A Week with Paula

Paula and Trish on Lago Nahuel Huapi

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I knew the lakes district of Argentina would be a place that Paula and I would love. So when my guide-book reading started to include lake district chapters, and I could project a rough time frame for when we’d be there, I fired off an email.

It went something like this: Paul, (I always call her Paul) I know it’s a long way to come and I know you have additional travel plans for after the first of the year but we’ll be in the lakes district in early December and maybe you would want to think about meeting us. I understand if it’s not in the cards but I thought I’d throw it out there.

Her reply was swift. Of course there was her work schedule to consider…..and her other travel plans…..and it would be hard to be away just a couple of weeks before Christmas…..but….she was already looking into flights!

A whole pile of frequent flyer miles later her flights were confirmed and Mike and I pressed south to meet her in Bariloche.


Once we knew she was coming we began a wish-list that included (of course) car parts but also a new camera (the zoom on mine died several countries ago), peanut butter (desperately absent in Argentina), coffee (also absent in all but the big cities), and chiles in adobo sauce (a favorite ingredient that is unknown here).

Paula could write a very funny story about travelling with the car parts, especially the self-adjusting push-rod tubes that are aluminum tubes and therefore could have been construed to be a terrorist tool. Looking nothing like a terrorist but still worried about being delayed for questioning she nervously made her way through customs in Buenos Aires and caught her onward flight to Bariloche.

The plan was for Paula to stay in small inns and/or B&Bs while Mike, Chettie and I camped nearby. That plan quickly morphed into Paula and me staying in hotels and…..you know.

But then the four days before her arrival were absolutely spectacular: sunny, warm, and oh, so picturesque. Mike and I camped alongside lakes and rivers and couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. I began to send emails asking if Paula would consider camping with us. I wanted her to get the full experience of our trip. She hemmed and then hawed but graciously said yes, if there was room and if it wasn’t too cold she was game.


Meanwhile we scouted out a small lakeside hosteria for her first night. We met her at the airport and worked our way to the Hosteria Lago Gutierrez where she and I stayed and sent Mike and Chettie to the campground in the national park on the other side of the lake.

First of all it was hard to believe we were together and in a place so far from either of our homes. And then she began to unpack her suitcase and in addition to the camera, aluminum tubes and other requested car parts, she brought lots of great booty. Books! Music (from Phil)! Crossword Puzzles! Chapstick! I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but it felt like the best Christmas ever. Yes, the peanut butter and coffee made the trip too; the adobo chiles got nixed in favor of the aluminum tubes. (During one email exchange in which she said the peanut butter and coffee were out as they didn’t fit with all the car parts and fleece she was bringing I bribed her saying I’d give her a lilac colored Mountain Hardware fleece I had picked up in Chile but haven’t really been wearing.)

Okay. She’s here. We began to make plans. Hiking was our primary focus. The whole lakes district is rife with trails of varying character and we sketched out our itinerary. We wanted to sample different areas without spending all of our time driving from town to town.

Ever patient Mike went along with all our plans. He shuttled us to this trailhead and picked us up at that trailhead. He waited while we hiked. He waited while we hiked to lakes. He waited while we hiked to miradors. He waited while we hiked to cascadas. He waited while we hiked to more miradors. He waited while we hiked to a refugio had lunch and hiked back down.

And the whole time we hiked we chattered away about everything from childhood memories to future plans. We laughed about silly things we did as kids and shared the sorrow of no longer having Ma and Dad around. We gabbed about what our friends (who are by now well known by each other) are up to. We talked about Phil and John, Thomas and Heather, Liam, Doug and all the other characters in our lives.

As the days went on the weather deteriorated. Paula, a self-admitted weather jinx, wasn’t about to let that bother her. Her Cape Cod vacations have taught her you can’t let bad weather dampen your spirits and it did let her off the hook for camping in the van.  

Evenings, we’d all go out to dinner. Afterwards, bellies full, Paula and I would head off to our warm, cozy hotel room and Mike and Chettie would head off to their camping spot. Somehow, I felt bad for Mike camping in the rain and cold, but I shouldn't have because he and I have spent many a cold night in the van and it's pretty cozy in its own way.....but those down comforters sure were nice.....

Those who know Paula and I know that some of our visits have been clouded by fighting. Hard to explain how it happens but it does and when it does it leaves both of us sad that our precious time together has been marred by strife.

This visit was different. It was one of the best visits we’ve ever had. We didn’t fight and we spent every minute enjoying being together.

Paula on Lago Gutierrez

Parque National Los Arrayanes

Warming up with some hot chocolate after a chilly hike in NP Los Arrayanes

Trish, Mike and Chettie on Nahuel Huapi at the Hotel La Angostura

Paula on Lago Traful

Springtime in the Andes - Villa Traful

Super windy mirador - Lago Traful

Lago Traful

At the cozy Marinas Puerto Traful

Refugio Cajon del Azul - Outside of El Bolson

Sheer relief after the first of 6 obstacles

Crossing one of two suspension bridges the book describes as "hairy". How did I know Paula didn't like heights??

Feigned terror at the thought of crossing the bridges taken after the crossing was completed

Paula on Lago Nahuel Huapi

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Here’s a funny story for those who know our friend John Gill

Late one afternoon we were driving along this desolate dirt road, the main route between Uyuni andTupiza Bolivia. The towns are 200km apart. The wind was blowing so hard it was creating sand drifts across the road not unlike snow during a ground-blizzard.

The sun was sinking low when we came to a place where the sand had completely obliterated the road. No tracks passed through the drift and we could not see the other end of it.

Mike went on a scouting expedition to see if perhaps locals used the nearby dry river bed as a passageway when this happened. No, no tire tracks in the river bed and deep soft sand made up our 100 foot long drift. The wind was howling.

By the time Mike got back I had decided we were not going to attempt crossing the sand drift. No way, no how. I figured we’d head back to Uyuni and try a different route the next day. Ever the optimist and always up for an adventure, Mike suggested we try it.

In the heated debate that followed (after pointing out I did not think our marriage would endure getting stuck in the sand in the dark on this desolate road), I blurted out, ‘Some day when you’re with John Gill you can attempt something like this!” Some sentences convey more than their actual words. We turned around.

Mike suggested instead of abandoning our efforts altogether, we find a place to camp and try again in the morning. A good compromise, we found a place off the side of a side road. We spent the night speculating what would have happened had we made the attempt and what we might find in the morning. Plan A, Plan B, Plan C….

Burly Beast in the desert

View from the slider at our oh-so-remote campsite

Anticlimactically, by the time we got back to the drift the next morning a few vehicles had crossed, packing down the sand and our crossing was a breeze.

Bolivia

We entered Bolivia the same way we left Peru: along the shores of Lago Titicaca. We camped just beyond the town of Copacobana for several nights on a tip from Didi, a Belgian woman we met in Cuzco, and spent our days nosing further north along the Bolivian side of the lake.

The Burly Beast on Lake Titicaca

Looking back on Copacobana from our campsite

Mike Chet and the Beast on Lago Titicaca

I loved the lake and its many faces. So big as to be oceanic, Titicaca shared its many moods with us. Sapphire is the color we saw most often, but we also saw many shades of green and grey. Calm waters and frothy white caps all made themselves known.

Along the chilly southern shore of Titicaca

Sunset over Titicaca

However, I’ll share a sad truth with you. Much of the lake shore, especially near population centers, is choked with basura (trash). Certainly not unique to Lago Titicaca, Peru or Bolivia, but rather, a theme we have seen throughout Latin America, the prevalence of roadside trash is heartbreaking. Of course, plastic is a huge part of the problem.

Basura on the beach at Copacobana

From Copacobana, we headed to the Cordillera Central and spent several days chilling at the Altai Oasis in Sarota. I’d gotten the cold Mike had in Cuzco and this was the perfect place for recovery. The owner’s son loaded a ton of music onto our computer including Bossa N Stones a breathless girl band doing Rolling Stones covers. Totally fun to have new music! Check them out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFQVuJjvn-k

Despues de Sarota, we hit La Paz and loved it. It’s a cool city with a nice vibe. I enjoyed traipsing up one hill and down the other in this unique setting of a city built on a series of super steep hills. The weather was superb.


Overland travelers like us generally stay at the Hotel Oberland. It is in Mallasa, a tony suburb of La Paz and Swiss owner Walter has set aside a small parking area for overlanders. The parking area is basic to be sure but it’s great to have a secure place in a big city.

The hotel itself is lovely with a good restaurant serving food like raclette and fondue that was a salve for the Swiss and German travelers’ home sicknesses. There is a nice pool and a great sauna that allowed me to turn our stay into a spa vacation.

But the Hotel Overland is just one reason travelers come to La Paz. Another is Ernesto Hugg, mechanic extraordinaire. Travelers with all kinds of vehicles make appointments with the esteemed Ernesto while in La Paz and the lot at Hotel Oberland is full of travelers jostling for position based on who has the next appointment with Ernesto.

The scene at Hotel Oberland upon our arrival

There were a few things needing attention on the van, nothing critical but more in the ‘annoying’ category. Mike went and met with Ernesto, but decided if we were going to have parts shipped in he could do the work himself and we wouldn’t have to wait for an appointment. We left for Coroico.

Coroico is a cute little town halfway between the jungle and the mountains and thus has a very pleasant climate. The lower altitude was also welcomed after being up so high since Ecuador, through much of Peru, along Lago Titicaca (3820m) and in La Paz (3660m).

We hooked up with the local Spanish instructor and gave our language skills a boost, we enjoyed life in a small town, I got one of the worst haircuts and color jobs ever, and we just generally relaxed after being in a big city. Ralph and Corinna, two of our favorite people, crossed paths with us here for the third time. They kindly spent time giving us tips and info on travel in Chile and Argentina.

Ralph and Corinna with Tortuga del Mundo ( I love this photo, not only for how lovingly he is looking at her (they were married on their trip in Mendoza Argentina) but also for the smudge of dust on his shirt. Just as I was about to snap the photo he reached over and tried to dust off the 'Tortuga del Mundo' decal on the vehicle door, and then wiped his hand on his shirt in typical boy fashion!)

And then, a small antifreeze leak alerted us that a weird plastic part that distributes engine coolant had cracked. Uh-oh......

Mike went in search of a machinist in Coroico who could fashion a replacement piece, but everyone he asked told him to fix it with Poxalina. Now we had never heard of Poxalina but Mike bought some and we skeptically translated the package directions to mix the two part epoxy and mold it around our broken piece of plastic.

With the Poxalina’d part in place we headed back to La Paz thinking maybe we’d be going to see Ernesto Hugg after all. But upon our return to the Oberland we ran into Didi (the Belgian woman mentioned previously) and her husband, Guy. They had lived in La Paz for 8 years and Guy gave Mike the name of an old friend who owns a large construction manufacturing company, conveniently headquartered just a few kilometers from Hotel Oberland.

And this is how we met Miguel Reznicek at Pretensa. One of the nicest people we’ve ever met, Miguel set one of his employees up making us a new piece. And indeed, a few days later Miguel stopped by Hotel Oberland with a newly made piece. Check out his personal website  http://www.intoku.net/ for a glimpse into his ethos.

We’ll never know how long the Poxalina would have held. We know it held long enough for us to get from Coroico to La Paz. More importantly, we know the new piece is as strong as anything we would have had shipped in and we got to meet some great people along the way.

The scene at the Hotel Oberland upon our return (we are in the far upper left-hand corner).

Mike holed up in our little corner of the parking lot of the Hotel Oberland as we waited for the newly crafted part.

Okay. Titicaca was great. La Paz was great. But, really, the highlight of Bolivia for us was the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. I was skeptical before we arrived. It was hard to imagine what driving and camping on a wide open sea of salt would be like.

The Salar is in the remote south west corner of Bolivia and driving there is part of the experience. Just 10 percent of the roads in Bolivia are paved and some, even major routes, are worse than many 4-wheel drive roads we are familiar with in the Colorado mountains. We traveled kilometer after kilometer of filling-loosening washboard over which the maximum speed is 15-20 miles per hour. This slow approach gave me plenty of time to ponder what was to come.

We spent two nights in the desert and then passed through some really small native villages before reaching the Salar. It was late and the sun was setting as we drove out onto the salt for the first time. We headed for the Isla de Pescado (my nickname-sake island).

Our approach to the Salar de Uyuni

Mike, Chettie and the Beast (and my long shadow) at sunset at Isla Pescado

Pictures say a lot more than words about the salar but the words we've come up with are:

peaceful

unique

otherworldly

eerie

windy

vast

mind-boggling

salty

spectacular

flat

white

empty

crystalline

....And of course, Mike seeking enlightenment



Company’s coming!

We’ve been on the road a little more than a year and we’ve had but one visitor, Mike’s brother Jim, who as you know came on a car parts mission.

Despite many friends expressing a desire to meet us somewhere along the way, life and all its complications makes turning a desire into reality difficult. We understand.

BUT!

Once Mike and I had identified a rough time frame for being in the lakes district of Argentina, my sister Paula (always up for travel and adventure) didn’t waste one minute making her flight arrangements to come and meet us.

Paula and Trish in the Bariloche Airport



Y entonces, JoAnn, one of the Wild Women, has just turned Cinquenta. She has decided an adventure of large magnitude is in order to commemorate the event. She’s meeting us in El Calafete in January and we’ll travel south together to Ushuia.

Imagine. The Reid girls do the fashionable Lakes District and the Wild Women do the Fin del Mundo! It’s too fun to think about.