On the 5th of February, I took a bus to a different part of Nahuel Huapi National Park. I met two guys from near Buenos Aires, Matias and Santiago. We hung out by the river and had some yerba mate. Later in the day, we got a ride part way up the road and camped by a lake, after making some yerba mate. On the 6th, we took a bus the rest of the way to the trail head and met two more friends of my friends, another Matias and Gabriel.
We camped in Pampa Linda and the next day was a perfectly clear day. We took a hike up to a mountain hut high on the side of Mt. Tronador and looked at the glaciers. Mt. Tronador is an amazing mountain to look at. It is shaped like a starfish. The arms are gently sloping, forested heights and the sections between them are deep valleys. The glaciers slide down the mountain and then fall off 1000 foot cliffs as either waterfalls or ice chunks to start down the valleys.
On the 8th, I woke up to a lot of rain. I spent most of the day in my tent or hanging out with my Argentinian friends, but in the afternoon we hiked to a nearby waterfall and made some yerba mate. The 9th of February brought some rain. It was not too heavy, so I took a hike. We were camped five miles down the valley from the mountain and had been listening to piecies of ice fall off for three days. I hiked up to the bottom of the cliffs and looked at the dozens of waterfalls and a few glaciers. I had a good 11 mile walk in the drizzle and then joined my friends for some yerba mate.
On the morning of the 10th I was determined to walk, rain or shine. It was rain. I checked out the trail and it was mostly mud, but in places it was completely underwater. The high parts were under about eight inches of snow and the Park Rangers closed the trail. So, after a good six days of hanging out in the rain, we took a bus back to Bariloche.
This week was the best week of Spanish lessons in my life. Matias, Santiago, Matias and Gabriel did not speak English. They were very patient with me and gave me the time to express myself. Also, after a few days they spoke using the words I understood and were also familiar enough with the way I spoke to understand me. The only problem was the accent. Argentinians have a very distinct accent, and now so do I. I have to make an effort to get rid of it. People have a hard enough time understanding my Spanish without Argentinian pronunciation and slang. I had a great time with them, but it was time to move on.
The next day, I decided that I had had enough hanging out and working my way south slowly. I bought a bus ticket to El Calafate and left in the early afternoon. The bus took all night to get to Comodoro Rivadavia. I let the woman and child sitting next to me use my seat and stood at the front of the bus. The spare bus driver pulled out a little stove and made some yerba mate for us. We arrived in Comodoro Rivadavia at 5 am. I was tired, having not slept all night. I fell asleep on the floor of the bus station and did not awaken until the guard told me to move at 7 am.
I spent the day wandering around town. In the afternoon, I went to the park to take a nap. I found a nice secluded area, but it was occupied. The man who was living there invited me over for some yerba mate on his campfire. I had a good chat with him and then went to the movie theater, to sleep through a movie.
At 12:30 am, on the 13th, my next bus left. I was able to get two seats to myself and slept the night away. We got to Rio Gallegos the next morning. This far south there is only one paved road, and it is on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. So, after going east all night from Bariloche, and south all night from Comodoro Rivadavia, I now had to go west again to the mountains. After one more bus ride, I was in El Calafate, on the edge of the Argentinian Glacier National Park.
On the 14th, I took a tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier. We had five hours there, and it was not enough. I found a good view point and spent the day there. The foot of the glacier is almost four miles wide and it ends in a lake. Every few minutes some pieces of ice would fall off and about every 15 minutes a huge piece of ice would break off and crash into the water. The front of the glacier is 150 feet tall and some truly impressive pieces broke off.
At one point I saw something truly amazing. The glacier, besides towering over the lake, also goes down into the lake for about 500 feet. Somewhere, down in the depths, a piece of ice broke off and shot to the surface. At first I saw a big dark blue chunk of ice pop up in the water. Then another piece, about the size of a small stadium, rose up and scraped along the front of the glacier to about the 100 foot mark. This big piece spent the next ten minutes falling apart and then floated around for the rest of the day. The surface ice of the glacier is a pale blue or white, but these pieces from the deep were very dark blue, almost black.
That evening, I did the last of my food shopping, and was ready to leave early on the 15th for my next hike. I took the bus up to the capital of the Fitz Roy section of the park, Chaltan. I met Otmar, a Swiss guy, and Mauricio, from Argentina. We spent the afternoon hiking up to Laguna Torre. After about an hour, Mauricio stopped to rest and said he would catch up to us later. He looked pretty tired and we never saw him again. I thought he went back to Chaltan, Otmar thought he camped where we left him on the trail.
The 16th was another clear day, so we took a little day hike up around the lake and up the valley for some views of the rock needles that tower over some glaciers. Otmar then left and I spent the day hiking up the valley, next to a glacier.
After these two nights at D'ugostino camp, I moved over to Poincenot camp. This only took the morning, and I followed a river bed up to a lake in the afternoon. There were more 3000 foot cliffs with water falls to look at. On the 18th, I hiked up to a lake and then a few more thousand feet up to a mountain top. This last bit involved some mildly challenging rock climbing and was quite fun. I caught up to Chad and Jeff on this hike/climb. They are both experienced mountaineers and we had a good day. Chad teaches the ice climbing courses in McCarthy, Alaska that I went on last year, but I did not know him.
It was time to move camp again, so I packed up. I had lunch in another glacier/lake/river/moraine area. I got to my final camp of this trip and then took a few hour hike up the valley to look at a lake and some glaciers. I joined a couple from Norway for this walk and our 1 hour walk turned into three, because we always wanted to know what was around the next bend. We finally got some great views of Mt. Fitz Roy.
On the 20th, I had the cold that was going around. I felt okay, but had a stuffy nostril. I spent the day resting. I was running out of food on the 21st, but had a good weather day hike planned. It was cloudy, so I hiked out. I caught the afternoon bus to El Calafate. One of the people who shared my room that night sniffled all night, except when he snored. Tom, Winkie and I did not sleep at all. We gave up lying there around 5:30 and went to the bus station. We were there early enough for the first bus out of town.
After a very smooth border crossing, we were in Puerto Natales, Chile. Two months ago, when I arrived from Bolivia, Chile was ridiculously expensive. Now, arriving from Argentina, Chile seems very affordable and I do not have to watch my budget so much.
I took an afternoon bus to Punta Arenas and will spend a few days here to relax. I am now in the southernmost city in the world, at the very tip of South America, just above Tierra del Fuego.
Yesterday, I went out to the penguin breeding area and looked at the three month old penguins. They were fun to watch for a while and posed really well for cameras. I am staying with a local family and I taught the kid how to play chess today.
As of this moment, I plan to spend a few more days here and then head up to Torres del Paine National Park. I will walk for two or three weeks there and then start to head north, for my flight out of Lima on the 4th of April.
And now, for some observations. In Argentina, they really, really like yerba mate. A yerba mate is sort of like tea. They fill a cup with something that looks like grass clippings, and maybe add a little sugar. Then they stick in a metal straw with a strainer at the bottom. Pour in some hot water and it is ready. They suck up the water, pour in some more water and pass the cup on to the next person. I think it is slightly bitter and fairly weak, but they love it. Chad tells me that tea bags of yerba mate are all the rage in Boulder, Colorado. But, to me, it is just like tea - dirty water.
I was doing okay with Spanish in Peru and Bolivia, then I got to Chile. Here they speak very quickly, mumble a bit, and drop the final "s" from every word. Spanish has a lot of final "s" and I have had some difficulty. In Argentina, they have a very unique accent, which I was able to pick up. Now, unless a Chileno knows that I am speaking Argentinian, he does not understand me.
In Bolivia, everyone calls each other "Joven" which means youngster. I understood this when spoken by older people, but it was strange to hear ten year old shoe shine boys call me youngster. In Chile, they like to finish sentences with "no mas" which means no more. Of course, when they say it it sounds like "no ma" So, something might cost 500 pesos, no more (or "No mo". Or I might have to walk three blocks, no more. The Argentinian word for man is "che" and it is widely employed.
When a Bolivian enters a restaurant, he says "Bon Provecho" to everyone, which seems pretty friendly to me.
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Friday, February 4, 2000
Chile - Kayak and Hike Puyehue. Argentina - Hike Nahuel Haupi
After my last update, I ended up spending about six days in Pucon. Pucon turned out to be a very popular place to kayak. I spent two days adjusting my schedule so that I could hang out with other people all night and get into the kayak scene. Once there, I met the right people and went kayaking.
On whatever Monday it was after the 14th of January, I joined a few others for a paddle down the Lincura River. It was not too difficult and I only had to swim once. Amazingly, I was still able to roll the kayak and was able to rescue myself the other half a dozen times I ended up-side down.
On Tuesday, a bunch of us headed out to the San Pedro River. This was a little more challenging and a very long day. Again, I only came out of my kayak once. Though, on a few occasions it did take me four attempts to roll the kayak back over.
On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon on the Lower Trincura River. This was not too bad at all and I think I only flipped twice and saved myself both times. I still think kayaking is a lot of fun and could be one of my next sports, but I still like trekking better and it was time to head out again.
After a rest day, I went to Osorno. On the Saturday, I made my way out to the start of my next hike. I stayed in a very nice National Park campground and had a look at a couple of waterfalls.
On Sunday I began my traverse of the Puyehue Volcano. The trail starts by crossing a private farm, and they charge ten dollars for this privilege. It was a bit of a rip-off, but as they say in Nepal "Ke Gar Nay" or "What to do". The first day's walk was uphill and in places very slippery. It passed through a nice forest and ended up near the tree line. That night I met three French Canadians who work as tour guides in the summer and travel each winter. It sounded like a good life to me.
The next day I climbed up to the top of the Puyehue Volcano and then continued on to the next campsite. That night, and the next, were spent camped next to some natural hot springs. Very hot water bubbles up from the ground and an icy cold river flows near by. Right where the hot and cold waters meet, a small bath has been dug and I spent two hours trying not to burn or freeze. Overall, I was successful and had a great soak as the stars came out.
On the Tuesday morning, I got an early start and walked for two hours to the nearby geysers and boiling mud. I am a big fan of boiling mud and spent two hours there taking in the scenery, eating lunch, reading my book and, once they joined me, talking to Jason and Sarah from London.
This area was all above the tree line and very dry. The terrain looked like sand dunes, but was really a very light (colored and weight) volcanic rock called pumice. The rocks float in water and get ground to dust in your boots, which saves stopping and emptying them. I was in heaven, it looked like sand dunes, but was much easier to walk on. My plan for the day was to head way off the trails and explore this high deserty plain.
About every hour I came across another amazing feature of this volcanic area and thought "Now I have seen it all, it can't get better than this." Then, an hour later, I would come across something even more amazing. I saw big volcanic rocks sticking up and deep snow filled chasms between them. I strolled along the rim of a crater and saw where the rim was cracked as pieces of it slid down the slope. I found a little crater made of rough lava that was steaming. The lava was all cold and solid, but steam was coming out of the rim. Then I found another big area of geysers and smelly sulfur.
I had high expectations for this day walk and was not disappointed. My normal days are great, my normal trekking days are excellent, but these are the days I live for. I usually only get two or three days this good each year. No hill was too high, no valley was too deep, no lava field was too rough, no crossing was too hot or too cold. With nothing to carry except some food and water I was able to walk all afternoon without getting tired.
In the end I probably did not even walk 15 miles, but it was great. I was able to look north and see the volcanoes I walked around two weeks earlier. To the south I could see the volcano I would walk around next. This day was definitely one of the highlights of my trip south.
I could have spent another three days in that area - exploring. But, I did not have that much food, so it was time to come down. Sarah, Jason, and I spent a very long day walking north and eventually came to a farm on the other side of the park. They did not charge us an exit fee, instead they sold us some bread and cheese.
The next morning we went back up to the farm to get a bit more bread. The dogs did not remember us and attacked. Four of them ran up to us. One of them bit me on the leg, but did not break the skin. Then he bit me again and ripped my sock and put a little hole in my boot. This brings me back to my point last month - why buy expensive gear that can break when skin grows back all by itself. At least the bread was good.
The farm is at the end of a dirt road and after a few miles, we got a ride in a logging truck. He took us a few miles and then stopped to unload the logs. This was pretty impressive and Jason and I stopped to watch. Our next ride was in the back of an open pick-up truck. The road was very dusty. The three of us sat next to each other, but somehow Jason only got a little dirty, Sarah got pretty dirty and I was just a mess.
We caught a bus to Lago Ranco after the pick-up truck. The bus driver laughed at me because I was so dirty. We spent the afternoon at Lago Ranco and after a good swim nobody stared at me anymore. Our next bus brought us back to Osorno for the night.
The next day was spent on a bus and waiting at borders. In the evening, we got to San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. This is a very very touristy town, in the Swiss style. Every other store is a chocolate shop and the buildings are all Swiss mountainy looking.
After one night in the city, we hit the trail again. This time we went to the nearby Nahuel Huapi National Park. Jason and Sarah are on South American time and we did not start walking until 3:30 p.m. We got to the first campground a little late, after a nice walk up through a forest.
The next morning was rainy. We hung out in the tents until after lunch and then started walking. First we climbed up the wall behind the lake and then we came down the other side. This took a lot out of us, so we stopped at the bottom of the valley. Day three of the walk started with good weather. We climbed up the other side of the valley and down again after the pass to the next camping area. Both of those downhills were among the toughest I have ever done. Looking back on them, they both appeared to be sheer walls of scree and impossible to negotiate. But, somehow, we made it down them.
Day four started with a real downpour, which continued the entire day. I had planned to do the most difficult section of the trail next, but the rain kept me in my tent all day. To survive such a situation I had to keep myself on a strict regimen of eat, read, sleep. After my first cycle of this, Sarah and Jason packed up and left. They had less time than me and were not planning to go the same way as me. They headed down the valley, in the rain, and finished their hike. I then repeated my regimen two more times.
Day five was perfectly clear and I did the hardest day of hiking in my life. The first section was a lot more like rock climbing than hiking. At one point I was supposed to follow a rocky chute up the cliff, but thanks to the rain it was a rocky series of waterfalls. On one section, I had to put my foot through the water to find a place to stand. So as I went up, my leg was in the icy stream and my handhold was too, which allowed the water to also run down sleeve. On the sides of the water was slippery ice and the rocky chute was so narrow, my pack scraped both sides.
I eventually made it to the top, spent the next few hours moving along the ridge and then had a huge down hill section. This part eventually went below the tree line and I spent a lot of time bush bashing. The last hour of the day was finally on a real trail and not just a nearly imaginary one. I was happy to finally be able to walk, instead of climbing, sliding, pushing and figuring out my next step. I seized the opportunity to finally walk and went up the 1000 feet of steep switchbacks in well under an hour.
After camping by yet another lake, I hiked up another mountain, along a ridge, down a long ways to another valley for lunch. After a bit of uphill, I had to do an extremely challenging uphill. From below I had dismissed this section of the trail as impossible and looked for the trail elsewhere. Eventually, I convinced myself that the trail really did go 1000 feet straight up a very steep scree slope. This took me a long time because nearly every rock I stepped on slid down a little ways.
From the top, I was 3500 feet above the bus stop and no where to go but down. The first bit involved a bit more climbing then the trail opened up below the tree line and I made pretty good time.
I spent today relaxing and eating in Bariloche. Tomorrow I will start my next five or six day hike.
Thanks to a few more passes through my trekking guide book, I now have eight more hikes planned and had better get moving if I hope to finish before the middle of spring and before my return to the States on the 4th of April.
Also, Argentina is so expensive that I will go broke if I stay in hotels and eat all day. I can only afford this country if I camp for free and am not tempted by ice cream and chocolate every five minutes.
On whatever Monday it was after the 14th of January, I joined a few others for a paddle down the Lincura River. It was not too difficult and I only had to swim once. Amazingly, I was still able to roll the kayak and was able to rescue myself the other half a dozen times I ended up-side down.
On Tuesday, a bunch of us headed out to the San Pedro River. This was a little more challenging and a very long day. Again, I only came out of my kayak once. Though, on a few occasions it did take me four attempts to roll the kayak back over.
On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon on the Lower Trincura River. This was not too bad at all and I think I only flipped twice and saved myself both times. I still think kayaking is a lot of fun and could be one of my next sports, but I still like trekking better and it was time to head out again.
After a rest day, I went to Osorno. On the Saturday, I made my way out to the start of my next hike. I stayed in a very nice National Park campground and had a look at a couple of waterfalls.
On Sunday I began my traverse of the Puyehue Volcano. The trail starts by crossing a private farm, and they charge ten dollars for this privilege. It was a bit of a rip-off, but as they say in Nepal "Ke Gar Nay" or "What to do". The first day's walk was uphill and in places very slippery. It passed through a nice forest and ended up near the tree line. That night I met three French Canadians who work as tour guides in the summer and travel each winter. It sounded like a good life to me.
The next day I climbed up to the top of the Puyehue Volcano and then continued on to the next campsite. That night, and the next, were spent camped next to some natural hot springs. Very hot water bubbles up from the ground and an icy cold river flows near by. Right where the hot and cold waters meet, a small bath has been dug and I spent two hours trying not to burn or freeze. Overall, I was successful and had a great soak as the stars came out.
On the Tuesday morning, I got an early start and walked for two hours to the nearby geysers and boiling mud. I am a big fan of boiling mud and spent two hours there taking in the scenery, eating lunch, reading my book and, once they joined me, talking to Jason and Sarah from London.
This area was all above the tree line and very dry. The terrain looked like sand dunes, but was really a very light (colored and weight) volcanic rock called pumice. The rocks float in water and get ground to dust in your boots, which saves stopping and emptying them. I was in heaven, it looked like sand dunes, but was much easier to walk on. My plan for the day was to head way off the trails and explore this high deserty plain.
About every hour I came across another amazing feature of this volcanic area and thought "Now I have seen it all, it can't get better than this." Then, an hour later, I would come across something even more amazing. I saw big volcanic rocks sticking up and deep snow filled chasms between them. I strolled along the rim of a crater and saw where the rim was cracked as pieces of it slid down the slope. I found a little crater made of rough lava that was steaming. The lava was all cold and solid, but steam was coming out of the rim. Then I found another big area of geysers and smelly sulfur.
I had high expectations for this day walk and was not disappointed. My normal days are great, my normal trekking days are excellent, but these are the days I live for. I usually only get two or three days this good each year. No hill was too high, no valley was too deep, no lava field was too rough, no crossing was too hot or too cold. With nothing to carry except some food and water I was able to walk all afternoon without getting tired.
In the end I probably did not even walk 15 miles, but it was great. I was able to look north and see the volcanoes I walked around two weeks earlier. To the south I could see the volcano I would walk around next. This day was definitely one of the highlights of my trip south.
I could have spent another three days in that area - exploring. But, I did not have that much food, so it was time to come down. Sarah, Jason, and I spent a very long day walking north and eventually came to a farm on the other side of the park. They did not charge us an exit fee, instead they sold us some bread and cheese.
The next morning we went back up to the farm to get a bit more bread. The dogs did not remember us and attacked. Four of them ran up to us. One of them bit me on the leg, but did not break the skin. Then he bit me again and ripped my sock and put a little hole in my boot. This brings me back to my point last month - why buy expensive gear that can break when skin grows back all by itself. At least the bread was good.
The farm is at the end of a dirt road and after a few miles, we got a ride in a logging truck. He took us a few miles and then stopped to unload the logs. This was pretty impressive and Jason and I stopped to watch. Our next ride was in the back of an open pick-up truck. The road was very dusty. The three of us sat next to each other, but somehow Jason only got a little dirty, Sarah got pretty dirty and I was just a mess.
We caught a bus to Lago Ranco after the pick-up truck. The bus driver laughed at me because I was so dirty. We spent the afternoon at Lago Ranco and after a good swim nobody stared at me anymore. Our next bus brought us back to Osorno for the night.
The next day was spent on a bus and waiting at borders. In the evening, we got to San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. This is a very very touristy town, in the Swiss style. Every other store is a chocolate shop and the buildings are all Swiss mountainy looking.
After one night in the city, we hit the trail again. This time we went to the nearby Nahuel Huapi National Park. Jason and Sarah are on South American time and we did not start walking until 3:30 p.m. We got to the first campground a little late, after a nice walk up through a forest.
The next morning was rainy. We hung out in the tents until after lunch and then started walking. First we climbed up the wall behind the lake and then we came down the other side. This took a lot out of us, so we stopped at the bottom of the valley. Day three of the walk started with good weather. We climbed up the other side of the valley and down again after the pass to the next camping area. Both of those downhills were among the toughest I have ever done. Looking back on them, they both appeared to be sheer walls of scree and impossible to negotiate. But, somehow, we made it down them.
Day four started with a real downpour, which continued the entire day. I had planned to do the most difficult section of the trail next, but the rain kept me in my tent all day. To survive such a situation I had to keep myself on a strict regimen of eat, read, sleep. After my first cycle of this, Sarah and Jason packed up and left. They had less time than me and were not planning to go the same way as me. They headed down the valley, in the rain, and finished their hike. I then repeated my regimen two more times.
Day five was perfectly clear and I did the hardest day of hiking in my life. The first section was a lot more like rock climbing than hiking. At one point I was supposed to follow a rocky chute up the cliff, but thanks to the rain it was a rocky series of waterfalls. On one section, I had to put my foot through the water to find a place to stand. So as I went up, my leg was in the icy stream and my handhold was too, which allowed the water to also run down sleeve. On the sides of the water was slippery ice and the rocky chute was so narrow, my pack scraped both sides.
I eventually made it to the top, spent the next few hours moving along the ridge and then had a huge down hill section. This part eventually went below the tree line and I spent a lot of time bush bashing. The last hour of the day was finally on a real trail and not just a nearly imaginary one. I was happy to finally be able to walk, instead of climbing, sliding, pushing and figuring out my next step. I seized the opportunity to finally walk and went up the 1000 feet of steep switchbacks in well under an hour.
After camping by yet another lake, I hiked up another mountain, along a ridge, down a long ways to another valley for lunch. After a bit of uphill, I had to do an extremely challenging uphill. From below I had dismissed this section of the trail as impossible and looked for the trail elsewhere. Eventually, I convinced myself that the trail really did go 1000 feet straight up a very steep scree slope. This took me a long time because nearly every rock I stepped on slid down a little ways.
From the top, I was 3500 feet above the bus stop and no where to go but down. The first bit involved a bit more climbing then the trail opened up below the tree line and I made pretty good time.
I spent today relaxing and eating in Bariloche. Tomorrow I will start my next five or six day hike.
Thanks to a few more passes through my trekking guide book, I now have eight more hikes planned and had better get moving if I hope to finish before the middle of spring and before my return to the States on the 4th of April.
Also, Argentina is so expensive that I will go broke if I stay in hotels and eat all day. I can only afford this country if I camp for free and am not tempted by ice cream and chocolate every five minutes.
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