On this day, two years ago, I was doing a boat tour of Chile’s marble caves in the sunshine. It was a lovely trip and the rock formations were very impressive! Several of the formations were named after animals due to their shape – using my imagination was required!
There was a brief instance in El Chaltén, that I almost decided to travel straight up to Bariloche with the girls I’d spent the last few days with, instead of crossing into Chile for the marble caves. Mainly because the journey to the caves seemed too fiddly and I was enjoying my time with them.
As a solo backpacker, I often found myself finding the balance between meeting people, sharing experiences and travelling onwards with them, and doing my own thing. As I said above, I was really tempted to continue travelling with the girls I’d met – as it’s usually the friends you make that form a significant part of the travel memories and stories you remember and tell later. So deciding to go to the marble caves really was a crossroads for me – to stay in Argentina or to go to Chile and, whether to stay with friends or go out on my own.
I can say very strongly now that I’m so glad I decided to be brave and go where I wished to go, even if it was the less easy option and meant striking out on my own. The caves were wonderful and if I’d skipped I would’ve been disappointed with myself for not making the effort. So if there’s somewhere you’d like to go and it’s your chance to do so, be brave and go for it. You won’t regret trying or making an effort. However it turns out, you’ll have a story. That went a bit deep!
Anyway…the journey was not as complicated as I imagined. Yes, it did involve several changes but it was easy to do. I told the bus drivers that I was going to Puerto Rio Tranquilo and they pointed me in the right direction for the next bus or minivan. Patience is key and knowing that you’ll find out the bus information as you need to know, not way in advance!
Visiting the marble caves also introduced me to the Couchsurfing world of travelling. When I was still in El Chaltén, I looked for accommodation for Puerto Rio Tranquilo, the closest town to the caves. What I found online was more than I was willing to pay, so I decided that it was a good time to try Couchsurfing (provided it was an option). And surprisingly it was – I had my first Couchsurfing experience, perhaps better described as my first tent surfing experience! I stayed right on the shore of Lago General Carrera in a tent with one of the guides from a tour company. I couldn’t have been closer to the caves!
Here’s the blog post I wrote about the marble caves when I was travelling!
