Torres del Paine day 5
Trip Start
Oct 19, 2007
1
116
126
Trip End
Ongoing
Torres del Paine,
Chile
Monday, March 3, 2008
We stumble upon this Dutch dude trekking with these two Isreali girls but he decides to leave them behind and join us since we trek much faster
Doin da crab freeze-I took 12 break dancin lessons
. Besides, this gives him a chance to talk to someone different for awhile. He's a super cool dude and I realize that all Dutch people are awesome. I haven't met one person from the Netherlands I haven't liked in all my travels. They are always happy and talkative and interested in your stories and background. I make a bunch of obvious observations today like "dude, look over there, there's a mountain". We finally reach the top and of course the first thing we do is bust open a couple packs of cookies and Avida makes some tea. He likes tea so much that at times I swear he's British. We hang at the mirador or lookout point (the highest point in our climb) for about 2 hours and just chill and crack jokes. The two Isreali girls finally make it up and I try hitting on the one but she has a boyfriend or some shit. Weak. We meet an American from Washington State and he tells us how he quit his job and how he plans on traveling for 2 years and to see every continent and as much of the world as possible. He's alredy knocked out Antartica so the rest should be fairly easy. Very cool. It makes me proud to run into Americans with mindsets like this. For some reason Tom flies back to camp (maybe he has to poo again) so I am stuck walking with Avida the entire way back. We walked with the Isreali chicks for a bit but ultimately they were going to slow for us to deal with.
Me at the top of our climb
I don't understand how anyone could possibly be a worse listener than Avida. He completely exists within his own head and whatever is in head at that moment in time is his reality. He goes back over all the same stories I have heard from him like 5 times already during the course of the week. I try to inject some of my own personal stories and here is a quick example of a conversation we had: Avida - I went from Honduras all the way down here by bus, Me - that's cool bro, I traveled flrom northern Brazil down to here by bus also except I did take one small flight, Avida - In Utila (Honduras) I had rice for 5 days. Retarded. I actually started saying the craziest most fucked up shit I could think of because I knew he wasn't listening and it was the only thing I could do to make me laugh and to keep me from killing him (I believe Seinfeld did this once in an episode). Here is an example; Avida - I had to sleep in my tent for 2 weeks straight in Honduras, Me - I once had sex with my little sister, Avida - It was so windy in Honduras I had to put rocks in my tent, Me - I climbed a skyscraper once and peed on some kid's head who was standing on the sidewalk below and he drowned, Avida - The rocks weren't heavy enough though and I had to put in more rocks. This went on for like 20 minutes and not once did he ever respond to one of my comments. It was truly unbelievable. We get back to camp pretty early so I do in fact have time to wash my socks in the glacial stream along with myself
Me, Avida, Tom and some Isreali Chick
. I lay back on some rocks along the stream and since the sun is out both myself and my socks dry fairly quickly. It is so nice just laying here and having the feeling of cleanliness. It was also nice to get some time to myself especially after the 2 hour walk back with Avida. I come to learn I left my water bottle at the top of Valley Frances and that is about the worst thing in the world to lose. You have no idea how valuable something as simple as a 1.5 liter plastic bottle is. I can use Avida's and/or Tom's bottle so it's not that big of a deal but now we'll just have to fill up the bottles more often. If I was by myself I would be a bit fucked.I have a lot of energy tonight and I do a quick little juggling/breakdancing/dog barking/comedy routine for this group of Isreali girls and Tom tells me that I need a lot of attention. This kid is pretty insightful. I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be but yes, once in awhile I need to be the center of attention and I guess tonight was one of those nights. However it was pretty fun and all the Isreali girls were cracking up. One of them was sort of dope but she had a shaved head which sort of ruined her sort of dopeness thing she had going for her. I am not looking forward to sleeping in the tent again tonight. I slept like shit the night before and for some reason I just can't get comfortable in that piece of shit.
Fin
