After Puerto Montt, Nora and I left Chile, crossing over the Andes and into Argentina. We arrived in Villa La Angostura, a beautiful mountain town that's popular for vacationing — especially during the summer months where you can hike, mountain bike, and swim in the lake nearby. Huge homes are found nestled in the forests and on the cliffs above the lake. It's almost a surprise when you arrive by just how nice it is.
We decided to mountain bike, but first needed to take a boat ride to Los Arrayánes National Park to start our 12 kilometer journey. The national park is famous for its Arrayán trees which grow up to 39-40 ft tall and are around 650 years old. Once we arrived, we took a quick hike through the beloved trees and started out for the bike trail. I'll be honest, I've never gone mountain biking and am no expert. The trail was difficult and I seriously considered crying. I did not, however, and pushed through it with my arms burning and legs throbbing. There were so many ups and downs and I kept asking myself why people liked this sport. Nora was amazing and took the hills with ease. She's used to this kind of terrain — living in the Alps — and kicked my butt the whole time.
Once we finally reached the end (we had to get off our bikes for the last mile or so and walk it downhill over rocks and roots), we crashed on the beach and soaked up the sun with our toes in the sand. A friendly stray dog came to say hello and we made an attempt to get into the freezing water, but could only last a few seconds before laying back down to get warm.
LOCATION: Villa La Angostura, Argentina
DATE: March, 2013
amen. mountain biking is so way hard.
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