March 17, 2011
The good life.
The pace of life has been slow and carefree since arriving in Ushuaia. The daily routine sees me waken at eight-ish, and on most mornings, hear the rain, so remain snug contemplating the dry comfortable inner-world of the tent and maybe sleep again to reawaken after nine, when, I realise it would be best to rise. When I've gotten out, I find, the rain usually isn't as bad as it sounds from within the tent and is usually the on-off light shower variety. Looking around the campsite, it's usual to see that I'm not the only one that has taken a lay-in, as I'm usually amongst the first in the pavilion to make breakfast, shortly followed by a string of other stragglers. There are yet still others emerging for the first time when I return to my tent around ten. The campsite which as aforesaid is an out-off season ski-station and has a cafe, upstairs of which, I can sit in in the warmth all day if I wish reading or using the wifi without having to spend any money while I look out at the rain. And that's what the others do too.
Yesterday morning it wasn't raining for a change and so I rose shortly after wakening and set about washing the bike once breakfast was over. The whole day which was a fine dry autumnal day was given over to washing clothes; the first chance of drying them in days. I took the fly sheet off and lifted the tent to dry-out any dampness. And I sorted through everything in the trailer-bag, and repaired a puncher in the trailer wheel. And so on and so forth, the day was taken up by little jobs.
The other cyclists, Allaster and Anna have flown out today and have disregarded stuff, and so I've come in to a small but useful haul of outdoor things including a dry-bag big enough to put both my tent and roll-mat in, and a pair of waterproof mitts amongst a few other effects. Pradro and Guilllaume are still here for a few days yet and have given me a pair of neoprene overshoes that they no longer need.
This morning was again bright and sunny. I sat eating breakfast at a picnic table outside the cafe while contemplating the ski-slope which I intended to walk up when finished. My nearest neighbours on the campsite are a young couple from Costa Rica. She is small, dark skinned and earlier when I past, was putting on make-up and eye-liner to go hiking. He is taller and looks to be East Asian, Korean I'd say. He stopped as he was passing and asked me, in his usual happy smiley way, what the name of the hill is? I said I didn't know. And had I been to the glacier. No I said. I had been to the glacier in 2004; it's nothing special. And I'd also been to the National Park too that time which was his next question. The answer is, I cycle, I see enough, and don't like spending rest days on strenuous long walks.
The walk up the ski-slope almost turned into a strenuous long walk as I took a walking trail at the top in towards the mountains. It was marked as a 3.5km hike, and it went around in a circuit turning back towards town. But, I couldn't find my way back to where I'd began at the top of the ski-slope. It took some time; walking along single-tracks through woods out to where I could see the town below where I would find Is well wide of the top of the ski-slope. It took a few wrong trails until I eventually and anxiously found the right one: all the time Is worried as it got more and more like rain; and I hadn't taken along a rain-coat because it'd been such a fine morning, I hadn't thought it would develop into rain.
The thing I dislike most about the day is the need to go to the supermercado. The nearest is all the way down in the centre. And it's a big supermarket which I dislike even more as most things are packages in large units; so I end up buying more than I need and consequently spend more money than I'd planned.
And now it's time to leave the wonderful campsite on the hill with the great view over Ushuaia. Tomorrow I begin the long ride North.
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