My mad existence...

Well the fun is about to begin. We are leaving at 9am in the morning first to visit the permit office to get our climbing permits and then we are off for a 4 hour drive to our first stop, Penitentes, on the way to Aconcagua. Penitentes is at 2,850m. We spend 2 nights in a hotel at Penitentes acclimatising before starting the 3 day trek to base camp, where we will arrive on Feb 5.

I´ve had another rather relaxed day here in (hot) Mendoza - the temperature is in the high 30s - which followed another exceptional meal at dinner last night. The food near in Mendoza so far has been incredible - on par, if not better, than what you get in some of the best restaurants in Sydney at a fraction of the cost! Oh, and the wine is pretty good too :-)

Argentina certainly marches to the sound of its own drum. The customs declaration form provided my first laugh of the trip. You would think that given the importance of the wine industry to this country, the government would want you to declare whether you are carrying any fruit or veggies which could potentially carry some nasty bugs or diseases harmful to the wine crop. Well, no. They don´t actually; there is no need to declare whether you are carrying any foods. Instead you have to declare whether you are carrying a mobile phone. Yes, that´s right. Even if you are only carrying it for personal use, you need to not only declare it but provide brand, model and series numbers. Strange but true.

Strange but true fact #2. I have seen sweetbreads on the menu a few times which (thankfully) I had not yet ordered. Turns out they are sheeps testicles. WTF. Of all possible things you could think to call them, who on earth thought to call them sweetbreads! I am told by my fellow trekkers that they are very good. I will, however, take their word for it.

Well I´d better go and get ready for dinner. As we are leaving for the mountain in the morning this will be my last post for a few weeks. As I mentioned previously, you can follow our expedition´s progress through the Adventure Consultants website. I have been feeling a tad nervous in the last few days but after a gear check this morning, the excitement has well and truly kicked in and I am now more excited than nervous. I can´t wait to get out there and take in this beautiful country. There is something about being out in the mountains that makes my heart soar.

I have absolutely no idea how the next few weeks are going to unfold, nor any idea whether I will make it to the summit. The mountain may ultimately decide that matter for me. Mountaineering is a rather fickle sport. Mountains this big are ´weather makers´; they generate and create their own weather patterns so you can not really forecast or predict what the weather is going to be like on any given day. The weather however is just about the only thing that is outside my control. So I am not going to waste any (precious) energy worrying about it. I am going to do all I can to make it to the summit. If I don´t make it, then so be it. I certainly won´t percieve it as a ´failure´. I know that I have already succeeded because I have started; to paraphrase what a wise man once said to me, I have not let fear hold me back from attempting something I wanted to do. I will be able to rest comfortably at the end of the trip knowing that I gave it my best shot. Wish me luck!

Let the games begin!

BTW I will be spending a very dry birthday high on the mountain. Have a glass of vino for me, would you? :-)