Off to El Chalten

The food took much longer than what we had expected and we had to literally run back to the bus terminal. At 8 pm, we were back at the bus terminal just when everyone had boarded. We picked up our bags from the counter and took our places in the bus. Ours were the front row seats on the top deck with a perfect view of Patagonian steppe. We left the station at around 8:15 pm. The 1st part of the journey was along the Lago Argentina (the Argentinan part of the Lago General Carrera). The road was along a very flat and plain steppe topography.
Here we started seeing El Gauchito Gel (red flags with religious sites). These are shrines to Gaucho Gil. Although Gaucho Gil is not an official saint in the church, he is revered throughout the country of Argentina and is a "defacto saint". Gaucho was a deserter of the military who evaded capture for quite some time. During that time, he was a sort of "Robin Hood" figure, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. When he was eventually captured and sentenced to death, he was hung upside down from a tree. As the executioner was preparing to behead him, Gaucho said, "Don't kill me - my pardon is coming. If you do kill me, your son will be stricken with a deadly illness, and the only way to save him will be to give my body a proper burial."
As expected, the executioner proceeded with his task and, when he arrived home, discovered that his son was deathly ill. He returned to the site of the execution and buried Gaucho's body. His son was miraculously cured and a legend was born.
Now, Argentineans have built shrines throughout the country to venerate the memory of Gaucho Gil.

It is strange how these religious icons are exactly how it is in India. Any small location or tree with red color painted on rocks and red flags becomes a religious site. We had seen them in North Argentina as well but just a few kms away in Chile there's nothing like this anywhere from the North to almost mid South where we had left Chile earlier today.Read more