Today is the day my expedition team meets in the Hyatt Hotel. This is the most expensive and possibly the only 5-star hotel in Mendoza, a grand structure overlooking the Plaza Independencia. I have the unenviable task of moving all my duffel and barang from the Monkey Hostel to the Hyatt, half a block away. There was no way I could bring everything across, I needed two trips. In between, I squeezed in a phone call to Singapore and a side trip to the money changer.
The Hyatt lived up to its American heritage, and expensive rates. The difference between a USD30 private hostel room and this USD200 Hyatt room is that the latter gives you a bathroom weighing scale and makes you pay for wifi in the room. Ok, I could have gotten free wifi in the hotel lobby, but I decided to treat myself this little luxury of connecting in the comfort of my room. Afterall, we paid for this huge extravagant bedroom.
The guides from Patagonicas went around checking everyone's gear. And I mean literally, everything. They started from the feet (boots, pants etc) and worked their way up. I had to physically take out and show them each item for approval. Impressive that they take the trouble for each client. Responsible.
My room mate was a girl from DC. She arrived this afternoon but not her duffel. They were stuck in transit at Santiago, and now we anxiously await those bags. Apparently, the guide said it happened often, and typically the missing bags go on the next flight out to Mendoza. Hopefully they will get here by this evening. Not a pleasant experience even if one could claim travel insurance for this. Too traumatising for me, especially since I took a bus from Buenos Aires and not a flight. I could not imagine what might happen if my bags missed my flight. Shudder.
Later in the evening, the team met in the lobby to fill out some paperwork and for an admin briefing. There was a mixed group across ages, but mostly from the USA. Looks were deceiving because many times, people who seemed inexperienced ended up performing superbly in the mountains. After the briefing, we headed for dinner at the same restaurant I went last night. Too much wine and food, I was struggling to stay awake (after last night's meagre 4h of snooze) without seeming rude.
Tomorrow we go to get our climbing permits done. The high season fee was USD757! Man, daylight robbery. :(( Then it's off to Penitentes and the start of our climbing expedition. We can track our status at: http://patagonicas.com/2010-2011-season-dispatches/
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