The mountains!!

So we have now been in Esquel for 4 days. We took the famous Trochita, and were disappointed by the Nahuel Pan. They weren't really Indians, they were more like people who knew this train would arrive in a town and they could sell us things claiming to be Indians. We did buy stuff though! The train ride was nice, and the sights were amazing. Afterwards, we ate the patagonian tradition of cordero, lamb, and watched a show of Techuelche music.
Better than the train was the horse back riding that we did on Monday. It was two hours through the mountains. The weather was brisk, but we were just us with the tour guide, and had a wonderful time. Kaylan was so relaxed that she fell asleep. We asked our guides the ages of our horses, and mine was 33, Facundo's was 29, and the tour guides was 4. We wondered at times if the horses were going to live! Yesterday we just walked around doing not much of anything.
The only drama we have had as of yet, was Harrison falling from the second level of a three level bunk bed! Facundo slept with him to make sure he didn't fall, and he fell anyhow! In the middle of the night Facundo rushed him to the hospital, where a surgeon gave him two stitches under his chin. We now have to return to the hospital daily to get them cleaned! He hates getting them touched, but loves having to not take a bath!
Facundo has admitted it isn't as magical as he had hoped, so the trip won't be the ever desired 2 months, but we haven't gotten north yet to see how long we want to take! We are enjoying ourselves though. Tomorrow we are renting a car and driving through the national park to see the second oldest tree on earth, and some beautiful lakes. So far it hasn't rained even once, although there was an earthquake that we didn¡t feel! Hopefully the weather keeps holding out! The days have all been glorious!

The final day that we spent in Esquel was renting a car and driving through the national park. It was gorgeous! The lakes were crystal clear, with greens and blues. They were amazing, impecable, incredible! We had a view of the glacier, and met a 300 year old tree, but couldn't make the 5 hour hike out to the second oldest tree in the world, and didn't want to pay the $85 pesos per person to take the boat. We didn't need it anyhow, the sights we saw were incredible. We took a few of the small hikes to see some waterfalls, and sat next to one of the lakes to enjoy our lunch. Harrison once again wanted to dive right in, regardless of how absolutely frigid the water was. He managed to get his pants soaked, but didn't mind the cold weather at all. Kaylan was a good girl as always and got her feet wet, but not her clothes. She did for some reason though, decide to kind of wash her hair in the water! They are really funny. This part of the trip with the hiking in nature, they have seemed to enjoy the most. Running around, and just being free seems to be their favorite things to do these days!

Tomorrow, Las Grutas!

So the train was a LONG ride! The sights were limited to a few bushes, and cows. We all slept on and off between the bumps, and ate, well, we should have brought some food with us. By the time we arrived, we had eaten approximately 12 ham and cheese sandwiches between us! Not realizing that the selections would not change, we should have eaten in the comedor for dinner Friday night, where there was at least two choices!

We arrived in Carmen de Patagones, and met up with all the other backpackers! The group included a woman from Russia who was travelling to Chile. We all began walking to what we thought was a camp site, and then learned that that camp site is never open, so we kept walking. We came across a beautiful river that reminded us of the Potomac in DC. A huge bridge spanned the river, and there were people riding bikes, and hiking along one side, and having picnics in front of the city front on the other side. This bridge connects Carmen de Patagones to Viedma, so we crossed in order to get to the camp site. We quickly arrived, went to get food, and settled in. We made a stew with some meat, and sausage, carrots, potatoes, and onions. It turned out much better than we had expected!

We woke up to a brisk morning, but the inside of our tent was very warm! We had no idea it had gotten so cold outside! This morning, walked the 15 blocks to the bus station and purchased tickets for tomorrows adventure to Las Grutas. The bridge here and the river seem to be the only attractions here in Viedma, so we are in a rush to leave!

Last day of preparations

So as you can see our bags are packed! There are a few empty pockets for treasures we may find on the way, but they are heavy!!! At this point, I am almost hoping that it is cold so that we can utilize all our cold weather gear (the weather in Viedma is looking beautiful, and not nearly as cold as we had feared!). If not, we will be having a flea market on the side of a road that heads more south!

Facundo has gone to get a few last items, and then we are off! One of the items that he has decided to get was a cooking stove. We simply can't figure out a good way to keep our tin cans without cutting something in our packs! So much for our handy dandy inexpensive stove!

The kids can't wait! Harrison says that he slept so much last night so he won't be tired on the trip! I wish!! Kaylan is of course, trying to figure out how to convince us that she needs every book, toy, stuffed animal, crayon, colored pencil, carrying case, hair tie that she owns in order to make it on this trip!

For them, we have packed our family favorite card game, Old Maid, along with a chapter book, music, and paper and crayons. Hopefully that will keep them occupied for a little while; there is always sleeping too!

Our first leg of the trip is a 21 hour train trip to Carmen de Patagones. The train stops in every town that it passes, which we will use the stops to get some food. Then, the plan is to see Carmen de Patagones until Monday, and then off to Puerto Madryn. We are hoping to still catch sight of some whales and penguins there!

Keep your fingers crossed for us!