Visitors

It´s been another 10 days or so since I´ve updated, and a lot has happened. Tim and Laurel arrived the morning of the 12th, on Holy Saturday. Besides the fact that Laurel and Tim were beat after the 12 hours of flying, nothing was open, so the day was spent lounging around in parks, having picnics and taking naps. Easter Sunday we went to mass in one of the famous cathedrals in the city, and then set off on foot (since the subways were closed) to explore a couple different barrios of the city. After browsing through the crafts market and seeing some tango dancing in San Telmo (BA´s tango district), we walked south to La Boca, which is famous (with tourists) for it´s brightly painted buildings, supposedly painted with the remnants of ship paint from the days when BA had a functioning port. With Argentinians, Boca is pretty much only known for its soccer team. After a run through the old port area and a brief tour of the Congresso building, we left the following day for Bariloche. After 22 hours on the bus (the 18 hour ride was delayed for 4 hours because of a flat tire, and the lack of proper tools to replace it), we arrived mid afternoon.

We planned a 3 day trek through Nathuel Huapi National Park. Before arriving, I was a little concerned what the weather was going to be like in Bariloche, which is pretty far south in Argentina´s Lake District. Luckily, the weather was absolutely perfect. The days were 65 and sunny, and the nights were brisk (okay, really cold, but it didn´t matter because we were sleeping inside). The first day of the hike we rode a chairlift up (cheating, I know, but it made the hike more difficult in the end, I swear) to the top of a ridge with a beautiful view across the park´s namesake glacial lake Nathual Huapi. Walking along the ridge involved scrambling over boulders and avoiding the steep slope covered in loose gravel that would be a quick and bumpy 400m slide to the valley...and impossible to climb back up. After about a 4.5 hour hike, we arrived at the first refugio to spend the night. These convenient rustic houses in the mountains were a lifesaver. Not only did they provide shelter and a mattress for sleeping, but they cooked dinner and breakfast for us too!! The food at the first refugio was downright gourmet (the guy working there was training to be a professional chef). Day two was a long 6.5 hour haul up out of the valley that the first refugio was in, down that super loose gravel slope I almost fell down several times the day before (I found after slipping and sliding on my butt for about half of that hill that it´s much easier not to fight the slope, but to skate down it), across that valley, up the other chain of mountains on the other side, and finally a steep drop down them and into the final valley where the refugio was. It rained a bit that night, but again, it didn´t matter because I was inside. This is how I should do every trek. No cold rainy nights in tents to wake up to stiff muscles... And it was really, really nice to only carry a sleeping bag and some clothes. The last day was one long 13km walk out along the bottom of the valley. However, since it was low season, there were no buses passing by the trail exit, and we had to walk to the nearest town. After another probably 5km of walking along the road, we flagged down a passing car to ask for directions. We were going the opposite way of town. Luckily, he offered to give us a ride back into town and dropped us off at our hostel door. Love that southern hospitality.

After Bariloche, we headed north to Mendoza. After a day of wandering the city (and a dinner of all you can eat asado), we headed out the following day to the wine district to do the bicycle tour of the numerous vineyards, wineries, and olive oil factories in the area. Laurel and I rented a tandem bike (my first time riding one, things were a bit shaky at the onset, but we became a speed machine with a little practice). After two wineries, an olive oil factory, and a chocolates/liqueur shop, samples at all, we were ready to head back. The following day we were picked up at 9 for the full day horse trek we had arranged. The ranch and beginning of the foothills of the Andes were only 30 minutes outside of town, and we were saddled up and ready to go by 10am. After a rough 4 hours of riding or so, I was saddle sore (the 5 hours on a bicycle the day before didn´t help) and exhausted. We were welcomed back to the ranch with a real life Argentinian asado, and ate some of the best beef we have had while down here. (See the trend? Wine, beef, wine, beef...That is all Argentinians eat, I am convinced. Well, that and dulce de leche.) We got to spend a little time galloping, which was one of my first experiences doing so. It was an awesome feeling, a mix between really feeling the hang time as all the horse´s hooves are off the ground and adrenaline rush of almost falling out of the saddle. Not much compares...except maybe open throttle on a motorcycle :-).