Right when I left off last time we went into the mountains. We first visited Refugio Retamal which is up above Cajon del Azul. We had been to the cajon before, but it was a raining the first time, and one of the reasons we wanted to come all the way back to the small hippyville of el bolson was to revisit the cajon in the bright sun. We did it and it was great. We went along with some other nice girls named Katja, Paula and Nina too. We had lots of fun and went swimming in the cold water and slept on the nastiest mattresses you’ve ever seen. On the way up we went up to 2 miradores. One looked straight at Chile and a beautiful valley below.
the coolest part is that i had my mouth open and was drinking and swimming simultaneously. a first for me.
the snowy mountains way in the back are in Chile.
After taking a day to rest, we went for the next refugio, Cerro Lindo. This one is straight up a hill. When we got to the refugio, we then went another 3 hours up to the cumbre (very top). Our initial plan was to rest the night at the refugio and go higher the next day, but we had heard that the next day might be cloudy and today was clear as a bell so we didn’t want to take our chances. It ended up being a good choice as we knew that we were the only ones up above the refugio and that nobody would be coming up behind us as it was getting late. It was also cloudy and even raining the next day. It was a spectacular place, highlighted by the Laguna Tricolor, a lake that we looked down on after climbing for a very long time. We also got a great view of El Tronador, a big mountain that we had been trying to get a good view of for a long time. By the time we reached the top, we had gained an elevation of 1 mile that day and would end up walking about 10 hours before we made it back to the refugio in the dark for a delicious plate of pasta with vegetable oil and a little cheese. It really was delicious, but probably only because it was one of those meals that felt needed and well deserved. The keeper of the refugio, Julio, was one of the nicest guys around too.
this lake (tricolor) looked so nice that haley was ready to scramble down the cliff to take a dip.
haley directing photography.
that big one in the back is El Tronador.
getting dark, better get down the steep trail, but...
yum, pasta and vegetable oil by the fire/stove.
haley and julio down by the refugio, just before heading up to tricolor.
After the refugios, the rain came and we decided to get out of El Bolson for the second time. We headed for Mendoza, a place that most people seem to like, but not us. We tried to like it for 5 days, and it did get a little better as we learned a little more, but in the end we decided that it was not for us. We then happened to find a hotel come dog rescue about 2 hours south of Mendoza where the owner would put us up an feed us if we helped her take care of her hotel and her 45 dogs. Now we’ve been here 24 hours and it looks like it may have been a good choice. Haley is in heaven taking care all of the dogs and I’m trying to help things run a bit smoother, by fixing some of the broken doors and things around here. It is not the cleanest most comfortable conditions, but we are doing good deeds, which seems to make it all worthwhile.
take me home haley.
Other notes:
We left our shoes at a hostel in Mendoza and by the time we realized it they had been donated to a church.
I left my cashmere sweater in El Bolson and now a French person has it who is eventually planning on coming to Mendoza. Hopefully I get it back.
My computer took a hard fall and is now injured badly and probably will need a new hard drive.
We took a bus from El Bolson to Mendoza in a Cama Suite and it was awesome. Flat beds with on demand movies and decent food and wine.
