After a day of rest, we struck out on our own again. This time, we went to the southwestern corner of the park, below Lake Grey. The hotel had a guide drive us over to that part of the park. It was a two hour ride, and along the way we passed several lakes. In one of these, Anna spotted something pink. We had to look twice before we realized they were flamingos. What a strange sight! It turns out that there are Chilean flamingos that can handle colder temperatures than their northern cousins. It was odd to see the large birds standing on one leg in freezing water looking for food.
Upon reaching the ranger station at the southern shore of Lake Grey, we made the half hour hike into camp Pingo. On the walk up we had to make our way through a fenced off paddock with three white horses in it. The horses looked like they hadn't seen a person in quite some time, and they were mildly interested as we walked by. We gave them a quick pat and moved on.
Right next to the horse pasture was the campsite. The campsite was deserted for the winter, and that was fine with us. We were looking for a place where we wouldn't have to listen to other people talking, or see anyone on the trails. I can imagine how crowded it must get in the summer months and, despite the cold, we were both glad we came down here in the off season.
We set up camp, and settled in for the night. When we had arrived at camp, the temperature was pleasant and in the 60´s. As the sun went down, we watched the thermometer on Anna's alarm clock drop steadily until it hit a chilly 24 degrees in the middle of the night. The following day we woke to frost on the tent. It was extremely difficult to get out of our sleeping bags and face getting dressed in the cold.
That day we explored the trail up to a large waterfall about a three and a half hours away. The trail was less rugged than the previous excursion and was through mostly forested land. Shortly after we started walking, we found large cat prints on the trail and realized that this was an area frequented by Pumas. I had made a mistake on the first hike. The track by our tent had clearly been a fox. This track was more rounded, had no claws, and was much bigger. We found the tracks of two different cats, one larger than the other, and we thought it might be an adult puma with a adolescent cub trailing along. There is also a small bobcat sized animal in the area known as a geofrey's cat which may have left the small tracks. The tracks followed the trail for several miles, but we never saw any cats. It's probably for the better.
After reaching the falls, we had lunch and admired the rainbow coming off the spray before heading back. We made it back to camp at around 5 pm, and the horses were waiting for us. We hung out with them for a while, and made life long friends when we fed them a couple of apples from our packs, before turning in. The next morning, we made our way back down to the ranger station, and checked out the lake, and the glacier behind it in the distance, before being picked up by the guide again for the ride back to the hotel.
(The local beer at the hotel. This one also has calafate berries in it, which are a sweet regional berry. It tastes like regular ale with a hint of sweetness, similar to a blackberry ale.)
We only had one more day before we left, so we went out for another horse ride. This one was a little more spirited than the last, and we both had hyper horses. We had a good ride, and talked to the guide about everything from the local wildlife, to the local wines and whiskies. Thankfully, I got a little more used to galloping, because at the end of the ride, the horses really wanted to get back to the stable and they all, including the guide's horse, took off at a dead run for home. That is the fastest I had ever been on a horse and, somehow, I didn't fall off.
We left the next day. The twelve days we spent in the park was the longest we had spent in one place on the entire trip, and it was nice to be able to relax and just be outside for a while. We were on our own pace there, and were able to appreciate the beauty of the place we were in.
We have one down day in Buenos Aires, and then it's off to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
A week there and then we go home! This has been an amazing trip, and we can't wait to see what the Galapagos has in store for us, but after nearly five months of traveling I think we are both beginning to get a little homesick. One more adventure to go. - Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment