I woke up this morning feeling a little sad. It was time to make our way back to La Cumbrecita, which meant our hiking adventure was coming to an end. We ate our 2nd last packet of noodles and the left over bread from yesterday. The one thing I was not going to miss was the noodles! We saved all the Broccoli and white sauce for last. They were not very tasty. The two minute noodles helped us a great deal.
We were eating our breakfast in peace and quiet. There are times when words are not necessary and this was one of those moments.It didn’t take us long to see a group playing on the tycoon percussion. It’s been a while since I have seen that.
We packed up the camp and started to make our way out of Villa Alpina. We got directions from locals but again it was very vague – “Yes there is a road”, “no it is not marked”, “look for a wooden gate” etc.
We did not want to take the same road back so we decided to give it a try.
I always get terrible cramps in my legs the first kilometre. From there on I am fine. Today was no different. Luckily we stopped at an Indian Heritage Site just outside Villa Alpina. There was an old Indian rock that they have used for shade and cooking and a small house. People obviously maintain it and enjoyed a couple of minutes there thinking to myself how wonderful it must have been to have lived there many, many years ago. Today descents of the original Indian People in Argentina are not even 1%. I am glad this is a heritage site. It is important and played a big part in the history of Argentina.
Everywhere we walked we could see old Indian ruins.
We found the first gate without problems, finding the second one was not so easy. We eventually decided to climb over this gate, not sure if this is the one they were telling us about. We could see a hiking trail and started to follow it. Then suddenly it disappeared. We were walking up a big mountain to see if we could spot the trail from the top. Suddenly 4 or 5 trails appeared in front of us. We decided to follow the path closest to the mountains.
It was a great hike, winding through the fields and mountains. I love nature, the sound of the wind and the smell of the trees. I feel sorry for people in poluted and overcrowded cities. Nothing is false about nature, what you see is what you get. I felt a little disappointed that we did not manage to climb to the top of Champaqui, but I realized there is more to this hike than just climbing to the top of a mountain.
I have enriched my soul and that is more important.
We met a lot of cows again! We must have been very interesting to them because they stopped eating to look at us. By this time I was also dying for a nice piece of steak and started to admire the meat on these cows! With all respect to vegetarians, I love my meat!
Andrey wanted to camp in the same spot where we have slept the 2nd night of our hike. We couldn’t find the place again but we found something else. A place with a very nice “swimming pool”! By this time I was so hot and sweaty and challenged Andrey to jump with me in the water. I don’t like cold water but I decided to jump anyway.Andrey jumped first and when I saw his face and heard him shouting, I backed down! The water was freezing cold! I started to laugh because I knew I was not going to jump! Andrey told me next time I go first..LOL!
I am a real disaster on 2 legs and tonight was no different. Andrey made a very nice fire and I saw the perfect photo opportunity! I got up to fetch my camera and in 1 step I kicked over the boiling water and almost killed the fire! Andrey was laughing so much, he knew it could only be me doing something like that.
Tomorrow is the last hike to La Cumbrecita and then we will be taking the bus back home.
