"the easy hike"

The lady at the front desk struck again. She suggested a bunch of different hikes and we picked the one that she said was six hours round-trip, but fairly easy and stunning views. Sounds great. The first 30 minutes were literally scaling the side of a mountain sitting at a 90 degree angle. We had the watery yogurt and the disgusting juice that morning and were both fairly cranky. When you throw 30 minutes of walking up the side of a mountain avoiding rocks, slippery slopes and mountain lions it was not a pretty picture. We were this close to forgetting it and going on the three-hour hike right about the time that the trail evened out a bit and the sweat started freezing in the wind.

The last five and a half hours of the hike were actually lovely. We crossed some streams, followed some deer tracks, got some amazing views of the Fitz Roy mountain range. (Mountain people, Fitz Roy might mean something to you, apparently we are in a mountain lovers dream, though I had never heard of it.) We arrived at Lago Torre and enjoyed our picnic lunch with views of the glacier and lake front, but started getting really cold when we sat down so we ate fast and then headed back. We took some good pictures and again, I am quite certain the pictures do more justice to the beauty of it than my words can, so check them out if you have time.

When we got back to town around 5:00 we had grandiose plans of a sausage and lentil soup so we bought some sad looking carrots to go with our canned corn and we whipped up a fantastic soup complete with garlic bread (garlic and butter from the “free shelf.” My favorite.) Yet again, the hostel gets more annoying as they have two pots, three spoons, and two bowls one of which we are pretty sure the resident dog also drinks out of. That's pretty much the extent of their kitchen equipment. Luckily Matt has his utility knife so we had a can opener and I peeled the carrots with a butter knife. That was fun. It's likely a hint that they want you to pay them more money to eat at their restaurant by not providing anything useful to cook with and posting signs everywhere that if you are cooking yourself, you must eat upstairs with the proletariats and not with the paying customers. But we are steadfastly refusing, if only for the sheer principle of the matter, and so far it's working out well for us.

Tomorrow we are getting on the bus for our two night bus ride to Bariloche where we are hoping to rebound from El Chalten and all it's glory. Bariloche is back up towards the middle of the country and so we are hoping to be able to put away the hats and gloves, find some fruit and vegetables that aren't taking their last breaths and Matt had already picked out our first steak house. Bariloche is known for it's food and he promises to take a picture of the cow before it goes down the hatch to prove how big these brothers really are.