Guess where I spent the day today?

Never could I have imagined that I would spend the first of my three short days in the "trekking capital of Argentina," tiny, outdoorsy El Chalten, in the police station. But yes, that's where I was taken the moment I stepped off the bus from El Calafate at 10:30 this morning, groggy and confused and certain that whatever crazy misunderstanding that had occurred would be cleared up within minutes, so I could continue with my plan to take advantage of the sunny day and head up into the insane, jagged mountains bordering the town.

Apparently, someone had reported a theft in El Calafate this morning, the town where I had started my day, and described someone that looks like me as the thief. I have no idea how the Argentine legal system works, but it seems kind of crazy that I can be detained for five hours and have the entire contents of my luggage painstakingly combed over, because I have short blonde hair, or something. As the reality that my day would be sucked up by this surreal situation sunk in, I flipped through a series of possible emotional reactions, and settled, miraculously, on calm acceptance. I could have chosen to be indignant, humiliated, angry, or frustrated, and believe me, I tried on all these emotions briefly during the time I spent sitting in the sterile, flourescent-lit police office, watching two female officers dictate the color and brand of every single item in my backpacks. But I realized that there was little, if anything to gain from these reactions. As I said, I have no idea how the legal system works here, but they weren´t mistreating me; in fact, a couple of the five or so officers who passed their day reviewing my things made smiling small talk with me as I waited. At some point, I accepted the fact that this would be my day today, and waited passively and cooperatively to be released when they (surprise!) failed to find any of the items reported missing among my possessions.

At 2:30pm I walked out the door of the police comisaria to search for a place to stay for the night. I salvaged my sanity and what was left of the afternoon with a short hike to a beautiful waterfall, where I perched myself on a rock and spent a half hour taking deep, yogic breaths, and trying to remind myself of all there is to be grateful for.