Around the World in 8000 days: Cerro Tronador, the black glacier, and pretty leaves ...

Welcome to our travel blog. We are Tabitha and Nic. In 2011 we 'retired' in our early 40s and set off to travel the world. We spent our first year in South America and have been lucky enough to make two trips to Antarctica.

Our blog is a record of our travels, thoughts and experiences. It is not a guide book, but we do include some tips and information, so we hope that you may find it useful if you are planning to visit somewhere we have been. Or you may just find it interesting as a bit of armchair travel.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Cerro Tronador, the black glacier, and pretty leaves ...

Mount Tronador, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

Our other trip out of Bariloche was to Cerro Tronador and the Ventisquero Negro, or the Black Glacier.

We had traipsed around some of the tour agents in town, at least those that had actually deigned to open when they said they would after the lengthy afternoon siesta here, to check out the tours and prices.

Lake Mascardi, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

It seemed from the consistency of the information, that they all booked the same tour, but we found an operator that not only offered a discount for cash, but also charged a significantly lower additional fee for having the guide do an English commentary. So we booked with them.

In the morning, we were happy to see that the weather was, as forecast, bright and sunny, so we could have a decent expectation of getting good, unobstructed views of the scenery. The driver/guide gave a pretty decent commentary, with enough information to feel that we'd learnt something, without feeling like we were completely bombarded with facts and figures.

Lake Mascardi, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

As we drove out of town, we passed an area that was apparently once a great place to view the stars, until the town expanded and the light pollution increased, he pointed out the various mountains, including Cerro Otto, which we had been up previously, Cerro Catedral, and Cerro Ventana, or Window Mountain, which gets its names from the round hole that forms a 'window' through a sticky up piece of rock.

When we arrived at the National Park, we had to pay the entrance fee. This was fine for us, as the agent we booked through had told us that it needed to be paid in cash - in fact all of the agents had mentioned it. Unfortunately, some of our fellow passengers, who had booked through their hotels, weren't aware of this, and had no Argentine money with them, just US dollars and credit cards, which meant that we spent a good fifteen minutes while they sorted it out.

Lake Mascardi, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

So a word of warning, if you go into any one the National Parks around this way, you should expect to pay an entrance fee, which at the time of writing was 250 pesos, and needs to be paid in Argentine cash. Don't be the one who isn't prepared and holds everyone else up! Another warning for this particular park, Nahuel Huapi, is that a large part of the route to the mountain and glacier is subject to a variable one way system, with the direction of permitted traffic changing during the day. Do check before you go, or you could find yourself stranded for a couple of hours either on the way there or on the way back.

Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

The Nahuel Huapi National Park is the oldest and, at just over 700,000 hectares, the largest in the area. The land was donated by a man named Franciso P Moreno, commonly known as Perito, which is a title meaning expert or specialist. Those of you who have been reading since last time we were here in Argentina, may recall us visiting a place called the Perito Moreno Glacier, in El Calafate, and that is indeed named after him, a is a town and a few other things around here.

Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

He didn't get that honour just because he donated some land though. He set up the Argentine Scientific Society, and carried out an extensive exploration of the area, and his surveys were used to help support Argentina's claims of land when the Boundary Treaty of 1881 decided where the border should fall between Chile and Argentina. He also 'discovered' another of the places that we visited, Mount Fitzroy in El Chalten.

Well I say he discovered it, but this, like many of the credited discoveries, is another case of the same kind of arrogance that we colonial nations show, when we claim to have 'discovered' somewhere new. The local indigenous people were already well aware of the mountain, and had named it Chalten, before Moreno came along, 'discovered' it, and named it after the Robert Fitzroy, Captain of Charles Darwin's ship HMS Beagle.

Black Beach, Lake Mascardi, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

Anyhow, back to the park. Our first few stops were along the edge of Lake Mascardi, which was named after an Italian Jesuit missionary, Nicolás Mascardi. Mascardi was in Chile and Argentina in the late 1600s, trying to convert the Mapuche people to Catholicism. He was later murdered by the Mapuche in this area, possibly because they were concerned about the possibility of him telling others about the secret short route across the Andes, and putting them in danger.

Lake Mascardi, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

The second stop was on Black Beach, the name of which has nothing to do with the colour of the beach, but rather reflects the once dangerous nature of driving along this route, which was prone to sudden severe flooding, which could cause people to be cut off.

Piuque Huapi, Lake Mascardi, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

The next viewpoint was overlooking the island of Piuqué Huapi, or Isla Corazon, Heart Island. If you see it from directly above, you can see how the island gets it's name, but from the viewpoint here, it is rather less obvious.

Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

We continued to wind our way through the national park, stopping occasionally for the odd photo opportunity, until we reached Tronador. Tronador means thunder, and there are two explanations for its name. The first is that it comes from the rumbling sounds that were made by the volcano became it became extinct, and the second is that it reflects the sounds of the snow and ice moving when one of the frequent avalanches occurs.

Mount Tronador, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

Tronador is distinctive in that it has three peaks, which are shared between the two bordering countries. One is in Chile, one in Argentina, and the third marks the border between the two.

We had a break for lunch, where we were yet again bad on our diets and gave in to the temptation of an amazing looking chocolate, dulce de leche and meringue cake. We did at least just share the one piece, and happily it was worth it, as it tasted as good as it looked.

Waterfalls, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

We figured that after that, we should at least make the short walk up to the waterfalls, which probably exercised off only about one spoonful of the cake. The waterfalls aren't anything special, but the overall scenery is quite nice.

Autumn leaves, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

With a little time to kill, I had little wander around amongst the trees with their beautiful autumnal colours. It seems strange that these dying leaves should be so appealing, but I love the yellows, oranges and reds that they create, and they looked especially stunning against the bright blue sky. When I looked back at my photos of the day, it felt a little wrong that my favourite photo was of some leaves, rather than the lakes, mountains or glacier!

Black Glacier, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

In fact I found the glacier, which was our last stop, and expected to be the highlight of the trip, to be slightly disappointing. It wasn't just that it was hard to take a decent photo of it, because by the time we were there, the sun was in exactly the wrong place. It was just not as good as I'd hoped it would be.

It may be partly that the colour of the ice means that it is less obviously distinguishable from its surroundings. The ice itself isn't actually black of course, it just takes on a black appearance as a result of the dirt and sediment that it has collected on it's descent.

Mount Tronador, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

We heard the rumble of Tronador a few times, but of course once you've heard it, you are too late to see anything but the last vestiges of the snow and ice dropping down. Luckily, we did happen to be watching the right place at the right time for the last and biggest fall, so saw a huge chunk drop from the ledge.

Black Glacier, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

The scene had all the potential to be great, with Tronador in the background, the greeny-blue lake in the foreground, and the black ice in between, but somehow it just didn't quite have the impact I'd imagined. Perhaps we have just been a little spoiled for glaciers with the polar regions and the stunning Perito Moreno, which still remains one of the most beautiful sights that I've seen.

We still enjoyed the day though, as there was plenty of lovely scenery along the way.