(argentinian) patagonia!: part one

(randomly, this photo is courtesy of roberto from ecuador, he wanted me to add it. to the left is maggie, this is her and i christmas eve hiking into the jungle in the rain. roberto, if you want to add comments, you may do so in the space provided below heh.)

so bariloche may or may not be considered the beginning of my patagonia adventure. on the one hand, good old liar lonely planet says it's actually the lake district, but there were a million confirmations that we were indeed in patagonia (names of hotels and shops and such). so let's say it is patagonia!

it wasn't really a good start to patagonia, to tell you the truth. a lot of people love it and i think if i had spent more time there and done a little more hiking i might have liked it, but i did one hike and it wasn't overly spectacular (i have very high expectations now, it appears- must be overly spectacular or i´m outta there), i left.

i didn't really like it because it was uuuuber touristy and full of overpriced gear shops and chocolate shops (okay, that was kindof really delicious, but still... we're supposed to be in the wilderness here!) and everything is super high class, expensive hostel. it just all gave me a bad feeling. just money money money. i wandered the streets muttering (read: bitching) to myself about the ridiculous prices of everything. i felt better after talking to the american and two brits at the hostel- so so friendly and down to earth. the british couple got dressed to go out for dinner then we all sat down to talk a bit over some cheap argentinian wine (which, by the way, regardless of price, is still amazing) and they ended up ditching their dinner plans because we were having so much fun. all dressed up with a place to go... but scratch said place to go when lovely company comes along. i love it. i'm so glad they stayed, we had a really good time. i told the girl her eye makeup was really nice and she kept telling her boyfriend i said that and asking why he doesn't tell her that, which in turn triggered his dry humour to question why she never comments on his outfits, etc. they were tons of fun. the american was much much older than the rest of us, but very interesting. he's a wine conaisseur and except for south africa, has been to every major wine country in the world! loco. we kept quizzing him about stuff.

the next day i climbed cerro otto, a mountain nearby with a ski lift to the top, but we chose the challenge instead. the trail was RIDICULOUS- so, sssoooo steep and just super-fine, powdery sand (so annoying) so that it was a one step forward, two steps back sort of situation and we were choking all over the dust and... blech. yuck. at one point i finally took my eyes of the crazy trail and turned around to see the landscape and was actually shocked- a very lovely lake/mountain/islands landscape had since been revealed and it was well worth the trek (although the landscape didn't change the rest of the way up, so we really could have turned around right there... but i'm always up for a challenge.) it was a tough and interesting dirty scramble, but finally we made it to the top and the lift operator looked at us with surprise- apparently that was NOT the trail and he was in awe that we had accomplished the journey. woo! we walked down the normal way- a road so flat we weren't sure if we were descending at all. at one point we walked through the most beautiful smelling forest i have ever experienced! i stopped and sniffed. and sniffed. and asked him if i was dreaming or was there an incredible jasmine-like scent in the air? he confirmed and we looked for ANY evidence of flowery things and then gave up and took deeeep inhalations until we unfortunately parted the nice smelling part. i was sad for the loss, but it couldn't last forever anyway... and i talked about the smell for minutes afterward. mmm.

i decided the hike wasn't that great for scenery and that it wasn't going to get much better (though i think in other spots it really does, but i didn't know that), so i headed to el bolson that night.

el bolson's a hippy haven, but, as i discussed with a fellow traveller a few months later, something felt wrong about it there. the hippies seemed... fake or something. not genuine. i don't know, neither of us could describe it, but i'm glad someone else even had the same feeling as me. there was lovely live music in the plaza though and the town at sundown was lovely, and my campsite was beaaautiful. there were lovely jagged mountains behind me and the sun shone straight on them as it made its descent and nothing blocked the view from my tent. beautiful. when the night cover came, i was in complete and utter awe of the absurdly clear sky... there was a big clearing for the campground and so i could see so much and in such detail and... aiaiai... so gorgeous. i love night skies. and day skies, really. all sky.

the artesan fair is famous in el bolson and i thought it was kindof crappy, so the highlight of my day, once again, was the music in the park and the night sky. this time though i sat in the crowd and got my chest painted (just neck to sternum, i wasn't going all crazy and taking off my clothes, no worries) by a huge hippy who told me i was shy and watched two guys who had just met do handstands on top of each other (i know, it sounds ridiculous, but i swear to god.. i wouldn't have ever believed it if i hadn't seen it- a handstand on top of a handstand) and other such crazy acrobatic things. it was fun.

then i was off to the surrounding area to get into the hiking. i took a ride with three guys from buenos aires and they were so fun that i modified my plans so that i could hike with them. they were suuuper funny. i was on fire on those mountainsides, as if my body was saying "now THAT'S what i've been waiting for" and put me in overdrive. that unfortunately meant that i left two of the three in my dust and carried on with just fernando. the area was quite pretty, but nothing overly gorgeous until we reached the campsite, which was quite beautiful. glaciar in the background, dripping downt to the rivers which drained to the incredibly shallow, but beautiful, sludge lake (i was soooo looking forward to swimming and the texture of the gooey ground grossed me out so much i couldn't stay in longer than five minutes. the leeches didn't help the situation either). the owner of the refugio was super cool and friendly and there were good energies all around. they all were confused by the soy dogs i managed to find in town.

the next day i went off solo to cajon del azul, which is unbeliveably clear, bright turquoise blue rivers in somewhat is a small crevass-like... thing. hard to explain. the most tempting water in the world though, so it's a shock when you jump in and are numbed immediately from head to toe (glaciar water'll do that to you). so beautiful, though. and... refreshing, to say the least. by the end of the hike i became part of a giant mass of people trying to make it for the 2:00 bus... and failed. by ten minutes. but it worked out nicely. met more folks from buenos aires whom were all suuuper nice and friendly (a common argentinian trait) and gave me food and we ended up taking taxis back because it was the same price as the bus. the driver dropped me off last and told me he was enchanted by me (they say encantado which reminds me of the word enchanted, so i use it even though it sounds funny) and wanted to steal away with me and told me he'd drive me to my next destination, el calafate- a day and a half's drive away. i politely declined.

my campsite insisted that i pay if i need to take a shower, which i refused to do because it was nearly the price of the entire campsite. in latin america, you just need to DO some things instead of asking, if you want to get anything done. they wouldn't have asked me to pay if i had just done it and not said anything, i'm sure of it. aaanyway, i started re-packing my things and this spaniard started talking to me. then he bought me an alfajore (very typical, super-sweet baked good) for my long bus journey, and then he left after we talked about the shower situation and when he returned he chatted casually then asked how old i was. i told him and he said that i can now have a shower. for free? yes, free of charge. i asked why and he said that he had made a bet with the campsite owner- if i was a day under 28 years old, i could have a free shower. and that i am. i laughed so hard because i couldn't believe that they had actually made that bet, and then thanked him profusely. sooo funny. and sweet. it ended up that the cleaning lady locked the door and wouldn't be done for half an hour, so in order to not miss my bus i had to wash myself in the disabled person bathroom... but i got moderately clean in the end and it's the thought that counts.

on bus to rio gallegos i made friends with an old crazy argentinian lady who loved me and told me repeatedly how proud she was of me for being so independent and how she loved my spirit. she was cute and it was ironic because she was travelling solo too and had a much brighter spirit than myself. i told her so. in rio gallegos i had to stay the night. i met jose luis, a house-painter like myself and a champion salsa dancer. i also ate the worst cheese of my life (both the texture and taste of good ol' play-dough). pretty exciting day.

in el calafate the next day, i was recruited by the guerrero hostel. the guy who ran it was NUTS and after ten minutes of knowing me, while showing me my room shouted something loudly then grabbed my face and kissed me full on the lips and ran out of the room. nutty man. i made a "no kisses" rule after that.

the following day, i visited perito moreno glaciar. glaciars, i have decided, are like the mountainscape, underwater world, desert deal that i discussed in updates from asia. until you see it for yourself, you can look at all the photos of the world but you will not understand its true magnitude and nature until you experience it for yourself. this glaciar was... beyond words. but i'll give it a shot. as we approached in the bus, my new swiss friend and i ooed and awed; our wonder began, and did not cease for the next few hours. it was breathtaking and magnificent. in sheer size your eyes are deemed immobile (14ish kilometres long, 5ish kilometres wide and 55ish metres high- enormous), and on top of that is the stunning beauty of the beast. what else could one stare at for three hours (the amount of time before the bus returns to town) without getting bored? snaking through the mountains to meet the water below, spiky white and light royal blue tips, the beautiful illuminated storm clouds behind, and the frequent explosions of ice as the glaciar breaks off and crashes into lake argentina. it's also very interesting how the glaciar shoots straight up from the water's edge- no slope, but directly vertical. the dropping of ice from the face of the glaciar into the bright teal glacial lake reminded me of an army holding its front- the foreman fall if shot, and the next step up (though obviously the glaciar doesn't noticeably move). the ice cracks, begins to slide while all else stays stationary and then just crumbles into the water, creating a spectacular explosive splash and a series of waves. just stunning. plus, as a whole, it all actually looked very heavenly because of the mist, the glaciar appearing like cushy, puffy clouds hugging the mountains. magestic and magical and stunning, i would highly recommend this visit.

ridiculously, every cash point in el calafate was out of money (apparently this happens every weekend... that would have been nice to know earlier) for the weekend, so i was stuck there until monday. it was good though because i had a great night with my roommates at my new hostel. ariel and dani from rosario gave me wine and food and helped me dry my tent and we laughed so much and had such a good time. buena onda means good vibes/energy and they kept telling me i had that and i kept telling them they had the same and we were all just loving life. it was good fun. kitty, the strikingly beautiful dutch girl i had met earlier, came up and talked to us and i really thought i had lost the boys completely- they were in total awe of her, it seemed. when she left, though, they made fun of how serious she was. wicked. looks don't always win, i spose.

the cloud formations between el calafate and el chalten were so crazy beautiful on both the way there and back. layer upon layer- tie-dye backdrop, then textured, then puffy... amazing.

el chalten exists within parque nacional de los glaciares. on the way into the park, every bus is obligated to stop and the tourist content gets out and gets a speech from the park ranger in the professional and well-presented info station, as well as a map of the area. i was so incredibly impressed with it all. not only is everything free- entry and all campsites, but they take the time to make the people understand how important it is to take care of the park and repercussions of not taking care and give everyone info on the routes that you can take and whatnot and said how they don´t want people to have to pay to be in nature, but they´ll need to if they need more rangers to guard things, etc. later when i had just left the building, i turned around and re-entered and told the ranger of my impression (who can't use some positive feedback?) and how much i appreciated their attitude towards it all and he immediately loved me and talked to me about the park for a good half hour.

the roads in el chalten were unbearably awful- soft, silty sand paired with enormous gusts of constant wind means... NOT COOL. so incredibly unpleasant walking in a horrendous sandstorm. but my campsite was amazing- set on plush weeds (so my body doesn´t go numb from hard ground) and gnarled, burnt-looking black and white trees set against amazing snow-capped mountain backdrop and beside a river. then when i went for a walk i saw a horse drinking from the river with all that. cherry on the sundae, folks. cherry on the sundae. i also saw the fitz roy spires the FIRST day, which was really exciting because the weather is so changeable in patagonia that oftentimes people don´t see them at all. i was happy.

the wind that night was something mmaadd fierce. i make no exaggeration when i say that it pushed me over, i wouldn't have been surprised to hear that it was actually a hurricane, and i was almost expecting my tent to have either flown away or been ripped to shreds by the time i reached it. inside the tent, it felt like a shaking native american sweat lodge. also, because of strange time changes and probably because i was so south, the times were all nutty and it was light enough IN my tent to write in my journal until 11pm with no problem. crazy. this may or may not explain why argentinians eat so late (going out for dinner at 10-11 is normal).

had an unnecessary and expensive ride to rio electrico the next morning, then hiked to some private property. the ranger suggested i stay there my first night but it was a short hike and the area wasn´t especially nice, so i decided to do two days of hiking on my first day. i took the short-cut. i think. i was so lost and confused but i kept following groups of rocks placed on rocks, hoping they would lead me in the right direction although there was no trail whatsoever. and they did. i had to hop a fence and cross a raging river by hopping giant boulders... but i made it eventually. i thought i was on the wrong, never-ending path until i saw piedras blancas (translation: white rocks/stones). STUNNING. i was completely taken aback when my focus went from the foreground rocks on rocks to background white and blue glistening glaciar in the distance. it wasn´t the largest glaciar i´ve seen, but size doesn´t matter when you´re witnessing the prettiest, most interesting and bluest glaciar you´ve seen on the whole trip. plus, not only had i stumbled upon a valley of sparkling celestial diamonds, but the valley was nestled beneath the crooked and intriguing fitz roy spires. just... so incredibly beautiful. the clouds moved in and out, hi-and lowlighting areas, shielding and exposing the mountain tips. stunning. also, i hadn´t seen anyone for miles, so it felt like my little secret.

later, on my way up an enormous pile of rocks to get a better view, i smashed my knee so hard on a rock that i actually chipped the ROCK. i kid you not. i couldn´t believe it myself but i definitely saw the chip go flying. it hurt so much that it didn´t hurt for a second, but i believe the process was expediated by the sheer knowledge that i had cracked a rock with my knee- the thought alone made me buckle in pain. ah, the power of the mind. i sat and watched the clouds pass over piedras blancas and glaciar waterfalls flowing from their source. aiaiai. by the way, the fitz roy peaks are by far the coolest and most interesting rock mountaintops i have ever seen- they look like the evil mountains cartoonists always draw dracula´s castle on, backlit with a splash of lightning, of course.
i should have rented a stove, but i was too cheap, so i suffered instead. i ate my cold lentil-ravioli mix and dreamed of hot tea in my cold, cold tent.

i tried to wake up for the sunrise because the ranger told me to, but i kept looking out of my tent and seeing white sky, so i gave up. warm sleeping bag is much more appealing than hazy grey rainy-sky hike. so i slept in, which was nice, and did the climb at a normal person time. it is funny because the park map describes the trek up as VERY difficult and extremely steep, but it's what i expected from the entire park, actually. the trails in the park are extremely easy, so i guess in comparison that one is extremely hard. on the way up, a guide i had met the day before was guiding a british chica who was taking a breath. he told me i was quick because i was from the mountains (he knew i was from canada). i told him if the slight slant to my city counts as mountainous, then yes, they did a grand job of conditioning me. secretly i was pretty happy that he felt he had to justify my speed; i immediately felt more worthy of patagonia.

i ended up walking with an interesting mix of welsh, scottish and canadian and rediscovered my loathing of hiking with others. we stopped so much that it actually made me tired. but it was fantastic to finally have company at a campsite. one of the couples, the only ones that stayed, were high-class experienced campers and were horrified by my conditions. a french girl, iggy, even offered me a spot in her tent when she saw tatty (my tent, remember). i'm pathetic. the couple offered to let me warm up my lentil-raviolis and have some hot water for the tea bags i brought (even without hot water, i figured i would bring the bags in case i was invited to a hot-water party and wanted to contribute). a beautiful, beautiful thing. we talked a really long time and the boyfriend was frickin hilarious. he would be completely serious and then just slyly add in his dry humour comments. like when we were talking about vegetarianism, he said "i think that's what i love most about eating meat, it's the closest thing you can get to human flesh..." and then his girlfriend slapped him and told him that some people don't understand when he's joking, he has to be careful. i assured her i'd laugh at anything, so it matters not.

the afternoon prior, we arrived in haze and fog, so in the morning we were greeted with a glorious sight. all the fog had cleared from the mountains and we discovered we were RIGHT before cerro torre which is absolutely gorgeous and spiky and of magnificent grandeur. i love when that happens- you have no idea what to expect in the morning because a day is such crap beforehand, then you stumble out of your damp tent to a rushing river, bright sunny sky, and stunning peaks covered in glaciars. so lovely!

after exploring, i decided to make it a nine hour hike day because you can't always count on good weather to happen- must take advantage while available. the next destination was loma del plieque tumbado and it was amazing. it was meadowy at first, then forest, then very rocky mountainous at the finale- so much so that there wasn't even a trail. plus, unlike the "triangle" that all the tourists hike, this trail was nearly completely devoid of tourists. so peaceful. by this point my $7 walmart rainjacket was completely destroyed with a rip right from the bottom to my armpit, but i wore it anyway and the crazy wind that results from zero foliage to detain it absolutely had its way with my jacket, whipping it this way and that, flipping it over my head, smacking me around a bit. but the phenomenal view was absolutely worth it. it was a good "summary" of the glaciar park experience because i saw everything magnificently in full, from afar. i felt very satisfied. and cold.

by the end of that day i was limping and destroyed, but i nevertheless went to bed complete. complete with blisters. nasty, nasty blisters. northface, we need to talk. but i finished the recommended 5 day hike in 3, so i felt pretty good. glaciar national park is absolutely spectacular and wonderful.

back in el calafate there was a festival going on and i finally got to watch some tango! amateurs who were just dancing to the street music, yes, but they were fantastic. i so love to watch dancing. there was a gore-tex (very expensive, typical traveller and hiker clothing line)-clad couple dancing really amazing tango and they were so good that even the ugly gore-tex couldn't take the sensuality out of their dance. impressive. at dinner, i met some folks, including a somewhat lofty frenchman philipe who has been travelling for seven years. he was loudly lecturing about wine and i sat and listened until eventually everyone else left and we chatted all night. he was a very interesting and honest guy. the next morning, he made some hilariously blunt remarks as we went shopping for empanadas. like "whoa... i don't like your feet", and "yea you look ugly" as i tried on a bobby pin. i appreciate the honesty! he also carries a button so that if they ask if he has change, he can say "no... but i have a button?" with that comment, i lost it... so funny.

on the bus to chile, i met the canadian from the park again and i laughed waaayyyy too hard at the movie "little man" (seriously, i was in tears, couldn't breathe) and ate my cheese because chile won't let argentinian cheese in their country. this became a big joke as i ended up travelling with two american doctors for the next week who were on the bus.

but i will leave that for later! i wish wellness for all, and here are some random other things:

- without alcohol, i don't know if i have had more than one or two good sleeps in my tent. it's mostly because i have to wake to turn over (slim sleeping bag, limited space, and i'm so stiff by that point the forced movement wakes me) and i HAVE to turn over because my hip or ass or shoulders or arm are completely numb after about one hour on hard, hard ground. plus i sleep poorly if the wind is ripping my tent apart, and even worse still if i have to avoid touching the sides for fear of rain leakage. *sigh*.

- argentina has redefined the meaning of a long bus ride. now, if a bus ride is less than 10 hours, i'm disappointed (can't save money and make it a night bus, 10 hours or more is perfect for sleeping, whereas under that is difficult), and 3 days of straight bussing doesn't seem as absolutely ridiculous as it may have seemed prior (that's how long it would take me to reach vancouver from toronto).

- i don't think you can understand how popular mate (the tea-like infusion) is here... there are hot water machines everywhere, mate thermoses and mate bags sold everywhere, people go to the trouble to lug around the water even if it's the only thing they're carrying, always sipping at their little bombilla in their little gourd-like cup, there are cafes dedicated solely to mate. it's enormous.

- 40% (or so i've heard) or argentina is from italian descent. it's so interesting how that reflects itself in their culture. they have different sounds from normal spanish (a jz sound, like gza gza gabor), italian inflected, they're more gushy, passionate, and over-the-top with their spanish (you'll hear a lot of buenniiiiisimos and muchiiiisimos, etc.), their food is entirely italian and they've ditched rice and beans, and the men hug and kiss men and have no problem with that. very different from the rest of latin america.

- i'm now actually in brazil, so i now know that, as much as they doubted my strength, i survived the whole of argentina without eating meat! it wasn't that hard, either. the only time it's annoying is late-night when nothing is open, or on-the-run because i just end up eating crap when it could be a meat sandwich or something. but that's even a problem in canada, so really... argentina changed nothing. beans would have been nice, though.

- camping has been the pinnacle of my talk-to-myselfness... entire conversations with the great wild.

- there's something i find strangely comforting about enormous, clean grocery stores or superstores. i enter and feel like everything i could possibly need is RIGHT there. and within each option there are twenty different brands, so more and more options. freedom. all nice n straightforward.

- never ever trust just one opinion about a place; even trusting 3-5 and you may be in trouble. but at least you tried harder and you're getting better to a good idea. half the time, people just follow the crowd in saying it's a good place to go. hard to explain... but like, if a place is supposed to be good, then they'll say it's good because they didn't take the time to form their own decision.