Hobbit Houses, Rock Climbers, Cool Feet and Argentinian Bridge Maintenance

 Obviously with all my travel experience, I have become a master at trip logistics and planning, notwithstanding a few unforced errors here and there due the locals failure to comprehend good Spanish accented English..   So, on yesterdays hike,  I naturally took the time to reconoiter another hike on Cerro Catedral which REQUIRED a lift to the hike's starting point.    I got up early and drove my trusty rented Renault to arrive in time for the opening of the lift as it was to be a long hhike around the back side of the mountain.  Except when  i got there, with my usual quick perception, I noticed no lifts were running and the place looked deserted. That is when it dawned on me that no one had thought to tell me that it was Sunday and the lifts didn't run on Sunday.  A screw up by the ticket office obviously.  

Well, using my well practiced improvisional logistical skills, I fumed for  10 minutes and then blankly stared into space for another 15 minutes or so  wondering what am I supposed to do now?  As I gazed about me, I happen to notice a bunch of cars about 200 yards away next to what looked like some sort of trailhead and more people driving up and getting out in hiking gear.  What were those fools doing, didnt they know the lifts were  closed?  I decided to drive over and at least warn them off or try and figure outit what these poorly informed souls were doing. That is when I noticed that there was indeed a trail there and it lead to the same backside of the mountain Refugio  that I had been planning on making for via the more arduous lift supported route.Applying my well honed adaptability skills,  I decided to follow the crowd and so set off on the 12 mile round trip.

The trail went through some alternating woods and open country as it wound up and around the to the Refugio Frey set at the base of a small alpine lake.  

Hiking in the woods isnt always boring-

And this  hobbit looking dwelling tho I saw no hobbits about-

Just one of the Big People-

It ended at what is regarded as one of Argentina's premier rock climbing destination.   If you look closely, you can see a climber at the  top and some guys climbing- basically straight up with ropes, etc--

My feet were quite hot and sadly blistered (somewhere Jim Gallagher is shaking his head at the perpetually uneducable) and so I temporarily cooled them off in the lago (espanol) set against the stunning spiky peaks-

On the return, I noticed the Argentines seem to apply different bridge maintenance techniques than say the Swiss or others-

For some reason, it did always inspire confidence-