Argentina
November 6-29, 2009
November 14: Hiking in Alerces National Park: Travelling and back to Esquel
Since most of the hikes were fairly short, we figured we still had plenty of time left for more discoveries. And because the way back was through Trevelin, a small welsh town south of Esquel, we had time to make a quick trip to Nant y Fall, a beautiful waterfall area near Trevelin. Unfortunately when we got ther, the whole area was closed! So instead we headed back into Trevelin where we checked out the local craft market and let the kids play at the playground for a bit.
To finish off the day we attempted a geocache near Esquel but in Argentina the geocaches seem a bit more involved than your average park and grab. The cache page warned that the road up the mountain wasn't the best and half way up we decided to park and walk the rest of the way since we were afraid of damaging the undercarriage of the car otherwise. Then of course the road wound every which way but in the direction of the cache and as it was starting to get late, Rubby ran the rest of the way up the mountain. As the wind picked up and the sun started to set, we packed up the kids and headed back down to the car, praying that nobody would drive up the mountain since it was pretty much a one lane road and the car was a manual transmission car. Of course Rubby didn't have much luck either and although he got all the way to the top, the clue indicated to look under a rock, which would have been fine except that pretty much the whole top of the mountain was all rocks! sigh! Oh well, at least we got a great view of Esquel and Sam picked up some giant pinecones that the kids had fun with.
A soccer game on the outskirts of Trevellin.
A lot of the houses are brick construction... a lot of them are lived in but don't seem entirely 'finished'.
A flock of southern lapwings.
These fields seem so lush and green in contrast with the rugged mountains and the dry steppe.
The drive past Trevelin was beautiful.
Lupines!
And more lupines!
Arriving at Nant y Fall protected area. The name means "stream of waterfalls" in Welsh.
This is what Nant y Fall would have looked like... too bad it was closed off!
The playground in Trevelin.
Samantha liked the fancy slide with the hand railing.
The 'baby' swing wasn't that secure but Christopher still had fun.
From the 'suburbs' of Esquel, the mountain road led to an impressive view.
Supersized pinecones!
Flower
Samantha looking back at the trees that looked like they'd been through a forest fire of some sort.
Little dirt roads heading into the mountains everywhere... where do they lead to?
The snow seems so close!
The sun is starting to set.
The cache is somewhere... under a rock!? What kind of hint is that?!
The Argentina version of Barrhaven suburbia! ;-)
Even the smallest of grocery stores has an entire wall dedicated to booze!
We get back to our cabana and Rubby takes the laptop out of the oven... (Rubby's version of a safe!)
Samantha and Christopher could play for hours rolling the pinecones to each other under the bed.
Anyone up for a nice cup of tea?
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