After a very active and long day hiking on Wednesday, today was much easier. The van took us about an hour into the park to a trail head leading up to Heumul Glacier (named after the Andean deer which reside in the area). The trail was mostly through the woods, alongside a stream of a milky turquoise — runoff from the lake and glacier at the top. There was a slow incline at first, and a dirt trail, but about halfway up it became more steep, and there were ropes along the path to use as handrails to make the climb. Soon enough we were at top and greeted by another lovely lake and glacier and stupendous views. We’ve been so lucky with the weather both yesterday and today — it was sunny and clear, not very windy and actually warm — unusual for Patagonia. After some group photos and some just clowning around while we ate cookies we headed down, with Liz and I in the lead.
At the bottom there were mountain bikes and helmets and gloves and we each got properly outfitted for the ride. The campsite area is right at the tip of Lago de la Dieserto, so it was also a spot where kayaking and rafting adventures set out from. The road was rutted and bumpy and dusty, but followed alongside a river and there was no official pace set, so it was easy to take it slow and easy and stop for photos. I don’t love mountain or trail biking — all the bumpiness can be jarring on the wrists and the brain I find — but for the most part this wasn’t too uncomfortable. After about 10km we stopped for a picnic lunch; a lovely spot next to the river, and Franco (the van driver), and Fernando (our guide for the 4 days in this section of the park) had set up a lovely spread.
Another 10km and we loaded up the van with bikes and dusty people and headed back to town. Liz and I did some stretching and then the hotel lost power. So we walked into town to check out the shops and to find a cafe with wifi. And to buy some alfajoras to take back home with us. Specific to Argentina, these dulce de leche filled sandwich cookies are the one sweet thing critical to take home. We ran into Bob and Katherine and sat outside at a bar for happy hour and watched some climbers on the face of the rock wall off in the distance. Turns out the power was out all over town, so our wifi hopes dashed, we settled for a cocktail and nature.
Then it was off to another dinner — this time at a Cervezia — known for artisanal beer and the biggest grilled cheese sandwiches I’d ever seen. The local specialty was Lorca, a bean, meat and vegetable stew that was quite good, but also very rich. Back to the hotel early because we have to pack up to leave El Chaten in the morning.
