...meet LUKO our main guide and a real daredevil - I meet him as we cross the Iceberg Channel ,in to the forest and then 3 hours trekk on the PERITO MORENO GLACIER with 15 others...we got on like house on fire and the 1st thing I told him was ..."LUKO" I said you have got to have bottle or two of JD as we trekk as there is so much ice about...he said we can't drink as it's peligro!( dangerous)...fair enough I said but what about at the end of the trekk...he said no possiblo...but I kept on repeating my request in broken Spanish and he kept on saying no possiblo!
...wearing crampons to grip the ice as you walk...it was THE experience of a lifetime!..
...Luko and Marko checking the route for safety before we follow them...I kept on saying JD! and he kept on saying NO POSSIBLO!
...me standing over this gushing waterfall and it's 120 meters deep-you fall in and you are a gonner!-I moved out of the way very quickly to let others have a look...
...no that's not me !-that's Luko showing off his ice-climbing skill-he told us to wait,he took two ice-picks with him and ran towards that wall-5 minutes to climb and when he ran back he was drenched in sweat and looked cold and I said to him "LUKO" me amigo! you could do with a quick shot of JD and he said lab! lab!lab! no possiblo!
...trekkers -a real United Nation gathering and we even had a Pakistani couple in our group from USA(Paki boy married to an Indian girl-somebody shoot me!)...boy I was in my element with this couple and they took some beating from me on Mushy and his Emergency Rule,Cricket,Pakistani land being on a short term lease from India ,cousins rules ok! in Pakistan, who done it! who killed my Bob!(woolmer) who done it!-but he was a good sport and I think she enjoyed it too and Luko mixed it up with comments like whose got more Nuclear Weapons and I said no worries there mate! by the time Mushy finds a matchstick to light up his only rocket he will be buried under one of ours! Luko almost fell on his Icepick laughing! Then the couple said it's also their wedding anniversary today so I said to Luko-now we have to have JD before we come off this ice as the Paki's now offered to pay for it and he said lab!lab!lab! no possiblo!(then I thought no!what! me! drinking with the eneny! my friends back home would hang me !)
...pictures don't do justice really of what I saw...but then the day was about to be the most complete ever as we turned the corner to come off the glacier...there it was in all its glory and they both look beautiful-beautiful even to drink and toast a happy anniversary to the enemy ! and crackers to go with it!
...Luko I think may have noticed a tear in my eyes here-Luko in the distant gathering the most crystal clear ice cubes in the world with the ice-pick(he said the ice we had in our Whisky could be as much as 20 years old-so I said vintage like the Whisky!) infact it was Famous Grouse and not JD but that made no difference to the absolute amazing 30 minutes we all had drinking whisky and me toasting the enemy and memories to last a lifetime...you just can't imagine this kind of things and experiences are possible ...but you know they are!
...I did make a toast to the happy couple and you know I started thinking -well they are not as bad as I think they are ...and a trip to Pakistan may be on the card to exorcise my feelings towards our neighbours!(oh my god! what am I thinking! what am I writing!somebody shoot me! please!)...IT REALLY WAS THE MOST AMAZING DAY...
PS: the enemy even offered to pay for the Whisky -as to how those tables were set up and how the Whisky arrived-Luko refused to say-all he said was it was an amazing day for him too!
...my sincere apologies to all my Pakistani friends specially Asif and family and Jamal and family-cause I love you guys! honest!God's truth...
...Allah oh Akabar...
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