Day 15 - 156 KMs, El Hoyo, Argentina, (Camping Puero Patriada) (10:00) to Lago Mascardi (Argentine Lakes District) (16:00)

Getting Deeper into the Lakes District

I woke up to what seemed to be a good night sleep considering the forest fires nearby.  However it was still dark on the van. No sun?  Rain coming soon?   No.  The nearby 2500m high peak was blocking the sun and will be doing so until about 10am or so.  Oh yuk!  Oh no.  I need sun!  So rather than sit in the cold shade and cook breakfast, I got my ass in gear and left camp as soon as I could organise the van.

I did not see the sun until I got 50% back to the main highway.  Once I got on the highway,  and after driving for 5 minutes I saw a hitcher needing a ride going in my direction.  So I stopped.  She was a shy one and had only her purse and a maid-type apron In her hand.  She said “Bariloche?”.  I replied with with “si” and motioned her to come into the van .  She barely was able to give me her name. Her name was…  Michela…and she seemed to be about 18 years old . She was hitching work which leads me to believe that she does this everyday.  After she told me her name, she just clammed up and didn’t say a word. She just looked into the side rear view mirror for the next minutes. Then suddenly she tapped my hand and said, “Aqui!”..  That means “here”.   I stopped the van and she go out.  She said “gracias”and then left the van.   Strange, but oh well..

Approaching El Bolson. Note the forest fire smoke over
the hills in the distannce.

After driving for 30 minutes more of scenic roads, I finally reached the town of El Bolson.  The main street, or what seemed to be the main street was no different than any other small town.  I drove right through until I got to near the end of it, but my instincts told me to turn around and look AGAIN.  

Crop dusting planes converted to help with aerial firefighting

I reversed my course and went South back towards town.  I stopped a little local bakery called, “Panaderia”.  They had a wide choice of low priced bakery items (fresh). So I got 5 rolls and 2 pastries for breakfast!  The pasteries were especially yummy.   Not a healthy breakfast, but what the F why not…right?  ;-)  I got back into my van and drove 3 more minutes South and then saw that the town actually had another “Main street” sort of.  So I turned left to see what was happening as a lot of people were over there.  

This was the place I was looking for.  There were shoppes, cafes, and all sorts of stuff to do.  I parked the van and got a mint parking spot near it all. Free parking too!  Above me an aeroplane flew very low. It was a water tanker flying towards the active wildfires to the South near where I was camping the other night.   I wish the pilot safe flying..very brave work he/she is doing.   So I got out and immediately saw some art/gift stores lined up.  Nice stuff.

I went into the first one and ended up buying a birthday gift for my Rebecca.  Score 1!  I then went into the next store and saw a nice piece of wooden art that will be good for the house. Score 2!  I was on a roll!  Wow!  I then walked around the corner and saw another cool art/gift shoppe.  I went inside and ended up buying myself a latino (Argentinian style) tea mug/metal straw.  There is a  name for this sort of thing, but I forgot what it is.    I will ask Juan (my friend from home) when I get home.     Anyway, I wanted to hit the road and get going.    (This above was written on 4/3).

I headed back on the “other main” street (the highway) and left town.  On the way out, there were 3 hitchers sitting there at the outskirts of town.  I told the all “solo only”.  They looked at one another and one guy named Thomas (See photo).     He was French guy who spoke some English. Very good!  (for both of us).  

We drove by a nice lake on the right hand side of the road called, “Lago Guillerro”.  I was thinking oh what a nice place.  Only after driving past it, I then decided to go back!!!   The hitcher was looking like, “woah, you told me you were going to Bariloche”.  He never said it, but I read his mind.  I told verbally that I just wanted to see it and that I am going to North today. Not to worry.  

I found the road to the lake; it was a gravel road of course.  It was par for the course for me per say as I am used to bouncy gravel roads by now nothing surprises me.  After less than 5 minutes of driving I approached a passage that required me to drive through a 0.25m deep river to get the the side.  Ironically a BMW dual purpose motorbiker behind me the entire time.  He smiled and went ahead.  He pushed himself through the river and kept going.  I had to turn around as I did not have a high clearance 4x4.  I turned around and about 200m away to the right  saw another “road” if you want to call it that. LOL!  I did a sharp right and went down it.  The path/road was so tight that the tree branches and bushes were rubbing against the van as I went.  The road itself was a lot of potholes.  It got too “tight” so I used a natural turnaround spot to call it quits.  I did not want to get stuck in there without 4WD.    I turned around and the hitcher said, “Nice try, nice driving!”.  We went back on  RT40 North.

About 30 minutes  more up the highway, I saw another lake to the left.   I told Thomas that if I find another accessible lake, I will make it my home for the night.  He was ok with that.  This was the “Lakes District” afterall.  The lake was called, “Lago Mascardil”.    We both walked down and each smiled. I said, “this is my home for the night my amigo!”.  He then grabbed his backpack and small bag, shook my hand and said, “good luck”.  We did a photo together (See photo) and he went on his way North to Bariloche. I parked the van in my spot that I wanted.

Hitcher Thomas and myself at my campsite for the night.
Thomas hitched onward to Bariloche.

As per my normal procedures of adventure, I quickly got on my swim trunks and grabbed my towel.  I took another lovely quick COLD bath in a clear lake.   After the soap settling away, I played around like a seal on a summer day in Alaskan coastal waters, but then I had to take a drink. I was thirsty.    I drank 2 big gulps, no NOT 7-Eleven things, of fresh lake water.  I think it was the best water I have ever tasted.   No flouride in it or nothing fake!  After I was done frolicking in the water like happy seal, I then got out, waved to a few people in a car nearby.  They gave me a look like aI was an insane person. I think they were just jealous that I had the balls to go into the lake.  Speaking of balls, I think mine are still hiding up in my ass for warmth still.  LOL!  ;-)

Anyway, I dried off my clothes on a line and then began my ritualistic pre dinner phase of camping of dumping all of my images and videos to my external hard drive.    While that was happening, I cracked open a fun of exciting tuna!  Kidding, no actually its boring as sh*t but I need to eat this stuff as I bought too much food for this trip. I still have 4 huge bags of pasta left over.  I might donate them to the Couchsurfing hosts in Santiago who are waiting for me on 13 de Marzo in Santiago.  My shorts and towel dried very fast in the wind and sun.  

Lake Mascardi (Argentine Lakes District), free camping!

I got online with my cel phone for brief moment. I saw a message from Luis, who I met on my Antarctic cruise.  He said there was an active volcano spewing lava just Northeast of Puerto Montt.  He suggested I go see it.  So I ended up spending a fair amount of time on FB chat with him.  I looked at the map he sent me and it seems this place is only a measley 40kms off the main highway to Santiago. This is highway 5 for which I am referring to.   The towns for which this best viewing of lava flows from then peak are in Pucon and Villarrica (Chile).    I am quite excited now to hear this news.  I can use my 300mm DLSR lense that I have for some really good use!  So unless the volcano suddenly stops, then I am golden.   I have always dreamed of seeing a live active volcano like that.  I hope the mountain gods keep this baby active for me to see and document it!

My campsite with solar power at Lake Mascardi

Anyway, I got onward to doing my blog entry for 3/3 and even began todays blog (4/3) but I rarely get so much done because I rely on 1 day memory of the prior day to write details about how I felt that day.  So I quit writing in my blog for today because I was very tired.   I saved my work in MS Word and closed down my computer.

I was about to call it a night and go to sleep when  I realised it was only 9:30pm.  So I grabbed the hardcover Antartica Peninsula book that I bought at Port Lockerby, Antarctic Station, Antartic Peninsula and did a deep scan of it.  I got back into the world of why I went to the Antarctic in the first place.  I kept thinking of those utterly adorable baby penguins and their protective mums nearby.   So adorable and cute.   Yes I think I will go to bed now…

Moonlight fishing in Patagonia:
Magical to see to say the least!

Ummm wait now, I then noticed the nearly full moon that just rose over the lake.  I also heard 2 people out on the old dilapidated boat dock.  It was a light breeze and not too cold.  I saw them fishing in the moonlight (see photos).  WOW! What a magical moment indeed.  This was the spirit of Patagonia and why I came here.  I took my camera down near the best view of the 2 guys fishing under moonlight.  I took about 10 photos of them.  I don’t think they even saw me once.  The fluffy light clouds were going by very slowly and the moon seemed to energise everything under it.    I don’t know if they caught any fish tonight, but I did wish them well.  I wanted to thank them for being there for the brilliant photo opportunity and creating a found memory for me, but I’d rather slip silently into the night and go to sleep in my van.    To ‘rock’ me to sleep sort of, I keep the side van door open that was facing the lake.  I fell into a deep sleep in no time.  (11:45pm ?????)

Zzzzzz

Daily Summary:

Today was another awesome/magical day. Meeting new people. Seeing majestic scenery and having a fantastic (and free) camping on a nice clean lake.  I can't ask for anymore really!  Looking forward to tomorrow!    8-)