Hello November!!!!
Before last night, I can't remember the last time I had a good soak in a bath. The temptation of having such a beautiful, big spa bath was too much. So I filled it up, put some nice music on and soaked away the sore back that I seemed to have picked up yesterday, after hauling my luggage off the airport carousel.
This morning I woke up early with my alarm. I have a big day of touring ahead of me, so I quickly get up, get ready, and finalise packing my bags. After the quickest breakfast in history, I head back to my room, grab my bags and make my way down to the foyer to check out.
I wait for a while, until my guide arrives. I watch as he labels my 2 bags, and then leads me to the waiting bus.
As I walk through the doors, I soon realise that it is cold. I know it is Patagonia, so I should have expected it. It was definitely sub-10 degrees, and I soon realised that I don't really have the right wardrobe for these temperatures. With my 3/4 pants on, I just hope that the sun will make an appearance later on, making me a genius, rather than the naive traveller I am. Either way, long pants or 3/4 pants I am going to be cold anyway!!
We drive around town, and pick up other passengers. All heading on the same trip as I. It actually takes a little while, as everyone's bags need to be labelled and stacked under the bus. Everyone also needed to check that they have the right paperwork as well. At some point today we head across the Chilean and Argentinian border, so everyone as a minimum needs their passport. Some of us other lucky ones, also need proof of having paid our $100 reciprocity fee!!! At least I am getting my money's worth out of the Argentinian fee!! I will also get the same satisfaction, when I head back to Chile, again knowing that I am getting my money's worth out of the Chilean one as well!!
Our first stop was about 45 mins after we set off, at a place called Vicente Perez National Park. It was here that we disembarked the bus, and walked through the national park. As we walked along the path, we continually came across a beautiful green river, that cascaded over the volcanic rocks, creating a countless number of waterfalls. The extinct, snow capped volcanos, made the most perfect backdrop for these beautiful waterfalls.
After exploring the pathway that took us around these falls, we made our way back to the bus, and were driven the 10 mins down the road to the port. It was here that we embarked our first catamaran for the day.
The boat took us sailing across Todos Los Santos Lake. We sailed over the calm waters, flanked by the most impressive snow capped mountains and volcanos, for almost 2hrs. It was during this trip that I started speaking to my new Irish friend, Aedín. Whilst I am nearing the end of my 4 month journey, Aedín is just commencing hers, also looking down the barrel of a solo trip through South America. Knowing what she is about to go through, I feel excited for the journey that she is about to undertake. Although, as I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing my family and friends, I'm glad that it is her starting that journey, not me!! But again, like many people I have met along this journey, I know that we will remain friends!!
The journey goes quite quickly, occasionally we got up, walked around the outside deck, taking in the views of the emerald green lake, and the countless number of snow capped volcanos and mountains.
We dock at Peulla pier, and instead of catching the shuttle bus to the one and only hotel, Aedín and I decide to make the short 1km walk there.
Our choices for lunch where quite limited. It was either, do you want to eat or not? Peulla doesn't have any restaurants, supermarkets or shops, the only thing here was a hotel. So we opted to eat, and soon found a table at the hotel restaurant.
We had a couple of hours to kill, so we slowly ate lunch, and chatted.
At the designated time, we all meet in the foyer of the hotel, where we jumped on another bus. We drove a couple of minutes down the road, where we were stamped out of Chile by immigration, and then continued on our couple hour bus ride to Puerto Frias.
It was on this bus ride, along the bumpy, unmade roads through the Andes, that the temperature plummeted, and I actually had to double take when I saw the white snow flakes falling from the sky. The ground was blanketed with snow as well, and we were lucky enough to make a stop so that we could walk around and enjoy it. It was here that I made a couple of realisations, firstly that my gamble on 3/4 pants was not genius, rather as I felt the bitter cold it was pure stupidity, and secondly, that converse sneakers will never be a suitable substitute for snow shoes, as my toes soon became icicles!!
We soon arrived at Puerto Frias port, and it was here that we made our way to the Argentinian immigration hut.
We all passed through immigration, and then had to line up, whilst the power hungry immigration/customs man decided to open and search all of our bags, not just a select few.
We then made our way on to the next boat, and sailed the short 20mins to our next port of call.
I decided that I would again head up to the top deck, and admire the views and take some photos. There was a magical light snow falling, and we were very lucky to see a condor soaring high up in the sky!! But after a short time out in the elements, with my ski jacket firmly packed at the bottom of my case, again I felt my toes and fingers freezing, so I thought it best that I head back down to the warmly heated boat cabin to try and thaw out.
We arrived at out next port, and again disemarked the boat, and headed to another waiting bus. We were driven through snow, for only about 10mins, until again we arrived at yet another port, Puerto Blest
As we walked our way from the bus to the boat, the snow began to fall with a little more fury.... it was a blizzard. Although this snow was hard, and kinda hurt when it hit. I soon made the realisation, this isn't snow, this is hail and it was falling hard.
Aedín and I, made our way on to the boat, and found a seat near the window. We watched as the hail/snow/rain fell outside, and we were content just to stay in the warmth of the cabin. Although, with an absence of feet heaters, my feet remained cold and frozen for the entire hour journey.
We tried to warm our cold bones, I with a coffee and Aedín with a hot chocolate, and we listened as the announcement came over the loud speaker that it was too wet and dangerous to walk around on the deck outside..... Yeah, I didn't need much encouragement to avoid the near freezing temperatures out there.
Aedín and I chatted on the boat ride, and occasionally commented on how nice this boat ride would have been on a clear day, and without fogged up windows. However, after almost 12 hours of travelling today, I started to look forward to getting to my hotel room, just so I could warm up my feet.
We arrived in Bariloche, and we boarded our final bus. Thank goodness the driver had ensured that the bus was running, and the heater was on full throttle. I took my seat, and slowly thawed.
We drove the 45 mins into town, and started dropping people off at their respective hotels. One by one I slowly said goodbye to everyone that I had met today. Until finally I was one of the last people on the bus. Eventually we pulled up, and I was told that this was my stop. I grabbed my bags from beneath the bus, and walked the half a block to my hotel.
The foyer seemed nice. I completed my registration and was shown to my room. As I walked in, I realised that it was a pretty basic set up, and was a lot different from the room that I had last night. However, it was only a place to sleep for the night, so I set about heading off to bed!! It had been a long day, and I was ready for it to end!!