2/24  I am so proud of us. We did the whole 8 hr. trek.  Where to start...  maybe with the fact that as soon as we got home, we took some advil and soaked our feet in the cold creek.  I am pretty sure we were the oldest people on this trail. I am getting ahead of myself.
We called a taxi to take us to Cajon del Azul (blue canyon). Of course it was a dirt road. We signed into the log book. I should have known that when they asked for our ages we were in for trouble.  The path started off real nice... through the forest and nice and level. Well, that lasted all of 10 minutes. We were now going down hill at a 25% grade(the path flucuated beteen 7% at the east parts and 30% at the killer parts). Which of course meant we had to go up it at the end of an 8 hour hike.  And so went the whole day. Up and down these  incredibly steep and LONG trails. Not sure what was worse, up hurts the heart and lungs, down the legs and knees.. big time. Throughout the day we had to cross a creek and the river twice on these hanging bridges that look like they were ready to collapse at any minute. A little intimidating. Terry refilled our water bottles a couple of times with water from the glacier that flows in the river.  He even purified it just in case. At the end of the trail, we stopped and ate our picnic lunch. It sure tasted wonderful. I didn't dare take off my boots, for fear I would never get them back on.
G and I decided the woods looked like they belong in a fairy tale and at any minute you would expect to see a pixie or an elf.  So very pretty. The water in the river looks like the carribean waters, such a pretty green/blue....hence the name of the canyon.  We met a group of hikers, and the first thing everyone asks is where are you from. They were from Williamsville, NY. What a small world.  On the way down a mountain biker WHIZZED by us. Incredible. So much stamina and strength. Very impressive.
Bob now has a new name...Billy Goat Bob. He was amazing. Up and down at the same pace, never sweating and way ahead of all of us. Don't know how he does it. I am never saying again that I am in pretty good shape. Our clothes were wringing wet.
Right before the last, hard walk up, there is a rest stop where for $10 for 2, they will drive you up. G and I seriously considered it, but we wanted to say we did the whole thing, so we passed. Pretty hard to do.
While waiting for the taxi to come and pick us up, we enjoyed a cold beer at the little rest stop at the end. I can't believe we did it. Such an empowering feeling.
The good thing is, I love my hiking shoes, so very light, not slippery and water proof. They were comfortable, even though my feet ended up hurting at the end of the day. Here is when we soaked our feet in the creek here at the hostel.
Never did a shower feel so good. Bob made dinner and we planned our next leg. We leave on a bus to el Calefate at 11am on Tuesday and arrive there at 1pm on Wednesday. Another sleeper bus. Javier, who works here and used to be a guide here, gave us all kinds of ideas and tips. I am most looking forward to the glacier.
Tomorrow we are hiking to the scarred forest. Only a 3 hour hike, but the first 20 minutes are up a steep incline again. Javier then said the rest is not flat but progressive. Should be interesting.
We just gave Tarin our laundry. She will wash, dry and fold it and we will have it back tomoow for $6. I like this laundry set up, which is what every place does.
Off to bed to rest for tomorrow. I think the 25 km(almost 16 miles) and the 600m (1800ft) change in elevation is going to require a couple more advil for sure. Hopefully I will be able to walk tomorrow.