The winds seemed to moderate some overnight, but picked up again
as we were finishing breakfast. There
was a strong north wind (which at home means frigid temperatures, but here a
north wind brings warm weather, because everything is upside down) which made
it feel quite balmy. Our guide from
yesterday, Marco, arrived on his motor scooter at 9 sharp to take us to the
Laguna Capri Trail. Laguna Capri is a
stop on the trail we had planned to do yesterday. In good weather we could see condors,
woodpeckers, and a good view of Mt. Fitzroy, the tallest in this range, topping
out at 11,200’ (1,000’ higher than Cerro Torre).
 |
| View from our hotel Don Cerros |
Unfortunately, on our last hiking day, our weather luck ran
out. We had but one condor sighting,
which produced one marginal photo,
no woodpeckers to Milt’s dismay, and Mt.
Fitzroy covered in clouds.
One bit of excitement came when we stopped just before Laguna Capri
for a bathroom break. There was a brand
new (1 month old) long drop that looked to be in great shape, so it appeared
more inviting than the trees for the ladies.
Construction, though, left something to be desired, and poor Molly was
nearly trapped.
 |
| Marco saved the day |
The door must have
warped or the hinges damaged by the high winds, but extricating herself from
the outhouse was quite a chore!
The winds continued to increase while we sat on a bluff
overlooking the Laguna Capri. The wind
was so strong that spray from the whitecaps was hitting us even though we were
about 50” above the lake.
The Sun came out for a while and produced an amazing double rainbow.
After a snack for some (still pretty early to eat), lunch for
others, we began the 5 km back to the hotel.
The entire way to the Laguna Capri was uphill, so we were blessed with a
4 km downward return trip. The rain held
off for the most part with only a few drops here and there that seemed to dry
as fast as they fell (you think it may have had something to do with the 60-70
mph hurricane force winds?).
Since most of the shops here take a siesta from 1-4, we decided
to do as the Romans. A little wash, a
little blogging, and a little rest. The
rest part was a bit hard due to the howling of the winds outside. But as the
afternoon wore on, the sun came out and it turned into a pretty nice day. Too bad it was too late for viewing
Fitzroy. Speaking of Fitzroy, you may be
wondering how Fitzroy figured so prominently deep in Argentinian
Patagonia. Turns out that Fitzroy was
the captain of The Beagle, the ship
that carried Darwin took to explore the flora and fauna of this area. Fitzroy
and The Beagle brought back all sorts
of specimens to England, including 4 young indigenous children. The children were taught English and European
customs, then a few years later, returned to their homes. Real nice.
One of the little girls was named Fuegia. The restaurant that we had to leave due to
lack of Argentinian funds bore her name (we had enough time to read the back of
the menu before getting kicked out).
Rhonda, Milt, Jeri and I decided to take our lives in our hands
and walk around El Chalten a bit before
dinner. The winds were amazing. Gusts stopped people in their tracks and the
sand and road grit pummeled our faces until we learned to turn out of the wind
or take cover behind a sign or building.
We were actually given directions to dinner with a caveat (which we did not heed) to take a different route back to reduce exposure to the winds.
Our final dinner in Patagonia was at “Esteppa”, a local
restaurant off the main drag.
Dave and
Molly ordered a magnum of beer, largest
beer bottle I ever saw.
Milt and I had
some local artisanal cervesa negra, which appears to have been bottled by
hand. The food was good, but very rich,
and between the size of the portions and the cream, we were unable to finish
our dinner.
By the time we left the restaurant, the first real rain of our
entire trip was falling, or should I say shooting horizontally due to the
wind. In addition, just to make matters
worse, the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees making the 15-minute walk back
to the hotel very unpleasant. We arrived
cold and soaked.
After changing and warming up, Dave, Molly, Jeri and I began a
Scrabble rematch. The lateness of the
hour prevented us from getting much past the first couple of rounds. We decided to call for a continuance until
tomorrow on our way to Buenos Aires.
On a very sad note, I have to report on the terminal condition of my favorite hiking boots. These Asolos have been on every continent and have prevented countless broken ankles. I thought about leaving them here in Argentina, but feel that I must bring them home for a proper burial. In the back of my mind, I still think I might be able to revive them for short walks if I could just find the right shoe doctor (or maybe just a couple of tubes of Shoe Goo)
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