Taking Care of Business (Tues 3/9)

Stats:
- 1 load of laundry
- 1 attempt at the ATM
- 4 (approximately) hours of internet
- 20 minutes in the police station
- 2 bikes

Well, today was one of those days that you just can´t predict.  Despite weeks of cycling, two days of hiking has left us feeling like we have been hit by a bus.  With threatening clouds, we decided to call it a day of "rest" and planned on taking care of some business...laundry, securing cash & bus tickets, reservations on the internet, attempting to sell bikes, etc.  As we started our day in town, we ran into Jullian, Shauna and Phillipe.  They too declared it a rest day.  It seems we are all feeling the impact of hiking...sore knees, sore feet, and sore leg muscles.  Cycling is really a lower impact activity.

So, Arn tested the waters for selling our camp stove while I dropped our laundry off to get cleaned.  He quickly scraped the idea and decided we would risk getting it home (given that it is used, it may get confiscated from our luggage).  I managed to negotiate laundry pick-up in time for dinner.  We suffered the day in shorts to have clean pants for dinner (really, we should have left the shorts at home and brought two pair of pants each).  

We headed to the ATM in search of cash. The ATM is out of cash.  Now, you might think I´m pulling your leg, but this is a regular occurance.  Just because there IS an ATM, it does not mean it HAS money.  There is only one ATM machine in town, so this errand did not take that long.  Oh well.  At this point in the day, the internet crawl began...from one internet place to the next to the next.  It is SO slow and every time Arn gets on the "1 yard line", it locks and does not return.  It was so frustrating and so slow.  Eventually, we secured plane tickets and bus tickets.  In short, we are headed to Calafate by bus on the 12th, Buenes Aires by plane on the 16th, and Mendoza by plane on the 20th.  (More details as it unfolds).

We bought bus tickets for the two of us and decided to wait on buying tickets for the bikes.  We were still hoping to sell the bikes before leaving El Chalten.  At worst case, we figured we would buy tickets for the bikes to Calafate, try to sell them again, and if not --- then we would take off the most valuable parts and ship them home.  Bottom line, the bikes will go no further than Calafate.

Our search for better internet continued.  We ended up in a place called, "Anita´s House".  Arn managed to get online and things worked "okay".  It was painfully slow, but his connection at least crawled.  Mine never got started.  After 13 minutes, I tried to log out.  It was painful.  I just gave up.  The woman claimed we owed twice as much as we did for my time.  Then, not only did she log off my machine, she logged off Arn´s.  He had to pay her for both machines just to get her to unlock his machine so he could log out of his account.  When she returned the change, she continued with charging me double!  Double and I was NEVER able to access my email in 13 minutes and we were forced to pay for 30 minutes (time in purchased in 15 minute chunks).  Well, there was no reasoning with her.  This was extremely frustrating as people were very fair with the internet issues everywhere else in town.  And trust me, we were in nearly every internet shop today.  So, totally outraged, we crossed the street and headed to the police station.  Arn explained the whole situation to the officer --- "it is not the value of the money, but the principle of how we have been treated".  Long story...but, our money was returned and the owner of "Anita´s House" will now know how screwed up their policies are for people trying to use the internet.  And, we feel sure that copies of our passports are floating around the Argentina police department.  If something "happens", remember this story --- this may explain something down the road.

We returned to the wine shop to check on the progress of our bike selling efforts.  Bottom line, both "ponies" have been sold.  Arn´s bike was purchased by the brother of the wine shop owner.  His bike was stolen and he seemed very excited to get a new bike.  I enjoyed the expression on his face once he grasped the benefit of grip shifts.  Frankly, he stands about an inch taller than me and I think my bike would have been a better for him with a few minor adjustments.  However, the "male macho" thing meant he needed the bike of a guy 6´2".  I guess this is not unlike the woman that buys a size 4 dress just because her size 8 body fits into this one size 4dress.  My bike was sold to a woman from Brazil.  She is headed to the U.S. later this year and will take the bike with her to Wyoming.  She and her boyfriend are planning to cycle tour in Nepal, so the bike will definitely continue to travel to interesting places.  Selling the bikes really marked the end of our "cycle tour".  It was hard for me to part with "naranjita".  Arn took a photo of me, the Brazilian (Kika) and "naranjita".  Kika promised photos from Nepal with "naranjita".  

The owner of the wine shop said any doctor would declare Arn sick and crazy.  He said Arn is the only person in history to say he would prefer to be paid in Argentina pesos over U.S. dollars!  Given that the ATM is empty, pesos will definitely help us over dollars.  So, the bikes are gone and we have the cash in the right currency for our trip.

I collected our laundry and we returned to our very comfortable, clean room.  I sorted "his" and "her" laundry.  On a trip with three pair of underwear and 4 pair of socks, I count everything...what went to the laundry and what came back.  Many weeks ago, things came back without a sock and a glove.  I had to hunt them down at the lavanderia.  Well, today my nightgown was missing.  "Big deal" you say --- "it is just for sleeping".  This is where you would be wrong.  My black tank top styled nightgown doubles as a dress for going out to nice dinners.  Clearly, I have not had an occasion to wear it in such a mode since Bariloche.  Still, I know that in Buenes Aires and Mendoza, it will be warm and a dress and sandals will be great.  So, I returned to the lavanderia to track down my missing "vestido" (dress).  I described to the guy and he actually remembered it (seems a bit strange) and then he found it bagged with someone else´s clothes.  Arn later discovered he was missing his only cotton t-shirt.  That was not recovered.  Go figure.  In Arn´s words, "You gotta watch 'em like hawk".