Olga is spanglish for uninvited

Olga, an Israeli female, had no problem arriving to the park solo and asking a group of 4 visibly fit Israeli guys if she could hike with them. The guys, who could probably finish the Iditarod in one business week (without shirts), reluctantly allowed her to latch on to their trek. This proved to be a less than awesome decision.

Olga held her own the first day, making it the whole 17 miles, and lagging behind only a little. At this point in the trip, I had cultivated a great amount of respect for Olga. This was before learning she sidled on to the guys' hike, and... before the second day. Olga neglected to break in her boots prior to the trip, and both of her feet had achieved 3rd or 4th degree blisters (if those existed) by the morning of second day. Her feet were bubbled and red beyond belief. At this point, the Israeli guys suggested Olga turn around and get medical attention.

You'd be crazy to think a girl named Olga wouldn't continue on, to the utter dismay of the guys. For the next three days, one of the three guys had to stay behind and walk with Olga. At times, no one walked with her. This was interesting because one of the times she was alone and descending a pretty formidable slope, she fell and twisted her ankle. Since they had left the campsite before us, we walked up on her lying on the ground. We helped her out and from then on, she believed we were friends and we enjoyed her company*.

On the fourth day, the guys ditched her completely. That day, we got to our campsite at about 4:30pm, and assumed she stopped at the last campsite to rest up. To our surprise, at about 7:30pm she arrived raging mad and complaining about the guys leaving her behind. Directly after her rather embarrassing (and loud) rant, she calmly strolled over to our tent area to ask if she could hike with us for the remainder of the trip.

Tim, being the generous person he is, extended his index finger in my general direction, adding "he's in charge". The answer was obviously no, but choosing the path of least resistence, I said we had big hike tomorrow, possibly even finishing the circuit altogether (which would have been the South American equivalent of finishing the Iditarod in a week (without pants)) and that we would talk in the morning.

That night, I didn't enjoy a particularly restful night sleep, as I was trying to conjure up a gentle way to turn down Olga 's request. I also slept like crap because 10 feet away from me, Olga and her tent mate (some person she met when she arrived to the campsite) were talking all night long. Apparently, they only know selective english, preferring not to register my pleadings of "stop talking", "shut up" and "why are you doing this to me??"

I decided that all cordialness was out the window when morning came around, and I would give Olga a piece of my mind. My inner "meany" was never unleashed however, as she emerged from her tent and announced that she was being evacuated out of the park and she was going to the hospital. I gave her my best sympathetic apology and then walked away. Probably pumping my fist.

*She was mistaken.