We are in Mendoza, Argentina. Since the last blog we have travelled north from Bariloche. The weather is warm to really hot, the sky is blue and we are tired, but enjoying ourselves. So here goes, a couple of extracts and a day in Pucon.
24th February - Campamento SAC, Near Bariloche.
Here´s the part about knee friction. Knee friction, this is a mid thirties thing and I am embracing it. It is not pain related, but the fact that at mid thirty you get extra friction across the top of your knees requiring you to hoist your trousers up over your knees before sitting down. Otherwise your extra sticky knees grab hold of your trousers and you get a tight uncomfortable feeling from your bum to your knee. So there you go, knee friction.
5th March - Bus to Pucon and staying at Etnico a relic from the 1908s.
With a cup of tea in hand here goes. Aren´t patio doors very 1980s. They were in England anyway. Everyone went through a phase of knocking a giant holes in the back of their houses to fit the patio door. Well from a 1980s wrap around sofa I can look through one and see volcano Villarrica, a bloody enormous lump of rock at 2847 metres high. Still active too, plus lots of snow on the slopes.
I think more amazing than the amazing volcano is a humming bird also outside the 1980s patio doors flying or hovering from flower to flower on the fuschia bush. Bec spotted him or her, incredible bird.
Back to the volcano, it is pretty big as I said before and has a classic volcano shape, almost a pyramid with the top chopped off. It is cloud free and I think you can see smoke coming out of the top, not huge amounts, but it is definately smoking.
Today started with an early start to catch the six am bus. Lucky for us the lady who runs Hosteria Las Lucarnas got up and fed us hot crossiants and cakes and watered us with tea. Not a bad start. The bus station was only a short walk away, so we strolled along finding our bus, depositing our packs and locating our seats. The highlight of the journey was seeing volcano Lanin, massive at 3776 metres, from the border post in Argentina whilst waiting ot get an exit stamp. Volcano Villarrica is big, but Lanin just kind of dwarfs it. The pass where the road goes through is 1207 metres high, so the volcano towers above for another 2569 metres (if I have got my sums correct).
After getting through a relaxed Chile customs, covered in warning signs about not bringing food in, but then not bothering to check, just a token x-ray, we headed to Pucon. The road swept down through the forest of monkey puzzle trees, Aracaria in Spanish or Pehuen trees in the local tongue or just conifers (sorry getting all excited about my trees). The forest really did change over the pass, the western side a lot wetter and greener than the steppes of Argentina.
It is difficult to write well enough to convey how much I love the forest and the natural environment. I always have, it is me. It is excellent. Before I go all green and start gushing over habitat destruction I´ll stop.
I can hear Chile radio in the background, let´s call it Pucon FM. Well it goes with the house, it is very 1980s. So far it would seem South Americas are very fond of Genesis and Phil Collins, and to confirm we are back in the 1980s they just played the theme tune from Beveley Hills Cop. What can you say.
So back to the plan, we jumped off the bus and headed for our chosen hostel, Etnico. A kind of eco hostel, well that´s what the advertising says. They do a bit of recycling and keep the 1980s going. So in effect we are recycling, Phill Collins and the house. The bathroom is something else, lets just say you enter through a door which looks like part of the wardrobe and is mirrored with brown edging.
After dropping our stuff we decided to head out for lunch, opting for the Arabian cafe. Not at all Chile, but great food. I even had some vegetables, they were vines leaves, but for moment I am calling vine leaves a vegetable. So far food has been very much the same (on our small budget) with little choice other than meat and chips. With a strong absence of vegetable matter. Now we are back in Chile the food options have already improved and vegetables are back on the table, so to speak.
Well that is about it. Now it is time to decide what to do. More climbing, trek the enormous volcano outside the 1980s patio doors, kayak and so on. It will be hard to make a decision.
25th February - Campamento SAC
The importance of sock height. This is all to do with knee friction. So on going to sit down you hoist the old tweeds over you knees and sit. This results in exposed shin skin between the top of you wrinkly socks and the bottom of your trousers. To overcome this mid thirties dress sense error you need to pull those socks up to at least mid calf level. Obiviously dependent on the energy you put into your trouser hoist.
I´ll be thirty six in a month from today, so it is time to think about these things.
