Carnaval 2016

Argentina came and went. It was all things a good vacation should have: great weather, fun activities, family time, and a working credit card. But I was pretty happy to come home. Home, where the humidity instantly cured my dry chin (I don't know why, don't ask) and my dirty jeans sagged even lower from the heat. We walked off the plane into a lavishly decorated airport, all ready for Carnaval 2016. I appreciated seeing the hallway lined with Pernambuco umbrellas and giant staring dolls (bonecos gigantes). I practically forgot Recife's week of nonstop of partying and dancing, and for about half a second I thought I should rally and do my part. Instead, all four of us slept like hibernating bears for about a week.

A colleague of Mark's plays in a drum group called Quebra Baque, and were making Carnaval rounds throughout the city, so we did emerge from the apartment for an afternoon downtown to support them and do what everyone does during Carnaval besides drink: people watch. Even having attended several events last year, I never did see the famous "coboclos de lança."  This year I did. Dressed in ridiculous amounts of cow bells and metallic fringe these folkloric warriors essentially symbolize the state of Pernambuco and during Carnaval, they literally part the crowds with their bulky costumes, noise and quantity- something like 10-15 of them in a row. This is particularly useful since the streets are packed with bands, dancers, spectators, and vendors- all of which march in seemingly random paths. These glittering, spear carrying warriors bring vague order to organized chaos. If that makes any sense. 

The drums were hypnotic and fabulous, even Deets got into dancing and pirating his way through the crowd. After a couple hours of great music, photography and diligent child-watching, the party was just getting started. Mark and I needed no words to communicate our readiness to go home. To sleep. 

Barlioche Paleontology Museum

We couldn't resist another museum to see dinosaur bones. After all, Mark already talked up Argentina's reputation for unearthing bones of the largest shark known to man: the megalodon. We needed to confirm this so on our last leisurely afternoon in Barlioche, we set out to walk a whopping 500 meters to the Paleontology Museum. After kilometers of hiking and driving and busing, this was an fantastic discovery. 

The museum is tiny. Single room tiny. But adorable and remarkably packed with fossils. By the time I handed over the cash (4 USD ) to enter for two kids and two adults, the kids had already gone through the museum. Needless to say we went through a second time so slowpokes mom and dad could enjoy. At the "far" end of the room, a five foot wide gaping shark mouth with monster gnoshing teeth. It was amazing even if was only a reconstruction. 

I loved this museum so much we bought t-shirts and was saddened when they had run out of adult sizes. 

Afterwards we strolled to the lake's chilly edge to say goodbye to Barlioche. I stood there amazed by the hard core Argentinians swimming and wondered if my tolerance to cold would ever be up to snuff. When did I get so wimpy? When did dipping my toe in a lake suddenly become a badge of honor? Sad.

Megalodon 

Giant sloth!

Ankylosaurus shell.

Cerro Tronodor, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

To get the heart of Nahuel Huapi National Park we knew at some point we'd need to rent a car. We had been deeply annoyed in El Calafate when our Hertz reservations went sour, leaving us to scramble for transportation so I wasn't feeling the rental love. Luckily, Budget had our back and made everything easy. We were given a 200km range to, leaving a 20 km cushion to get us to, from, and lost around Cerro Tronodor, an extinct volcano/mountain peak shared by Chile and Argentina. The guide book promised multiple waterfalls and 8 glaciers, including the Black Glacier (aka: Ventisquero Negro) which is covered in volcanic ash and dirt, thus making it a dirty looking glacier. Which it did. But the concept was pretty cool. 

I'm so glad we rented a car because had we used our own, I'd have wimped out due to the 90 minute long potholed dirt roads. I'm equally glad we didn't take a tour bus, I'd have barfed. A lot. Deets too probably. The loud drive notwithstanding, our first view of Cerro Tronodor stopped us in our tracks (actually it was the lumbering tour bus that suddenly hit the breaks on the one-way road but I digress.) From there we drove even deeper into the park past Pampa Linda, a popular trailhead and camp ground and finally into the parking lot where we could hear roaring water.  I waited for my teeth and butt cheeks to stop chattering and scrambled after Mark and the kids into the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat).

We hiked to the trail's end point and picnicked in the blazing sun, watching tides of glacier water free fall into the creek. Hiking back down we stopped to cool our feet in the water where the kids played for over an hour and watched glistening shirtless people amble across the slick rocks. Somehow these yahoos didn't burn, yet I did. Two matching shoulder stripes near my backpack. What is this? Amateur hiking? 

We could only exit the park via the one-way street after 4pm, which in truth wasn't enough time. We wish we had planned to camp or hotel up in Pampa Linda for another day to savor it all. An hour and 30 minutes later we washboarded our way out of the park and onto civilized asphalt back to Barlioche.  All good things must come to an end. Besides, I was running out of clean underwear so maybe it was time to go. 

Cerro Tronodor

Deets and Mark leading the up Garganta del Diablo.

As far as we could go.

Collecting volcanic rocks. 
Which promptly were taken away 
by airport security: "weapon threat"

Waterfalls. Check.

The Black Glacier dumping into Lago Manso
Manso: meek, mild, gentle, tame.