Morning came too early when Rodrigo, Xuxa and I were walking out the door, hugely loaded, for the few blocks to the meeting place.
From there, a 3.5 hour ride took us to our camp ground close to Ventisquero Negro (black glaciar). I remembered the ride as being beautiful, along lakes and mountains, but it started raining and there was nothing to be seen with the closing-in fog and the condensation inside the bus.
The ride itself was quite amusing. The small bus has very little space for luggage, and as most people who go to this park usually have at least one big bag (camping being the norm) that means cramped places. Add to that 13 people (11 students and the two guides) who are doing ice climbing and glaciar travel and who are bringing enough food for 9 days, and that means two big bags apiece. The hallway between the seats was all taken up with them, with all ice picks, walking sticks and generally poky stuff on the floor to avoid injuries. Getting on and off the bus required climbing over the bags, walking on seats and arm rests, or getting out through the emergency window exits, which was quite amusing and kept us entertained at the park entrance where we had to pay the entrance fee and at the rest stop, which was to be our last bathroom for a bit.
By the time we got to the campground, we weren't laughing so much. It was pouring. After a few instructions from Maximo and Nativo, our two excellent guides, we all rushed out to set up camp as quickly as possible and therefore minimize wetness.
It ended up being a useless task, the rain just kept on, relentless and hard. We had two hours to set up, eat, get dry, then get ready for the beginning of class, and I was very thankful for my goretex stuff. The inside of my tent, however, which is all mesh, got very wet in the couple of minutes it took me to put the fly over it, and I was glad to have brought my towel to dry things before setting up. This all took a long time. I ate some cold stuff, listening to the rain drumming down so hard that I could barely hear anyone else despite the fact that we were close to one another.
While I was eating, word got spread that it was too rainy to go to the glacier, we'd have to make up what we couldn't do today tomorrow. I missed that info and got out, decked for the downpour we were having. Nativo and Maximo were sitting outside their tent under a tarp, and I joined them for a few minutes while they apologized for having missed my tent.
We chatted and laughed and then I visited the Rodrigos in their tent, which was still miserably wet, and by 15h00 I was back in mine and did not leave it again.
I don't know if you guys know how boring it is to sit in a tent all day. I alternated between sitting and lying down, thankful for the book Julio had lent me, reading over my own book Freedom of the Hills, which I'd brought, writing in my journal, napping, even doing some abs. You can get out, of course, but then getting into anyone else's tent wets it, which is bad manners, then when you get back into yours you wet your own, which is annoying, so I just stayed put. I told myself to see this as an opportunity for rest.
Night came with no respite from the rain. I could hear activity outside from people who got out despite the inconveniences because they could no longer stand staying inside, but I promptly fell asleep, praying for it to keep raining and raining and raining all night so that the clouds would empty themselves entirely and morning could come nice and sunny.
Sometime during the night, it started to get really really windy, and out of my torpor I smiled to myself. With the winds picking up, the clouds would just be pushed away. Maybe it would be a sunny day after all on the morrow.
It was.
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