wine and booze, mp3 player and booster, a guitar, a ball for kicking around. On Lou’s and my part, we never planned on doing any camping down here, so didn’t bring any gear. But as our friends leave the country, they find things they don’t need to bring back with them, or generously decide that we could use them more than they could. So, we now have sleeping bads, fleece blankets and a tent (not to mention dishes, teas, spices, electric shaver, magazines). Hopefully we can find someone else to pass them on to when we leave. So, 6 of us (me, Lou, Mariano, Fabiola, Sergio, Aaron) caught a bus for a 1.5 hour ride to Tupungato, where we then found a man with a pickup truck to bring us the rest of the way to a campground. The campground was a family-run place. We took quite a long time trying to find the perfect campsite, where no one woud bother us, and we’d bother no one. We saw some really nice ones on the other side of an arroyo. So, one by one we handed our
equipment over the stream via a fallen log. It felt like one of those team-building activities. We were feeling the synergy --- a great way to begin the weekend. Upon finishing the transport of all our things, a man told us we were now in another campground. So we handed it all back over the creek. We didn’t so optimistic the 2nd time, webut we did bring tons of downed branches for firewood from that side, with which we would cook our first couple meals.
Our meals consisted of meat. We had hot dogs, chori-pan (chorizos on bread) and asado(massive quantities of steak). Having not brought any firewood, or even paper for fire-starting, getting and keeping fires going occupied a lot of time, scavenging kindling and firewood, sometimes getting handouts of newspaper from other campers. We also had a couple salads and cooked some potatoes by burying them right in the fire.
The night got cold and wet. Aaron and I were counting the seconds between lightning and thunderclap to determine whether the storm was getting closer or farther away. At 13 seconds we felt safe. At 6 Seconds we started thinking about packing some things up. At 3 seconds I went to brush my teeth. When I finished, it was pouring out. We heard some crazy
double-thunderclaps as the sound echoed off the mountains. The night was cold and moist. We put on every stitch of clothing we had brought with us and still shivered through the night. But I don’t think we had it the worst. In the morning Sergio came out if his tent with a completely soaked sleeping bag.
Also that morning the 4-wheelers arrived. There was an off road circuit near the campground, but that didn’t keep the day-user from hauling ass through the campground. Pleasant way to spend a day in the country.
My mother had sent graham crackers, marshmallows and hershey bars, so for brunch we had smores. (thanks Ma) Everyone was pretty nuts about the crazy gringo confection. Of course they’d seen the puffy white things on sticks before from TV and movies, but this was the first chance to try it. Argentines know how to grill paciently, so there were very few too-close-to-the-fire marshmallow casualties.
On Day Two all three gringos packed up and abandoned camp in the late afternoon. The other three opted to tough it out another night. We decided to walk back to town instead of calling the guy with the pickup truck. It took almost an hour and a half, and we ran the last few blocks in the drizzle, so as not to miss the bus. But it was a good chance to walk by chickens, horses, a pig, vineyards, veggies and fruit tree farms.
We did manage to catch the bus. Luckily it was late. It was easy to sleep on the bus and even easier to sleep 10 or 11 hours at home. From spending the whole weekend standing around the grill to make fire, make food or get warmth, our apartment sort of smells like a Hickory Farms gift basket. But today is Dia de
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