I have been living here since then. Very amazing.

Now, during that time there have been some very significant moments in my life. From my arrival where I lived above the bus run for apprentice racing drivers, and my days of total incomprehension of the language and culture with dozens of conversations maintained soley by the nodding of my head, to comunal living with a bunch of guys in an unfinished building in a place called YWAM Corrientes. Not much has change in some respects, but then in many others it has.

My conversations in Spanish have improved dramatically and I now can actually communicate with people rather than talk at them using grunts and gestures. These days I know where to go to buy the essentials, and what to do to get from one place to another. I know what is cheap without having to convert it back to Aussie dollars, and can tell the value of a coin by the pattern on the back of it.

Yep, I would say that things are getting a lot more comfortable for me now. Certainly not physically, with my super-thin mattress and old sleeping bag as a bed, but certainly with the culture I am in.

During my one year, I have visited many parts of Argentina, including Puerto Iguazu, Mar del Plata, Jujuy, Cafayate, Mendoza, Bariloche, Posadas, and of course Buenos Aires and Corrientes. Every country around Argentina has not escaped my attention either, with a visit to Brazil and Chile before arriving here, then a tour around Uruguay, missions work in the hills of Bolivia, a return trip to Chile looking for adventure, and another missions trip to Paraguay where I also was able to buy a computer.

From a tourist to a missionary, from Patagonia to the hills of Bolivia, from the East to the West coast of this part of South America, from luxury to livability, from little to much, from overfed to underfed and back again, I have been privileged to experience, see, and live many wonderful things during my time here.

And I look forward to my next year here too. What I will be doing at the end of the next year I have no idea. Only time will tell that story.

Rob.

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This could have been embarrassing…

Chris and I went for a walk along the Costanera on our day off, and by chance happened to discover Jacar? beach just around the corner. It was busy time and there were hundreds of people crowded into that place. It was also very hot and the water looked great. The only problem was that we were not expecting to be on a beach, so we didn’t have our swimmers with us.

For Chris this was not such a problem and he dived into the water with his shorts and all. My shorts however were huge and heavy and the idea of swimming in them did not appeal so much. So I stripped off to my undies for a swim. After all, the women on this beach were in g-strings and other such delicate webbing, what harm could it be to swim in my racing-striped undies. They even looked like cool swimmers.
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Trekking the Andes Mountains at Bariloche

Bariloche was our last stop during this stretch of travelling, and we had determined that we really wanted to walk across the Andes Mountains. Since this was the first time that we had considered something like this, many people recommended that we get a guide. So we did. It turned out to be a great idea, as he took us places we would never have gone, gave us a pace we loved, and taught us many things about the environment as we moved through it.

Our trek started on Day One with a steep climb into the mountains with the reward of an amazing view of the city and surrounding lakes. From here we continued on until camp, somewhere in the middle of this incredible mountain range. It froze overnight, but was a beautiful clear day for Day Two when we continued through the peaks to reach a wonderful cabin in the middle of nowhere. Chris slipped in the snow along the way sliding down to impact against a rock and tumble to within centimetres of a twenty metre cliff and certain death.

After a day of rest at the cabin, we took a huge Day Three challenge of reaching the lakes while the boats were still running. This made it a short day even with a very early start, and involved a gruelling half-walk, half-run across the base of “El Tronador” mountain called this for its thunderous rumbles caused by cracking in the mammoth ice sheets that cover its face. There was little time for rest on this day, and a lot of moving. The weather came in on us, with rain, snow, and wind before finally opening up in the afternoon with a bright sunny end to our walk.

We were glad to reach the lakes, and for our Final Stretch we boarded the first of two boats that would return us to Bariloche. There were no other hikers with us, other than the occasional day trekker, but there were many tourists. We were exhausted, and slept a good part of the trip. Back in Bariloche, a bus returned us to our hotel where we could recover and celebrate yet another amazing adventure during our travels. After this, it was time to head home.

Trek Day 1 | Trek Day 2 | Trek Day 3 | Final Stretch

Bariloche Trek Day 1


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Bariloche Trek Day 2


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Bariloche Trek Day 3


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Bariloche Trek Final Stretch


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Trekking Patagonias

Well, we arrived today in Bariloche. This place is beautiful. The city is situated right next to a large lake on a reasonable slope, with incredible views from almost anywhere. In the distance are the snow-capped mountains and peaks of the Andes range. A perfect place to stop for the next week.

trekkingSo what will we be doing here in this amazing place? Trekking through those amazing peaks and mountain ranges that we can see for three or four days. The path that we have chosen to trek is one of the most difficult and least frequently trekked paths in this area. The track is hard to follow and climbs over the top of a number of mountain ranges on the way, often over ice and snow. To me it sounds perfect.

Now we won’t be doing all of this alone either. We have hired the services of a guide who will take us along this path, teaching us about the environment that we are in as we go. He only speaks Spanish so our Spanish skills should improve over this time too.

Therefore, if you do not hear from me in the next wee while, you will be able to say, “Oh, Rob’s up in the mountains of the Andes, trekking through the Patagonias for a while.” Sounds good doesn’t it? Don’t you wish you were here too? Oh well. Next time.