Hiking en la Montañe

Around 6pm we were able to venture out of the house again. The entire country of Argentina is all on the same time, despite the fact that the country is well beyond the standard width of two time zones. On top of that, the entire country is an hour ahead of what it should be anyway because the government figured that with the energy crisis going on here, it would make more sense for the country to be on their own version of "daylight savings". As a result, the western cities of Argentina (Mendoza and San Rafael included) have sunlight until sometime around 10:30 or 11. The also means that when we went out at 6pm, the day was really like it would be at 4pm anywhere else in the world.

Anyway... Marc and I decided we wanted to go on a hike. Tamara, Cecilia and Eduardo wussed out, so it ended up being just the two of us. We talked to one of the guys that worked at the club and asked if knew the mountains at all, and if he's like to take us on a walk. One of the guys, Marcello, decided to do us the honors.

We took a boat across the lake to a little inlet and jumped out at the bottom of a random mountain. When I say random, I mean random. In all my experiences with hikes in the mountain, there was usually some sort of marked trail or path or something to follow in order to not get lost. This was nothing like that. A trail? What's that? It was seriously completely untouched earth. We had to hack our way through the brush and over the rocks. At points we would climb huge boulders, and at other times we had to crawl under the thick bushes on our hands and knees. Daddy, you would have been so proud. Your little dotta was so tough. Marc kept saying he was so glad Tamara didn't come because he was sure she would have thrown a hissy fit.

Anyway... there's more to what made this hike a particularly Argentine experience. About 15 minutes into our hike, Marcello sat down on a big rock, took out a blunt, and lit up. Now Marcello didn't speak a word of English but the language barrier wasn't an issue. After taking a few hits, he extends the joint out to us and says "Bob Marley?" I cracked up. Where in the States would an employee of a club that's acting as a tour guide decide to get high in front of his clients?

Nevertheless... our journey continued. 15 minutes later we came across a herd... yes a HERD of mountain goats. They were amazing. The were bleating away, and there were little kiddos and mommies and daddies. They were grazing away on the side of the mountain, totally chilling. I took a video of them (currently available on facebook), and will try to figure out a way to post it on a public site so you can all see them.

Another 20 minutes later, we came across a crazy-as-can-be llama. It was insane. It keep screaming at something... maybe it was us, but I couldn't tell... in a way I had never heard anything scream before. It sounded almost hyena-like. I dunno... it was weird.

We hiked for a bit longer and came onto a clearing where the mountain leveled out for a while, and there were actual trees growing. Oh yes - the mountains here are almost entirely made of rock. The climate here is so dry and hot that the northeastern mountains covered in trees and pine needles and such simply don't exist. The earth is much more raw. At times, it's as if the tectonic plates created the mountains 20 years ago, because only a few bushes as high as my waist have managed to take root.

Anyway... this clearing was awesome, so we hung out in it for a while. At this point there was also the one and only sign of human life that I saw the entire hike - a fire pit with a parrilla and spit... what else, right?... this is Argentina, the land of the asado.

After a little break, we continued on a little further. We kept climbing up and up, but there was always another mountain blocking access to a great view. Then suddenly the earth just dropped out from under us, and we were standing on a mountain that looked out over hundreds of miles of untouched earth that was thousands of feet below us. I was absolutely speechless. The view was due west, and since the sun was in the process of setting, you can imagine what it looked like. I decided that if someone ever decides to propose to me, he has to do it there... on that cliff, over looking the raw earth, at sunset. Unfortunately the photos I took just don't do the view any justice.

Marc and I sat in complete silence for about half an hour, just looking out over the world, watching the sun set behind the farthest peak.