Monday, February 20, 2023

During our last morning in Bariloche, Andi worked while Tory, Aden, and I did some school in our condo. Then, around 1:00pm, we headed to the beach for the afternoon.

There are quite a few hiking trails in the Bariloche area, but we figured they’d be packed with people on the long Carnival weekend. Our airbnb landlord let us know about a trail to Lago Escondido (Hidden Lake) that isn’t as well-known with tourists. We drove the same Circuito Chico loop as yesterday to get there, but this afternoon the road wasn’t nearly as busy as it was last night. The weather was beautiful today, so maybe everyone was already at the beach.

We parked our car at the trailhead for Lago Escondido and walked about a mile through the shaded forest to get to the lake. The path was flat and easy to walk, so all four of us enjoyed making our way to the Lago Escondido.

As I’ve mentioned, Argentinians drink a lot of Yerba Mate. They carry the beverage everywhere with them — to work, at parks, and even on hiking trails. We’ve noticed a lot of locals carrying their thermos with hot water, mate cup, and extra tea in leather carrying cases such as this one. Or, we’ve seen some people carry their cup and thermos in an open caddy with a handle (similar to what you might put condiments in on a picnic table). Andi and I are still scratching our heads at this whole Yerba Mate-obsessed culture — it’s so unique! We also think it’s interesting that we’ve seen very little alcohol consumed in Argentina. Instead of people carrying coolers of beer to the beach during the four-day Carnival weekend, all the locals are drinking mate.

The end of the trail opened up with a rewarding, secluded view of mountains and water. There were about 20 different groups of people there, but not a packed house by any means. It was a very peaceful setting with people enjoying the sunshine and water. Andi and I claimed a spot on a log and took in our surroundings.

Tory noticed some kids playing with clay mud in the shallow part of the lake, and asked if she could wade in to check it out. I thought we were going hiking today; I didn’t even consider bringing our swimming suits or towels. Even though Tory and Aden were wearing their clothes, Andi and I said “sure, why not.”

Tory was wearing shorts, so I wasn’t too worried about her getting wet. Aden, on the other hand, was wearing long sweatpants and a short-sleeve shirt so I suggested he take off his pants and wade into the water wearing his boxer briefs. Wear his boxer briefs in public? Are you crazy, Mom?? He thought I was nuts suggesting such a thing! Apparently, nine is the age when boys turn modest.

Instead, Aden rolled up his pant legs to his knees and tiptoed into the water … getting deeper and deeper as the minutes passed by. As I expected, it didn’t take long before his pants were fully submerged. The next thing we knew, Aden has his shirt off and Tory was rubbing gray clay all over his body. Oh boy. That escalated quickly!

Now, both kids were wet and Aden was covered in clay mud. As I was thinking through the logistics of how we were going to get two wet kids down the trail and back to the airbnb in our rental car, Andi encouraged me to take a breath and let it be. “They made the choice to get themselves wet,” he said, “they’ll need to live with the consequences.” Not an easy strategy for this mom to accept.

At least it was worth it. Tory and Aden had so much fun rubbing clay mud all over themselves and then letting the sun dry it on their skin like a hard shell. Lots of giggling happening! The water in the bay was really shallow and warm. What’s so crazy about this area of Patagonia is that all these huge bodies of water are glacial lakes, so there’s no saltwater to contend with. Some of them have big waves, vast mountain views on the horizon, and seem to stretch on for miles which makes it feel like we’re at the ocean — in fact, Tory and Aden keep calling it that — but no, Lago Escondido and so many others in this area make up the Lakes District of Argentina’s Patagonia.

I asked Tory to help Aden wash off the clay in the water. Aden eventually did take off his pants, though now they were soaking wet (Is this the right moment to announce that mom and dad were right? Too soon?) Aden walked back to our car wearing wet clothes, but to his credit he never complained. Always the ham, he draped his clothes over his shoulder on a stick and pretended he was a pioneer.

As soon as we pulled the car back onto the Circuit Chico driving loop, Andi and I had a bad feeling. Uh-oh — How could we have been so dumb?! The same two-lane main artery road into Bariloche that we got stuck in traffic yesterday is the same roadway we had to take back into the city today. All those people who were already at the beach when we drove to the hike were apparently now leaving at the same time we were. Google Maps forecasted it would take us 90 minutes to drive 18 km (or 11 miles) back to our airbnb on the other side of town.

“That can’t be right… is that right?” Tory asked from the backseat. Unfortunately, yes, that was correct. The poor kids were sitting in the backseat of our rental car wet, sandy, and in need of a shower. We had no choice but to slog very slowly along Avenue Bustillo all the way back to our airbnb.

Google Maps was right. It really did take us 1 1/2 hours to drive 18 km. By the time we arrived to our condo, it was 8:30pm and none of us felt like leaving again for food. Aden hopped into the bathtub while I made a smorgasbord dinner of whatever food we had left in the refrigerator — toast with banana and dulce de leche, carne ravioli with red sauce, scrambled eggs, and brownie for dessert.

After dinner, we were rewarded with the prettiest sunset we’ve seen on our trip so far — gorgeous! The best thing about this condo is this view.