Big hike at last!
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2006
1
68
76
Trip End
Feb 01, 2007
El Bolson,
Argentina
Friday, December 8, 2006
Ah, now this is more like it! El Bolson is very nice indeed. Found a campsite set right in the middle of a cherry orchard with views of jagged snow-capped peaks from the door of the tent. Spent a day buying ridiculous amounts of spaghetti - ¨In case we stay longer than three days,¨ says Al as he plods along with three months worth of the stuff.
Took forever to get to the start of the trek, which is no longer where it says in the guide book - should have got a taxi...but then we would never have met Mutley.
Most dogs run free in Argentina, think I´ve only seen two on a lead since we first arrived here almost a year ago. So it was nothing unusual to have one pottering along beside us for ten minutes furiously wagging his tail and waiting for you to drop some crumbs. But, as the minutes turned into an hour we started to wonder exactly how far this dog was planning on coming and tried to make him go home. All a bit feeble as he was too sweet to throw stones at. When he managed to cross the rickety suspension bridge at the start of the trek we asked a returning couple to take him back but he was having none of it and had caught us up within ten minutes although noticeably hurt as he turned his back on and pretended to ignore us, very funny dog indeed. Not sure who adopted whom at this point but he stuck to us like glue for the rest of the trip and coped admirably with a diet of porridge and pasta.
Made it to the first campsite to find a very obnoxious Dutch girl had made a point to trying cause trouble by telling the refugio owner that we had a dog, ¨which are banned in national parks!¨ she said haughtily.
A) Bird in campsite
¨Yep, but it´s still not our dog!¨ The refugio guy was very chilled and said they often get dogs up there, since many people still live on or near the park. Yet again, the park is full of cows and we just heard that the local puma has been shot but hunters who actually were given a permit to do so!!! Can this really be so? Makes you sick to the stomach. Didn´t worry so much then about the dog scaring off the wildlife, sounds like there isn´t much left. And any that is didn´t stand a chance against the group of fifteen Israelis that arrived later that night, shouting and whooping and washing their dirty dishes in the lake. Man alive! The walk was stunning - lots of very peaceful forest trails, bright-blue rivers and glimpses of snow-capped mountains. And then there was the dog! He even took to protecting the tent from a huge bull! Very impressed.
The last section was hard work - a long, hot walk on a busy dusty road. Did manage to hitch a lift off a couple in the oldest most battered up car I have ever seen. El Bolson is a pretty chilled place and lots of alternative thinkers live round here, not a pair of Gucci sunglasses in sight. So they were very cool and even let Mutley come too. I was getting a bit worried it was all too much for him as he´s started standing in streams to cool his paws down! So I got dropped off in town (no room for poor old Al) and plodded back to the place we first met Mutley, and low and behold he pottered off on his own with only the most casual of glances over his shoulder. Very good way to say goodbye indeed - thought we were going to have to bring back to the UK!
