Friday, September 27, 2013

Acampar agreste



    Camping has been an adventure. After our scare in San Martin, we were happy to be far away from the town, but weren't quite prepared for two days of camping because we were in a rush at both bus stops the day before and while trying to speed grocery shop with Rodrigo waiting. We didn't really realize that everyone was already empty on water, and the 6 liters we bought did not last long. We bought sandwich materials to last us through Friday, in hopes we could buy some in another town during the day or within the park, which wasn't possible. So essentially we didn't have enough food or water, pitched our tents and searched for fire wood in the dark, had five sleeping bags for 6 people, and had no idea we would be attacked by so many bugs in the morning.
   The camp spot was a predetermined camp site with bathrooms and grills, and only a couple other groups were camping. We stole fire from the group next to us, so Thursday night we were able to sit around the camp fire and relax for a night. It was a rough night of sleep; I didn't have a sleeping pad, and we did not fit well inside the tent with all of our gear in the tent too. We were warned about parasites on the ground that stick to your shoes or backpacks that bite, so we avoided bringing those bugs into the tent. Also there were bugs similar to mosquitoes that bite and leave a little blood in the middle of the bite and itch later. My head and feet were resting on backpacks all night and I could feel every rock beneath me.
    I wore full length clothing all day today to avoid getting bit. All of our exposed necks got attacked though, and they itch so bad. It got really hot during the day, and that lack of water was really affecting us. We hiked throughout the national park for a few hours, but everyone was dehydrated, tired, and we realized it was going to be pretty hard to obtain more food and water for the evening and next day, so we made another group decision to head back to Salta for the last two nights of the trip instead of camp another night.
    Despite our fatigue and the bugs, Calilegua National Park turned out to be a really neat place. It's technically a rain forest, but it's been in a drought for 5 years, so a lot of the plants are dead and the river is almost dried up. But we saw some of the same birds we saw in the jungles of Iguazu, so we know it's normally a natural jungle. It was sad to see all the dead trees because it would be a beautiful jungle if it wasn't in a drought; it would probably look just like Iguazu National Park. 
   We walked along the river, and saw huge paw prints that must have been from a puma or jaguar, they are both mentioned in the guide books, but unfortunately (or fortunately) didn't see the actual animal.
    At the end of our hike we were completely out of water (this is when we decided to head back to town for the night). The park rangers there were super helpful towards us and gave us some of their clean drinking water to refill our bottles, offered us mate, and even drove us back to town in the back of their pick up truck.
      This trend of meeting great people like the rangers and Rodrigo has followed us throughout this trip. At our last hostel in Salta, the lady who worked there lent us her personal tent so we didn't have to rent one, and even called multiple friends to ask to borrow a sleeping bag for one girl in our group. Today, when we packed up our camp gear to leave, there was a group of high school students on a class field trip to hike in the park. At first, we asked if we could get on their bus to Salta, and they didn't have room, but instead, they brought us a very generous serving of the rice meal they were eating for lunch. We must have looked desperate, and we attacked the rice like scavengers,  joking about our food and water situation with them. So then they gave us some of their water and all of us an orange. After all the problems we had camping, somehow it all worked out and we made it out alive, due to the amazingly generous Argentinians we've met.
   Riding back to the bus terminal in the bed of the ranger's truck, we realized how much fun our camping adventure really was, of course, once it was over and we were heading back to civilization.

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