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Published: March 1st 2006
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Can´t see the wood...
More of the same beech trees, looking greener in the rain After the hot, sunny (if rather windy) day on the 14th we awake the next day for our second day trekking in El Chalten to find the rain pouring down. Now back home, the Brits would look out the window, and be almost resigned to the fact that they were now going to spend the day getting wet. The Argentinians (and Italians!) have a slightly different outlook - they're not so keen on going out when it's raining, so the trek was cancelled, and we piled onto the bus for an outing to a lake instead.
Desert Lake is about a 2 hour drive from town, along the typical gravel road, and the rain persists, and drizzles down most of the way there. We've all been given packed lunches - much the same as the previous day, with empanadas, a sweet empanada and apple. We munch an empanada on the bus, staring in a almost depressed way outside, like school kids whose play time has been cancelled due to the rain.
When we finally arrive, we are almost shocked to see a green lake, surrounded by trees. Almost looks like home. No glacier, no briliant turquoise colour, no overbearing
Sunrise
Ok, I didn´t quite make it out of bed to trek upto the viewpoint, but with a view like this from the window, I don´t feel too guilty! mountains. We follow Graciela into the wood beside the lake, the trees sheltering us from the rain, and the grey weather making us move with a slow meandering gait, no particular hurry to get anywhere in particular. The trees appear very green in the grey light, especially as our eyes have been starved of this amount of green for several days. We wander aimlessly along the path, eventually opening up onto a beach on the lake. We stop there for awhile, skimming stones, finding branch antlers, eating another empanada, discussing whether swimming is a viable option (I voted yes, but was over ruled), occasional disappearances into the wood to find the 'toilet', until we turn around, and follow the same path back to the bus. We sit and eat our remaining empanadas overlooking the lake, looking at the unchaging grey sky, contemplating another wander back along the road , waiting for the bus to catch us back up.
By the time we get back to El Chalten the weather has improved and a few of us make it upto the viewpoint to find that the elusive Fitz Roy is visible, although the neighbouring torres remain shrouded in cloud. Apparently
The scenery
The view from the window was very similar for most of the 11 hour journey... it's a good place to go first thing in the morning, to catch the first ray of sunlight lighting the FitzRoy a beautiful red...
...well I was going to get up at 6.30am to climb upto the viewpoint for sunrise, but the sound of rain kept me in bed, my mistake. From my window, as the alarm went off at 7am, I could see the pink colour of the FitzRoy face, and was almost jealous of the photos obtained by those less attached to their beds first thing in the morning.
Today was the long bus journey - all 12 hours of it. There were no major stops en route, just the occasional toilet stop. And when I say toilet stop, I mean literally stopping the bus and trying to find somewhere to crouch. As you may see from the photo, there's not a great deal of shrubbery on the Patagonian steps, nor even rocks, or hills to hide behind. Beth would have loved it (Not). The journey was from El Chalten to a small town called Bajo Carajoles, and from there to Lago Posadas. A long day on the gravel road, passing another car was rare, a
Armadillos!
This is our first armadillo sighting, and they can run faster than you think! lorry wasn't seen. We rarely got above 40km/h due to the road condition, you can't get far fast in these parts.
The highlight of the day came with our first Armadillo spotting. I say 'we' but actually it was Marco our driver, who spotted it scuttling across the road, came to a swift halt, leapt out of the bus, and flew after the Armadillo, grabbing it's sides as it thought it was safe hiding under the crash barriers. Very cute, although I felt very sorry for the poor creature, as when it was let go, it was immediately chased with half a dozen cameras, in true papparazzi style, cornered at every turn. Eventually everyone had their fill, and he (or she?) was allowed to run off and hide. I was trying to convince my fellow Brits that there was once a Dime bar advert starring armadillos - can someone please back me up?
We finally arrived at our hotel, a lovely purpose built set of cabins sheltered by trees on the far side of the lake at 8pm. I'll save the descriptions for the next installment...merely to say that there was no mention in the Lonely Planet of
Lago Posadas
Can you see our hotel on the opposite side? the lake, let alone the hotel, so it was more than a little remote.
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Beth
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Toilet stop?!!!
I don't even think being seriously desperate could have changed my mind about squatting behind a shrub! I'm horrified!!! :-)