A cold drizzly morning greeted us, very reminiscent of Scotland, as we got out of the tent ready to head back to 'civilization' mostly a shower and clean clothes! It was a long walk out down the valley, from the map it looked flatish and not nearly as taxing as the day before, which was a relief as I don't think my legs could have coped. We stomped off, slowly to begin with, eased into the day's walk by a flat section interspersed with short steep sections (not appreciated). We found a refugio guide wating for us at the first river crossing, which was reassuring as my legs were wobbly and balance was worse than usual! Luckly there was also a rope strung across the river at shoulder height to hold on to. After we crossed the guide sped off into the forest and we continued our plod, passed a guide and refugio dog coming in the oposite direction carrying wood (just the guide). This must be good exercise as we were a fair distance away from the refugio.
Steep switch-backs carried us quickly down the valley side, some slippy corners made it more speedy! Continued stomping as legs woke up and felt the homeward call, chatting to Heather about GSC passed the time. Still the bridge crossing that signalled half-way was a long time coming. Very happy when it came into sight, all covered in mulit-colured flags, it was also lunch time, a good morale booster. Sat by the river and had crackers with cheese and peanuts, sadly the pitta bread had gone mouldy so that was a little dissapointing. The midges took this chance to have their lunch at the expense of my shoulder. We continued along the path by the river enjoying the flat sections. Navigation had gone out of the window by this time, since tributaries seemed to be more numerous than the map suggested, so it was a pleasant surprise when the path became a track and we came to the settlement at the end of it. The settlement was more of a goat guarding hut, the goats were very cute but the 'Private Land' signs seemed to suggest the owners did not like visitors.
At last we reached the road and had a well deserved sit down and munched the last of the cashews mixed with parmesan. After a few unsucessful tries to hitch-hike we picked up our bags again and started to walk in the direction of Bariloche. Happily a few minutes later a van stopped to give us a ride. We sat in the back and got taken almost to the door of the hostel. The owners of the van had invited us to dinner, which was very kind but we wouldn't have been good company and were at this point more interested in a shower!
I got to look at the damage the midges and buzzing flies had done to my shoulders, not a pretty sight. The mosquitoes had left me with some good bites on my legs too. Time to hang the tent up and wash some very smelly socks, although the rain did not allow for rapid drying, how inconsiderate. The next task was food shopping for the long journey to Chile tomorrow and my first empanada (I kept calling them enchilladas, not the same thing at all). Empanadas are a bit like pasties and very popular in Argentina. They smelt and tasted very good and gave me a new burst of energy for packing. Had to pack strategically so that I had everything for Torres del Paine in one bag, this took a while, but I was able to fit all I needed into my smallest bag!
Had to wake up a sleeping Heather so we could go out for dinner. The decision of where to eat took a while, but in the end we were sold on the idea of curry and went to La Bomba, the bar where we met the auzzies on the first night in Bariloche. I was told I had have a certain drink while still in Argentina, but I cannot remember the name, I think it begins with an 'f'. It tasted very medicinal, but went down easily and almost straight to my head. The curry was very tasty and spicy, which didn't go well with my sunburnt lips but I did my best to eat it all, unsucessfully. Since it was my last night in Argentina the plan was to party the night away. In an alternate universe where I was not half asleep this would have been a fantastic plan. Heather chatted to some Argentinas while I looked on with a dazed expression on my face. Got to bed eventually, sleep was not so easy due to chatty Swiss people in the dorm room who stopped shining torches around only after I snored.
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