I can't belive that we're already into Week 4 and are pretty close to midway in the trip. Where has the time gone? For sure, no moss has grown on us. We've managed to pack a lot into our time so far and we've had very full days. We have rented an apartment in San Carlos de Bariloche for the week so that we have extra space, a kitchen and laundry facilites. The idea being that we'd slow down for a few days near the midpoint of the trip, which we have done. It is totally against my nature and the evil voice in my head keeps saying "let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. But I promised Gord some downtime and we fire up the jets again on Tuesday when we head to San Martin de los Andes. We even watched the Men's Gold Medal Hockey Game this morning before we went out. GO CANADA GO!
Our apartment is very nice. It's a small, 2 bedroom condo that has a great balcony overlooking the lake and we're abut 10 minutes walk from the main dining, shopping, things to see area. We have rented a car so we can get around easily and we've done some self-guided trips and short hikes. More of the same tomorrow. The area is absolutely gorgeous. It's in the Lake District of Argentina and there is one lake after another, surrounded by mountains. It's a pretty big place (population around 100,000) so there is a lot to do. Way too many things for the short time that we are here. I feel like I'm scouting for a future trip back. There are loads of trails for all levels of trekking and lots of watersports. In the spirit of keeping things low-key, we're spending more time doing driving tours than hiking. On Tuesday, when we go to San Martin, we get to leave most of our gear in the apartment until we return on Friday.
We're just a few blocks away from an area that is chock-full of brew pubs. They close the streets in the evening and the pubs put tables in the streets. There is a bandstand at the end of one street and we've seen a band there for the past 2 nights. Pretty decent bands. The band last night drew a really big crowd who all knew the music and were singing and dancing in the street. It was worth being there just to watch the crowd. Here, and at some other social events that we've seen in South America, the crowds consist of people of all ages and everyone parties together. If they have kids, they bring their kids. It seems strange to me to see dozens of kids around 5 and 6 years old standing, running and playing in the street at 10PM amongst hundreds of adults who are attending a rock concert, many of whom are drinking beer and alcohol and are very much into the music. The open drinking in the streets is also foreign to me. It must be legal because it is common and there are no attempts to hide it. They sell beer in 1 litre bottles so even the large number of people drinking from giant beer bottles is amusing to me. It is all very matter of fact and I haven't seen any sign of trouble.
Backtracking to earlier this week, we went from El Chalten to El Calafate. El Calafate was probably my least favourite place so far. It wasn't bad - just not as wonderful as the other places and I think that one of the reasons was that our hotel was 1/2 way to Timbuktu and we had to take a shuttle into town. It wasn't a bad hotel and it had really nice views but I prefer to be where the action is. The town itself reminded me of Banff. Not the same demographic and nowhere near the number of people and buses, but the Main Street with the shops and restaurants was very much like Banff was when I was last there (quite a while ago).
We did a couple of special things there. First, we took a boat to a place called Estancia Cristina, which was once a ranch but the National Park was created around it so it was converted to a hotel. It is most definitely not a place that you'd stumble upon. We had to take a 2 hour boat trip to get there and it is well and truly in the middle of nowhere. However, just one mountain over, are the ice fields of Los Andes so we took a trip (in a 4 X 4) to the Upsalla Glacier, where several glaciers converge in the icefields and we hiked back through a canyon called Fossil Canyon. The hike was excellent and the canyon was loaded with fossils. We only got to see what was along the trail but it was very impressive. Mostly shells and small bones as well as imprints of small sea creatures in the rocks. If that was in Canada, I doubt that we'd be able to hike that trail. The other special thing that we did while we were in El Calafate was to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. Not the biggest glacier but definitely the most imposing. We did an ice trek on it, too. It was shorter and less difficult than the trek on Viedma Glacier but still lots of fun.
You know that your Spanish language skills need work when you order an Enchilada in a Mexican restaurant and you get lasagna. I'm still wondering why they serve lasagna in a Mexican restaurant. I ate it anyway. Aside from the Mexican lasagna experience, I'm not finding the food quite as bad as Gord has reported. Certainly, we've had some unmemorable meals but thay haven't all been bad. For me, the lousy food was in Chile. Also, anything in the realm of fast food is a waste of calories. I think that Gord is just missing some familiar components of his limited diet, like carbs. Maybe he's missing my cooking.........No, that can't be it.
When we're out on day long treks and tours, we end up eating a lot of boxed lunches, some of which haven't been great. Frankly, I am tired of eating sandwiches, especially ham and cheese, which is apparently the national sandwich of both Chile and Argentina. That's my biggest beef. I am tired of sandwiches but there are few options when you live in a hotel and have to pack lunch in the morning.
Lesson for the day: When you leave 2 pairs of perfectly good hiking boots stationed by the door and head out for the day wearing runners, do not later decide that a hike up a steep goat trail is a good thing to do. Getting back down that trail was quite a challenge without proper footwear. And, stupidly, as we were going up the trail, I kept thinking how difficult it was going to be coming down but, for some inexplicable reason, it didn't occur to me to turn back. DUH! Thankfully, we made it back without incident and can continue our adventures tomorrow.
Time for my beauty rest. Hasta luego.
New Week 4 photos can be seen here .
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