Apologies for the delayed blog.
We were distracted last night, so no blog was written. Very pleasantly distracted. We met friends, Lilian and Rob. Originally we had met Lilian and Rob in September 23 at Cool Runnings Campsite beside Lake Malawi, during our Africa trip. We have kept in touch, both of us having decided we would do a South American journey next. We had said we would meet again, should our paths cross.
Change of Plans
Once again we were late getting on the road. My excuse being, I had to fold and put away all the washing that had dried beautifully overnight. The plan had been to meet Lilian and Rob at a camp by the Lanin Volcano and to do a hike on the volcano. Lilian messaged me to say they were held up looking for a functioning Western Union office to get money.
Once again we are in different scenery. Moving east away from the mountains. We are now in an area of rolling hills and rivers.
A guanaco narrowly misses becoming guanaco steak and leaps away from the road.
A new plan was made to meet about half way on route 237 at a camp at Picun Leufu. We checked to see how we were both doing and when we were both about a hour from Picun Leufu, Lilian said they might be a bit late arriving as they are going to make detour to Los Gigantes.
Los Gigantes
A bit later Lilian advised Los Gigantes was good for wild camping and would we like to join them there? At first I had trouble locating Los Gigantes and couldn’t find out anything about it. I thought it must be connected to the the very large dinosaur bones that have been found in the region. Villa El Chocon, the town where we turned off the 237 for Los Gigantes, has a museum highlighting gigantic specimens.
Lilian sent me details of how to locate them and after crossing a large dam and an 8km gravel track, we located them on a headland, overlooking Los Gigantes. They turned out to be several pinnacles protruding above the surface of Reservoir Lequiel Ramos Mexia. This reservoir supports a huge hydro-electric scheme.
It was amazing that just bumping into each other in Malawi we could contrive to bump in to each other again in Argentina. It deserved a celebration, so we partook of a bottle of bubbles and had a very convivial evening.
While we were talking a fox came by and was watching us. Rob threw it (we don’t know if it was male of female), a piece of raw meat. Slowly it came nonchalantly to the meat and ate it, then sat watching us. Obviously hoping for more.
We were located in a a very scenic location, but high on a headland with no shelter. The wind had died down and wasn’t too problematic, until we went to bed when it strengthened causing the Caranex to flap noisily. Not conducive to a good night’s sleep.
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