David and Enid's Travels

Orsono volcano and Petrohue falls

We had to get up early to get our transfer to the bus for our Andean lake crossing, but then it was hurry up and wait for the rest of a very long day until we arrived in Puerto Vargas, Chile.

We first drove around and around Bariloche as we picked up a few guests at each hotel. Then we drove to the port of Panuelo on Lago Nahuel Huapi where, after paying the national park fee of 21 Argentine pesos each, we boarded a large catamaran that took us to the end of the lake at Puerto Blest. Here they split us into two groups, since the next boat was much smaller (holding a maximum of 69 passengers) and we ate our lunch as we waited by the shore.

Crossing Lago Nahuel Huapi

It was a beautiful day to cross the lakes. The sky was mostly clear with a very small amount of light clouds for much of the day. Throughout the day we had English speaking tour guides (though the one on the Chilean side was not as fluent in English as the Argentinians).

The boat leaving Puerto Blest on Lago Nahuel Huapi

After an hour wait at Puerto Blest we got on another bus for the 3 km trip to Puerto Frias. Along the way the tour guide explained about the origin of the national park (it is the oldest park in Argentina, founded in 1934) and some of the trees and plants that we were seeing along the sides of the one lane gravel road.

Enid waiting for the boat at the crossing of Lago Frias

The Andes mountains from Lago Frias

The water of Lago Frias is emerald green and filled with glacier flour giving it that characteristic color. The first lake we crossed, Nahuel Huapi, is much different, the water being crystal clear. Lago Frias is also very small and it only took a few minutes to cross by boat.

As you leave the boat you go through Argentinian immigration, where they authorize your documentation with an exit visa. From here it is another hour and a half bus ride over a very narrow and steep road that crosses the height of land forming the Argentina-Chile border. Along the way we stopped to take pictures of Mount Tronador.

The Andes mountains at Peulla

You cross over Chilean immigration and customs at the very small town of Peulla. After clearing customs we ate lunch in the cafeteria (there is also a more fancy restaurant in the hotel). To get to the cafeteria is about a 100 m walk past the hotel, and it wasn’t easy to find as we saw no signs. However, the food was very nice. We had a hot meal of about 1/4 chicken, white rice, a plate of cold vegetable salad (there was corn, broccoli, green beans and other vegetables available), and a desert of a half peach and pineapple slice. The meal cost us a total of $39 US, including a Coke, and I was so happy to actually get to eat vegetables and real food — Enid said it was comfort food — instead of all the rich cheese we have been eating.

The bus at Puella Hotel

We knew we were to get on the bus again to go to the dock for the final boat ride, but where was not at all clear. We saw some people sitting in the shade outside the cafeteria, and I recognized one woman, so we sat with them. A bus — an open vehicle with a skull of a cow on the radiator — stopped and they told us to get on. The bus took us to the dock, but it was not the same bus or group as we had been with. We imagine that they were waiting for us somewhere else, as our bus and group did show up at the dock too, about ten minutes later. Our tour guide found us and gave us a thumbs up. I think we probably made them worried, and we also realized later that day that they were calling me “Ricard Dick” so we probably missed most of the roll calls!

Orsono volcano on Lago Todos Los Santos

The last section of the boat ride, now in Chile, was across Lago Todos Los Santos. About halfway across the lake you can start to see two volcanoes. One, Volcan Puntiagudo, doesn’t look much like a volcano until you pass it, and then you can see the cone on the west side. Volcan Orsorno (which last erupted in 1869) is an impressive tall volcano, snow capped, which looks very much like Mount Fuji. We passed by it, and were on it’s west side by the time we got off the boat.

Orsono volcano and Petrohue falls

Our luggage was the very last to be unloaded from the boat. Enid got hers just a couple of minutes before mine, so got on the bus to make sure they would wait for her “esposa”. We left the last dock a bit after 6:30 pm, and drove about 6 km (waiting for construction, as they are paving this last part of the road). We stopped at Petrohue, a falls and rapids that have an entry fee of $3 US per person (but nice clean restrooms). You can tell that in the spring, during the snow melt, these would be a spectacular falls and rapids, as even now in the driest time of year they were very nice thought the water wasn’t too high.

There had seemed to be a great deal of confusion on the part of our guide, as to where we were to get off. We are staying at the Puerto Chico hotel in Puerto Varas, but the guide said we couldn’t get off there (because of the traffic, and the bus couldn’t turn in), so instead they dropped us in the town center about 2 km away. However, at Enid’s insistence he phoned our tour guide, “Pais Sur” and Enid spoke to Gabriel. He said that he would send a car for us and to wait outside the Bellavista Hotel.

After about five minutes there, the hotel desk clerk came out and got us, as Gabriel had phoned to tell us that our ride was coming, but spoke no English. Since it wasn’t their hotel we were staying at, we were very happy with the service of the Bellavista. Our driver arrived in just a couple of minutes, and we got to our hotel, which is very, very nice. It is not a big hotel, maybe 30 rooms, but very clean and we have a nice large room (though Enid thinks a king size bed is much too large!)

We were very tired, and didn’t want too much to eat for supper. We went to the restaurant hotel, which we’d been told would give us a complimentary drink by the hotel desk, and had a very nice raspberry juice. Since the original waitress didn’t speak much English, she found someone that did, and he helped us through the menu so we got a salad for Enid and a plate of fried shrimp for me, which we shared about equally. It was a very nice meal.

Mirador Lago Gutierrez

At breakfast this morning we asked the waitress how to get to the lake.  I had printed the information from the Internet, and knew from that we needed bus 50, but were not at all sure where to find the bus stop, nor how to get tickets.  This waitress spoke a bit of English, and she asked one of the others that spoke only Spanish, and between them they told us to get tickets at the “kiosko” and told us it was across from the gas station.

Across from the gas station there is a kiosk, but it goes to the gondola lift at Cerro Otto, which is not what we wanted.  However, the ticket agent told us the bus stopped up the street, but that we’d have to go to another kiosk downtown to get tickets.  We walked to the main street, and didn’t find any kiosk, but eventually came to another Cerro Otto kiosk.  He was able to tell us that we’d gone too far, and pointed out a store next to the kiosk.  We had walked right by it on our way, so returned and got our tickets.

This “kiosko” was just a small confectionary selling tickets, drinks, and the typical things you find in such a store.  The clerk told us, in Spanish, how many blocks and what turns to take to get to the bus stop.  We thought that we were following his directions, and headed for a bus stop with a number of people.  I asked, with my printed paper since I find it hard to properly pronounce the name of this lake, if bus cinquento stopped here.  One of the men said “NO”, and pointed in the opposite direction, and told me more than I could possibly understand.  But the pointing was in the right place, and I think he said to go across the corner, since that’s where we found the next stop on the other side of the street.

When we got there we asked the people waiting if this was the right stop for bus 50.  That started a disagreement, as some of them said “No” and others said “Si” and then they were discussing amongst themselves what route to take.  Eventually they decided that, yes, this was the correct stop, and bus 50 did show up in just a few minutes.

I had showed the bus driver the paper, so he knew where we wanted to stop, and by following a couple of the highway signs we knew we were getting close.  When the pavement ended the bus pulled off, and I asked the driver if this was it, and he said “No, proxima.”  We headed down the gravel road for another kilometer, crossed a bridge, and were let off right at the lake (and another kiosko).

Cascada de Los Duendes

One of the older women on the bus also got off, pointed us to the road with the “Camping” sign, and so off we headed down the road.  Two kilometers later after a nice walk along a flat gravel road, with very little traffic, along the lake and many summer cottages, we reached the National Park sign, “Nahuel Huapi”, a small beach, a campground (which we didn’t get much of a look at, as you’d have to pay to enter), and a large archway leading to the hike to the waterfall “Cascada de Los Duendes”.

Flowers along the hike

We’d known about the waterfall, and that the hike in to it was flat, so Enid didn’t take her hiking poles today.  However, 100 m before the waterfall is a junction to the viewpoint over the lake “Mirador Lago Gutierrez.”  We decided we’d eat lunch first at the waterfall, which we did and took some pictures, then headed up the trail to the viewpoint.  It was good at first, and only 800 m long, but near the top it got very steep.  The trail was dry and dusty, and worn down to the roots of the trees.  Coming down some of the young boys were laughing at one of the others, who slipped and slid on his butt for some feet, but then as they passed us the one laughing the loudest also slipped and fell.

Views from the top of the viewpoint

While steep, it wasn’t too bad going up, and we reached the top which has very nice views out over the lake, and also back to the main ski area where you can see all the lifts and runs. Of course now in the summer they have no snow.  On the way down Enid held on to my backpack through the steepest stages, and we got down without incident.

David swimming in Lago Gutierrez

When we arrived back at the lake we welcomed the swim.  I think it may have been the coldest water I’ve ever swum in!  However, being hot and dusty from the hike it was very refreshing.  There were a few other brave souls in the lake, though not many, but there were quite a few people enjoying the lake in kayaks.

After swimming we read on the beach under the shade of a tree, until we felt it was time to return.  The hike back was on a much more busy road, as now there were many people obviously heading to the lake at the end of the day.  The bus was about half full as we left the lake, about half of whom were boy and girl scouts, and their leaders. 

By the time we got to town the bus was packed.  We really had no idea where we were, though we thought we still had to go a ways to our stop.  However, one of the women said “Centro” and we could tell by her pointing that we should get off.  It really was in an area which we didn’t recognize, but then one of the scout leaders told us we should get off at the next stop.  Since she spoke some English she got to do her good deed for the day!  We worked our way to the back of the bus and got off, fortunately, as the bus turned and went in the opposite direction of our hotel.

I have been so impressed with the friendliness of the Argentinian people.  This is a town that lives on tourism, but even in Buenos Aires the people we met were very helpful, for example in telling us where the stops were on the metro.  Everyone you meet says “hola” or “buenas” (and then a lot more Spanish, most of which I don’t understand!)  We had a great deal of fun today, doing things we really like to do: hiking and swimming and exploring a new country.

 

Breakfast here in the Hosteria Las Marianas was very nice — a variety of dried grains, raisins and either mik or yogurt, various pastries, breads for toast, and spreads.  Although this is a very small hotel (bed and breakfast) the tables were nicely set with cloth napkins.

Views from Cerro Campagnario

At 9 we were picked up for our history and nature tour.  We stopped at a few places along the lake for photographs, while our Kawen guide (Federico) explained the history of the area, beginning with the nuclear program run from one of the small islands in the lake by a German scientist (ex-Nazi) who came here after the second world war.  He also described how the area originated with immigration across the Chilean border in the late 19th and early 20th century, other waves of immigrants including the Germans after WWII, and how tourism became the major employer with over 80% of the residents involved directly.

The view from Cerro Campanario

Our first major stop of the day was at the chair lift to the top of Cerro Campanario.  You get a great panoramic view out over Lago Nahuel Huapi surrounded by the Andes mountains, and many of the smaller lakes down below.

From there we went to a view of the Llao Llao hotel, before heading on a short hike for a couple of kilometers beside Lago Moreno Oeste.  Along the way Frederico did an excellent job of pointing out some of the flora and fauna native to this area.  We heard and saw many small birds, and also a large woodpecker and black vulture.

Lago Moreno Oeste

We stopped for a very nice lunch at a scenic rocky point looking out over the lake. A couple of fisherrmen were fly-fishing, though I never saw anything caught.

Lago Nahuel Huapi

After lunch we finished the hike, then continued on in the van, crossing the bridge between the two lakes. Our last stop was at a high overlook over the lakes. From there we headed back into town.

Lago Nahue Huapi in Bariloche

Except for the tango show last night, where we were picked up an hour late, and we believe that is the tango show’s fault, our travel so far has gone very smoothly.  This morning we expected to be picked up at 10 am to go to the airport.  At 9:40 we got a phone call saying our ride was ready.  Everything we have done with Say Hueque representatives has gone equally well.

We got through security with a boarding pass marked for gate 7 and 11:15 boarding.  However at 11:15 there was no one at that gate, and a lot of people loading at gate 5.  I checked the terminal display, and it now stated gate 5 so we went over there.  However the sign at the gate did not say Bariloche, and when we asked, people said “no”.  We met an American couple about our age and chatted with them for quite a while. They had actually gone through the gate before learning that it was the wrong one.

Eventually, sometime around 12 noon, they did start boarding our plane. We walked down the jetway, and then out the stairs onto a waiting bus. When the bus was full it drove, perhaps 20 metres, and let us off at the base of the stairs into the plane. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a short bus ride before.

We were airborne by about 12:30 and arrived in Bariloche about two hours later. Once again we were very pleased with Say Hueque, as our ride was waiting with a sign. Though he spoke no English he handed us a packet of information and got us to the door of Las Marianas hosteria. Not long after we’d checked in there was a knock on the door and the first Engish speaking person we met in this town told us that our Say Hueque representative was there to speak to us.

It actually was a representative from Kawen Adventure Company, who has been booked to do our tour in this area. He explained to us what we would be doing, very clearly, and gave us some options for places to eat and things to do on our free day here.

The lake and Andes mountains

After that we walked downtown, literally, since we are a hundred or so steep metres above the downtown area which is along the lakeshore. As it is Saturday there are several closed streets, and market vendors with stalls. Many of them have patagonian knitted hats, what we Canadians would call toques.

There were a lot of people swimming in the lake. It has a very stony beach. They were also setting up for a dance along the waterfront, and about a dozen people sweeping up the concrete, mostly cleaning up broken bottles.

Bariloche cathedral

We walked north along the lake to the town’s cathedral. It is a massive building built almost entirely of stone. It has at least 50 stained glass windows.

Stone altar and pulpit

We walked back along the main downtown street, looking for a restaurant to eat our evening meal. As we did so we met the same American couple. Their experience was not nearly as good as our. They’d waited for an hour, and didn’t find their driver, so took a taxi in from the airport.

We stopped to eat in a fondue restaurant. I’m sure that I haven’t had a fondue since the 70’s, and it was very rich with cheese. It is a good thing it is uphill back to our hotel, for there were doubtless a lot of calories in the meal.

As we were crossing the street we noticed that it was blocked off, and saw that they were having a road race. As we ate in the restaurant we watched the last runner go by, a bind man with two female guides. We commented that it was a pretty hot time of day to be holding a road race.

Plaza de Mayo

After we had a nice buffet style breakfast this morning, we got a phone call at 8:45 from our guide, Jeremy, to check that we were ready for our guided tour.  In just a couple of minutes we met him in the hotel lobby.  We were very surprised to find that we were on a private tour with just him and the car driver. 

We’d assumed we be on a group bus with a number of other tourists.  However, our private tour was an excellent exerpt of the the highlights of Buenos Aires.  We first started with the area of the presidential palace and the Plaza de Mayo which is where the mothers of the dissappeared still march to commemorate their missing children, and to work for social justice. 

Across the street is the beautiful Catedral Metropolitan, which is where the current Pope was the cardinal.  Our guide explained how the area of the Plaza de Mayo is still used for every demonstration, and that there are always police there (complete with several trucks with water cannons), and a rigid iron fence that can be used to block off the entire street. 

La Boca stadium

From here we travelled to La Boca, and saw the football stadium, of the Boca Juniors, the former team of Maradona, in the colors of blue and yellow.  We learned that those colors were chosen from the flag of a Swedish ship which happened to be in port when the team was looking for it’s colors.  Even the emergency exit signs in the stadium are painted in these same colors — no red and white of the rival teams!

Shops of Caminito

Next we went to the cobblestone streets of Caminito, a very tourist designed area with many brightly painted colorful shops.   A short drive away is the very ritzy area of Puerto Madero, a rehabilitated waterfront area where the old dock buildings have been converted into upscale shops and apartments.

Puerto Madero

Cementario de la Recoleta

Our final stop, after a drive through the very wealthy area of Recoleta, past it’s many well-secured houses and embassies, was at the Cementario de la Recoleta.  The narrow lanes of the cemetary are lined with thousands of sarcophagi, most of them very large and impressive.  A few though have fallen into total neglect for the family that owns them may have died off, or no longer pays the maintenance fees.  It was the most fascinating cemetary we have ever visited.  The most famous sarcophogus is the tomb of Eva Peron, which even today is still decorated with flowers daily by dedicated followers.

Our Say Hueque representative had suggested empanadas at El Sanjaunino, so when both our driver and tour guide suggested we should go there to eat, we decided to take their advice.  We had lunch there next to three people from California, so I believe a lot of tourists find there way here.  The food was good.  The waiter put on a big act for us, though he wasn’t too impressed that we had Diet Pepsi to drink.

We walked the two or three kilometers back to our hotel along Av  9 de Juilo, stopping at Plaza Libertad, a small green space, to eat the apples and cookies we’d brought with us.  As we walked about taking pictures in this park a woman came up to me and said “Watch your camera!”, which I was doing very carefully (and there were very few people close to us).  But a few minutes later as we were crossing one of the extremely busy streets (against the light with hundreds of others), someone hit me very hard on my left side, so hard that it stopped my watch.  My camera, and everything else was safe, but it does remind one that camera theft is one of the major problems for tourists in this city.

At 7:45 this evening we went to the lobby to get picked up for our tango show and dinner. We were still there waiting for at 8:30 when we gave up, figured no one was coming, so went back to our room. Both Enid and I read books assuming that was the end of the evening when the phone rang at about 5 minutes to 9. Someone asked me something in Spanish and I heard the word “tango”. We went down and there was a man waiting for us, but the bus was around the corner. We hurried there and got on. We were the only ones on and then about half way to the tango show theatre we picked up four more people. We are sure that they forgot about us as we were the last ones in and everyone else was finishing eating. We did have a very nice meal though with an excellent steak. The show was good. I enjoyed the orchestra as much as the dancers. We were not at all sure how to get back as it had been so disorganized when we arrived. However one of the men at the door was able to direct us to a van. After a trip down the very narrow streets of Buenos Aires late at night we got back safely.

Statue in Buenos Aires

It was a very long trip here.  We were at the Saskatoon airport at 4 am to catch our first plane to Minneapolis, then a second plane to Atlanta, a several hour wait and then an overnight flight arriving in Buenos Aires at 8 am local time this morning.  Since there is a three hour time difference between here and Saskatchewan, it took a total of 25 hours to get here.  As we flew over the Pampas I said to Enid how much it looked like flying over Saskatchewan, with  the large square farm plots, and very flat land below.

We were met at the airport, after another hour to clear immigration and customs, by our representative from Say Hueque.  We got clear instructions from her about the rest of our trip as we drove in a taxi to our hotel.  She outined some of the tourist attractions we might want to visit in Buenos Aires, explained what subway lines woud get us there, and then dropped us at our hotel.  We were able to check in immediately, which was really nice as we were exhasted from the long travel.

The Gran Hotel Argentino is a small, clean,  older hotel just a few blocks from the core of downtown Buenos Aires. We showered, slept for about half an hour and then were about to leave.  As I sat up on the edge of the bed  my nose gushed blood, a nosebleed, all over the blanket.  I think it was the long dehydrating trip in the plane that did it  Once it stopped bleeding we walked towards the central obelisk, and found a place to eat lunch.

We sat at a table next to three people, a younger male and female couple, and an older woman.  They were switching back and forth rapidly between Spanish and English.  After they had finished and were about to pay the bill, the man in the group asked me if I spoke English.  I replied “yes” and was very surprised when he asked me “Is there a culture of tipping in restaurants?”

I told him that I had no idea as I’d been in the country for about four hours!  We then had a conversation about where we were from.  He was from Ireland.  We guessed that he and the younger (Argentinian?) woman were married, and the older woman was the Argentinian mother-in-law.

Avenida del Liberatador

After lunch we figured out the subway.  It is very confusing at the  9th of July station, as the lines all meet there.  We couldn’t see any line D, though the signs all said that A, B and C all met here and combined into D.  We must have looked very confused as one of the men working at the ticket machine asked if we needed help.  It turned out that we were at the right place, and the only line that runs on the tracks we were at was D, the green line.  I’m not sure, but I think that this is a central station and you can walk from one line to another.

El Rosdal

Once on the right subway train it was easy to get to our destination, the Plaza Italia station.  We were planning to go to the Botanical Gardens here, but it was closed.  So instead we walked for about two kilometers eventually ending up along the Av. de Liberatador.  This is a very wide street, which must be at least eight or ten lanes wide.  There was a large statue in the middle of a roundabout at the end of this street.  We continued on to the rose garden in the public park.  The park is very well manicured with many roses.    There were still some roses blooming, though they are past their prime.  However it is quite a change to go from -30C to +30C in one day, from snow and skiing to strolling in the high heat and humidity so that I was soaked with perspiration when we got back to our hotel room about 4 pm.