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So, nature, it seems did have other plans for us. Volcan Chaiten, just over 100km away (but in Chile) started throwing up ash, which was being blown over to Esquel and beyond. The night of the eruption we felt an earthquake (caused by the volcano), and then woke up to an ash covered tent and town. Even so, we met up with
Phillipe and Laurence , and then spent a day getting ready for our hike, cleaning up all our stuff and buying food. Part of getting ready involved Laurence and Phillipe going to the tourist office to ask about the volcano, and they were told that it had stopped. I think we all believed this news because we wanted to, but that intelligent part of my mind buried somewhere under the enthusiasm was trying to make its voice heard. I think that part of my mind was saying things like ¨mmm... it is a new volcano that has not erupted in the last 9000 years and they had no idea that it was going to erupt in the first place. How would they be able to know anything about it now?¨ and ¨so, why did I still feel an earthquake just now?¨
and ¨Volcanos can erupt for weeks, and this one has been still for 9000 years, only to spurt a few ashes and go back to sleep?¨ etc. But I was not listening. And
neither, it seems was anyone else. We all set out the next day, and even though we were walking through ash, we were hoping that we were walking out of it.
Not the case. It was, infact, following us. After a late start, we camped near the railway, about 23 km out of Esquel. As we were cooking, I was watching this ominous thick black cloud heading towards us. It was very strange. Blacker than any rain cloud, and coming out of a clear blue sky. It was approaching us quite quickly, yet there was no wind to blow it. The air was very very still. The voice from the intelligent part of my brain was saying, ¨See, I told you. What do you think that is? That is no rain cloud, that is for sure.¨ But, still ignoring it, I said out loud, ¨mmm... looks like we might be getting some rain coming. We should probably cook quickly.¨ And that we did, before all four
Inside the refugio, Esquel
Nicholas, from Northen Argentina, Martin, the British cycle toursit, Laurence and Phillipe... and me of us went to bed saying sweet lies to each other like, ¨we shall see you in the morning, when the sun is out and shining.¨ I don´t think any of us really believed that. Next morning, we woke up on what looked like the moon. Or, maybe the earth with the contents of a giant vacuum cleaner dumped all over it. It was so strange. There was ash falling out of the sky like rain. Even our sleeping bags were covered in the stuff (which had come into the tent through the side vents.) The sky and the ground were all the same colour. No colour. Luckily we all finally listened to the voices that I am sure were always inside all of our heads, and decided to walk back to the highway, try to hitch a ride back into Esquel and get the hell outa there on the first bus. While we were walking back, the song lyrics ¨its the end of the world as we know it¨ were going through my head. It was like walking through a scene out of Mad Max, or maybe through scenes of the Chernobyl disaster. As I was thinking this, Phillipe
gear explosion in the refugio
cleaning all the ash off everything, just in time to get it all coated again said, jokingly, ¨You know, maybe this is just climate change and we will get out of Esquel only to realise the whole world looks like this¨. It was a joke, but you could not help feeling grim in that landscape, even when trying to joke about it.
It was not easy trying to hitch a ride from the highway. We were grey, the road was grey, the sky was grey. Cars would not really see us until they were past us, and as they drove past, they sent huge clouds of ash all over us. The top I had wrapped around my mouth was not doing much to keep my lungs and mouth free of ash. I could feel my mouth coated in it. And my sunglasses were not doing much to keep it out of my eyes. We had tried, before leaving Esquel to buy masks, but they were all sold out... anyhow, Laurence and Phillipe got a ride with some Spanish climbers in a hire car. Not long after, a ute pulled over to pick us up, but it pulled up just past a police check point, and as we ran to catch up with it, we
were stopped by a police man. He wanted to know where our two friends were (they had obviously seen us walk past the day before, as the rail tracks at that point were only 30 meters away from the road and the check point. Not that they were worried about it at the time.) Then he wanted to see our passports that were buried in our packs. By the time we had found them, ofcourse, our lift had driven away. I swear I was not imagining a smile on the policeman´s face when the ute disappeared in to the ash. I was so annoyed. He was obviously just having an ego trip and being a jerk. Anyhow, he let us go with no bribery needed, as he obviously got enough enjoyment just from watching us not get a ride. It was not much longer before a family from Esquel stopped to pick us up. They were so friendly, and had no money as they drove a car held together practically with duck tape, but they would not accept any payment from us. This made up for the policeman jerk.
As for the volcano, apparently, they thought that the volcano
had stopped, but it was only getting its breath for its most violent eruption yet, which this time included lava.
We caught the bus to El Bolson, where we were going to part with Laurence and Phillipe. They were going to stay in the town to do some hiking, and we were travelling on to Bariloche to meet up with Daniel and stay at his house for a couple of nights. (Daniel is the owner of the refugio in Cochomo, that we made friends with). We were all so happy when we arrived in El Bolson to see the beautiful green trees had no ash over them, only to wake up the next morning to see this ominous but this time familiar black cloud approaching... yep, it follwed us! Within an hour it was raining ash again, and we were not the only ones packing up.
Anyhow, we are now in Bariloche, no black clouds in sight. Though lastnight, I dreamt that it had followed us to Bariloche, and there was a leak in the roof above our heads raining ash on us. I have to go now, and have not put up all the photos yet, so
there are more to come.
We are about to head off on a road trip with Daniel to explore new rock for ten days or so, ending up in Buenas Aires. Yay to road trips and adventure! Hopefully we are not followed by the black cloud...
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Arthur
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following the adventures
Really glad to hear you're away from the ash cloud now. Checked out the link to Phillipe and Lawrence's website. With my smattering of half remembered school-boy French and a lot of guessing I could follow the parallel trip. Similar pics even. A very ghoslty image there of 2 of you at close up all covered in ash. Did the caption say something like "Would you give us a lift?" ? Hey I've never used 2 question marks together like that before. Is that legal?