Picked up a rental car so that we can get around the area a little more easily, and perhaps also preview some spots in the area. It’s clear that there are some bus possibilities, but they will have to be carefully orchestrated. We head south towards Trevelin, where we will be moving in a couple of days, and from there onto the very bad gravel road that heads about 50 km to the Chilean border at Futaleufu. Along the way there are several suggested stops, the first of which is Nant y Fall waterfalls. One turns off the main gravel road heading uphill along a wide canyon for about 4 km, and arrives at a short trail that accompanies the course of the river with various lookout points for different waterfalls.
From this small park we make our bumpy way to the next stop, which is meant to be a small museum with a replica of the original flour mill in Trevelin, but which is very tightly shut, despite signage to the contrary. The third stop is a fish hatchery which really doesn’t kindle any interest in either of us and the fourth and final stop is a small so-called town called Los Cipreces, which we leave the road to see, but which consists of a handful of houses, lots a chickens, and luckily for us, a kiosk of sorts where we hope to get our hands on something cold to drink. All this despite the fact that the lady selling said drinks is heavily preoccupied with handing off her hen’s eggs. She has so many eggs, she says, she is just basically giving them away.
Having made it this far we decide to head to the Chilean border through the ever prettier countryside. It continues to be dry and rough terrain with granite peaks of tremendous presence, but finally the beautiful Rio Futaleufu appears as a thundering turquoise belt under a bridge which lies a mere kilometer or two from the border guard station. Our car didn’t come with a permit to cross into Chile, so we turn back and revisit the route from the opposite direction.
On our second day of car, we head more west than south and into another national park, Los Alerces. Alerces are a kind of tree (larches), although only the far northwestern section is wet enough for them to grow. The road from Esquel heads out of town and fairly soon begins winding up through a river valley. At the top of the valley, the road heads north along a wide pasture of a plateau dotted with livestock, and complete with a mirror-like lake. Once one enters the actual park, there are about 10 km before reaching the miniscule village of Futaleufquen, where the park information center is headquartered. We are interested in finding hiking opportunities, but these are far and few between, the main ones being overnight treks through the mountains to backcountry lakes.
We also find our way to the exclusive lodge that manages the boat excursion to see the thousand plus year old alerce forest, several lakes away, and only accessible with this boat tour. Then we check out some of the dozens of campgrounds, and the bus connections to Esquel and Trevelin. All sounds mundane, but the information is so convoluted and getting around the park without a car is nearly impossible without lots of time on your hands, so we want to make sure we are getting the most info possible. Outside the park no-one appears to have much beyond general information.
Having determined that this will be our only realistic opportunity to see more of the park(read: we have a car right now), we head north along the dastardly gravel/dirt road to Lago Verde and Rio de los Arrayanes, which is where the boat purportedly makes the stop where one has to walk from lake A to lake B to catch to second boat. Along the way we pick up two young hitchhikers, sisters from Bs.As. enjoying a couple of weeks away from the hellish heat and congestion of the big city. We chat most of the way to Lago Verde, —one is a teacher for the disabled, the other a computer programmer—. At Lago Verde we are floored to discover we’ll have to pay to park, and then walk downhill to the pedestrian suspension bridge that crosses the emerald green Rio de los Arrayanes. Here a short guided trail has been put together explaining the flora and the river in the area. Even after reaching its end point, we keep going to a small pebbly beach with a stunning view of the distant Torrecillos glacier, and then back around this point, completing a nice loop. We enjoy some time looking over Lago Verde, hanging out on a small beach along the Rio Arrayanes again, dipping our feet in the cold water, and finally, drag ourselves back onto the dusty road back to park headquarters, which easily takes an hour and a half due to the atrocious road conditions. Do a final check on food possibilities and camping availability, and head back to another late afternoon cup of tea at Fidelina in Esquel, where we cross paths again with our Spanish taxi-sharer, and man-about-town, Don Alberto, who occupies his daily table there, dispensing his wisdom and greeting virtually every soul who wanders by.
These flowers are those of the arrayan (myrtle) tree, which has just come into its blooming period. The arrayan itself has an unusual bark of cinnamon and white colored patches which you can see in one of the other photos.
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