Monte Tronador (Day 9, last day)

I forgot to mention that Xuxa and Rodrigo never made it to their tent. They heard of a snow cave that was built close by and decided to sleep in that instead. This worried Maximo and Nativo somewhat, and at 6h30, Nativo showed up at the cave's entrance with breakfast to wake them up and make sure that nothing had caved in and killed them. They were at once annoyed (they like to sleep as late as possible) and thankful, and it was hilarious to see them come back with that mixture of emotions on their faces.

The morning was devoted to breaking camp and leaving. Goodbye mountains and glaciers, super refugio staff and Mauricio. I turned my back to it all with a great deal of nostalgia.


With Josias, a last view on Monte Tronador


With most of my food eaten and my climbing rope in somebody else's load, I was able to manage my two bags for the hour it took to walk down the rocky way to where the horses would pick up my big bag. Then it was a swift 2.5 hours back to where the bus would take us. I got there an hour early, and decided to have a quick shower (did it ever feel wonderful!) before we left. Aaaaaah!

Back in Bariloche, we all parted ways with plans to have dinner together later. We had a lively evening, with only Maximo (who was with his family) and Lucas missing. We all made outrageous travel plans and drank local beer and heard more of Nativo's fascinating stories. I can't relate them all here, it would take forever, but you can go on you tube, type nativo and nos (knots) and you should be able to see him.



I fell in bed at about 1 am and never heard Xuxa come in 3 hours later. The three of us are sharing a room at the hostel. Tomorrow, sleeeeeeep!