Once again I was on the bus from Esquel to Villa Futalaufquen, but this time it wasn’t raining. Rather than clouds all around, the skies were clear and the forecast for the weekend was pleasant. I took all my things with me and paid for a camping spot on a campground not far from the bus stop. It was pretty much deserted. There was an older guy and couple with a bigger tent, but I had wide open views from my spot. It felt quite fancy, with my own power outlet and picnic table. I pitched my tent and quickly found out that paradise had one little downside: it was full of wasps. There was no escaping them and some flew into my tent as I was putting in my things. I decided to just zip it up and leave them there. By the end of the day, when I got back, they had not survived the sauna experience.
I didn’t have transportation and couldn’t find the energy to hitchhike, so I found some places to visit within walking distance. First I set off to Cascada Irigoyen, a small waterfall about 5km away. The wide roads were pretty quiet and there was, for most of it, enough space to walk on the side. Only in parts I had to pay more attention to the traffic. Along the way I saw some amazing beaches. Summer was turning into fall, so the temperatures weren’t super high and therefore the beaches were quiet. By the looks of the immense parking lots, this may be different in high season. Close to the campground was also a short path past some rock art and towards a viewpoint. The sun was finally warming me up a bit and I enjoyed sitting on the big rock, looking out over the lake and the mountains. It was better than sitting at the beach. The amount of wasps was just shocking and somewhat scary. And it was too cold to swim anyway. As the sun went down, it cooled off immensely. I decided to grab a bite in the camping restaurant and crawled directly into my sleeping bag afterwards. I’ll never get used to these cold nights.
On my second day I took a walk along the path to Puerto Limonao. The path goes between the road and the lake to a little harbor. Just before arriving in Puerto Limonao, I had the option to take a side trip to Cinco Saltos. A girl at the hostel had told me about it. I should have asked her more about it… I started on a wide road that would even be suitable to vehicles. Then came a split in the trail, where you could either walk to the Cinco Saltos or towards Krügger. The Krügger walk is a two day trip that seems really awesome, but it was closed due to the forest fires that had been happening. So I turned into the Cinco Saltos way and followed the trail up the hill.
When I hear Cinco Saltos, I expect to see five waterfalls, but I never found them. I ended up at the lake viewpoint, where a sign indicated the end of the trail. I think there used to be another view of waterfalls, but it had been closed. The trail isn’t advertised on any of the national park’s information brochures or signs. Maybe it’s no longer maintained? I got a semi-decent view of the lake. Some trees obscured the view, but it was still pretty nice and I got to walk through an area that had suffered from the forest fires. It seemed like it was right on the edge, as there were some very grey and black trees, but also still surrounded by green shrubs. While I was sitting on the small bench at the lookout, an older couple came up the hill: “Do you know where those waterfalls are?” They also looked around for a trail without success and went back down. They looked for a trail a bit lower, but it seemed like they didn’t find it, because I passed them again on my way down.
After my detour I continued on to Puerto Limonao and sat on the beach. The little shop was open and I got some ice cream. Once again there were dozens of wasps circling the stones on the beach. You had to watch every bite, make sure they weren’t in your food. The scenery was very calming though. There were some kayakers out on the lake and families were picnicking. The walk back was quiet. The village was quiet apart from a football match. It was a weekend of slowing down. I was glad I got to enjoy this park one more time, in my tent, just like I’d planned.
