Confessions and Housekeeping

First of all I need to offload some of the little scraps of paper I´ve been saving with all sorts of notes:

*Read J.M. Coetzee´s Disgrace. Good.
*Read Chitra B. Divakaruni´s Sister of My Heart. Very good.
*Recent beers: Quilmes Lager, Quilmes Stout (sweet), Cristal Lager (overhopped, grassy)
*Recent wines: Diego Murillo Vino Tinto Rio Negro Argentina ($2), Ventus Patagonia Merlot-Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Neuquen ($3.25), Cerro de Plata de Etchart Mendoza ($2)

Now: I have had lots of people writing to say it sounds like we are having the times of our lives. We are having a great time, but, as I wrote for an upcoming story in The Mountaineer, it´s not all ice cream and backrubs. Here are some of the not-so-great sides to traveling so far:

*tasteless oversalted food in Chile
*charged $7 each to load skis on a bus in Argentina
*endlessly complicated shower routines -- is this one the hot water, or is it this one, is there any hot water, or do I just need to wait more, now it´s too damn hot, I´ll add some cold water, now it´s too damn cold, etc.
*Casa del Pueblo Hostel, Esquel, Arg: usually you pay a bit more to stay in a Hostelling International facility. This was the most disgusting hostel I have ever been in, all of Africa included
*not sure how much of my topsheets are left after four days of skiing in Argentina -- lift lines are hopelessly chaotic with people literally skiing (or in some cases walking as many people board lifts here with skis in hand) across your skis to cut in line
*complete lack of stopsigns and traffic lights makes crossing the street a continual challenge
*there were two ski areas in Bariloche: Catedral, the big one, and Piedras Blancas, a small one. Went into the Piedras Blancas info office downtown to ask how much of the area was open and was handed a slip of paper and told to call a guy named Pedro in the morning, he would know, she does not know