We met up with some friends we'd met in Antarctica, rented bikes and rode the "Short Circuit" around the area. The basic circuit sticks to the paved roads, but there are various spur trails and viewpoints along the way. One of the trails is for mountain bikes, not just hikers, so when we got there, we rode up it. It was quite narrow with lots of steep hills and overhanging branches placed perfectly to forcefully dismount bike riders. As it starting to become apparent that we were on the wrong trail, an indignant local man walking down the trail started yelling at us in perfect English that this trail was only for hiking and that there was a very clear sign in both Spanish and English that biking is no permitted. If the sign did in fact exist, it must have been quite small. The man was extremely angry at us and finally walked away swearing. Apparently we missed two signs, the no biking sign and the one warning us to beware of grumpy old men. We ditched the bikes in the bushes and finished the rest of the trail to the summit on foot.
The next day, we did a day hike that started with a gondola ride to the top of Mount Catedral followed by a misty rock scramble along a ridge to another mountain and then down. The landscape was totally different than the lake filled valleys just around the corner. Instead we were surrounded by arid plant-less slopes with strange formations and hoodoos towering above.
We had a taken a tourist bus to start the day and were able to pay in cash, but at the town we ended up at at the end of the day, there was only a normal public bus available to get back to town, which used an RFID card system and no cash allowed. Mark speaks basic Italian as is usually able to communicate with Spanish-speaking people. When the bus driver told us in Spanish that we could only pay by card and Mark asked where we could get a card, the driver replied that we couldn't get one anywhere near here and we should get a cab. Mark yelled in Italian "Great organization! Long live Argentina!" as the driver closed the door in his face.
We asked a small corner store nearby about getting a taxi, but apparently the town was so small that it didn't have taxis. So our main options were hitchhiking or walking three hours back to down along a dusty dirt road and we'd already been hiking all day. In addition to the three of us, another British guy had done the same hike and was now stuck just like us. Hitchhiking as a group of four guys isn't a high success rate proposition. We decided to wait for the next bus and try again, this time maybe offering cash directly to the bus driver for him to pocket. We also knew that if other passengers had extra money on their cards, they could pay for us and then we could pay them in cash. Mark was so angry that he suggested it might be best if someone else did the talking this time. I was the only person who knew any Spanish, so when the bus came, I stepped on and pretended to not be aware of the no cash policy. Of course, the driver gave me the same rant as the last guy. Instead of getting off the bus, I moved farther on so that he could just pull away and continued to plead with him. He wasn't budging and I was just about to try and bribe him when one of the passengers offered to pay for us with his card. He was able to pay for two of us and a woman paid for the other two. We were extremely grateful and sat back to enjoy the relatively quick ride back to town followed by a well deserved dinner.