Birthday dinner, a little steak fondue, yum!
Como Esta Amigos!
I have some fantastic news! My sister Julie has just had a beautiful baby girl named Mia Elizabeth Brannam. Baby and mother are healthy and by now should be enjoying their new home which they moved into a month ago - time to relax now after all the chaos! Congrats Julie and Craig!
Hello from the Argentinian Lake District!
The past week has included lots of excellent hiking and long bus rides! When I last wrote you, we were just leaving Calafate for Chalten. So our route has been,
Calafate > Chalten > Esquel > Bariloche
It does seem that Argentina is progressing as a country and taking a step into the 1st world, however there are some funny instances that put them back into the Nepal category. Our bus ride to Chalten was a great example. What should have been a three hour bus ride was much longer. Despite the delay, which happens everywhere, we stopped in the middle of no where, and were told the people going to Chalten should get out and wait for another bus. The 15 passenger who were going to Chalten were not to impressed, as Argentina is not the safest of countries and no one wanted to wait on the side of the road at 9:30pm. Then it seems he changed his mind or his Spanish was very poor and everybody had to change buses. As the new one approached, all passengers from the other bus traded places with us. I´m sure there was a good reason, but funny nonetheless. The real drama was finding accommodation in Chalten. As all places were booked up I hated to look at Marina thinking we would have to sleep in the bus station. So as you would expect in this situation... it starts raining, just to make matters worse! Luckily after 1 hour + of searching the tiny village, we found a hotel with a reservation that was just cancelled - it was nearly midnight!
Possibly another point on how they are progressing; in my last post I commented on the prices which have significantly risen. Well they are not just raising the local prices, but also the price of natural gas. As Chile is a major customer to Argentina they have not been too impressed with this and in a form of protest has closed the boarder. Lucky for us, we were planning to go down there to see a few national parks, but decided not too. Most travellers were stuck in the red cross shelters for several days. I´ve heard from travellers food was outrageously expensive, $15 for a very small box of cerial. Apparently all is now resolved, atleast with the boarders.....
Tuesday - Laguna Torre (Lake Torre): Chalten or El Chalten as its sometimes is called is an excellent location for a few days hiking. This morning we bought our lunch to bring a long and hiked to Lake Torre. Attached is a large glacier which blew glacial temperature winds knocking us off the path! Literally several times I would have one foot on the ground stepping and it would push me 1-2 meters away (3-6 feet)!!! I know I know, I´m trying to eat more Argentinian steaks!! After a good 8 hours hiking we were back in town and went for a delicious steak dinner with a fun Austrian couple enjoying the Argentinian beer - Quilmas.
Wednesday - Glacier hiking: We had planned to go to climb and walk on the glacier, but after arriving there about 3 hour later, the winds were even worse than the day before, thus cancelling our plans. Turning it into a positive, we found a gorgeous trail back to the town which took about six hours via several stunning lakes and with views of the surrounding Fitzroy mountains. Back in Chalten we enjoyed some Argentinian Wine and had a pizza before retiring to our room very exhausted.
Thursday - relaxing: Chalten does not have much to do besides trekking so if your exhausted and want a day off, there isn´t a whole lot to do. Nonetheless, we found a few short trails in the morning and hiked to about 1pm. We had a nice steak dinner that night and quite a bit of wine which helped put us straight to sleep as we boarded our night bus for Esquel.
Friday - Argentinian buses: They sure play cheesy movies, but at least they are in English! This bus ride was 23 hours in total with a few stops the longest being 2 hours. Once we arrived in Esquel at 9pm, we found our hostel. Now we were booking a head having learned our lessons, but unfortunately this one was on the corner of town as our guide book didn´t have a map of the place.
Saturday - Cerro de la Cruz: Having rested our legs, we had two hikes today. The best and first one was to Cerro de la Cruz which is a tall mountain next to Esquel. Not really that tall, just over 1000 meters (3200 feet). This took us about three hours and after a nice pizza in town, we were ready to hike to Laguna La Zeta. The path, which also was occupied by cars was very dusty and after seeing a family hitchhike there, we did the same. Being a very small town, we weren´t too worried and it was only about 4km (2.5 miles) each way.
Sunday - Gorgeous, but touristy Bariloche! We arrived here about midday and checked in to our quaint B and B. We mostly just walked around seeing the town. Bariloche is a mountain town which is one of the main ski resorts of South America. It certainly has European Ski resort prices. For a lengthy travel, we have actual cooked our own evening meals for the first time in 7 months; once in Esquel and this night in Bariloche. Pints of beer for $8 and steaks for $18, not quite the South America we expected, but I hear its better in the north and especially once we leave Argentina.
Whats next for us, well the big day is today, Monday the 24th (Marina´s birthday). We are in Bariloche for 3 days and then head up to Mendoza - wine country! Party, Party!
Adios,
Dan & Marina
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