Trauko, the wild Patagonian guide was something from left field.Mountain climber, adventurer, ardent environmentalist and wild man numero uno.
He pointed out a craggy, snow-capped mountain in the Andes that looked absolutely perilous. He told us how he climbed to the peak 10 years earlier but took a week to find a way down.
At one stage he threw 500 feet of rope down and a violent updraft prpelled the rope back up into his face. Then, when he did lower it, he climbed down the 500 feet of rope only to find it was too short and he had to climd all the way up again.
At dinner one night I asked Trauko how was it that the bonnet of his ute was so battered. His story went on for more than an hour but ended with him being towed at 130 kph with a broken windscreen in blizzard conditions. Trauko is not for the feint-hearted. A man among men and enough macho to scare the bejeebers out of every woman he this side of the Andes.
Ha! Let's just say that the three single women were singularly unimpressed by Trauko the Troll at the end of it! All for different reasons!
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