On the first day we went to a small town called Potrero de los Fumes, which lies around an artificial lake in hills surrounding San Luis. We set off for a small hiking trip and soon we found signs pointing towards something called Salto de Moneda. Since it implied that it was a waterfall we went for it, even though it said that it was a private property and admission fee of 6 peso (2 USD) was to be paid. Since there was no one to collect it and the gate was wide open we assumed that we would just sneak in, but after a couple hundred meters we stumbled upon an older dude who was apparently cleaning the path and he charged us ruthlessly. Anyhow he was a nice bloke so we paid gladly. After another couple of hundreds of meters we arrived to the waterfall, which at this time of year looked kind of miserable, but all in all it was a good day, and the small hiking trip was a good prelude to what was coming the next day – after all we’re a bit out of shape, especially Niki was quite skeptical about climbing hills. You know – there’s no way to access it with a car.
When we got back we tried to look for a place with Wi-Fi access, but apparently all the internet in the town decided to call it a day so we’ve turned our steps to the closest market where we stocked up on wine, argentine salami, cheese and olives and decided to head back to our hostel to catch some rest. It turned out to be a good move. After preparing a small snack, and playing some backgammon (Niki – Marcin: 0 -1) we sat down for a chat with a friendly fellow called Daniel. Soon enough he turned out to be a tourist guide, more importantly residing very close to Parque Nacional de Sierra de las Quijadas - a place that we wanted to see, but were unable to obtain any competent information about, and that includes the city’s tourist information office. The problem with Quijadas is that there’s no commonly available way there. One would think that the town of San Luis would provide means of transportation to the most beautiful place in a 100 km perimeter, but no. After much hollering about the situation of tourism in San Luis Daniel offered us a trip to Quijadas – one that would cost us 60 peso (20 $) / person, against 120 (60 $) / peson offered by one of the tourist agencies we visited. It was all pretty much DIY. Here’s how to do it: get to the San Luis bus terminal at 7.00 am and buy tickets for the bus to San Juan (18 peso), telling them to drop you off at the entrance to the park. Pay the fee (20 peso for foreigners, 12 peso for residents) and walk 6 km to the actual valley, which you want to see. Now, if you’re lucky you won’t have to walk the whole distance. We didn’t. Three kids from San Luis (more about them soon) picked us up on the way and since they didn’t have any place in the car (pick up truck) they placed us on the door of the back compartment. You know how kids are… They soon forgot that we’re sitting there in the back, and pretty much floored it, so in several moments we felt that we were about to end our glorious trip rather abruptly. Soon we got to Claudia’s (Daniel’s sister, more about her soon too) camping site and our guide came rushing to us, not only because he missed us, but also because we wanted to ask the Three Kids From San Luis if they needed a guide. Unfortunately the Three Kids From San Luis decided that the offered price was far to high, and decided to explore the valley alone. Now come on, is 30 peso really that much for a someone’s whole day of work?! (A rhetoric question.) Claudia made us some sandwiches and we took off into the valley. Already from the top of the descent the view is spectacular, but what awaits you at the end of the journey is pure glory, well worth of the proverbial blood, sweat and tears. Well, we didn’t bleed, nor did we cry, but we definitely sweat a lot, and remember it’s winter here, even though the temperatures might testify to the opposite (23ºC – T-shirts, in the summer temperature can reach as high as 50ºC).
The walk is about 4.5 km one way, with a joyful twisty descent to the valley followed by a walk along the dry riverbed that ends with arrival to the 200 m high walls and towers forming miniature canyons with amazing views. On the way Daniel kept us entertained with stories about the history of the valley, it’s flora and fauna, and the 13 year old record of his work there as a guide. He had really many interesting things to say and we would wholeheartedly encourage anyone going to San Luis to look up Daniel and hire him as a guide – you will really learn a lot about the situation of the region and the situation of the people living there, among other things that we won’t bother to talk about here, it would simply take too long. On our way back we managed to arrange a ride back to San Luis when we encountered another guide leading a different group into the canyons, and some 20 minutes later, while we were resting during the climb back to the camping site, Daniel pointed his hand to a tiny black spot on a hillside some 800 m from where we were standing. What happened was that The Three Kids From San Luis Who Didn’t Want To Pay A Guide And Decided To Explore The Valley Alone ended up trapped on a very dangerous slope with no optimistic views neither for way down nor up. Daniel grabbed his radio and notified the park rangers that some kids are off the trail and seem pretty much trapped, and in the meantime filled us in, that this happens quite a lot, partly because the people from San Luis feel they are smarter than everybody else when it comes down to their natural heritage, and partly because the rangers are a bit lazy to do their job. The situation is pretty complex, so we’ll once explain it in more detail next to a beer when we get back to Europe, but for now it’s enough to say that it’s not Daniel’s job to bring the “brave ones” safely back home, although he used to do it until he twisted his ankle badly during one of the rescue missions that he doesn’t even get paid for. After returning to the camping we spent the next hour talking about many different things, sipping on mate and digging in choripans (sausage + bread, not hot dogs!) that we received from a nearby picnic. Daniel is a really good guy, who not only showed us one of his beloved places but also took us to his home and introduced us to his relatives, more precisely to his sister Claudia and her four children, who have escaped from the city life to live peacefully (though modestly) in the middle of nowhere. He is building a house for his sister’s family there, and when he’s done he plans to go to Europe to work in Andorra. We hope to see him one day, perhaps visiting Budapest, if not sooner. Either way, if anyone is planning to go to San Luis before November drop us a message – Daniel is the best guide you’ll get there. After returning to San Luis we took a short walk to an all-you-can eat place recommended by him, where we obviously ate all we could for about 6 USD per head, plus beverages. During the meal both of us shared insightful details about all sorts of pains caused by the journey to Quijadas. Interestingly, Niki complained about pain in her bottom, which raised a question what parts of her body she actually uses to walk… We had a good laugh about it and went to bed early that night. The following day in the morning we had to report to the bus terminal early in order to catch a ride to Mendoza.
No comments:
Post a Comment