People say that Patagonia is really nice. That it is beautiful and unique and worth a trip in one's life. I can't really blame them for not saying more because it has left me without proper words as well. Mountains, lakes, peaks, snow, trees and chocolates. Thats a start. I sat on the bus as we returned from Mount Tronador and a hike up to its glacier smothered base, smelling stinky, stretching my legs out, and listening to a few classic Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg and Led Zeppelin hits (normal post-hiking music). I realized that I was experiencing mountain nirvana. A state of calm happiness resulting from exercise, fresh air, and expansive views.
We have been in and around Bariloche for 7 days now. Bariloche is in northern Patagonia, also called the Lakes District. Its a semi-Bavarian town full of Argentinian tourists and souvenir shops. You can kayak, ski, hike, rock climb, sail, fish, camp and summit peaks here. I don't enjoy the crowds, so our trips to the mountains have been welcome. Our first expedition (besides the ones to the Club Andino Bariloche for maps and hiking info) was up to Refugio Frey. 
Refugios are quite possibly the best thing ever to happen to the mountain community and I have stayed awake nights trying to figure out why we have none in the USA. They are old stone buildings at the tops of mountains where you can sleep, cook and actually meet other hikers instead of just passing them as you go to set up your tent on your own temporary private property as we do at home. There is hot food to buy, stoves to use, and plenty of room at long tables to chat, play cards, and feel comfortable in the woods, for the price of a youth hostel. We reached Refugio Frey by taking a city bus from the middle of town out to the ski resort Catedral. From there, we took a gondola up for a half hour to the trail head. We tried to get an early start due to the 4 hour hike from this point. There were amazing views from the beginning. Distant Chilean peaks to one side, and Patagonian lakes and islands to the other. We were way above the tree line and I was stuck with a familiar fear as I realized that we would have to traverse steep rocky slopes for miles to get to the refugio.
A hiker with a fear of heights? Thats silly! Yes it is. But when I have to follow a trail that is no more than a 12" bend in a long, steep, dangerous slope, I can´t help my body's reaction. My heart tightens up, my breath gets short, my legs start to shake and my hands start twitching in a creepy rotating fashion, as if I have Parkinson's disease. I have to move in tiny steps, concentrate on breathing, and not look down. Luckily, Melissa was patient with my condition and as time went by, I relaxed a little, and began to realize what I was looking out at. Mountains and lakes as far as the eye could see! It was spectacular. After 2 hours on the rocky slopes, we turned into the mountains and crawled down a rocky slope to a clean, cold alpine lake and our first view of a soaring condor. After a quick dip, we continued down another huge slope to Lake Tonchek and the Refugio. We stayed at the Refugio Frey for one night. I would have liked to stay for three. We watched climbers, swam in the lake and listened to music. It was beautiful and really relaxing. We met a girl from Seattle there who was down to summit Tronodor and rock climb. We swapped thoughts about Belltown and Pioneer Square and felt a little closer to home. There was a really nice guy from Alaska/California in Argentina for the winter before running his kayaking company in Alaska in summer. My favorite guy was Claudio. He was a climber deep down to his bones. He grew up climbing in the area and now lives in Holland working as a ropes guy for an acrobat circus. He was tanned and scratched up and had a lot of good stories to share about climbing and Argentina (he spoke English really well due to his time in Europe). We watched him climb a tower in about 1.5 hours, doing the first 300 feet with no rope. He made fun of Melissa and I and we dished it right back to him. Quite a character. We left the next day in the afternoon and hiked back to city bus and Bariloche. The next day we woke up late, limped around another short hike near town by a lake and bought food for our next mountain destination.
The next hike was up to Tronodor peak. We saw this peak from our previous hike (Melissa stands in front of it wearing a light blue shirt in the first photo). This hike was 4.5 hours up to a peninsula of rock in-between two glaciers at the foot of the peak. There is another Refugio there, Otto Meiling. I have never been so close to glaciers before. You can hear the crack of the ice (tronodor=thunder) and see chunks of ice falling off the edge of the cliffs. There are massive waterfalls coming out from under the ice as the glacier melts. I was quite taken back at the sight of it. I felt so out of place up there with all the snow and wind and condors flying all around. The refugio there was really top notch. Refugio Frey was more like the Fraternity, and Otto Meiling was the sorority. Lovely staff that wash your dishes, plenty of seating and clean facilities. 
There was a mudroom where you left your shoes and packs, and then you walked into this warm, wood room with a fireplace and a huge inviting kitchen where steak tenderloin was cooking for dinner and wine glasses hung over the kitchen island. People were sharing yerba mate, the national drink, and swapping stories. It felt so good to be there. People would go outside and just stare at the glaciers, waiting for a large piece to fall or just to admire the blue colors and deep crevases.
We met a couple more cool people up at this place. Santiago was a guy from Buenos Aires that we ended up hiking up with and joking around with for the rest of the evening. He was on vacation staying at his Grandparent´s house and enjoying the mountains. Another man, Fernando was a little crazy and told up stories about his bicycle travels in Asia and getting stuck in China with no money. There was one man from New York city there too. People bought and drank wine or beer and played cards into the night. They slowly dissappeared to the sleeping loft one by one as sleepiness set in. The upstairs was a large room under the pitch of the roof with matresses in long rows on the floor. It was comfortable and sort of fun, like a big slumber party. I even contemplated doing a long steam roll in my sleeping bag over the 20 people in my row, but decided against it. I wasn´t sure people do the steam roll here or would appreciate learning what it was early in the morning.
I was sad to leave the mountain. It was so amazing to look at. On the way down a few more condors skimmed over our heads and flew some tricks over the valley for us. Those birds are big. Really big, ugly, and amazing to watch soar. We went back to Bariloche and decided to head down to El Bolson, a small city three hours to the south for a couple nights. There was a great market there (with the most amazing homemade yogurt I have ever eaten), and a national music/beer festival. It was a quiet couple of days for us in a town first settled by gringo hippies looking for the perfect setting for a commune and now a jumping off point for tours and hikes.
After El Bolson, we returned to Bariloche for one more night. We called our friend Santiago and were able to go out to his Grandma´s house for Sunday afternoon. The pretty house was on a beautiful lake and had a couple little houses where the grandkids can bring their friends for a fun weekend. An amazing property. It was just like what we might do in the summer. Go to the lake at somebody´s parent´s cabin, eat some food, and hang out with friends. Luckily, his whole family spoke English, so real communication was possible. It was great to be in a home for a day and to feel restful and cared for.
We had an eventful evening too. On our return to town a pack of 10 smelly, scary guys that maybe lived in the forest got on our bus with their drums and crash symbols. They packed all around us and if the stench and crazed laughter wasn´t enough, one guy, who was really drunk, felt free to take a leak right on the bus! He just knelt down by the door and did his thing. Partially funny, partially horrific. Then we ended up in the gringo pub with our friend Santiago and enjoyed some conversation and a Beatles cover band made up of 18 year old Argentineans. It was our first real attempt at staying up late, like everyone else here is so good at.
Today is our last day in Bariloche. I have thoroughly enjoyed the scenery here. It is so similar to Western Washington. I felt like I was in the Olympics, Bellingham, and Leavenworth all at once. I sniffed the Douglas Fir trees, floated in the clean water and layed in the sun on granite boulders in my efforts to soak up a bit of home. I am reminded of how important the mountains are to me. The cities are great, but there is nothing more encouraging to me than a night under the stars, with fresh air and sore legs. We are on to Buenos Aires next. Back to cigarette smoke, crowds and hostels. That said, I am really excited for it. It is supposed to be a great, European city where I can get some Indian food, replace my hiking clothes with trendy threads and catch some good museums and colorful neighborhood markets. Apparently the city lives at night, awake till 8am every morning, littered with tango. Of course, my top priority is to find someone who knows how to make a proper double tall two percent.
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