Day 34- 23 February 2017
Spanish phrase of the day: Lagos de plata – Silver lakes
When thinking of a place I usually assign colour to it in my mind. I think of it and automatically see picture in my head and colours flash before me. So when I think of Villa la Angostura I see flashes of blue, silver and white. The sky, the clouds, the mountains the lakes the ripples in the water, the stones. And automatically those colours bring with them a sense of calm. Tranquility. And quiet.
I have felt so comfortably at peace here. Not looking to do anything specific but everything that is found does not disappoint. There is no rush to get anywhere. No fomo (fear of missing out) if I don’t land up doing enough. Everything is just right. Blue, sliver and white shades of ok.
So what have we been doing in this calm space? First and foremost we found a base that is like home. It may have stretched our budget slightly 🙈 but we push it up and drop it down rather than just keeping it at average. The extreme personality in me I suppose. So that’s our MO this trip. The highs are wow. And the lows… well let’s not talk about the lows. Nothing a bottle of wine can’t solve before you head back to your temporary abode!
But the Villa la Angostura route we decided to do in style. And waking up late (late being 9am) to this view makes each start to the day that much more energised.
Day one was spent exploring. We are positioned up on a hill looking onto the Nahuel Huapi Lake. So wherever we walk we see pine trees and fifty shades of blue and silver water. Signs for paddle boarding and kayaking. And mountains of course. Little restaurants stand alone and line the streets. Spread out like little battleships.
The party of the night is ordering a dessert after your meal and bottle of wine. Woohooo living on the edge! Sleep comes no later than when the clock strikes 12. So our days are full. Full of 13km walks through forests filled with orange trees (bosque de arranyanas). Boat rides in the lake. Long wine filled lunches and of course the afternoon siestas.
Yesterday afternoon, I was reading the news on my phone while lying on a lounger in the bay of a beautiful hotel. Arlette woke me after 2 hours of having drifted off. Whether that happened because of the wine at lunch, the excessive amounts of oxygen in the air, or because the news about Trump and Brexit is just getting so insanely tired, still remains to be seen.
Whatever the reason, sleep is a mandatory part of the daily itinerary. Our last night, we decided to go to the little deli in town to buy wine, cheese, vegetables, cold meats and olives. Restaurant food for over a month has become a little boring. So making a little home made tapas like dinner was a welcomed change.
We woke up on our last day in the magical village with the sun blazing and no clouds in the sky for the first time since we arrived. Today was my favourite day of all. We walked down to the lake and got some action going. We rented paddle boards from Juan – of course that was his name… and paddled across the lake. Cutting the clean, cold water so we glided across its smoothness at lightening speed. My arms woke up from a 4 week sleep “ooohh Megan you deciding to use us again. Well hellooo!”
Addicted to the feeling of moving and sitting on top of the water rather than staring at it, kayaking was next on the agenda. And you can imagine, 2 hours of water sports, sun and moving makes us girls long for something delicious! So off we went to a beautiful hotel for an afternoon tea before we jumped on the hour long bus back to Bariloche at 7pm. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to leave this special place.
The realisation that Arlette and I are going our separate ways is dawning on us both. I am trying to convince her to carry on to Chile and Bolivia with me. She keeps slipping in that Salta is the place I need to go! I guess this is the point when we are grateful that we met each other and experienced this together. Two solo strong women on the same kind of journey. And now our paths diverge slightly. But I have no doubt they will come together in the future. One thing's for sure, I have a place to stay in Amsterdam and she has a home in London. Five weeks ago we never even knew the other existed. And since then, we’ve shared a room, stories and wine, split cabs and double beds and every meal we say ‘compartimos’!
I guess that’s the lesson I’ll take from this. You just don’t know what’s around the corner. Who you’ll meet and what you can open yourself up to, as soon as you do the things that you really want to do. I know for a fact I’ve made a friend for life.
Ok soooo girly sentimental overload is now over! I blame the fresh air and light colours around me. Don’t fear, in two days we are booked on an overnight seventeen hour bus to Mendoza. So if that doesn’t harden me up I don’t know what will!
Until then… scroll upwards and feast your eyes on my colour palette of azul, blanco y plateada for this leg of the trip. As I say goodbye to a place that has truly stolen my heart. Do you feel the calm already? Uh huh! Now you get me…
