Some mountain air

Since I didn´t feel that 60km on a bike was quite enough activity, the next day I opted for a 14km hike up to a glaciar. Checked out of the hostel bright and early, boarded the bus, and enjoyed the mountain views and terrifying gravel road for about 2 hours.

The hike started from an outpost in the middle of Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi called Pampa Linda. I met a nice American couple from Boston and we set out together, followed by a random, stray dog. The trail was fairly flat for the first hour, and despite a pretty steep ascent to the treeline, it looked and felt pretty much like any other hike. Wealthy tourists no doubt pay for horse transportation to the top, as the trail of horse crap was pretty clear. Once above the trees, it became much more evident that we were in the Andes. Peaks, glaciars, forested valleys stretched as far as the eye could see. We picked our way up through black volcanic rock (very akin to Mordor) and enjoyed the stunning views of waterfalls from the glaciar.

We arrived at our destination, Refugio Otto Meiling, a small, metal-plated shack at the edge of the glaciar, 2050m above the sea. It wasn´t much to look at from the outside, it looked like some sort of Siberian outpost gone wrong. Stepping inside we were greeted by a deluxe kitchen, the sounds of a deluxe music system, and heat from a wood stove. As if that wasn´t enough, as the mountain guide and 3 gorgeous girls who worked there showed us their flat-screen computer, the telephone rang. Do you remember watching that part of Lord of Rings where these people come out of huts on the top of these mountains to light the beacons, and thinking that that was pretty ficticious? No, that´s basically what these people are. You should have seen the wine collection!

So first thing was first, I went and filled a water bottle right from the glaciar. Pure. Up close, the glaciar was a sight to behold. An immense field of light blue snow, punctured with fissures and crevices dropping down without end. Every once and while there´s a groaning, prolonged thunder as thousands of years of snow shifts. They cautioned not to go on the glaciar. I admit I did step on a bit of snow.

While waiting at the refugio I opted to challenge another Argentinian girl to chess, the only game on hand. There was a language gap, but halfway through the game she was talking to her friend and I heard the word feo. Now that means ugly in Spanish, so I´m pretty sure she was calling me ugly. I killed her at chess and felt a lot better.

Dinner was one of the most incredible so far. They brought out the wine and the candlelight, and then plates of steak, veggies, and fancy garnish. And in the little windswept shelter, as one of the fiercest sunsets I´ve ever witnessed played out through the windows, life was pretty good.

My tent seemed to hold up pretty well in the weather. But I was jolted awake at 2am by a wind that I thought would rip the thing apart. I opened the zipper and looked out: the clouds had parted, leaving behind a brilliant sky of millions of stars. The Milky Way cut across the sky like a giant fluorescent tube, ending behind Mount Tronador and lighting up the glaciar. I´ll never forget that sky.

Rinse and repeat. The next day we set off down the mountain back to base, now under a perfect blue sky that made every vista different than the day before. Celebratory Heineken while waiting for the bus, getting home just in time for another huge steak. It doesn´t get much better than this.