let me tell you that it´s lethal with sleeping bags in
a tent. i unfortunately discovered this while sharing
tents with a friend on a hike, - i reckon we could´ve
started our own business selling smoked
ham/salmon/cheese..
the higher my peaks of happiness, the lower my troughs
of wistfulness - every now and then i connect with
certain people, and i just think ´damn! if only i had
3 lives, i´d stay here in 2 of them..´. such was the
case as i left El Bolsón last week after spending 10
days in the area:
venturing solo to a gig, i was mildly amused
/disgusted when a drunk guy started throwing up near
me, and had to be escorted out by his mates. next day,
he comes up to me and says ´i don´t remember you, but
my friends tell me that you were at the pub last night
when i was drunk, and that i need to apologise for my
behaviour. wanna come join us for a drink?´ and so
began a beautiful friendship with these 4 guys from
buenos aires.
i can´t remember the last time i´ve laughed so hard
and so much (without the influence of mind-altering
substances, that is), - chatting aimlessly about the
stupidest subjects ever. eg:
an affectionate way of saying ´child´, (like how we
have ´kid´ in english) is <pendejo>, which also means
´pubic hair´. i couldn´t stop laughing each time i
thought of someone calling out ´hey pube, stop that
racket and come inside for dinner!´
people from the country tend to have an insult here
<sorete mal cagado>, ie ´a badly done/shat poo´. how
visual can a language get!? it´s great!
standing in line, waiting to enter a pub, we resumed a
previous conversation of the different ways to say ´to
have sex´. one of the guys got all excited and said in
an enthusiastic voice <a mí me gusta mucho ´bombear´!>
(rough translation: ´yeah, i really love ´rooting´!´)
naturally, for everyone else who didn´t know what we´d
been talking about, this was largely misinterpreted.
i also became relatively good buddies with a guy from
El Bolsón who let me stay at his place after hearing
my sorry story of how the campsite had only 3 showers
for about 150 people. we went trekking for a few days
(he´s the dutch oven dude), and by the end of it, were
bickering like an old couple. that in itself was fun.
the day we got back from the hike, we went to chill
out at Lago Puelo (a lake situated in a national
park). around 8pm, i went off for a walk, thinking the
path would only take an hour, but 2 hours later (well
after the sun had set), i come back to our spot on the
´beach´ to find him with a couple of his friends and
some park rangers frantically starting a raid of the
park with their walkie-talkies.. i was so embarrassed.
not even 3 months in this country, and i´ve already
gotten into trouble with the lifeguards and park
rangers. must be something to do with those uniforms
and short shorts..
speaking of which, it´s hotting up now that i´m
further north, and not to be outdone by latino
beauties in skimpy bikinis, the short shorts have come
out again. never has hitchhiking been easier!
i bought a litre of icecream the other day, and
couldn´t finish it. i´m losing my touch.
i´m gonna go climb a hill now and take photos for all
of you poor suckers who aren´t here. a batch of photos
to be sent tomorrow - the usb port doesn´t seem to
like me here.
