Valentine's Day in Alumine

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Geo: -39.0448, -71.1914

I keep putting off writing because I don't want to be unkind or short sighted, but it really is a disappointment. The town of Alumine kind of grows on you, but unless your Spanish is very good or you're incredibly insistent, it's almost impossible to get any information.

To appreciate this area you have to have a car. It's too spread out to walk and services are limited. Without a car you're walking the dirt streets for three days. You're walking in the sun, it's not snowing, but it's not all that fun, either and you have this feeling that you're missing out on all the good stuff that's just beyond your reach.

The lady at the tourist office was sooo inconvenienced that she had to speak slowly and gave me a glare like I was the most stupid person on the planet. I did find out though that there are no cars to rent here, you have to hire a taxi to take you to one of the lakes up in the mountains--except for the bus to Villa Pehuenia that we took yesterday.

I can't put my finger on it. I don't like this place--in fact I'm incredibly frustrated almost to tears by it and it's not the gravel roads in and out--it's not the dirt streets or even the institution-like hostel we're staying at. Which btw, could have been the setting for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--I had visions of it when we walked down the echoing hallway to our room.

I think it's the difficulty of communicating, the feeling of being an unwelcome stranger--that and that I had such high hopes for this place so unfrequented by tourists.

That's the best and the worst of traveling like we do. Sometimes you hit on such a gem you want to stay forever, and sometimes you're sure you're being punished for your inherent stupidity.

But let us tell you about the trip to Villa Pehuenia. It was a 68 km ride, half on gravel following the Alumine river. It was incredible scenery and I wanted to jump out of the bus at times for pictures, but alas, we have none. You'll have to use your imagination.

This was not quite the chicken and goat bus we traveled on in Costa Rica, but it was close. With daily trips over washboard gravel roads, the bus was on the verge of falling apart in many areas and had already fallen apart in others.

The guide book says Villa Puhuenia, on the shores of Lago Alumine, is an idyllic little village, but we found it to be a strange hodge podge of restaurant/snack shop/excursion office separated by a quarter mile walk along the highway to another smattering of tourist oriented businesses. And between were two smaller lakes that you simply had to walk around. It was odd. Lovely, but odd. And there were hardly any people. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday and we had the place almost all to ourselves.

The bus was over an hour late for the return to Alumine. When it pulled in to Puheunia the driver jumped out and tried to stem the flow of gasoline pouring out of what looked like a connection from the tank to the fuel pump. He spent another half hour and was finally successful crawling around with a screw driver and making a temporary repair. Sort of. It still leaked, but pequito.

Everyone that had been waiting all this time piled onto the bus and settled in for the trip back to Alumine and points in between, because these buses stop anywhere along the road to pick up or drop off.

Since we bought our tickets early, we had reserved seats in the front of the bus--right over the leaking gas tank. But we got on and there was a pile of big canvas carry-alls on our seats. And the great view we were going to have by choosing front row seats? It was blocked by backpackers with mountainous packs sitting on the divider between passenger and door. No one seemed to be upset about the condition so we just moved what we could and sat down between what we couldn't.

This is rural Argentina, after all. But shortly all was well as the backpackers got off somewhere in the middle of nowhere and we enjoyed the beautiful views all along the Rio Alumine.

Bob's all ready to write a letter to the bus company explaining how our transport needed to be driven immediately to the salvage yard, the key jacked up and a new one driven under it.

We have one more day, well now about half a day, to make the most of our location, so we're off to find a taxi to take us to the Mapuche communities. Hopefully it will mean some good pictures and interesting food. Although this stop is not the highlight of our trip, it continues to be interesting and challenging.

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Photos

Adventure tours office in Villa Pehuenia
This beautiful house on a hill housed a bicycle repair shop, crap corner, information desk, workshop and outdoor equipment storage. But they also had a very helpful clerk who spoke very good English.

Araucaria
It's become a favorite tree of mine.

Araucaria Tree
These beautiful trees have such a unique form.

Narrow Wooden Bridge--Big Honkin' Bus
On main roads we find these tiny, narrow wooden bridges that our big bus can hardly fit onto. It's bizarre, but it's the way they do it. We're going 60 or so and have to break to crawl across a river.

El Mojito
They have the nicest mozas (waitressess) in Villa Pehuenia.

Coca Door
I stood and looked at this for a minute or two before I realized the Coca sign was painted over the entrance to this Supermercado (grocery store).

My Little Friend
The bus back to Alumine was an hour late, so this little girl and I had fun taking pictures. She was such a flirt--she loved having her picture taken and her parents didn't object, so it was fun.

Comments

[Landis]

Well, maybe your experience is why no one else was there. Sounds like a good setting for a Hitchcock movie or Twilight Zone episode. You guys may also be getting tired at this point too which filters things even more. Cheer up, a new advent
ure awaits around the corner!

[bobnkaren]

It certainly did! We were having dinner and chatting with the waiter about our fishing experience in Junin and he runs off to get a photo of him with a humongous brown the size of our table that he had caught right here in the Rio Alumine.
Would you believe it? Five minutes later we're off with a guide to fish the river. Things happen fast when you're talkin' fishin'.