El Gato Negra

El Gato Negra
We were informed by the Belgian there are More psychologists per person in Argentina then in any other country in the world... Hmmm... We met him for a beer after trekking the same route through Frey to Jakob. At Refugio Frey he had his tent up next to us. The local cat-named El Gato Negra-we had seen duck into his tent a half our before so we told him. He checked his open pack in the vestibule and said, "this cat likes vegetables. And he has eaten half a boiled egg! This cat and I are going to have a talk." Just then El Gato Negra leapt out from his tent as He was still leaning into his pack. He shrieked and Maureen and I nearly keeled over from laughter. Two days Later, he caught up to us as we both descended early and escaped the rain that was hovering over Refugio Jakob and the pass to Lago Negra on our way back to town. he shrugged off being interviewed because his story would be bitter but agreed it could be healing, cathartic. The rainy eve before we sat in the dimly lit Refugio and heard stories of being close to the frontline in Chechnya and many other war torn countries. "There is something exciting about being in a place after a war. Hope, rebuilding... " He and Maureen talked of the magic healing from EMDR which he had firsthand experience with.

Over 20 years of contracts w UN - doctors wout borders etc and been to dozens of countries. Rebels would steal UN rigs and repaint them but u could still see the UN emblem under the paint but now they had mounted guns on them. He very much wants to return to Whakan corridor and northern Afghanistan, thinks it is getting stable enough for trekking. Loves 10 to 15 day treks. Tall, thin, easy to laugh and quite witty- I hope he finds his way...

We also spent time with A Brit on the trek that we had met at the Cerro Catedral bus stop. He had just made it back from a 3.5 month stint at Halley in the British Antarctic where he pounded nails on the new Base and they enforce a two can limit of beer per night. Turns out we had been shadowing each other for the last month. He was trekking Torres del Paine the same time we were there and we stayed at campo Italiano the same night the stove exploded there. Apparently the cell phone video is on you tube. That same night i Saw the video on the phone and I am wandering around looking quite clueless waiting for it to explode.

He was in Chalten trekking and climbing the same time we were there as well but we only ran into him in Bariloche. Along with the Belgian we all spent an evening sheltered from the howling wind and rain in the Jakob Refugio. He shared that he had incredibly vivid dreams the first few weeks while at the bottom if the world. He climbed a stellar ice route in a sea cliff and hung out a day with a few hundred thousand emperor penguins but beside those couple forays spent 50+hour weeks in carpenter mode and in the first month never saw the sun dip below the horizon, one super long day.

We managed some sweet boulders problems and a solo on the super solid gneiss near Lago Jakob in the hour before the storm came in. He would wait out the storm the next day hoping to be able to cross the 4th class pass to Laguna Negra to finish the Nahuel Huapi Traverse. We traded emails because if he couldn't make it he would come back to bariloche and we could climb locally the day before his bus left. In his email he said the boulders we were on were covered in ice the day the Belgian and Maureen and I hiked out.

I got an email the following day letting me know he was back in town. He had spent the day with an Argentine army unit that showed up at the Refugio soaked to the bone and together they all decided they would try to cross the pass the following day. His mild fears , he confided, of being British in a country that had been invaded by England and lost just slightly before he was born proved unfounded. The Falklands, or Islas Malvinas as the Argentinians still obstinately call them, were fought over with guns the Argentinians had used in  WWII. On a bike ride a few years prior from Los Angeles to Argentina he had been yelled at by a police officer who was not a fan of Margaret thatcher. Strange that she had died the day before we got to Jakob Refugio.

We climbed together with the Brit the following day at piedras blancas. When we arrived an army unit was also there training, lead climbing in fatigues...