Patagonia!

I am extrememly happy to report that our lack of recent entries is due to the fact that the majority of our time in Argentina has so far been spent in the backcountry, and second on a bus (forty-two hours of straight bussing from La Quica (Argentia border) to Junin (central Agentina, known as the Lakes District), but the busses are much larger and more comfortable than those in Bolivia, and they serve wine with dinner, and "wiqui" afterwards, which Sam and I were delighted find out when served was whiskey. A much better blind order than the nipples in Peru. So the pictures that Sam is currently uploading were from Tupiza, our last stop in Bolivia, where we spent Chirstmas. We last left the blog just after crossing the border to Argentina, when we got on the never-ending busride, which ended in the delightful little town of Junin, which is very reminiscent of Driggs, Idaho, or some other tiny tourist town in the western U.S. Junin gave us a cozy, free spot to camp along a river, while we prepared for a trek in nearby Parque Nacional Lanin. From the park entrance to our trailhead was over 18 miles, but we were fortunate to walk only a third of that scenic, but dusty road before getting picked up by the two most fabulous Argentinians ever, Charly and Ale. After rearranging their road trip-packed car to make room for us, Charly passed us mate´ to share, and he and Ale engaged us in (mostly) Spanish conversation, which is different and a bit trickier in Argentina than Peru or Bolivia. They insisted on driving us all the way to our trailhead, which was past their campsite, but they wanted to check in and have lunch first. So we spent a lovely afternoon under a monkey-puzzle tree, beside a lake, eating trout and cherries among other delicious things that our new friends shared with us. (We had only cheese to share, but at least it was good cheese.) When they dropped us off at our trailhead, Ale and Charly offered us a ride back to San Martin after our trek, which we intended to take them up on after we hiked back from the hot springs in three days. However.... After a long trek through overgrown forests, which combined a two day trek into one, we got to the hot springs only to learn that they were now an expensive day spa. And there was no camping, as the Park Office had told us. So we hitched a ride to the nearest (7 miles) campground from an Adventure Race doctor, who told us about a two day trek through some amazing valleys, which started at the lake where we were camping and ended at the road to San Martin. Flying by the seat of our pants as usual, we took his directions (by memory) and followed the trail through a number of various environments, including lush forests of southern beech, bamboo, and monkey puzzle trees, dry savannahs, and expansive volcanic landscapes. When we got to San Martin that evening to find that free camping was impossible, we were forced to face the reality of returning to first-world living during the tourist season: it´s expensive! San Martin is a first class tourist town with fancy sidewalks and lots of shopping. Our hostel was the cheapest we could find, and still probably the nicest we´ve stayed in- at least you get what you pay for. The following night in Bariloche, a larger town that feels much more down to earth, we took our second hostel stay in Argentina in a tenth-story penthouse hostel, with a huge kitchen, a free food shelf that gave us two liters of beer, clean and quiet dorms, and a porch looking down on the lake and out to the mountains. Bariloche gets the prize for best city of the trip! Real supermarkets supplied us with meat, cheese, good bread, discounted navidad snacks and other trekking food we´d missed for the past two months. Well-stocked for four days in Parque Nacional Huapì, we hiked up and over rocky ridgelines, down talus slopes, through lush river valleys, and bathed every night in beautiful, serene streams and lakes. Exiting the backcountry this morning, with tickets for a thirty-six hour bus leaving tonight, we are loving Patagonia, and so excited to be seeing so much of it! We weren´t sure if it would be time- or economically feasible to visit Torres del Paine or Fitz Roy in Southern Patagonia, but we are making it happen! Blog posts may become increasingly less frequent, but that means mas tiempo en paraiso para los dos gringos!