Sleepy...

So I stayed in El Calafate for a night, then promptly headed out to El Chalten. I´d been looking forward to seeing the Fitz Roy mountain range. El Chalten is a town of about 600 people, a real frontier town. There were more tourists than people there. That´s where I´m getting a little frustrated, is that everywhere you go, there are more tourists than Argentineans, and prices are hiked up, as well as it makes it difficult to get the actual feel for travel.

When I arrived in El Chalten, there were two busloads of people coming in. I figure the accomodations were going to be super tight, didn´t really want to fight for it, so I asked the people at the bus station if I could get a ticket to Bariloche. Ends up there was one that very same night, leaving at 10:00 pm, so I devised a horribly tiring plan. Here essentially is what i´ve been doing for the last few days.

8:00 am the 19th-4 hour bus ride to El Chalten from El Calafate

12:00-Arrived in El Chalten, decided to hike Laguna Torre, 4 hour trek there, and 4 hours back.






6:00-Did the hike in 6 hours(with my bags), incredibly beautiful, couldn´t find a quite spot though, too many people. Didn´t want to rent camping equipment since i was alone, so made it back to town. Met an 11 year old who skated, in EVERY city here, I´ve seen skateboarders, even Ushuaia. Crazy. I love it, he asked me all the 11 year old questions, and apparently Rodney Mullen is still around. I did a nosemanual for about 15 feet and a varial flip and they thought I was god. Maybe they´re on to something...








10:00 pm the 20th-28 hour bus ride to Bariloche. On the famous highway 40, I heard quite a bit of hype about this road, so I figured it might be worth it. According to the Lonely Planet guide, it is ¨The ultimate roadtrip.¨ It wasnt, at all. It was a dirt road for about 75% of the trip, and we had great views of amazing flat desert sand. Everyone on the bus was coughing up a storm. Ever sat through a cough storm on bus? Not fun. Not to mention I had the best seat in the house right by the wonderfully smelly bathrooms. Everytime the door opened the entire bus filled with the rotten stench of stewing insides...nice. Two highlights of the trip, the bus driver stopped in the middle of the desert to pick up a pooping armadillo, and I met two amazing New Zealanders, who invited me to spend Christmas with them in El Bolson.



1:30 am the 21st-27 1/2 hours later from El Chalten. Got in to Bariloche and shared a cab with a couple of Frenchies to a hostel. 45 pesos a night, slept very well. Ive essentially been going nonstop for far too long, yet I still feel that I need to keep running. Probably stay here a couple of nights, just need to figure out what I want to do for Christmas.

Much love, shout out to Kandice for a happy birthday, sorry I couldn´t call but I was on the stench mobile.