I'm so frustrated I'm boiling right now, because 20% extra is A LOT, especially if you're trying to save up. I was thinking that he could perhaps transfer his money to me and I could buy both tickets from here instead (him coming here and me going with him back) to avoid the tax, but no, the Argentine government has extra taxes on transfers too and we'd lose a bunch of money for transferring it. It's just a hopeless situation right now and we're trying to figure out how to do this, but if all goes to hell we'll spend 4200 dollars on flight tickets alone which leaves us pretty much broke. Aaaah politics 
Aaaaaaaaaanyways, on to more uplifting things! I think I finished off the last part of my very long, very late diary-thing at mountain climbing, so I'll just continue there! Right, we were on our way towards the top! Which was exhausting, but at least it was only a 4 hour-climb there and not 8 like the first climb. And I wore Converse, which maybe isn't the best choice for this kind of activity, but it worked and I didn't get sore feet, so yay!
We reached a pretty big lake after some climbing, which was very neat! However the raised water levels caused by the melting snow had submerged the rocks used for crossing the lake, so it took us some time to cross the narrowest part (by re-building the tiny "bridge" in the bottom of the picture with more rocks!) to get to the other side and reach the top x)
And so we continued. Up, up, up, but it was a really nice climb. We weren't in a hurry to get there before nightfall because it wouldn't take that long, there were streams and snow everywhere at the same time as the sun burned from above, making us both sweat like never before xD Almost at the top, we decided to lie down on the rocks for a bit just to rest (our legs were pretty tired from the previous day) but we ended up falling asleep for like an hour... Which wasn't good, because at this point the sun had made it's mark already and we were both looking like tomatoes xD And I had my glasses on because my contacts had become dirty, which left some neat, white marks around my eyes. Anyway, we decided to keep going but it turned out that reaching the top would be a bit more complicated than we thought, because right where we were supposed to go there was a big glaciar-thing that we didn't dare walk on in case it would slide away or something. So we had to take this huuuge detour, climbing over all kinds of loose rocks, and I have to admit that at that altitude when you've got the edge of the mountain just a couple of meters away and walking on rocks that were sliding all over the place... I was kind of scared xD But eventually, we made it! *victory dance*
And yes, there was a couple of mountain lakes that you could see from there on the other mountains, however only one is visible in this picture. I'd love to make it there someday, imagine swimming there!
So we stayed up there for a while, just taking in the views and admiring the world. It doesn't show that well in the pictures, but the Andes were everywhere you looked. It was incredibly magnificent, and I had one of those moments where you realize just how small you are compared to the world. Afterwards we made our way back down the mountain again, which was a lot easier than going up once more. This time we decided to just make our sweatshirts into sleighs though, so crossing the snowy parts became a lot more fun when you could slide down them!
By the time we got down the mountain the sun was almost setting, and we came across two really nice guys that had made it to the refuge while we were hiking up the mountain. We talked to them for a while, and they told us they were sleeping in the cabin because the cabin owner wasn't there and wasn't coming until the next day anyway. Therefore it was free to use (if the cabin owner isn't there, he cannot charge you for sleeping there but they still keep it open for use in case of emergencies and such). Considering we'd had a night of hell the other day, we decided to join them in the cabin that night, and I've never slept as good in my entire life! The furnace was on and we took turns keeping it burning during the night, and the mattresses were just HEAVEN! It was kind of creepy though, it really looked like a ghost-shack and once you started imagining all kinds of horror-film scenarios it was kind of frightening xD Anyways, view from our corner!
That morning we took our leave and started making our way down the mountain, but even though I was dirtier than ever and probably looked somewhat like an ogre, I wouldn't have mind staying a bit longer. However, three days was probably more than enough for a first-timer like me, which I realized the next day when the muscle pains crept on me xD Interestingly enough though, we managed to get lost. See, there's a trail that you follow up and down the mountain, and it's marked by white or orange metal-things that have been nailed to trees. However, more often than not, they fall down since there's rarely anyone who checks up on them and you have to find your own way in that case. That happened at one point, but we followed a relatively straight line until we found a white sign and the trail picked up. After about an hour though, I started to get suspicious because I wasn't recognizing anything we passed. I told my SO this, and he agreed, but maybe that we'd just forgotten it and that we should keep going, so that's what we did. At one point we faced a huge bull that was in the middle of the road though, which was kind of frightening too xD The farmers let their cows roam free on the mountains so we ran into a lot of them, but this one was enormous and staring straight at us. After a few minutes we realized there was a calf there too so he was probably protecting it and didn't want us near, so we took a big detour again to avoid getting skewered on his horns xD
Anyways, we kept going , but eventually we had to admit that we were lost. By this point though, we had already walked for like 4 hours and there was no way in hell we were walking back up to find our way. What had happened was simply that we'd gotten into an old trail that was used before, but had been replaced by the new one that we took up the mountain. Of course though, no one had bothered to take down the signs that marked the old trail, hence why we followed it. We decided to just keep going though, and see what happened. My fear was that we would end up at a ravine or something like that and be screwed, but nothing happened. Until we reached a fence that stretched onto forever to both left and right.
We'd ended up on the border to someones private land. Now, this is a serious deal in Argentina. Private land is private land, and it's not unusual with a bunch of guard-dogs, signs promising murder if trespassing and whatnot, so this was almost as bad as a ravine xD We went rebel though, and climbed the fence with backpacks and all and kept going. Our plan was to speak English and claim we were lost tourist if someone came to shoot us and hope for the best xD It went pretty well though, and after another hour or so we reached ground-level. However, this was also where we had to pass a huuuuge field of cows to get out of the private property, while the house of the owner was placed in one of the corners. We just looked at each other and decided to try and make a run for it the best we could, even though there was like a kilometer and a half to the opposite end of the land. So we ran. And after just a few minutes we started hearing dogs barking, and I've never been so pumped with adrenaline ever xD We made it to the fence though, threw over the bags and jumped, and all of the sudden we were safe. We crossed the private land without being eaten by dogs or killed by an angry farmer! And for me, who's always followed the rules and regulations, this was like the most badass thing I'd done in my life even though it probably wasn't
And that marks the end of the mountain-climbing adventure! We went back to the starting point and took a cab back to Gon's house, where we both died on the bed and fell asleep quicker than ever
Next up will be various other excursions and the like, not sure when I'll have time to post that, but it will be filled with pictures for sure!