The hotel breakfast was pretty lame, but itīs worth every extra penny we paid. At just after 9:15am, the small tourist bus came to pick us up for our first excursion - to Cerro Tronador and Ventisquero Negro by way of Lago Mascardi. Ok - now in English.
We had to wake up Michaela early to get breakfast and make sure we got the bus. She is usually in a bad mood when she gets up before she is ready, but more on that later on.
The bus carried us (of course), a couple from Panama, a former Bolivian Peace Corps worker from Wisconsin, a guy from Buenos Aires, a couple from Brazil, and a family from Cancun.
First stop was at a boat to take us across Lago Mascardi (Lake Mascardi). The lake was crystal clear and there were few passengers compared to the capacity of the boat. The ride was calm and pleasant, but Michaela was very unhappy. She complained, didnīt want to eat, and generally made it clear that she was unhappy. It began to be clear that she was sick. She spent most of the trip sleeping in Momīs arms while I ventured topside to take in the beautiful views.
Once we reached our destination at the hotel Tronador, I accidentally hit Michaelaīs head not once but twice on the ceiling as I carried her in the backpack. I felt extremely bad, but she was a trooper and calmed down quickly as we got off the boat. The scenery was spectacular and only promised to get better. The picturesque mountains, the fall colors, and the clear calm waters of the lake made everything picture-perfect. Our stop at the hotel Tronador was brief as we made our way back onto buses for the trip over the rough dirt roads to the Hosteria Pampa Linda for lunch and more fussing by Michaela. The lunch was nothing to write home about. The bread was really really bad. The food otherwise was just ok. Michaela again refused to eat anything but a few noodles and drank a bit of water.
After lunch, back into the bus. Again, Michaela spent most of the time sleeping in Momīs arms. This time we stopped for a short hike to a beautiful waterfall through the moist, cold canyon. The scenery again was spectacular. We hiked over some small streams and into a maze of what looked like bamboo. After an easy hike, during which Michaela fell asleep in the backpack, we arrived at a beautiful waterfall. However, even more spectacular was the sight of an Andean Condor sitting about halfway up the face of the cliff. That got all of our attention, complete with binoculars, zooming telephoto lens, and oohs and aahs.
After taking some obligatory pictures, we made our way back to the bus. This was the first time where we really appreciated bringing the backpack for Michaela. We could have used the stroller, but the backpack was much easier.
Then we made our way to the base of Cerro Tronador, which we had been able to see for quite some time from the bus and from the lake. This small mountain (cerro=hill) has a glacier on top of it that can be seen from quite far away. From its base, you can see a bunch of waterfalls produced by the melting ice and snow and the sound of water hitting the rocks reverberates through the canyon. The name Tronador means thunder and we hoped to hear the thundering of the ice that makes up the glacier cracking. Margarita hoped for a moment of quiet to listen to the water, but people talking loudly and the engines of the buses prevented that.
Then we piled back into the bus to stop at Ventisquero Negro, the black (or dirty) glacier. At first, this didnīt seem too interesting - after all, a glacier covered by a bunch of dirt doesnīt tend to excite oneīs senses. We hiked down from the parking lot to a scene we couldnīt have imagined: a whitish-blue frozen lake with chunks of what looked like black icebergs stuck in place. In addition, one large chunk of the glacier had formed a natural bridge at one end of the frozen lake. The lake appeared frozen, but I threw a couple of rocks and one splashed, so it would not have been safe to attempt to walk out to the glacier. Looking up from the black glacier, it was easy to see the point where the glacier became dirty from the surrounding mountain.
Just as we were getting ready to leave, we heard the thunder that gave Tronador its name. The crackling ice rumbled through the canyon and we gained an appreciation and awe of the massive amounts of ice that make up these huge glaciers. But that was not the last sight of the day. As we made our way back to the bus, we were treated to the nearby sight of a large colorful bird. It looked to me like a bird of prey, but Iīll have to look it up later.
The bus ride back was uneventful. Michaela spent nearly all of it sleeping in my arms or her Momīs. We made brief stops at the hosteria again for drinks and at a lookout point to check out the lake and the scenery as the sun began to set behind the mountains.
Once we got back to Bariloche, we made a brief attempt to find a better hotel, but gave up and went to dinner. We had a delicious meal at a Galician (Spanish) restaurant. From the meatballs to the empanadas (traditional beef and galician) to the stew to the beef (lomo) and a bottle of red wine, it was all excellent - and just 50 pesos (you do the math at 2.7 pesos per dollar). Michaela slept through most of the meal but needed to be held by Mom in order to sleep, so I fed Margarita most of her meal.
Well itīs late now, Iīm tired, and weīre off again tomorrow. Hopefully Michaela will be feeling better then.
Posted by mike at May 8, 2003 08:03 PM