Hiking and Haircuts

I took part in my second trek with Luis' walking group over the weekend. This time we had to travel a fair way so we stayed overnight in some simple facilities below the 'hill' that we were to be climbing. This made for quite an entertaining evening. First they had me play the guitar and sing a couple of Australian tunes to a rousing applause. Then one of the hikers grabbed brought out his traditional drum - hand crafted from wood and animal skins - and they played and sang an enormous array of Argentinian music. Some of the less serious hikers and consumed a reasonably large quantity of alcohol by this point and were rather boisterous in their renditions.

The trek itself was to be quite different to my first endeavour. It involved a far greater range of terrains and while it did not involve any dangerous rock-climbing-ish sections, it still proved to be very challenging. I took the lead through the bottom half of the hill - mainly forest terrain. Covered from the elements and with many steep sections, I found it suited my physique quite well and at times found myself quite a large distance in front of the rest of the group. Once we broke free of the trees however, I found that I was breaking free of my comfort zone. The top quarter of this particular hill was very open to the elements and at some points the freezing wind caused a great deal of discomfort.  Wrapped in several layers of jumpers and jackets, making slow progress through the more rocky sections, I felt (and most likely resembled) a reluctant toddler trudging along with the group. However, the expressions on the faces some of my fellow hikers indicated that I wasn't alone in my discomfort. The views were quite different to those experienced on the first climb, however very much worth enduring the cold for. This time we were treated to the brilliant reds and oranges of autumn.

I don't think we reached quite the same altitude as the previous hike, however the summit brought more of a sense of 'reaching the summit', with full 360 degree views of our surroundings. (Half of which was Argentina and half of which was Chile). Also, my item bucket list item that previously read: 'see a volcano', now reads: 'see three volcanoes at once', and has a very large tick beside it. And a smiley face.

The descent was also quite enjoyable, the whole group very motivated by the prospect of returning to the cover of the trees. At one point the spread out again, so those of us at the front had stopped to allow the dawdlers time to catch up. Then there was some very urgent cries for help from behind us and some of the men (who were a little more heroic and competent in the language than myself) ran back to help. One of the female members of the group had had a fall and needed to be carried for the remainder of the trek. The makeshift stretcher that they were able to whip up out of the materials lying around was quite impressive however it proved to be of quite a large hindrance, so the larger men (ie not me) took turns in piggybacking her back to camp. This was a pretty impressive effort considering we still had a fair distance to cover and at times it was hard enough staying on your feet without the burden of someone on your back.

Our resident medic, Elsa, made the diagnosis of a sprained ankle and other than that the group survived the trek in relatively good physical shape. I was feeling the effects the next day however, sleeping until  two o'clock and hardly able to walk when I first ventured out into the rest of the house. I got some laughs when questioned by Luis "Tenes dolor?". My response was simply, "Tengo dolor en mi cuerpo" - translation: "My body hurts".

My body has now recovered however and my biggest challenge is braving the increasingly cold weather. Luis' English translation of the forecast for tomorrow is 'snow-water' - I can't say I'm looking forward to it. Given the weather, this week probably wasn't the ideal time to be going for my first haircut in Argentina, however I was very much in need of a trim. Elsa dropped my off to a local barber shop thinking that a 'trim' was all I was after. She nearly died when I returned home with my head shaved, a number four all over. The look on her face said it all. Apparently she's not a big fan of short hair. Nico cracked up laughing when he saw me, whilst Agus merely shook his head. It's been a couple of days now and I think they're beginning to get used to it. Either way, it's beginning to grow on me.

It seems that with the coming of the colder months, the drinking of yerba mate increases an enormous amount. I had a little scare the other day when I was watching an American movie and the translation chosen in the subtitles for 'weed' - in reference to marijuana - was 'yerba'. I made a dash for the computer to make sure that the addiction I have been developing was not to an infused marijuana drink. The internet kindly informed me that this is not the case and that I yerba mate can be legally purchased in Australia so all is well!

Luis' parents are currently staying with us and will be looking after my host brothers while my host parents go holidaying in Peru. Luis' father is hilarious, one of those older-people with far more spark than their exterior would suggest. He's always ready with some quick humour and doesn't let my lack of Spanish stop him. When I came home with my head shaved he merely leant forward in the rocking chair by the door and reintroduced himself. Yesterday afternoon he joined Nico and myself kicking the soccer ball around in the backyard. It took him a bit to get the old joints warmed up, but soon enough he was jogging around, juggling and displaying a deft touch on the ball that took both Nico and myself by surprise. To see an old bloke getting around with that much energy was quite inspiring. EDIT: This morning I woke up to find him out in the main area of the house whistling away and doing some sort of old man shuffle/dance walk. My willpower is sure to get a bit of a workout over the weekend- my 'host-grandmother' loves to cook so we are treated to a pretty much endless supply of amazing food.

After this I will be heading off to Rosario and then on to the Iguazu Falls with a bunch of my fellow exchange students. I am very excited to see them again and catch up on everybody's experiences so far and, hopefully, speak some fluent English! This is something that I get to do very rarely as most of the people here that speak English don't cope all that well with my accent or slang and I've been doing my best to stick to Spanish wherever possible. I have had fairly regular phone calls with my family at home where I can speak some free flowing Australian English which is very refreshing. (It's also nice to be able to chat with my family and catch up on the happy-haps at home).  I got another chance to let my native language flow earlier in the week when I was walking home from football and encountered a couple of American backpackers. They were walking past chatting away and I decided to say hello and ask where they were from. Their stunned expressions were quite amusing, taking a second to respond as they registered the fact that someone had just spoken to them in English. I had some time to spare and enjoyed wandering the streets and chatting away with them as we attempted to find them some accommodation.