Advertisement
Published: July 22nd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Sunrise in Bariloche
Even the view from the bus station is beautiful in Bariloche. Providing it's not raining. We left Bariloche at 9am just as the sun was rising (no daylight saving here!), and set off across the Andes and across the border to Chile. A test for my new passport - would they let me leave Argentina without an entry stamp? What would I do if they wouldn't? Well after running off with my lovely new passport for 10 minutes the officer returned, stamped it, and handed back. Even easier when entering Chile, barely gave it a second glance. No problems, but now my pretty passport is covered with dirty stamps again.
We finally reached Pucon at 7pm at night, after a brief sojourn in the delightful Orsorno bus station for a couple of hours. We had planned to stay in the local Hostel International, but as we started to leave the bus sation a young couple came up to us, and invited us to look around their new hospedaje first. One look, and Zoe was in love. Lots of beautiful pine floors, walls and ceilings, log fire, stove and genuine Chilean owner. That was that, we were staying! Sometimes it's easier just to agree, especially at night when you're hungry and tired!
Most people come
Monkey puzzle tree
A brief ray of sunshine in Pucon town, lighting on the famous to Pucon to climb the local active volcano. However, as both Zoe and I had been to vocanoes in the past (Zoe on a 6day hard trek up the side of somewhere in Africa, me slightly less hardcore morning stroll up Vesuvius in Italy) we decided this was unneccesary, and a decent trek would suffice. However after asking after some 3 day treks, we were foiled yet again by the weather being against us. The rain had started after a 2 week spellof sunshine, and everyone told us we would be fools to try it. That and no guide would take us. And the rain look set to stay for at least the next week. So we went for a hot spring bath instead...
...in the rain, in the dark, just sitting on rocks in the naturally heated water, sipping a glass (plastic) of wine. The water was like a hot bath, and the rain was the perfect way to help you cool down. After the first 10 minutes you couldn't stay submerged, and we perched ourselves half in and half out of the water to regulate body temperature. I had felt a cold starting (due possibly to the
Huequehue National Park
The start of the walk, with just a dusting of snow day in the rain in Bariloche), and everyone promised that this would be the perfect remedy to sweat the whole experience out. I can certainly reccomend it. Heaven. Really very relaxing, apart from the slight feeling of hypertension as the heart beats faster to try and regulate this sudden increase in body temperature. Although after an hour or so of much sweating we definately felt more relaxed.
The next day was rest day to recover from the cold (the hot bathes definately helped), before attempting to walk in Huequehue National Park for the day. The weather hadn't improved, and it was an incredible effort to drag myself out of bed with the wind howling outside and the rain beating against the windows. Not quite such an effort as it was to drag Zoe out of bed though...
...as the bus took us higher into the mountains the rain became sleet. Further on it became snow. When we arrived at the park entrance the snow was settling, and we made out way into the forest covered mountain, mapless, much to Zoe's dismay. The path was fairly clear to start with, but as we got higher the snow became deeper,
View from half way up
Snow a littel deeper, and still falling... and started weighing down the bamboo that grows along the paths. We found that we were having to scramble under the fallen bamboo to stay on the path. The further up we went, the deeper the snow became, and eventually (and this is no Granny Caswell, snow in Loddington exageration) the snow was over our knees, and we literally had to wade through it towards our goal, the lake.
After 3 hours or so we came across the lake, and entered a fairytale Winter Wonderland in black and white. The effect was magical, and although I can show you photos, it does nothing to really describe what it was like up there. The sound of snow falling silently, and then crunching beneath our feet as we trod on the soft virgin snow. The smell of frozen air, the sound of silence muffled. The taste of snow flakes and cold air in the lungs. The numbness and then pain of fingers in wet gloves. The sight of so much snow admidst ancient forests of monkey puzzle trees. Trees that were around when dinosaurs strollled the earth, and that have changed little since, and it felt as if there was nothing
Cascada
Impressive waterfalls, even this far away I was soaking wet after standing to take the photo else alive, it was so quiet. Quite eerie, although breathtaking experience. Glad I wasn't alone.
The snow continued to fall, and the lake was almost frozen over, but eventually the cold made us turn around and head back downwards. Spurred on by the knowledge that there was a refugio at the bottom serving hot chocolate in front of a warm stove we made it down a lot faster than we went up.
The next day, due to our great success at mountain climbing in the snow we attempted El Cañi, a privately owned park with reportedly beautiful forest of monkey trees and a spectacular viewpoint giving a 360 view of the surrounding volcanoes and mountains. Ususally you need a guide to get in. Unfortunately no guides were available on the Sunday we had set out to go, but we had a map and compass and we were told the night before we would not be stopped from going in. However the compass wasn't exactly one that you could rely on, Zoe having misplaced her compass had replaced it with the only compass in town - a 1cm diam compass that attaches to the watch strap. It took several
Me in the snow
Not quite at the full knee depth yet... minutes of carefull jiggling to decide which way was north. The map wasn't a lot better. Not a good old OS map that has stopped so many getting lost en route to farms (or if not actually prevented getting lost, then at least helping to return when lost). This map was a hand drawn small scale diagram of wiggly lines. Should have known better really, but we were assured that most of the route was very well marked with red arrows, and that we couldn't get lost. Never say never...
As we set out the rain continued its unrelentless fall. As we climbed steadily higher on a track set at a steep UP angle, the rain turned first to sleet then snow. After an hour or so the snow was getting to knee height again. We had been told about an old refugio, and eventually we found it. After a quick jump up and down to warm up we set out to find the path. The refugio was about third of the way there, and we were making good time. However we struggled to find the path leading away from the refugio. Eventually we found it, so much snow
Zoe with portable snowman
After clmabering under the bamboo the snow ended piling up on zoe's back pack. Reason 1 I let her go first... had fallen that the track was completely invisible, and the red arrows buried in a deep layer of snow. After 10 minutes of good going, we were lost. Zoe kept marching off in one diretion, claiming to have found 'THE path'. I wasn't convinced that she hadn'¡t just managed to push her way through the undergrowth to another clearing, as there were no further red arrows to be seen. We continued this 'adventure' for another hour or so, but when Zoe was down on her belly scrabbling under ancient fallen trees, and my toes had ceased to feel anything, I'm afraid I wimped out. Said I wanted to go back. It was only 12.30, but it was cold, the snow was still falling, and we hadn't got any way of knowing where the path was. After a short debate, a bit of face pulling, we eventually agreed to lunch in the refugio, to discuss further plans. When we got to the refugio we discovered exactly how little progress we had made, and how cold everyone was, and I regret to say, the adventure was called off. So I can't tell you how beautiful the park is, as all I saw
was snow. Maybe next time. (?)
So now we head to Mendoza, heart of Argentina wine country, and blessed with a sunny climate and beatiful mountains. Some nice trekking and horse riding is planned. And perhaps I won't need all my thermal underwear either. Might even be warm!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.126s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 14; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0824s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sarah J
non-member comment
Glad its not just me and Kate getting cold!
Hi Anna, lovely to see some photos! Was starting to get a bit jealous of English heat waves so good to see not everyone is warm! I'm off skiing in NZ South Island next week! Love Sarah xxx