Wet-agonia

First full day in el Sur and loving it. Yesterday was our travel day, arrived in El Calafate and immediately drove to El Chalten, a tiny hiking town near the border, with Mt Fitz Roy and Glaciar Viedma at your fingertips. The view from the van was breathtaking, and our driver stopped a few times for photo opps and so we could experience just how damn windy it is here. You literally can get blown away. Huge mountains (duh), bright green lakes, had a row to myself on the van, reading my Kindle (ok, girl who played with hornet´s nest... still not as good as girl with dragon tattoo...), we had sweet 80's music playing on the van (Sweet Child of Mine stands out), snacking on a dulce de leche alfajor... the 2 1/2 hour ride was pretty much heaven.

Got to our Fitz Roy Inn sometime in the afternoon and had a rendezvous with our local guide. She warned us the forecast for today was not so good (actually to quote Alvaro, our GAP guide, ¨the worst I´ve ever seen!¨), so we were prepared for the worst. I rented a pair of awesome bright orange waterproof pants and went for it. Woke up this morning to howling winds and rain hitting our windows, but, hell, we paid how much to be here, traveled how long to be here? What´s a little rain and wind? Natalie, another local guide, met us at 9 and we were on our way. Our 6 hour hike turned into 2 hours. The forest protected us from the wind, but the rain was pretty consistent. Despite goretex waterproof shoes, everyone´s feet were sponges after 2 hours. Saw some woodpeckers, hare and a few other species... really enjoyed smelling clean air after 5 weeks in BsAS. The scenery is of course stunning, very green, with snow caps peaking out behind rolling hills. Of course now, it´s sunny and clear.

My GAP group is only 9 people, out of a max of 15. I am the youngest by 3 years. There are 2 couples, one from London and one from Scotland, a guy from Germany, a woman from Aussie, a woman from Chicago, and my roommate and most likely candidate for BFF for the trip, Christine, a 42 year old from Switzerland who makes chocolate! Well, she works for a company that makes chocolcate and chewing gum at least. She´s no food scientist, don´t worry, Rebecca. She does something with exports. Alvaro, our trip guide, is 30 and has been doing this for 5 years. Born in Barcelona, but has lived in Santiago his whole life and is a Chilean at heart. Is a guide for everything, horse back riding, rock climbing, bird watching, trekking, kayaking... tis the life.

After being soaked to the bone this morning, I am now dressed in the most ridiculous manner... turquoise Burton fleece leggings, Uniqlo snowflake heattech socks with ¨sports¨sandals (since my shoes are still soaking wet), IDG TechNet LL Bean fleece jacket and a knit wool cap with a giant peace sign. I cant even get into what my hair looks like. Attempted showering but had no hot water and after trying to wet my hair, gave up and took a nap.

Tomorrow we go ice climbing (not just trekking, CLIMBING, with pick ax and campons) on Glaciar Viedma. Google it. A 9 hour excursion. Then we head back to El Calafate tomorrow night. Ok, back to the Patagonian wind. Fingers crossed for no lluvia tomorrow.