San Carlos de Bariloche and Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi

After being in Southern Patagonia for so long, Bariloche was a bit overwhelming, especially for Mike. The large city and many people were more than he had seen in over a year. Easter weekend was joined by the Fiesta del Chocolate and the streets were packed. Bariloche is known as the chocolate capital of at least South America, maybe even the world, and the city is filled with chocolate shops on every block, often more than one. We found a hostel in the center of downtown and offloaded our backpacks, tired from traveling.

Easter Sunday was much different from any other I've had. I woke up late: about 9:30, and spent some time reading some scripture. It was a quiet and reflective time, and I found myself extremely thankful for my life, my family and friends, and my faith. Around 10:30, word spread in the hostel that the chocolate egg ceremony was happening now. Mike and I found ourselves in a mass of people in the town square watching as men in a cherry picker (one you would see fixing power lines in the States) tore apart a 40ft chocolate egg with mountaineering ice axes! The whole ceremony was completely ridiculous and awesome and was accompanied by a pompous military band and loud pop music. The long wait paid off with copious amounts of free chocolate. Mike and I combined brought back around 5lbs of the stuff and it was good! We ate entirely too much chocolate that night but we ended up sharing a lot when we brought it up to the national park.

Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi was Argentina's first national park and we had planned a 4 day traverse across the mountains. As we were planning we ran into Regev, an Israeli that we had met in El Chalten, and we invited him along. The first day was a short 4 hours, but a bit of a climb from 1000m to Refugio Frey at 1700m. Refugio Frey was a glorious little refuge, situated at the saddle of Laguna Toncek in the shadow of Torre Principal, a 2500m spire towering over the valley. Little known to Mike, Regev and I, Refugio Frey was a climbers paradise. The valley was filled with thousands of routes, from thousand-meter multi-pitch climbs to top rope and sport routes, Frey had it all! Mike and I immediately wished we had our climbing equipment and all of the climbers scurrying about with full trad racks and bandaged hands made us jealous. About that time, we were joined by a couple of Americans. They were at Frey for the next few days climbing and I eagerly asked them questions. One of them used to be a climbing instructor in Yosemite National Park and he was teaching his friend about placing and cleaning pro (short for protection, referring to the cams and nuts climbers place in the rock to catch a fall). He invited all of us to watch and learn and after a bit asked us if we wanted to go climbing in the morning. We eagerly accepted.

The next two days were filled with climbing the exposed faces and spires. The approach was an adventure in itself since they required some adrenaline pumping class 4 climbing with out the protection of ropes. Once in location, Mike or I would belay as our friends set the trad route. The climbing was beginner to moderate and I had not climbed routes for well over a year. This just made the rush that much better. One particular climb was a full 100ft route that began over 500ft off the valley floor. The exposure was extreme. This particular route was a 5.8 crack that required thumbs up finger jams most of the route. With your feet smeared against the vertical rock and hundreds of feet of air below you, the feeling is euphoric. The weather was perfect! Warm and no wind without a cloud in the sky. At night we drank craft beer and talked about God and other deep topics.

After a couple days of climbing our friends headed home and Mike and I headed across the pass towards Refugio Jakob. Regev had not been warm sleeping the past few nights and was running low on food so he headed back to town. It did not take long for Mike and I to stray off the main trail. We descended into a valley in the peak of Autumn color and found a small stream to follow to the trail below. Our improvised trail was beautiful. The stream was easily navigated by jumping from rock to rock and wadding where it was necessary. The smooth sloping rock created beautiful cascading waterfalls which sparkled in the bright sun. The scenery reminded me a lot of North Carolina, until I looked higher to see towering, craggy peaks. We made good time and ate lunch at the top of a waterfall overlooking the valley. Scrambling down the face, we continued until we reached a second and more severe waterfall. The stream we were following plunged more than 100 ft off a cliff and into a gorge below. High walls on either side made it impossible to down climb. What followed might possibly be the most miserable 2 hours I have ever spent in a forest. The underbrush was dominated by thickets of bamboo which seriously impeded our movement. We pulled and pushed our way up the mountain and around the cliff side, only to be turned back time and time again by vertical, impassable terrain. The bamboo went all directions. Much of it was laid down and would catch the vertical plants, bruising shins and turning the process of walking into a severely strenuous endeavor. At times I would throw the entire weight of my body forward, only to be held in an upright position and unable to move. The only salvation that the bamboo offered was a secure plant to hold on to when we traversed steep terrain. After two hours in the bamboo hell, mike and I were covered in dirt, blood and bruises but we made it back to the stream and the next few hours before dark were beautiful and scenic again. We reached the bud stop after an hour of walking a back road in the dark. Once back in Bariloche, we rewarded ourselves with some salmon ravioli and a beer.

We have decided we quite like it in Bariloche. This weekend we are doing some glacier work on Tronador, a 3500m glaciated peak a few miles from town. After that depends on the weather, but we are certainly not opposed to spending more time in this fantastic area in Northern Patagonia!