Off the beaten path...

Ok...well not exactly off the beaten path. We took a tour today - it was the only way to see El Abuelo, the 2600 year old alerce tree which is at the end of Lago Menendez. There were lots of people which made both of us cringe a little bit. Of all of those people, however, what I noticed was that I was the only gringo.

El Abuelo:

It turns out that Parque Nacional de Los Alerces doesn't seem to be on the agenda of many backpackers or international tourists. It's great. I'm getting a unique view of the places Argentinians go to see in their own country, and gosh darn it - there's no English in these here parts so I have to listen up and escucha bien!

We took the boat tour across Lago Menendez which took about an hour. There was some stunning scenery, including a lovely glacier.

When we got to the dock at the end of the lake, they took us on a 1900m walk. I didn't believe them when they said it would take 2 hours, with minimal elevation gain. I was forgetting that there were going to be lots of starting and stopping with explanations and photos. Guille and I trailed behind after a couple of stops and played with our cameras letting the crowd move on and leaving the forest to ourselves. Much better!

It's so much like the west coast of Canada here. That may be why I'm not as interested in the lake-forest-mountain-sky picture so much as pictures of the trees and flowers we don't have back home - like bamboo! I didn't expect that!

When we got 'home' we ran down to the lake shore, about 20m from our tent, and enjoyed the last of the sun before it went down over the mountains. Then it was time for a trip to the cafe here (oh yes...it's a fancy campground) for some snacks and small dose of internet - which was effectively useless given how slow the connection was.

We had our first campfire at our site last night. It took some doing to get it going because it was all rather damp from the recent (heavy) rains. As we cooked our vegetable stir fry on the little stove and drank wine, we played some music and danced with our headlamps on the strobe setting under the arrayanes trees behind the fire. Thank goodness the campground is nearly empty and there were no witnesses! ;o)

The kindness of strangers.

Good things come in threes so they say. I had another great start to the day today as one after one our new friends from the campground came by our tent to say goodbye as we are planning on moving on. Each one left us an unexpected and generous gift.

First was Marian and Fabien, our friends from last night in the main lodge, who came by to tell us that the big blanket they lent us last night to keep us warm (hurrah!) could be ours for the rest of the trip. Seriously. Guille and Marian exchanged addresses, email, and mate and it was done. We would mail it back to them after our trip. Talk about trust! And this was a no ordinary blanket but one made by Marian's mom.

Next we were visited by the Rango family. I wanted to give Maximo a Canadian loonie for his coin collection. Then Guille got to chatting with Cristina and the next thing I know we're staying with them when we pass through Neuquen on our last night before heading back to Bahia Blanca! Wow! They are such a lovely family. We're both looking forward to visiting with them again.

Next came the lifeguard, Eleana, who brought us a map of Bariloche and lots of great advice for visiting the region.

At the end of each of these visits, there were kisses on the cheeks and good wishes as we all parted. I sat back and just watched in amazement. I asked Mariana in my broken Spanish if all Argentinians are this kind and generous. I've certainly been impressed. She responded that likely not but there's a community of people who are just kindred spirits. You tend to find them more easily in campgrounds vs hotels.

No matter where they're hiding, I know we'll meet more as we go. The language barrier limits my initiation of such interactions but Guille's magnetic personality more than makes up for it!

As a result of a very social morning, we didn't finish packing up the tent until late. Once our site was clear we went to the lake shore to have breakfast...at 14:00! It's so glorious there when the sun shines and the air is still but those moments were few and far between. As another gust of wind sent our bowls flying, we decided it was time to head out and say a fond farewell to Bahia Rosales.

We moved north along the lakes to Lago Verde and the pish-posh campground there. We looked at the 'agreste' campground next door with limited facilities but opted to spend the extra 20 pesos (~$5) each to stay at the nicer campground. It was a bit of a splurge but still, 120 pesos each for 2 nights (~$15/pp/pn) isn't bad!!!

Narrow escape from getting webbed feet!

The camping is fun here in Parque Nacional Las Alerces but the nights are proving challenging. I had another cold night but it was better than the previous night. I'm learning how to cope with what I brought. I pulled out every article of clothing I could cover myself with as my sleep sheet and borrowed, summer sleeping bag wasn't enough in this part of the country. I had three pairs of socks, my hoodie, my toque, a bandana over my nose then my sarong, a towel and my fleece serving as pseudo blankets. If only I'd brought my long underwear but those are still at Guille's place in Bahia Blanca. I honestly didn't think I'd need them!

I was treated with 'room service' this morning as Guille actually got up, went to the little store here with a thermos and brought me a coffee all doctored up with cream and sugar! Wow! What a luxury! What a great friend! What a great start to the day!

There's nothing like warm porridge after a cold night and we had gourmet porridge for the second morning in a row. Lekker! By the time we'd finished eating, the rain had stopped, the clouds thinned and the sun came out. Oh hallelujah! It was such a treat after all these days of rain, rain and more rain. I should check my toes to see if they're webbed now!

We decided to head out in the car and go exploring north. The scenery here is stunning and it reminds me a lot of Vancouver Island with all the lush forests, lakes and mountains.

We stopped in at Los Arreyanes campground to check it out. We'd heard they had a restaurant and some hammocks on a covered deck, and indeed they did. We enjoyed a coffee in the sun on the deck before heading out for a short walk along the river.

The hike we found was a 90 minute wander out to see El Abuelo, a 2600 year old arrayane tree. I nicknamed these tress 'Bambi trees' because of the rich brown coloured bark with light coloured spots. The forest with all of the trees along the river was just gorgeous.

On way out to El Abuelo, Guille and I walked and talked. On the way back we decided to go in silence. It was a brilliant suggestion. I hadn't noticed the bird songs on the way out. On the way back I heard them and payed better attention to the smells of the trees and water and just spent time with my thoughts. That's what a big part of this trip is all about.


The flowers on the arrayane tree:

Modern day journaling

The experience of camping hasn't fundamentally changed in my lifetime. Being outdoors in nature, cooking on a campfire, the smokey smell on your clothes, praying for no rain...that's all the same.

The redesign of the equipment has made the gear lighter and easier to put together. No longer are tents the army issue canvas beasts with poles you have to wrestle to fit. There are also all sorts of gadgets that make it more fun. I'm particularly fond of my headlamp that fits into my pocket with a retractable elastic to wear which has three white light settings (including a strobe setting for impromptu discos perhaps?) and two red light settings.

What has changed A LOT is the technological element. Never did I expect to be asking the camp receptionist if there was wifi at the campground. What a concept! In my mind it's completely opposite to getting away from it all. And yet, if I hear it's available, I get a little thrill. Am I one of the ones who got sucked in? Who goes into withdrawal if 'cut off'?

Not at all. It's nice to disconnect. It's nice to have a few days between checking email and Facebook so that there's actually news to read instead of hourly updates. So what am I doing on my iPad???

This is modern day journaling - something I always do when I travel anyway. This version is without pen and paper. It has the advantage of skipping the cramped hands and the disadvantage that my journal may run out of batteries! But it also has the advantage that I can share entries with friends and family all over the world....should they care to read it. But mostly it's for me and stirring my memories years from now in the most efficient way.

Today's a good day to journal anyway. It's WET! And cold.

Our activities are limited and it appears to be a forced day of reflection. This, reading a (paper!) book and making acquaintances with the other water logged campers here at the Bahia Rosales campground in Parque Nacional Los Alerces seems to be the order of the day. Guille is a natural networker and talker and made friends with nearly everyone at the campground by about 16:00. By 17:00 she had arranged for a communal barebecue in the main cooking area for dinner! And what a dinner it was!

At about 21:00 we were joined by Christina, Nelson and their two precocious kids, Maximo and Melania. The couple whose tent flooded the night before, whose names I didn't catch, also joined. There were picadas (chips and nibblies), followed by the asado, a cut they call vacio, cooked slowly over briquettes by the asador, Nelson in this case. There is quite the protocol with this and I kept having to ask Guille about what was appropriate. I got playfully scolded for eating my corn on the cob before the meat as you simply MUST eat the meat while it's hot. My reply that the corn was also hot didn't cut it! Too funny!

Parque Nacional Los Alerces...and a LOT of rain

We'd planned on taking an old steam train tour up into the mountains today but there were no seats left for us. Too bad - it would have been fun. Instead we took advantage of the time to wander around Esquel (a cute, Banff-like town) stocking up for our upcoming venture into the national park to camp.

Guille was so worried about the rain that she bought a brand new, certified water-proof tent in Esquel. She knows she'll use it again so instead of putting up the one we've been borrowing, we'd use the new one. A good investment.

We got to the information centre around 17:00. While we were planning on tenting, the ranger told us that they were expecting 50km/hr winds and upwards of 60mm of rain. If we didn't want a soggy night, he suggested we try getting in to one of the many cabins. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea. We tried several spots but no luck.

Accepting our fate, we pulled into the Bahia Rosales campground. It's a beautiful campground on the lake. It has a store, a common cabin/hall, showers with hot water, toilets and water. It's gorgeous despite the rain.

There were plenty of empty campsites to choose from so we opted for the one with the least mud, a mix of trees and open space, and one on a bit higher ground.

Fortunately it wasn't pouring too hard when we put the tent up but boy did it pick up! At which point we noticed a drip inside the tent! That was not supposed to happen. A little MacGuyver-ing and some kind words to the universe and we were sorted.

Then came the 'guardian angels'. That's how Guille prefers to think of the troop of slugs that began to climb the sides of the tent en-masse. I'd never seen anything like it. This picture shows a few early in the night, but they just kept coming and sliming all over the tent throughout the night. Blech! The joys of camping!

Across the country in a day.

It was another long day of driving today, hopefully the last for a while. We pretty much headed west across the country from Puerto Piramides to Esquel in the foothills of the Andes - about 750km.

As before we pulled in to town in the dark but tonight we opted for a hotel. We 'splurged' for a hotel for 220$. That's about $25 each. Not bad. To compare, the camping has been 30$/pp/pn so ~$7/pp/pn.

As far as the driving goes, it's been pretty good on the highways. The roads have been paved recently (Guille says that's because of the recent election and all the promises made!). The speed limit really doesn't come up much, you just go as fast as you're comfortable going. For the most part it's been flat and straight. Easy. The tricky part is all the necessary passing when stuck behind trucks.

Driving in the towns is generally okay except that lanes are fluid and optional. The one-way streets are poorly marked so you never know which way to look and even if you're on a main drag, the right of way changes according to who's on the right. I have come to the conclusion that in urban areas I am a much better co-pilot than pilot!

Roundabouts do my head in at the best of times but I've come to appreciate them now that I think I got the rules under control. Compared to all the 4-way stops in Alberta, they're brilliant. Here in Argentina any rules I know get thrown out the window. I need to just accept the non-sensical rule that those coming IN to the roundabout get the right of way and get Guille to coach me through them as I go!

The topography really changed today as we went from flat plains into the Valle de Los Martires around Las Plumas. It reminded both of us of pictures we've seen of the Grand Canyon. I confess I loved the geology and saw one of the most obvious unconformities I've ever seen.

It was always exciting to see what vistas were waiting for us around each twist and turn. There were literally a few gasps of awe between Guille and I as we were came to the crest of a hill or around a corner. We were gawking all afternoon with many 'wow's escaping from our mouths!

During Guille's shift driving, I paged through a book I picked up last night in Puerto Piramides called "Che Boludo! - A gringo's guide to understanding the Argentinians". We had a good laugh as I learned some expressions that caused Guille to cringe and shake her head with the suggestion that I never utter those words in polite company! Others were simply fascinating insight into the culture. Case in point: "la verdad de la milanesa"...'the truth of the breaded veal' naturally means 'the real deal'.

Now I have new sympathies for people learning English and all of our crazy expressions.

Peninsula de Valdes

Today in the car, Guille asked me 'so what are we going to remember from Puerto Piramides?'. My first thought was wind and flying-suitcases, referring to the middle of the night near-miss with her suitcase being catapulted by the wind within inches of my face.

It's hard to get the tent pegs to stick in sand dunes! Needless to say we watched attentively as our neighbours packed up in the morning. We actually dragged our tent, assembled with contents, 20m to our new spot where the pegs got some bite. The forecast read 55km winds after all - there's no point risking the tent becoming a kite!

In addition to our associations with the Peninsula de Valdes, Guille added openness, emptiness (of the landscape), clear blue skies, and solitude. It's really barren here and we're so far away from any cities...it's a wonderful escape.

Normally whales and sea lions come to this UNESCO world heritage site to breed and birth but now isn't the right time of year. Too bad. Still, the sea lions we saw sleeping on the beach were kinda cool. The penguins, the first of many on this trip, we're pretty darned cute too!

We drove almost 200km around the peninsula braving sand storms and thickly gravelled roads. Guille gave me a Spanish lesson as I drove back and I can now handle the regular verbs ending in 'ar' in the past tense, single person plural! The daily breakthroughs I'm making are incredible!!! Soon I'll sound like a four year old instead of a three year old! I can't wait.