Saturday we woke up at 7:45am with the intention of grabbing breakfast at eight at the hostel and getting on the early bus to Cerro Catedral to start our "trekkie" (espanol for trek). The wind seemed to be howling and since the weather was uncertain for the day, we decided to sleep another hour and then re-evaluate. Half realistically logical, half classic college student's logic to get more sleep. We woke up and got breakfast around 9 and finally committed to going. The night before we had picked up some supplies for lunch and triple bagged everything. Using the extra bags, we put them over our socks in case we encountered some puddles. The bus ride took about 45min and two snowboarders were on board. The resort wasn't opened yet so we assumed they must be hiking for some untouched early pow. That should have been a clue to the snow we were about to spend 6 hours on. Once there, we realized that the information desk back in Bariloche was a bit misinformed. When he said "bad weather", there was actually no wind and tons of sun. When he said "There's going to be snow at the last kilometer", there was actually Plenty of snow from the very start with more to come.
We had lunch on the trail with a beautiful view as the background.
The trek was absolutely gorgeous and we happily sang karaoke as it is a favorite gringo pastime. However, towards the end when it started getting steep and our socks were soaking from the slush, we starting to feel hesitant about reaching the top and making it down before sunset. We started peering in the distance for some resemblance of the refugio building. At one point I got excited and exclaimed "Is that a house up there? Is it a mirage or do you see it too?" Kris, one of my companions said "No, its just a big rock.." But, in fact, it was both rock and house! Just a emergency stop over with a stove, platform, and graffiti covered walls on the inside.
A bit after this when the trail got a lot steeper and Sarah and I, the most uncoordinated of the gringos, started falling and sliding on the slushy hills. We turned back, switched up our soaked socks, and drank liquified yogurt. The boys pushed on with my camera and took some great pics of the summit and the refugio.
We all got lost coming down a different route. Sarah and I missed our Bariloche stop and when a kind girl realized we had missed it (before we knew), since we were headed into the poorer section, she took pity and walked us back. Thank goodness for tourism majors. We got home just in time for dinner at the hostel, but after scarfing it down, we set off to eat more. One of the guys in our group, Desmond, had been a vegetarian all his life before coming here and Kris was determined to introduce him to steak and Argentina seemed like a perfect place. We got the 411 on the best place in town and ordered some wine (Malbec), filet mignons, and salad and papas fritas for the ladies. It was all delicious, Desmond loved the steak though struggled to get through the 3 pieces alloted to him.
"Happy and satisfied face"
It is so cool to feel like I am walking the same path as you (in virtual context) as your photos are sequenced as such. My feet even got wet in the stream.
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