March 22 Day 35
We got up feeling fine and checked the forecast - today was the day the range warned us that the weather would be bad. The internet couldn't make up its mind as one site said that it was already raining (no) and other saying we might just have some showers at 11 am of 1 pm. We figured that we'd go for it, bring our rain gear and hope for the best.
The trailhead was closer and we were feeling more confident after yesterday's successful hike. There weer several groups ahead of us but we didn't catch up with most of them during the hike. The first few kilometres were the toughest at elevating but the path was very wide and easy again and we made good time.
The first lookout was over the river that eventually runs through town and Meg got excited because it was called the Margarita Lookout, which is her Spanish name. Further on the trail went up over a few rocky paths which would be tricky to go down on our way back if they became wet with rain.
The first major lookout gave us a panoramic view of a series of mountains with many glaciers visible. The tops of the highest ones were covered in clouds but the scene was still impressive. Many groups turned around at that point but we continued on to our goal of 2 hours each way unless the rain got bad.
The trail went through some woods then along a rocky valley, with many people still to encounter. At two hours we were just before a ridge so we walked 5 more minutes until we got a nice close up of the mountains and ate our lunch. 5 1/2 km as opposed to yesterday's 4 km, we were improving.
On the way back some light drizzle began to develop but it didn't amount to anything. We talked to a few people before we met Roland, who we had encountered on the Navimag ferry as well as the W hike. We caught up and made plans to grab a drink later on.
We made it back to town with more than 11 km under our belt and so celebrated by trying a vegetarian restaurant in a quiet part of town. The place was small so we shred a table with a German couple in their greenhouse. The couple were going to do some back country hike that wasn't even on our map that involved getting zipline harnesses and pulleys for two of their crossings, well beyond what we were prepared to do. The food was really tasty and it was the first time I'd had a turmeric latte, nice but no substitute for the real thing.
We got back to our hostel about 15 minutes before the rain picked up. Meg had a nap and I got our bus ticket for the next day, which was well timed as the ticket seller told me that they were the last two tickets for that particular bus. Score! To celebrate I picked up a beer and a new flavour of chips- onion and ham. They were tasty, but no competition to the King Crab Coconut Curry flavour I had in Asia.
Meg wanted to have the vegetarian burger that I enjoyed for lunch but the vegetarian place was having pizza night, which wasn't tempting. We ate in a place that looked like a hobbit hutch made out of oddly shaped logs. The food was better than expected and the furniture inside was made of the same eccentric wood, plugged into an overall setup that resembled Kelsey's more than anything out of Tolkien.
We met Roland for a drink and found that he had taken two Spanish courses and was pretty good. meg asked the bar owner who he was beside in a picture on the wall and it was a very drunk Lionel Messi. The owner had a friend with a bar in Buenos Aries and called him when Messi showed up with a bunch of drunk friends so that he could get the picture.
We finished our drinks, said goodbye and went back in the rain to get some sleep before moving on once again.
We got up feeling fine and checked the forecast - today was the day the range warned us that the weather would be bad. The internet couldn't make up its mind as one site said that it was already raining (no) and other saying we might just have some showers at 11 am of 1 pm. We figured that we'd go for it, bring our rain gear and hope for the best.
The trailhead was closer and we were feeling more confident after yesterday's successful hike. There weer several groups ahead of us but we didn't catch up with most of them during the hike. The first few kilometres were the toughest at elevating but the path was very wide and easy again and we made good time.
The first lookout was over the river that eventually runs through town and Meg got excited because it was called the Margarita Lookout, which is her Spanish name. Further on the trail went up over a few rocky paths which would be tricky to go down on our way back if they became wet with rain.
The first major lookout gave us a panoramic view of a series of mountains with many glaciers visible. The tops of the highest ones were covered in clouds but the scene was still impressive. Many groups turned around at that point but we continued on to our goal of 2 hours each way unless the rain got bad.
The trail went through some woods then along a rocky valley, with many people still to encounter. At two hours we were just before a ridge so we walked 5 more minutes until we got a nice close up of the mountains and ate our lunch. 5 1/2 km as opposed to yesterday's 4 km, we were improving.
On the way back some light drizzle began to develop but it didn't amount to anything. We talked to a few people before we met Roland, who we had encountered on the Navimag ferry as well as the W hike. We caught up and made plans to grab a drink later on.
We made it back to town with more than 11 km under our belt and so celebrated by trying a vegetarian restaurant in a quiet part of town. The place was small so we shred a table with a German couple in their greenhouse. The couple were going to do some back country hike that wasn't even on our map that involved getting zipline harnesses and pulleys for two of their crossings, well beyond what we were prepared to do. The food was really tasty and it was the first time I'd had a turmeric latte, nice but no substitute for the real thing.
We got back to our hostel about 15 minutes before the rain picked up. Meg had a nap and I got our bus ticket for the next day, which was well timed as the ticket seller told me that they were the last two tickets for that particular bus. Score! To celebrate I picked up a beer and a new flavour of chips- onion and ham. They were tasty, but no competition to the King Crab Coconut Curry flavour I had in Asia.
Meg wanted to have the vegetarian burger that I enjoyed for lunch but the vegetarian place was having pizza night, which wasn't tempting. We ate in a place that looked like a hobbit hutch made out of oddly shaped logs. The food was better than expected and the furniture inside was made of the same eccentric wood, plugged into an overall setup that resembled Kelsey's more than anything out of Tolkien.
We met Roland for a drink and found that he had taken two Spanish courses and was pretty good. meg asked the bar owner who he was beside in a picture on the wall and it was a very drunk Lionel Messi. The owner had a friend with a bar in Buenos Aries and called him when Messi showed up with a bunch of drunk friends so that he could get the picture.
We finished our drinks, said goodbye and went back in the rain to get some sleep before moving on once again.
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| Meg on the path to the mountains. |
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| The clouds move in. |
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| El Chalten from a hill. |
Nice pics! enjoying your blog - Penny B.
ReplyDeleteHappy Hols!