Day 18 - Hike Number One

This morning I woke up in a pile of sweat. It was disgusting. We had cranked up the heat in our room yesterday to heat it up and didn´t turn it down before bed. That on top of a blistering headache due to drinking the equivalent of a bottle of red wine by myself while reading my book. My day improved as it progressed though.

The Indian´s Head Trail
John, Courtney, and I went on a beautiful hike. We walked up a road that paralleled the town. Instead of walking on the road itself we walked on a trail we found parallel to the road, also along a cliff. The views were truly incredible. El Bolson is a quaint little town tucked in a valley of the Andes. From our trail you would see the mountains you had to drive through to reach Baralochie and the mountains you would have to drive through to go further south. The town is truly a gem.

We followed the road up to the Indian´s Head Trail. It was a very cool trail. It switch backed up this hill then went along a cliff, actually kind of in the side of the cliff. It was very awesome. We eventually got to a little look out. When you walked onto the look out, if you looked back at the cliffs we had been walking in, you could see a cliff that resembled an indian´s head. It was pretty cool. It reminded me of this rock that is shaped like a head that is on an old mining trail in Chicken, Alaska.

Waterfall Trail
Following that trail we attempted to find some waterfalls that, according to our map, were near. We eneded up doing a loop on the Indian Head Trail. There were some people who lived near by so John went and asked them for directions to the falls. We ended up taking a trail through the woods to the otherside of the hill we were on. It was very nice. The hike took us about two hours. By the time we were done with both of the hikes we were filthy because we were covered in volcano ash from walking around. (El Bolson is COVERED in volcano ash because of the volcano that erupted in Chili last week.)

Bambie
When we got close to the waterfall we acquired a new friend. She was a blonde and white dog that Courtney named Bambie. She was kind of cute. She acted as our tour guide down to the falls. In the end she ended up being kind of a nuisance. It was because Courtney and John fed her chips. You cannot feed the dogs here. Bambie followed us FOREVER. She followed us at the falls, down the old dirt road. We finally lost her when the dirt road hit a junction. She probably didn´t know which way we were going or else she was scared of the cattle we walked by hanging out on the road.

The Falls
The falls were cute, but nothing too spectacular. I probably would have thought they were more awesome if I wasn´t at the Iguazu Falls a week or so ago.

The Park
When you are done with the loop trail the waterfalls are on you end in a park. The park is pretty cute. Everything was made of wood, including the slides. Courtney thought it was creepy, like some ghost kids would be haunting it or something. I liked it though. I like how everything is made out of wood here. It seems so much more natural then plastic, like everything in the US is made of.

The Walk
We were a bit puzzled as to how we were going to get back. We either could have walked back the way we came or walked to the highway and caught the bus back to town. The lady John spoke with earlier had said the walk to the bus stop on the highway was only two or three kilometres from the falls. We weren´t sure how to get to the highway from where we were, so we decided to walk down the only road we could find.

We walked and we walked and we walked. All we saw for the first hour was closed down summer cabins and some cattle hanging out on the road. (Those are some big buggers, let me tell you. I was actually kind of freaked out that one was going to charge us or something. ) A car ended up coming up the road so John stopped him and asked how far to the highway. We ended up being on the right road so we just kept trekking.

By the time we reached the highway we had been walking for about two hours on the dirt road. We ended up hitching a ride from the town´s veterinarian. He estimated our walk from the falls to the highway to be about six kilometres. The lady from the Indian Head Trail was really off. By the time we made it back to Grandma´s hostel we had been walking for six hours.

Dinner
Courtney, John, and I decided we would top off our day of hiking with a trout dinner at a local restaurant. Apparently the trout is caught here in the river that goes through El Bolson. The dinner was delicious. I started with orange juice, which was freshly squeezed, as orange juice generally is here. I followed that by zucchini wrapped around trout and venison (I don´t know how to spell it, deer meat). Then a trout and vegetable dish with white wine followed. It was so good.

In addition to the food the company was great. John said it was a very entertaining time watching Courtney and I. We discussed politics, did some arguing, and let me tell you, we are definitely opposites. It is kind of funny. We also reminisced on future travels and adventures we hope to go on. We decided we are going to start reading The Economist each time a new issue comes out then debating it. We will sit by the slue at Sue and Ed´s, drink wine, and discuss what is going on around the world. We also decided Ed could sit and watch because know he´ll find us so entertaining. He would sit there and laugh and rub his hands together in excitement, a typical mannerism of Ed´s when he gets excited. Courtney and I both concluded he would probably see things the same way I do, but he also wouldn’t interject. Oh Ed. :)

Also while we were at dinner Courtney suggested I extend my stay and accompany Lisa, Karen, and her on the Inca Trail to Machue Pechu (however you spell it), then Bolivia and Colombia and into Ecuador. As tempting as her offer is I had to decline. I would love to hike the Inca Trail and see Machue Pechu. Travelling around other parts of South America would be wonderful too, and who knows when and if I´ll have this opportunity again, but truth be told I am exhausted. By the time I get back to interior Alaska I will have been gone for, give or take, six months. The last half of December I was in the Midwest, January through mid April I was in southeast Alaska, and mid April through the end of May I will be in Argentina, then I still have a few days that I am spending with Ashley and Brian in Seattle before I head back home. I don´t really want to give up any more of my precious summer in Alaska.

Today, in the end, was my best day.