semana santa!

[Yes. This is the VERY delayed post about what I did over my Easter break. It has been written and sitting in my drafts for a while, but suffice it to say that I have zero patience for uploading photos. Many apologies.]

One of the benefits to studying in a Catholic country is that I actually had an Easter break! With one full week free of classes and obligations, I got to do some traveling; some friends and I headed down to northern Patagonia.


Buses, Round One

The trip down involved two bus trips totaling 18 hours, with a change-over in Neuquén. Luckily I had a friend with me, and on the first leg of the trip one of the movies they showed was "The Shawshank Redemption" (subtitled, because there are international laws prohibiting anyone from dubbing Morgan Freeman's voice). However, due to dozing off, inaccurate time estimations, ill-marked bus stations, and general confusion, we got off a stop too early. We casually asked one of the poor souls stuck working in the bus station during the ungodly hours of the morning where in the terminal we could catch our next bus, to which he kindly, and not at all condescendingly, replied, "That bus leaves from Neuquén, not here." At this point, we sprinted to the wrong bus, got off the bus, got on that bus again, got off once more, and then finally found the bus we were supposed to still be on just before it pulled away. And then, 20 minutes later we finally found ourselves in the Neuquén bus terminal, where we watched the sunrise and awaited the next 6-hour leg of our trip.

San Martín de Los Andes

On the afternoon of Good Friday, we arrived in San Martín, the first stop of our Patagonian journey. We met up with the rest of our group, and there was much rejoicing. However, they had already been there for a day, so we temporarily parted ways: they went to set up camp, and we checked out the town and settled in to our hostel.

The next day we met up again and headed off to find a campsite along the lake. The walk along the road was scenic, which probably was why we took so long -- we couldn't help stopping for photo breaks!

When we did find a campsite, rainclouds started to close in. We managed to fit in a quick lunch before the downpour started, shutting us in tents for a few hours of bonding. And when the storm let up and we emerged...

A double rainbow above the lake! Who could ask for more than that?

That night we went on a little adventure to explore the area around our campsite and somehow managed to pick up a canine companion. This was fine except for the fact that he apparently had a death wish; he would cross the road and freeze in the middle of the lane when a car came. He had a few close calls that scared the bejeezus out of us! Despite our attempts to return him to where we found him, he kept following us back to our campsite. He sat around the fire with us, guarded our tents, and then returned to town with us, where he met a friend and finally let us go on our way.

Clarification

Now, some of you may know that the original plan for this trip was to bike along La Ruta de Los Siete Lagos. However, the rental store we chose (cause it had sister stores at each end) that, just for the record, INSISTED we wouldn't need to make reservations, only had 2 panniers left. That was not going to work for 8 of us.

And so, following the advice of our program advisor, we decided to "go with the flow" and adapt to a new plan. We stayed that extra night camping in San Martín and the following morning took a bus trip along the lakes instead.


Villa La Angostura

The bus trip dropped us off on Easter Sunday in Villa La Angostura, where we stayed for the majority of our trip. After checking in to a hostel, we spent some time checking out the town and relaxing. We cooked up some chicken stir-fry for dinner, got to know some porteños who were also staying there, and overall had a good time. As a side note, I also finally got around to buying a pack of cards and played half a game of Euchre. Still working on getting a group of four to sit down and commit to learning, but it's going to happen!

The next morning we headed to El Bosque de los Arrayanes, a forest which is the last place where arrayanes trees grow naturally. These are by far the coolest trees I've ever seen (pun intended); they have orange bark and are cold to the touch.

At the end of the trail we came to Nahuel Huapi Lake. With the outcropping of rock jutting into the unbelievably blue lake, the mountains in the distance, the crisp breeze and the fresh Patagonian air... I swear, all I could think while I was there was that places like this don't exist in real life.

That night some other people from our program were stopping in Villa La Angostura on their own journey from Bariloche to San Martín, so we had a nice reunion. The next morning they, along with about half our group, went on their way. The rest of us got some more hiking in -- I headed up to see some the nearby cascada and then spent the afternoon taking a much needed nap.

 

This is the top of the waterfall, taken from only a few yards away...

...and here is the cascada itself, taken from the trail.

Fun Fact: Cascada is the word for a singular waterfall, as seen here, but cataratas is used where there are multiple falls together, such as Niagara Falls or las Cataratas de Iguazú.

San Carlos de Bariloche

The next morning we packed up and left our hostel to head to Bariloche. Unfortunately we didn't stay long; we were mainly there because it's the only place you can get a direct bus back to Mendoza. However, the two hours we were in town was enough to check out the gorgeous chocolate masterpieces (and buy some sweets for ourselves).

Now THAT is what I call an Easter egg!

Bus Rides, Round Two

There's not much to say about the bus ride home, except that it was long and they showed the worst possible movie selections available to them. I mean, seriously, when you have "The Avengers" and "The Hunger Games" but instead play "Miami Magma", you're doing something wrong.

The ride did offer us some breathtaking farewell views of the lakes, complete with picturesque cloud reflections.

And that, was my Semana Santa! Next up, an overview of the weekend I spent in Chile!