February 4-5, 2024
“In the old times, we made up rhymes
To sing ourselves to sleep at night
It was wild means, singing horse dreams
Did nothing wrong and nothing right
We are breathing, we are seething
We are hardly underway
We have high hopes like the old popes
Even St. Peter's bones decay
Making wishes like wine
Losing sleep and losing time
Maybe silver or green
The world alive, the world unseen”
- Girlyman
As we settled into our expensive bus seats, we crossed the pass through the Chilean Andes and descended into the Argentine foothills
Colleen has many gifts. One of these talents is an eye for beautiful things. She will either make something lovely or find something lovely to see and do. She does this so effortlessly that, at times, I don’t think she realizes how remarkable a talent it is. Once again her planning paid off as she found an unexpected treasure here in the foothills.
I was expecting more of the broad scrubby wind blown Patagonia steppes. I was wrong. (Funny how that happens a lot)
We got off the bus in the village of Villa La Angostura. This place was really different. It did not look like anything we had seen on this trip before. Beyond the ubiquitous Spanish spoken everywhere, this alpine village felt more akin to Vail, Colorado than a country in South America. The area was stunning with surrounding mountains, tall pine trees, and large clear lakes that reflected the clouds in the sky. magnificent well designed homes of wood and stone lined the lake and surrounding property.
The temperature was in the low 80’s with a pleasant breeze. Gone were the constant winds from the plains below. The landscape was verdant and full of life.
Austral Thrushes were the persistent songbirds. Rufous-collared sparrows flitted about everywhere while Rufous Horneros (The national bird of Argentina) scratched the soil for worms and bugs.
Regal Ashy-headed Geese strutted about the shore line while a pair of Fulvous Whistling Ducks struck poses on a large rock.
All of this life made for great nature watching while sitting on the sandy beach by the lake’s edge. The world felt very far away.
Nothing that lazy beautiful afternoon was more fun than watching this stray dog and his enormous log. He showed up at one end of the beach lugging his prized piece of wood.
He would drop it in front of a group of people and start barking, urging someone to throw the stick into the lake. He would not be deferred by a smaller , more reasonable size piece of wood. It had to be that log. His log. Eventually someone would toss his precious into the lake and the puppy would plunge in and happily retrieve it.
But he would not bring it back to the original person. Satisfied that his toy was shown the respect it deserved, he felt the whole experience must be shared again and again. He would pick it up and move to a new group on the beach. The pup was tireless as he repeated the scene over and over again covering 1/4 mile of the beach and dozens of people.
Stray dog are all over Argentina. Yet most of them seem to be cared for somewhere and they don’t appear in dire straights. Perhaps their owners simply let them run around off leash.
The interesting thing is the sheer variety of breeds we have encountered. Everything from Poodles to a Newfoundland. Dachshunds are as common as rabbits and a whole variety of working breeds are are always trotting about the streets.
Our day in Villa La Angostura was one of the loveliest of the trip so far. In the winter, this area is a ski resort as well. Alas we could not stay longer due to our lost days described in the earlier post.
We left the town with our 4th bus Colleen acquired below.
We traveled to Bariloche, a larger town on one of the many lakes here. While not as much of a jewel like Villa La Angostura, it too had lovely areas to visit.
We were definitely back in Argentina. This was a “1/2 Order” we tried to eat for lunch. It was delicious but way too much food.
Colleen found us a pretty little Hosteria to stay here. Hosterias have been our favorite places to stay. Most are family run and are sort of a cross between a boutique hotel and an Air BnB.
This one, which definitely had German influences, had a gorgeous backyard garden to explore.
We will be here for a couple of days before at last turning North and our last stops before coming home.
Those last stops however, well…just you wait.
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