Tunuyán to El Bolsón

Alright, it´s been a bit since our last post, so there´s lots to catch up on. First off, we´re back on the road again and team Ka-meal-an is in full force. It was tough getting out of Tunuyán: we´d made such great friends, it was a healthy, productive space to learn and work, and Rowan came down with a debilitating throat infection that required antibiotics, 1000´s of miligrams of IBprofins, and 20 hours of sleep/day. However, we we´re able to regroup and left town for San Martin de los Andes, a cozy little resort town in the Lakes District of northern Patagonia.

As the story goes, several months back in Buenos Aires, Amelia had met a retired American couple who had recently relocated to Bs As. They we´re extremely cool and after getting to know eachother better, the Jubilados (retired folks) invited the three of us to meet them in San Martin and spend christmas with their family. Extremely generous offer, and one that three dirty backpackers weren´t about to turn down. We made it into town mid-afternoon on the 24th. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted by Kurt and Linda Fernandez and their two children Joey and Belén. Their whole family was very international and interesting, each individual leading unique lifestyles. Kurt and Linda have spent a good deal of time in latin america, traveling and living. Belén traveled in Lebenon and is now trying to get a book of her travels published. Joey lives in Fort Worth, Texas and is doing GIS work for a natural gas company. They all had great stories and we spent much of the next few days talking about the world and our experiences.

The cabaña we stayed in was cozy and comfortable. There was a creek that ran through the backyard and a nice sized lawn to relax and enjoy asados. The owner of the cabaña, Hector would take out his fly rod most evenings and catch brown and rainbow trout with every cast. It was a tranquil little slice of paradise. On the boarder of town there is a vast lake, Lago Lareco, with trails that wander all around. It is slightly reminisant of Arcata´s community forest, except no redwoods.

Besides the family environment and the eating, drinking, and happiness, our christmas here in Patagonia was polar opposite to any other we´ve every celebrated. It was 90 degrees and we spent the day lounging around the riverfront BBQ. No carols, no tree, no overt consumerism (although the Fernandez´s did get us some amazing chocolates, thanks guys!). It really was a wonderful day.

The Fernandez´s left town on the morning of the 26th, but before heading out, Joey was kind enough to drive us 3 miles out of town to Playa Catritire. There we set up camp and spent the next few days hiking around the lake, relaxing and readjusting to living out of our backpacks. It was such a good feeling to start cooking our meals with the camping stove again. Everything just tastes so good. On the afternoon of our second day at the lake we decided to hike up one of the nearby mountains. We got fairly high above the lake and decided to eat lunch there under a light rain. When we got back down, we stopped off at a hidden, grassy spot along a creek and did our daily workout. At that point, the sun came out and there wasn´t another spot on earth we´d rather be.

Yesterday we packed up our belongings and hiked the 3 miles back to San Martin de los Andes. By 10:30 am we were on a bus and heading south to El Bolsón. We arrived in early evening and camped at a hostel Katie and Amelia knew from there last time around (about a month ago). We went to their favorite dinner spot, only to find a small rock in the pizza (which sounds horrible, but at first we thought it was a tooth... ummmmm). Any ways, we´re here through new years, enjoying the buena onda and the relaxed pace of life. After El Bolsón we leave the Lakes District and enter the true Patagonia. ¡Que emocionada!