Tales From the Chicken Bus

Day 184

Woke up this morning from one of the best sleeps I have had travelling. Our hostel is just outside the centre of Bariloche and its a quiet place. Add to that the cool night time temperatures here and it made for a fabulous sleep. The hostel is run by a young Argentine who took it over only 6 months ago, so far he was doing a great job. It felt like we were staying with friends.

Jordana and I walked into the large spotless kitchen for breakfast. Its not going to take much longer to be sick of media lunas here in Argentina, we need to start making our own breakfast. I mean isn’t breakfast supposed to be the healthy meal to start the day? I can’t eat desert for breakfast much longer.

After breakfast we packed a day pack and hopped on the #20 bus in the centre of town. We were taken 25km along the lake to Puerto Panuelo or as its more commonly known Llao Llao after the famous hotel located here. Wondering how to pronounce that? Something like shao shao, I’m still trying to figure it out but its a fun one to keep repeating. Also here was the most incredible setting for a golf course I have ever seen. Now I’m just trying to talk Jordana into letting me play here. Anyway the point of coming here, a starting spot for some day walks through the woods. After some wandering we eventually found the trail head and began our walk that cut through some towering trees and a surprising bamboo undergrowth. Bamboo actually is native here and thrives in the cold temperatures. Every so often on our left we caught a glimpse of Lago Moreno.

Then came the spot, about 3km into the walk a clearing with a path leading down to the lake. We followed it and eventually came to a rocky spot on the lakes shore. The water was still as glass and in front of us two huge mountains covered in snow reflected perfectly in the water. As if we were looking at a mirror image. How do I describe this place? No amount of superlatives could do it justice, I struggled to think of another natural sight that has impressed me more. We continued on and looped back to walk back to Puerto Panuleo. Every so often through the trees we would spot another incredible spiky peak. There were still a spots of snow in the shade so we tried to have a snow ball fight, but mostly it was ice balls.

Back in Puerto Panuleo we waited for the bus back into Bariloche. After no more than 5 minutes we were on our way. As we arrived back in town and got our first real glimpse at an afternoon in Bariloche. Its a busy town, mainly filled with Argentine tourists and most of them are students. For a town its size there are plenty of good restaurants and bars due to the large ski resorts above town. It appeared many people preferred to stay in town instead of on the mountain. All this gives Bariloche a lively feel and with its lakeside setting its a very easy place to hang out in for a few days.

Day 113

One of the most enjoyable things about a long term trip is you can stay somewhere just about as long as you want. The Plantation House here in Salento is one of those places you think you may spend 2 nights and next thing you know its 4 or 5 or a month. Tim the owner really has a great thing going here. The house is full of character and the views are incredible. There is free coffee, a kitchen you can use, very cheap beer and some great hammocks to chill out on. All this is made even more enjoyable since Tim is an interesting guy and just loves to chat. Also with the setup of the house its a great way to meet fellow travellers. In the evenings everyone sits around a big table talking travel, politics a and whatever else. All while enjoying the .75 cent beer. What I’m trying to say is if you are ever in Salento, which you should be, then make sure you stay at Plantation House. Its one of the more special places we have found on our travels.

Right, so we have actually done more here than eat trout, drink beer and laze around. We spent yesterday on a pleasant hike wandering the beautiful countryside and visited a working coffee plantation. Most of the walk followed a dirt trail that looks like its sometimes used as a road. The hiking was fairly simple with a few steep sections. At the plantation we were taken around on a quick tour of the coffee plants and the process of harvesting the beans. Since we already did a very informative tour in English (this was in Spanish) in Guatemala we knew the basics. The interesting thing about this plantation is that it is organic. It was good to see the way everything is recycled, so that made it slightly different than Guatemala. To be honest though the free cup of coffee at the end wasn’t that great. Colombians don’t make there coffee strong, so often good coffee just doesn’t taste as good as it should.

We continued the hike down a steep hillside through the coffee plants to a wide river. From here we followed the valley out to the main road where instead of catching a bus we walked the steep 1 hour climb back into town. Finishing in the main square for some fabulous fried trout with patacones. Patacones are plantains pressed flat to a thin pancake then deep fried. They are massive and cover the entire plate, while the trout sits on top. Its damn good, I like to call it the Colombian version of fish and chips.

Today we were off again on a longer hike. Although I’ll tell ya its tough to leave the comforts of Plantation House but the surrounding countryside offers some great hikes in the Andes and today we were off to walk one of the best. We joined up with a German couple from the hostel to split the cost of a jeep to drive us the 8 km to the trail head of the Cocora valley. The hike began in the beautifully lush green valley as we followed a small river. On either side of us towered green mountains covered with pine trees. Further up the valley we climbed higher and entered the dense cover of the cloud forest. The scenery was stunning, thick green forest with a river falling down the mountainside. About halfway through the hike we came to the Acaime Nature Reserve. A paticuarly steep section were we climbed to 2770 meters. We emerged at a clearing where a man and his wife have a sort of rest stop going. Its a pretty odd spot located way up here on a mountainside but it is gorgeous. The temperature was noticeably cooler and clouds swirled all around us. The friendly couple offered us the odd combination of hot chocolate and cheese. The man has setup hummingbird feeders throughout the area that attract a large number of unique hummingbirds. It was a great stop to refuel, although I wanted to get going again as it was really chilly up there.

We came to a beautiful viewpoint just down about 1km after our break, even with visibility reduced by the clouds it was a good spot. We finished the trail descending into the Cocora valley with its surreal landscape of giant wax palms. Not only are the wax palms the national tree of Colombia but one of the tallest in the world. The valley was so green it almost looked as if someone had painted it, there wasn’t much tree cover except for the wax palms. Wax palms grow to heights of 60 meters, with the huge palms and silent green landscape it made for one of the most beautiful spots I have seen on the trip. As we completed the hike back at the road we discovered we had just missed a jeep back to town by a few minutes and the next one would not be for 2 hours. So we decided to walk the 8 km back into Salento.

The road has very little traffic so it made for a great walk in the incredible green landscape. Its what I imagine Ireland to look like, only with the tall peaks of the Andes surrounding us. We only passed a few boys on horseback the whole walk back and two beautiful mountain billed toucans. Other than that the only other people we saw were the odd solider just sitting against a tree with his weapon, just waiting and watching. A bit disconcerning actually. This region is now supposed to be free from the FARC rebels but obviously the army still sees some threat. On the other hand I’m starting to get the sense that the huge military presence here in Colombia is a sort of scare tactic for the locals. Its more evident in the rural countryside. Its almost as if a constant and very visible military presence in every town will make anyone think twice about joining any kind of anti-government movement.

We finally reached Salento just before night fall with thunder rumbling in the distance. Jordana and I made straight for the town centre for yet another tasty trout dinner. I wonder when someone gets sick of the same meal everyday no matter how good it is. We returned to Plantation House and after much needed showers sat in the lounge area with all the other travellers as rain fell outside. We all chatted about travel and exchanged tips on places we had been and received information on places we were headed next. With all the talk of travel, politics and which countries have the best beer one thing everyone around the table agreed upon was that Colombia was at the top of their list of most enjoyable countries. So far its at the top of ours as well.

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