Las Vegas and Valle del Sol (Day 39)

First off, I need to explain why I've been so bent on getting to Valle del Sol. When I was at the park office at Park National Los Glaciares in El Chalten, I had a great chat with a very friendly and enthusiastic girl named Gabi. When she heard that I was eventually headed to Mendoza, she mapped out a whole set of hikes for me, of which my trip to Laga Harcones in Aconcagua was one. The other was a hike in Valle del Sol, to an area with a high lookout and Condors everywhere. Gabi had given me very specific instructions that once I made it to Valle del Sol, I should go to the camping area and ask for Violetta, who would tell me all I would need to know about the route.

When I got up in the morning at Camping Las Vegas, I went in to pay and get some instructions on how to get to Valle del Sol. In trying to explain why I going to Valle del Sol, I told the co-worker and his wife that Gabi in Chalten had told me to find Violetta. Turns out, I had found Violetta and didn't realize it. Violetta is the wife of the co-worker! Ha.

So, Violetta spent the next 20min giving me various instructions (that I half understood) to hikes around the area. It wasn´t until I left and starting wandering around (trying to make sense of the instructions that I half understood) that I realized that Las Vegas and Valle del Sol are really one in the same. Now it all made sense. I had inadvertedly found the camping area that Gabi had told me about and the infamous Violetta, all by chance. Good thing I took the advice of the nice man at the bus stop and didn´t keep going to Valle del Sol!

I ended up having to ask a bunch of other people where the hike trailhead was and was sent to the local hostel to get instructions. The hosts at the hostel were fantastic- they insisted that I set down my backpack for the day with them, they filled up my waterbottle and drew out a map in the sand for me so I could figure out where I was going. The route would take me along mule trails over 7 different increasingly higher peaks until I ended up at the top, over-looking the whole area. Cool, sounds right up my alley. I grabbed my lunch, my now-full waterbottle and headed off.

The hike was fantastic. The ground was solid and the mules had done a good job of stamping out a number of suitable routes. I stuck to the ridgeline as much as I could so I could have a constant lookout as I climbed. About 3/4 of the way up, I noticed huge birds in the sky. I thought I had seen condors earlier in my trip, but I guess I was wrong. What I was looking at now is the biggest flying bird I have ever seen.

I wish my little camera could do justice to the 7 or 8 birds that were flying overhead. The condors were just soaring around, playing in the thermals coming off the ridges I was climbing to. At one point, I got buzzed so close by one coming over the ridge I was standing on that I swear it was less than 50m above me. They are incredible- their wingspan is about 3m across. Amazing.

As I continued on (although I kept my eye on the sky to keep watching the condors above), I spotted two horses tucked into the ridge at the top peak. They were just hanging out there. As I got closer, they scooted away (as much as possible on a peak of 2800m), so I kept my distance and opted for a photo instead. I don´t know the significance of the cross, other than there are a lot of religious shrines in this area. A lot.

When I got to the top, I sat down for a while, soaking in the view and thinking how lucky I am to be here to see this. From this vantage point, I could see pretty much every settlement in the area, from Potrerillos and El Salto (in photo by the lake), to Las Vegas and Valle del Sol, and on the backside Piedras Blancas and all the way up towards Vallecitos (another 2hrs away).

I would have loved to stay for the whole afternoon, but with the growing stormline in the clouds, I decided I should head back before the sky opened on my during a ridge descent. The condors where still overhead, although now moving on. Wow. There were also tonnes of these cute little butterflies everywhere- feasting on what at this altitude I don't know, but they were pretty.

I made it back down with the sky still in tact, which gave me an opportunity to get a good shot of where I had been. You can see the entire ridgeline that I followed up to the top peak.

When I got back to the hostel, there was a piece of lemon tart waiting for me and a whole crowd of warm people to chat with. I spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging around with everyone and relaxing. As I was leaving and saying my goodbyes, the hostel host ran and grabbed a pamphlet for me so that the next time I came to Valle del Sol, I would stay with them. Right away, I recognized the pamphlet as the same one my hosts in the hostel in Mendoza had given me for a hostel their friend ran in Valle del Sol. Ha again. I love good coincidence.

I caught the last bus back to Potrerillos where Marcello had made up his spare room for me to sleep in. I´m pretty excited to sleep in a real bed, with real pillows and comforters, without having to share the room with 5 other bunkmates. I tired from another great hiking day and can't wait to sleep.