12 January 2011

Thirty miles outside of Perito Moreno the pavement turned to gravel once more. We drove 250 miles on terrible gravel. Some of it thick mini boulders scraping my car. I had to balance on the thick strips and I was swerving everywhere. I thought I was going to crash a few times. We saw an asian guy on a bicycle. He must have strong legs.

We stopped to piss and the wind blew it back on my shirt in tiny sprinkles. Even my sunglasses got a few drops.

Finally crossing onto pavement was a moment of great triumph and relief. The first part of the gravel road I had Prodigy’s “Fat of the Land” blasting in my right ear. Jordan had it blasting in his left ear.

The car died outside of Tekoa. Ran out of gas. Thankfully I had spare gas handy. We took a small break in Tekoa. Had some ice cream.

We made it to Lake Puelo by 7:30. Rey Sol was full but Jordan had a reservation. We went to another camp, Onda Azul. It was full too. We finally found a room for the three of us at an out of the way hostel down a dirt road.

A Restaurant at Lake Puelo

Jordan wants to eat dinner at Onda Azul. He and Tal made reservations. It is an Israeli home away from home. Everyone here is a Jew. All the signs are in Hebrew. The close-knit community of young backpacking Israelis is astounding and mysterious to me. All these Israelis, fresh out of the army, backpacking around South America, going to the same places, and running into each other again and again and again. I think to be an Israeli is to give up anonymity. Jordan is always with girls. They love him. They adore him. He knows a lot of people.