1st day in Esquel

Esquel - well we are here and we started the day out in our ski gear trying to hitch a ride to the ski area which is 12 kilometers up into the mountains. The road doesn't have much traffic and we were starting to wonder if we would find a ride even after our hostel host assured us last night that lots of people hitch, and we would have no problems being girls. It takes a bit, but we eventually get picked up by this guy in this tiny little car (most cars here are tiny) and shove our skis and board in and we are on our way up this switchback dirt road. It gets a little tricky up near the top, the road gets snowy and our little rear wheel drive car starts losing traction, maybe our driver picked us up for the extra weight, he doesn't speak much english, so no real communication on this ride. We arrive at La Hoya and are told that it is not open, the weather is too stormy for them to open even the lower chairs. Once again the snowy weather is our adversary rather than our friend - it's soo weird in the states this would be an awesome powder day, here in Argentina it's considered too dangerous to open. We are bummed! we go and hang out inside and find our other hostel snowboarders and chill with them hoping they will open it up later. While waiting around we end up talking to these two older Canadians about skiing, they pegged us for Americans right away - we can't escape that!

So they never opened the mntn, and as we see the workers take off Jen and I head outside into the blowing snow wondering if we can find a ride back down, there are a total of 10 cars in the parking lot, no one is around and we aren't quite sure what to do! the canadians have a full car so they can't help us. we stand there looking pitiful and then this repair guy and his son take pity on us and manage to squeeze us into his work van. They at least speak a little english ane are fun. We take the slow drive down the moutain, on the way we see a herd of Gaunacos - and the Dad stops so I can take pics of these crazy camel family animals, they are like llamas, pretty cool, I think seeing them was the high point of my day. As we come back into town it clears off a bit and later Jen and I go out for an exploration of town and a hike. We end up on the shady side of town, little huts and lots of mud, it's off and on drizzling on us. we find a little path leading up past these cool rocks and cliffs and finally work off some frustration climbing up this hillside past thornbushes and moss. We get a great view of town from up there, you can see the military side (they own a ton of land) the apartment section, downtown and the poor section. It starts pouring on us so we turn around and head back down hill, cross the bridge and make it back to the normal side of town safely. Back to our really cool hostel, Planeta, to chill out and dry out, and then our latest new friend Eddie, the New zealander makes us all dinner. There are only 5 of us in this hostel currently, the couple that's here are from Beunos Aires and also speak english, so it's nice and cozy and almost feels like a family here.

So wish us luck or Suerte as they say it here, we really need it and hope that La Hoya will open tomorrow, and por favor the whole mountain, not just the lower chairs. We are both jonesing for a good day of skiing.