A random town- home to an amazing National Park
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2005
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18
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Trip End
May 26, 2008
Esquel, Argentina
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Its called Esquel and is some old Welsh colony. The town itself is a tiny dusty blob of buildings with a main highway shooting through the middle and a few scenic mountains surrounding it, but thats beginning to be less of an attraction now, as every town in South America seems to lie next to a monstrous mountain range!
The main attraction here is the National Park called Los Aleciers, 85kms from the town. With my newly purchased camping equipment I thought I`d head out there and see what the fuss is about. I caught a bus with a hippy chick from Cordoba. The ride was spectacular, we climbed up a winding road through a mountain pass and across a huge bridge and ended up next to a bright green lake. There are 7 lakes in this park and one great big glacier that feeds them all. I left hippy chick behind and set off on my first leg. A 7km walk around the side of the lake. The walk wasn´t all that pleasant. It followed the road, and every time a car went past I had to take shelter on the side and hold my breath until the dust storm dispersed. After a hot and dusty few hours I arrived at the campsite for the night. It was called Coihue Viejo (which means old tree) and I was the only one there. I dumped my stuff and headed straight for the crystal clear water and damn it was freezing. I got my head down and did a few circuits of the lake (well, more like a few meters really) before my ice cream headache set in and I took refuge on the hot rocks and chilled out.
That night I made an absolutely blazing fire and used every scrap of wood possible. All I needed to do was boil some water but I did it in style, singing a few hairs on the way! I cooked up a storm - starting with soup, then had pasta and finally some hot chocolate with Oreos and then headed to the shores of the lake to checkout the stars! They were unreal!! I saw a few satellites and some solar flares but unfortunately no shooting stars. I retired to bed and was rudely awoken by a bitter cold at around 5am! So cold I had to get up and throw some more wood on the still blazing fire!
After a cold morning swim I packed up the tent and this time it finally fit back in the bag it came in! What a moment! Then I hiked 6 hours along the hot dusty road to the next campsite called Rio Arraynes. Absolutely spectacular! I had a campsite right next to the river with a fireplace and a table. Sitting on the banks of the river you can see the glacier in the distance, a bright blue glow sitting on top of a high mountain peak. I baked myself in the sun for a while before meeting a family from Buenos Aires and being invited for Maté. Mint flavored Maté at that!
A short walk from the campsite was some kind of old tree, apparently just shy of 3000 years old. There were signs all over the place about it so I thought I better go see what all the fuss was about. After a short walk I found the old thing - bent, twisted and dead! How sad.
Anyways, I collected some firewood thanks to grandpa tree and set about making another fire that would put these Argentinians to shame. It turned out so good infact that the family invited themselves over to my pristine site with table etc etc we shared food and swapped a few stories and drank maté until the early hours of the morning. Again being woken by a bitter cold at 5am.
The next day I packed up and again, was able to fit the tent back in its original sack! I thanked the family for their maté and stories and started trekking to my next destination - Lago Verde (Geen Lake). Not realizing it was 20 odd k´s away. It didn´t take me long to realize I needed a ride, so I put my well polished thumb out and scored a lift in the back of a pickup of the Park Rangers.
Lago Verde was a little disappointing - not only was the lagoon a dull Grey colour but it was cold and windy. I found a sheltered place for the tent and headed for the Grey waters. There I found an American couple that had paid an absolute fortune for a fishing expedition and weren't even allowed to eat the fish (trout) that they caught! I headed back to my tent, being stopped on the way by some curious hippy chicks from Buenos Aires and once again I was invited for mate.
That night I made another blazing fire and managed to burn all my fingers. I stared in awe at the billions of stars visible at these high altitudes without any kind of city lights to obscure the view. Unreal stuff!
Instead of being woken by the cold, this time it was foot steps... at first it sounded like a horse, with a big heavy thump but then as the steps got closer I could hear a panting like a dog. The steps stopped outside my tent, I pulled out my trusty pocket knife and almost shat myself when the sniffing got closer and I could hear whatever it was sniffing at my tent. Then whatever it was got over it and thumped off heavily into the night, leaving me with a racing heart. I told the ranger about it in the morning and she said there had been a few Puma sightings around these parts lately. Kool! My first Puma!!
I woke to a light drizzle of rain and packed up my muddy tent and headed for the road, easily hitching a lift the 150 odd k´s back to Esquel. Ending a pretty adventurous solo expedition.
Back in Esquel, I managed to miss a bus that would take me a few hundred Kilometers South to Rio Gallegos, so I was forced to spend 2 more days in this non happening little town. Luckily my luck changed and a Spanish guy I met when climbing Volcan Tronador in Bariloche turned up! We had a few beers and formulated a plan for the next few days.
The plan involved hiking 5 hours up a mountain. Seems to be the thing to do over here. So the next day, with chocolate filled pockets we set off to conquer the hill. It was hot and calm at the bottom but after a few hours of climbing, the wind seriously picked up and almost blew us off the mountain. We made it to the top and found a giant cross, visible from the town way below. Also at the top was a dude, sitting in a little red hut, with binoculars, looking for forest fires. Luckily there weren't any and we took refuge with him in the little hut, drinking mate and escaping the vicious wind.
We descended a few hours later and ate an asado at a cheap restaurant.
finally my bus came and I was on the road again, headed south.
