070129 - A new tent... from the supermarket

Esquel, ARG - I arrived in Esquel with the purpose of climbing. I had read somewhere that close by there are some fantastic mountains and as it worked out, the guy who runs the hostel is also a climber offering tours. But well, it didn't work out as planned... The day I arrived he had left on a trip for the week. Regrouping! What next? National Park Los Alercers. I had heard many good things about it. And since it is kinda outta the regular gringo-route there where not as many tourists. Of course, I was still in high season and many Argentines come to this park. But that's fine. ;o)

Camping gear.. hmm... Let's see: I had a really good sleeping back but that was about it. I kinda new that there was more trekking coming up along the way as I was planning do hike in El Chalten and Torres del Paine. So I was in the market for a new or used, but at least pretty damn good tent. As it happens, the hostel owner had one of his old tent for sale... but had taken it with him on the trip. Bummer! But there was another tent available. 30 pesos daily rental fee. I don't know... I just don't know. I asked for some thinking time and went shopping at La Anonima, the local Wal-Mart. As I wander down the halls my eyes catch a tent. "For Sale", it says with big letters. 60 pesos!!! Deal! Well, pretty crappy tent, as anyone can imagine. But the weather was supposed to be stable for the next days: sunshine and no rain. Perfect. I just had gotten myself a new tent. The rest of the stuff I borrowed from Laura, the hostel owners's wife (for a minor rental fee, of course). And of I went.

It was sooo beautiful. Almost no people. Perfect campgrouds. The hikes? Well, the one to Lago Krueger sure got me working. Pretty steep climbs. A lot of up and down. And then there was this maillin with all these bugs... I caught up to an Argentine couple who told me they pretty much crossed this part running. Unbareable, these insects. And I had no repellent. The hike is said to be done in 2 days. The first one 8hours, the next an easy 4 hour hike. Didn't really feel like splitting it up. Getting closer to the end yet still not seeing it I questioned my decisionmaking. But when I arrived after 7.5 hours a stroke of happiness and relief flushed my body. Set up camp and had one of the longest showers of my life.

The next morning as I was having breakfast and enjoying the beautiful quietness I hear some noise coming from the forest. Next thing I know a tree falls down, barely 15meters away from me, knocking over a bunch of other trees on its way down. Ufff... lucky me.

I stayed for the day and crossed over to the other side of the lake by boat. Pretty expensive ride but definetly worth it. From there I hitched a ride back to Futalaufquen.

Next morning, another perfect day, I climbed up to Cerro Dedal. All the way to the top. I was almost being blown off by the strong winds and my legs started freezing as I packed light and went only in shorts, but I made it down safely.

Then there was only one more thing to do: see one of the oldest trees around. Unfortunately, for this you have to take a 80 pesos boat tour. Somebody told me it was nice. As it turns out, it was pretty boring. Wouldn't really reommend it to anybody, unless you don't mind walking in the forest with 50 other strangers. No, no...

Back in Esquel I was absolutel useless. The only thing I managed to do was a bike trip around Laguna Zeta, but that was astounishing was well as a good workout.

Neither climbing nor rafting on the world-famous Futalefu came true as I waited up on some people who said they were going but never went. So, time to change location.