Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 15: Alerces National Park - El Abuelo

Today's outing was to be the highlight of Parque Nacional Los Alerces - a visit to "El Abuelo" (The Grandfather), a 2600 year old tree in the heart of the park. We had booked the tickets ahead of time in Esquel and having been warned to be there in time, we left extra early to account for rough roads and to give us ample time to enjoy the short walk to the boat docks.

The weather was a little overcast, but you can't expect sunshine when you go and visit a rain forest in the heart of the Andes! From the parking lot we took a short trail to get to the "paserelle" - a little suspension bridge that brought us to an island and the start of a little interpretive trail that led to the dock.

During the boat crossing across Lago Menéndez there was a guide giving a bit of history and natural interpretation in Spanish and there was also a German tour on board where the guide was translating from Spanish to German. We also realized that once across the lake we'd have no choice but to walk the trail with the group and the German group graciously let us join them.

The tour was led by a local, a descendent of the Mapuches and he was full of tons of information which we tried to take in as much as possible. Seeing these trees thousands of years old was mind-boggling and although Christopher was probably too little to understand, even Samantha seemed hugely impressed by "El Abuelo".

We finished our day by taking the return trip across the lake, completing the remainder of the interpretative trail loop, and heading back to Esquel for supper at a restaurant.

the photos: