A much needed place to relax we thought for 2 days that instead turned into 7. Took in the hippyish market, town´s plethora of home-made ice cream and microbrews and blackberry bushes linning the hillsides.
4 day hiking trip in surrounding mountains - landscapes weren´t as epic as the south, but will fondly remember for two reasons.
1. the Water - Pictures and words do not give it justice, but here it goes anyway... Glacial fed, winding through to dot the bottom of the curvy valley´s "V", clear to this translucent blue hue, where the trout swim just below the surface. Criss-crossed by suspension bridges with broken boards that act as the one way to make the ascent possible and also a fine entry point into manhood reducing clear blue refreshment.
2. the Refugios - Stayed in these mountain-top/river-side huts/shacks instead of camping. In other places refugios are often nice huts at the side of a camping trail where you can stay in realitive luxury and recharge. These refugios were people homes of sorts, constructed largely out of materials from the forest and 6 hours and 3,000 ft up "the hill" from town. We slept on a old mat on the floor for $6 - $10 per night.
Some of the construction of the cabins is reminiscent to 1800´s carpentry and is truly remarkable while other parts like using trash for repairs is a bit interesting. They also make their own food and more importantly brew their own beer. The beer actually wasn´t that good in flavor, but when you drink it sitting next to a glacial stream as the sun goes down, there isn´t much else better.
Suprised I haven´t seen the passion for soccer I was expecting, however, this field a 6 hour hike up and an hour down from a glacier is impressive dedicationBariloche
2 hours north to the "large city" of Bariloche. Michele and I and an Australian guy Tim that we met at the Hostel rented a car and toured the siete lagos (7 lakes) for 2 days.
At one point we went through a military checkpoint while I was driving and got stopped. So my spanish is still "a bit iffy" and when there is pressure it´s non existent. So I understood that the military guys were asking me if I had any drugs in the car. I meant to say, "no, I don´t have any" but instead I said, "no, i don´t have the drugs anymore". So the dog went through the car and the bags and luckly, it was true, no drugs.
Crazy clear/blue lake, the border looks dirty but it´s just that the water is so clear and somewhat shallow you´re looking at the bottomAs a final note - I need to pass along my thanks to Michele. We´re headed our separate ways for now, but over the last 2 months or so of traveling together she was my spanish professor, (although I´m not sure if that is a good thing for the resume), translator, pseudo mother of sorts of a sick "child" with mountain top food poisoning and more importantly good friend.
Auf Wiedersehen. Au Revoir. Adios. Widerluege. Laew phob gan mai. Goodbye
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