According to the map, I had 30km in 8 hours of trekking to cover today. I couldn't see how that was possible looking at the map (there were a few errors in it) but I also didn't want to end up walking in the dark, so by about 10h, I was ready to leave, but goodbyes took some time! We all wanted pictures and exchanged email addresses and had a long breakfast, so it was closer to 10h45 when I finally left.
The first part of the trail went through the forest and was marked by yellow stakes. This part was a great deal of fun! There were beautiful flowers everywhere,
birds singing and making noises I had never heard before and I wished Sophie was there with me, surely she'd know, and hares running all over the place.
But, to my surprise, the trail soon left the forest to climb back down to the saddle that separated this hill from the volcanoe. There is no way of going through the forest without stepping all over plant life, and as this is a protected area, following the trail is always better. I climbed down reluctantly, leaving flowers and hares behind.
Hello dust and wind! I cursed this way. It was, of course, a great deal easier to just plant stakes in the middle of pumice every so often than actually create a trail through the forest, but a great deal less scenic and a great deal more boring. This trail went all the way around the beautifully covered hill, so enticing with its araucaria trees, colourful flowers and hares seen hopping in the distance. And now, I was also plagued by tabanos.
I took a couple of breaks entirely devoted to killing the ones that were following me, and somehow, I heard my sister gasp in shock at my cruelty. She could tell you stories of my removing bugs from her place carefully and taking them outside, but spiders and the such are useful. I am sure tabanos are too, in some way or other difficult to fathom, but I can't stand them. They buzz as loud as hummers do, ruining the peace that one should feel in such a place, fly fast all around your head driving you wild, and bite chunks right out of your flesh. So I took advantage of the fact that, during those few seconds between when they land on you and when they can actually bite, they are vulnerable, and that is when I wacked them and then stomped them to the ground for good measure. That was my entertainment on this most boring of stretches.
After the saddle, the trail headed back to the forest, and I was shocked to see, a mere 3 hours afer I'd left, that I'd reached that intersection where I had been on the first day with the Swiss. I intended to camp at Suizandina that night, and knew it was only 2 hours away now. That map is seriously wrong!
Jumping fences with a big bag is more difficult than with a small one. It involved a lot of removing and putting the bag back on, but I was in no hurry now. And there were hares again, to my delight! And flowers and trees.
When I figured I had less than a half hour left, I saw something moving on the trail ahead of me. I came closer and saw a baby hare, flopping on the ground. At first I thought it was injured, there were flies around that landed on it when it stopped moving, and I thought it would be kinder to kill it to keep it from suffering (and I was wondering how to go about this, I've never liked having to) but then I saw that it wasn't injured, not that I could see. It didn't look well tough. Had it fallen out of its nest and now was dying of dehydration? I studied it for a couple of minutes, then decided that it only needed a bit of care. I placed it in my foam mattress, which I gently rolled back and carried under one arm.
So that is how I arrived at the Suizandina, covered in ash making streaks all over my face, covered in sweat from the extraordinary heat, and with a hare under my arm. The German girl who greeted me recognized me from a few days before. They got a box, and an employee with a knack for such things got out a baby bottle full of milk (I was too preoccupied with the hare at the time to wonder how she had that on hand, there were no babies around) she started feeding it, and it seemed to calm down.
And I set up my tent in a lovely spot with a tree and a bench, had a delicious shower, and spent the evening reading an amusing trash novel in the reading corner. The sun makes it way too hot to hang around in the tent.
Tomorrow, Friday, I have deemed rest and internet day. Saturday I plan on taking part in a local trekking club, they do a walk every Saturday. Sunday I take a bus back to Zapala, and Monday to Puerto Madryn.
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