Busy Work

Independencia Plaza in front of hostel


Well I´ve been finalizing some of my plans here in Mendoza, and it´s actually been a rather productive day. My luggage finally arrived last night at about 1030 pm, as I´m learning that Argentine time is much similair to Mexican time, where 8 o clock means, well around 8, and maybe 9 or 10, or pretty much whenever they get around to it, which is okay by me as I´m in no hurry. The beauty of that is the traditional ciesta that takes place from 1 in the afternoon until about 5 where I´m not kidding you almost everything shuts down. Even better yet is the fact that dinner begins to kick off around seven or eight, but carries on to the early hours of the morning, which is right up my alley as anybody that knows me would agree. No prolem finding a midnight snack around here! The city is a clean city with side walk cafes spread throughout and designed as a grid system which makes finding your way very easy. The area is known for it´s wine, which I´m not really into unlike everybody else here, but I may have to try out the bike and winery tour when I get back, because it´s supposed to be some of the world´s finest. The people here have all been very friendly and helpful, even with my minimal spanish. Many of the men here sport a look as I´m calling a ¨mull-hawk¨, a mowhawk top that kind of grows into a mullet in the back....rad! As for the ladies, (you know I wouldn´t leave them out) well, they are in my opinion some of the most beautiful in the world, which is already well known, but I had to find out for myself. Could be that I´m partial to brunettes with dark skin, but seriously fellas (single ones of course) put this place on the itinerary. On another note, back to that whole productivity thing, I have arranged all my transportation to the Mtn, the mule, an overnight stay before hitting the trail, purchased some white gas to fuel my stove, and most importantly jumped through all the hoops of getting a permit for climbing, which is a story in itself. In order to obtain a climbing permit you must first visit the tourist office, where they give you a card that you must then take to a seperate business to pay for it, where they only take cash and a permit is nearly 500 dollars. Not a suprise, but the atm only allows 300 to be withdrawn in a day, and I had to find a currency exchange to convert some of the cash I brought. After paying for the permit, you then take the reciept back to the tourist office and fill out an application form for the permit and wait there while they process it. The only thing left on my ¨to do¨list is shopping for a few fresh items to pack with me so I´m not living on freeze dried meals alone for the next 2 to 3 weeks, and pick up some T.P., the most essential of items! I am planning on leaving tomorrow morning to a little village called Penetentes, where I´ll spend my last night in a bed at the only lodging there before I begin climbing. The elevation is also a little higher than here and will be a good start for acclimating. Rumor has it there´s internet there, but not sure when the next time I´ll be posting a blog...likely till the end of the climb. Once on the mountain I will be adopting the ¨cash and carry¨system for acclimating. It is a system in which you carry half of your load up to a higher camp to cache it, and then return to a lower camp to sleep at a lower elevation. The following day or two you will then move the rest of your camp up to the goods at the higher camp, and this pattern continues in steps throughout the climb. It allows you to move gear in managable loads to higher camps and uses the ¨climb high, sleep low¨theory for acclimating. For anybody interested, I will be carrying a Spot personal locator beacon, which allows for online tracking, and also emergency tracking if necessary. I will post the website to view on google maps below. It only marks the location when I activate the tracking and depends on a good signal much like a gps, so no guarantees on the amount of tracking. Until next time....I will be hoping for good weather and getting back to you with post climb info.

Take care

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0tlxHhzVFAnrAbaqhydrn3fMJJeiganPZ