10-11 Feb: Esquel

Can you believe it?  This was the only street sign around; I am 16,363 km from Anchorage!

A day at the beach in Parque Nacional Los Alerces

With former DFO Whitehorse colleague Al von Finster.  We hatched a plan to meet in Argentina 2 years ago and actually did it.

Esquel is a sizeable city with a distinctly western feel.  The downtown has, surprisingly, a pulse to it, albiet, a small one.  I decided to treat myself to a room in a hospedaje because it was so hot and I didn´t feel like sharing a room at a hostel nor did I feel like walking around in the sweltering heat carrying 2 backpacks.  It was 36 degrees or about 97 F.  Unfortunately, I go a fairly crappy room ($30 USD for this splurge) that remained hot overnight.  The water was the only thing that wasn´t hot.

After I checked in I emailed my colleague Al and got an immediate response; he was staying only 4 blocks away.  We had a nice dinner in a Parilla and he agreed to drive me to El Bolson the next day.

I retired to my room to find it still sweltering.  The problem with this area is that it is normally not that hot so there is no AC.  My thermometer read 27 degrees overnight or about 80 degrees.  Needless to say, I didn´t sleep much!  I woke up discombobulated, but the thought that drove me out of bed was the realization that I had left my lucky scarf at the restaurant.  The restaurant didnt open until 2030 in the evening.  I arrived at the conclusion that I would need to stay another night in Esquel, though at a different location.

I had coffee with Al and suggested that he drive us to Parque Nacional Los Alerces where we could sit by a lake and read to escape the heat.  He agreed.  He also had a copy of the Lonely Planet guide SOuth America on a Shoestring (editors note: I cannot find apostrophe or quotes on these Argentine and Chilean keyboards) which he gave me.  I was planning to buy this book and Al was happy that I took it off his hands because it was a gift to him and it is a very heavy book.  Win-win! Of course, I will have to tear out the pages for countries that I will not be visiting to reduce the weight!  In any case, I enjoyed a nice relaxing day reading up on Northern Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.  I even went for a swim.  However, since my bathing suit was one of the articles that I decided was superfluous, it is currently in Bariloche, so I went swimming in my clothes.  You may have noticed that I am wearing long black pants and it is 97 degrees.  This is because my shorts are in Bariloche too.

We went back to the same Parilla that evening and they had my scarf!