Patagonia Trip December 2008

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On the 16 hour overnight bus ride south, we slept so well that no one required a siesta when we arrived in Bariloche around noon. We checked into the quiet Alaska Hostel which is about 8 kilometers from town. There we made friends with the new hostel managers, Javier and Natalia, who had been just married in Buenos Aires a few weeks earlier. At the hostel, we met Forest and Linda from Australia who accompanied us on our first day hike to the waterfall by Lake Gutierrez.

This year’s trip to Patagonia featured picture perfect weather. We were told by the locals that while we were there, the temperatures were the hottest in recent memory(upper 80s-mid 90s). We were surprised to find that the lower elevation lakes were warm enough to jump in for a swim (the first week in December is equivalent to the first week in June in the States).

Nate's mom, Diana, and his sister, Desirae, arrived the following day and checked into a beautiful rental house overlooking Lake Nauel Huapi. We had dinner with them at their house on their first night and then the following morning we set out on the Frey Trail to hike to the refugio. (pronounced ray FOO heo).

The hike started at the base of Cerro Cathedral Ski Area. The trail wound around the mountain and then headed up a canyon that became increasingly steep. After 7 miles, we made it to the refugio and were applauded by some other trekkers who, like us, were surprised at the difficulty of the hike. The refugio is a two story, sturdy rock structure with a kitchen, a dining room and an upstairs dormitory. There are a number of them in spectacular areas in Patagonia. It's amazing how well run they are and it causes one to wonder why we don't have anything like them in wilderness areas in the States. We set up our tents outside on the rocky hillside behind rock wind barriers. We took photos of Rudy as he went from the snow on the banks of the lake and into the water for a dip.

Another entertaining spectacle at Frey were the climbers that were scaling the Torre Frey that towered over the refugio to the west. The climbers were professional outfitters and their clients who were scaling the pinnacle which is rated a 5.9 (difficult by most of our standards).

Later that night, the rustic refugio dining room filled up with climbers and trekkers who chatted and dined by candlelight. The cooks and servers were wearing headlamps. The scene was surreal but incredibly compelling as people from all over the world relaxed, made friends and shared stories. It was there that we met Doug, a young doctor from Portland, who is traveling around South America on his motorcycle. He had just completed 2 years serving as the head of the US Aids Relief Project in British Guiana. The following afternoon, after a good nights sleep, we headed back down the trail.

After recuperating their sore muscles for a day, Isaac, Scott, and Rudy went off in the morning on a white water rafting excursion near Mount Tronador. We don't have any photos of the trip since none of us had waterproof cameras. In the middle of the raft trip, they pulled their rafts out of the water and enjoyed an asado by the river prepared by the guides before taking off again.

On our final two days of our trip, we took an overnight trip south to the amazing town of El Bolson, two hours from Bariloche. We camped just outside of town which was very convenient since we had arrived the first night of the El Bolson Jazz Festival. We saw two very good groups play and had a chance to walk around and take in the sights of Argentina's most artsy bohemian town.

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