Tronador, El Bolson and Frey

Hello,

sorry about the long absence. I have been very busy. But let me get on with the story. We woke up early on the morning of Feb 13th and left the hostel packs ready for a hike. We boarded a very small mini van type vehicle and headed along with about 15 others to the base of Mt Tronador. The base area was called Pampa Linda which is what the hike up Tronador is referred too. I think Tronador means thunder. We arrived later than we were supposed to at the base after a some what harrowing car ride on back park roads that were barely wide enough for one car that went whipping around blind corners. I think drivers here have a sixth sense about when other cars are coming in the opposite direct. It was a beautiful drive though, it followed a string of turquoise lakes and then up a valley to the base of the snow capped mountain, half of which is in chile. At Pampa Linda we signed in with the ranger and started to climb. The first bit of the hike wasn´t bad, pretty flat and winding until we crossed a river and then it was up up up. All of the hikes around here are very dusty and all of them are covered with horse shit because they use horses to carry people and supplies to the refugios (huts) at the top of each. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to clear the tree line and we had a great view of the valley behind us and a huge glacier with waterfalls pouring down the rock face in front of us. We decided to take lunch in a glade that dropped off at the edge down in to the valley. Lying there Condors began to fly up along the cliff edges so close we could see their individual feathers. Now this all sounds lovely but I will tell you this climb after the last hike and the sun burn I had just killed me I was damn tired. From our lunch spot we had about a 45 min climb to the refugio which sat right at the base of the glacier. From there you would need special gear to climb to the top of the mountain. It was beautiful though and I was glad that we had done it once we arrived. The cabin was perched on bear rock and was backed by a giant white blanket (the glacier). We put down our packs and walked in to the refugio. These huts are different than the ones we might have in canada, they are staffed and you can buy food and drinks and you can sleep in them too. We just chilled out for the rest of the day talking with other hikers, reading and writing. I took a stroll around the area right up the foot of the glacier. It was pretty amazing. But once we arrived the wind began to pick up and clouds began to cover the peak. After about 2 -3 hours the rains came and pounded the shelter. By the end of the day there were about 30 hikers and 4 staff in the refugio, sometimes even 50 people sleep there. I felt really bad for all the people who had decided to camp because the winds just howled and the rain became more like slush as it fell. We eat the food we brought and hung out with a whole bunch of cool people. Finally the staff spread out all the mattresses over the floor in the upstairs of the refugio and we picked our beds. The room was basically one huge mattress, and we slowly trickled to bed. The winds just beat at the refugio all night and it was lovely to know that we were inside and warm and dry. Two girls we had met who were camping came inside before we went to bed because their tent had gotten too wet. The next day we woak to more winds and clouds. We had a relaxed breakfast and finally decided to brave the trip back down. (Lorena decided to leave earlier than Anna and I because she is braver and wanted to go to a couple of lookouts she is like the energizer bunny!) The clouds still hung low around us as we descended but as it turned out we cleared the clouds pretty quickly and other than the trail being alittle slippery the decent was fine. We got to the bottom with plenty of time to spare before we had to catch the bus so Anna and I walked up to the base of the waterfalls that poured down from the glacier, it was spectacular. By the time we reached Pampa Linda we were beat! I was half comatose the entire trip back to Bariloche. The next day Lorena left us for a bike trip and Anna and I took the bus down to El Bolson a little hippy down two hours south of Bariloche. It is very cute and pretty and after a big mess up with hostels with I won´t get into it but it ended up costing us an extra night we settled in to a hostel down town. It was actually a really weird place kinda like renting the front room in a loopy old couple´s house but it did the trick. We spent the night getting dinner, drinking beer and wandering around. The next day as luck would have it the weekly fair was being held in the town centre. The fair was amazing! It was basically a hippy craft and food fair with all sorts of amazing home made items and the best food ever. Now I have to say the food in Argentina has far from impressed me, it had not been good at all really, just alot of meat but nothing special (Except this one street meat vendor in Bariloche AMAZING!!!) But Anna and I basically spent our whole time at the fair stuffing our faces it was great. We had waffles the fairs specialty and they were unbelievable, all covered in fresh raspberries and whipping cream then we bought fresh berries and eat them, we bought a cake and eat it then smooths and finally more street meat and french fries. We bought a couple of tangible things and really just had an amazing day. And just before boarding the bus at 5 back to bariloche we started (and finished on the bus) a box of wine. I was pleasantly toasted for the bus trip back! You can drink anywhere here I love it no one cares. I had a beer on the bus trip home from the hike today!
Today we spent our last day in Bariloche doing one last hike. We met this Irish woman Maureen who we invited to go with us. We took the city bus out to about 2 km from the start of the hike and we spent about 3 hours climbing up almost to a mountain peak. Again the refugio was based on a glacier lake that sat just below the peak. It was a beautiful day and the refugio was really cool. It is a base for alot of rock climbers who climb all around the area and people were just hanging out cooking and listening to music. The lake was cool too, it was mostly pretty shallow so it was pretty warm as glacier lakes go. We chilled out eat lunch and hiked back down. I am tired and ready for the 19 hr bus ride we have in store for us tomorrow. Tomorrow the plan is to get one last piece of street meat from the vendor here, seriously I am not kidding the best thing I have eaten in Argentina it is all about the sauce he has! and then we are boarding an over night bus to Mandoza. Mandoza is in the heart of the wine district and we plan on doing a winery tour and a bunch of ¨wine tasting¨! Hope you are all well I am going to sign off for now.
cheers