After filling our bellies at the hippie market, we took a hike into the mountains around El Bolson. Our first goal was to reach the Cabeza del Indio, a rock outcropping that supposedly looks like the head of an Indian. Holly is clearly amazed at this geological wonder:
After viewing the Indian head rock, we decided to take another route back to town and check out some of the waterfalls in the surrounding forests. As you can see, the trail was dusty, and a lot longer than we expected:
We did finally make it out to the waterfalls, and got some nice snapshots:
This detour also gave Holly and I the opportunity to do something we had been talking about doing the entire trip. The sun was beginning to set, and we were still a good 15 km from town. We were tired, dusty, and dangerously low on water. Everytime we got into this situation, Holly would suggest that we just bum a ride with someone back into town. Up until this point, we had been unable to work up the courage to ask anyone. The time was right, and I decided to spring into action.
Earlier, at the base of the waterfalls, I had asked an Argentine couple if they wanted me to take a photo of them together, and we struck up a little conversation. So, while Holly was asking one of the park rangers about which trails to take to walk back into town, I went back over to the Argentine guy and asked him if he and his girlfriend were heading back to El Bolson (I knew they had a car). He told me that they were driving to another waterfall first, but were staying in El Bolson, and would drive back after checking out the next waterfall. Considering my limited Spanish (and the fact that I didn't want to invite myself along), I just kinda stood there for a while until the guy finally asked if we wanted to come along with them. So off we went with Leandro and Carla. Coincidentally, they were both law students from the south of the country. Leandro also worked in a bank.
Leandro was a living example of the Italian influence on the way Argentines speak. He had an exaggerated hand gesture for everything. From his thoughts about where we should go next, to his opinion about the sexual preferences of Ricky Martin, his mannerisms were a tutorial on Argentine communication.
After viewing the Indian head rock, we decided to take another route back to town and check out some of the waterfalls in the surrounding forests. As you can see, the trail was dusty, and a lot longer than we expected:
We did finally make it out to the waterfalls, and got some nice snapshots:
This detour also gave Holly and I the opportunity to do something we had been talking about doing the entire trip. The sun was beginning to set, and we were still a good 15 km from town. We were tired, dusty, and dangerously low on water. Everytime we got into this situation, Holly would suggest that we just bum a ride with someone back into town. Up until this point, we had been unable to work up the courage to ask anyone. The time was right, and I decided to spring into action.
Earlier, at the base of the waterfalls, I had asked an Argentine couple if they wanted me to take a photo of them together, and we struck up a little conversation. So, while Holly was asking one of the park rangers about which trails to take to walk back into town, I went back over to the Argentine guy and asked him if he and his girlfriend were heading back to El Bolson (I knew they had a car). He told me that they were driving to another waterfall first, but were staying in El Bolson, and would drive back after checking out the next waterfall. Considering my limited Spanish (and the fact that I didn't want to invite myself along), I just kinda stood there for a while until the guy finally asked if we wanted to come along with them. So off we went with Leandro and Carla. Coincidentally, they were both law students from the south of the country. Leandro also worked in a bank.
So many of the Argentines we have met work and go to school. It really is strange. I don't know if school is not as demanding, or if work is not as demanding, but everyone in their 20's seems to do both. Leandro taught me how to use the time delay function on my camera, so we took this (lopsided) photo while the camera was sitting on a rock:
Leandro was a living example of the Italian influence on the way Argentines speak. He had an exaggerated hand gesture for everything. From his thoughts about where we should go next, to his opinion about the sexual preferences of Ricky Martin, his mannerisms were a tutorial on Argentine communication.
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