Reactivating Couchsurfing meetings for trekking: this time, Bridal Veil Waterfall.

Although the trip to Chile had passed more quickly than I wanted it to, its end meant no great sorrow for me either. This was because instead of returning to my home in Buenos Aires, I had planned my return to Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. Summer was approaching, the best time not to feel so cold at the end of the world, so I wanted to return to take advantage of the pleasant weather and enjoy the mountains a little more. When I got back, there still weren't that many guests in the hostel where I was volunteering, so if I wanted to socialise a bit more, I had to resort to my trusty tool Couchsurfing. Once again, it worked perfectly .

Having returned from the neighbouring country after my trip with M brought me back to the reality of what it was like to travel alone. This is no problem for me because I love socialising, but the problem is when there are no people around to do it. But thanks to knowing how Couchsurfing works, I was almost always able to find occasional friends to go out with. And as I like diverse groups, where it is possible to exchange many anecdotes, I made sure that we were at least four people per outing (incidentally, to share the taxi to the trailheads).

For those who are not familiar with Couchsurfing, this is an application for travellers whose main purpose is to obtain temporary accommodation in private homes. In this app, there are people who offer a place in their home and travellers who can request this type of stay for free. The main purpose is to share a good time with the hosts while getting to know the place you are passing through, and also to save on accommodation. But as I never need this, as I have my stay at the hostel where I volunteer, I just use another section of the app called ‘Hangouts’. This function allows you to make your profile available for a walk at that moment: it's like a ‘Tinder’ for travellers, in which if you match with another person or persons, a chat is generated so that you can chat and plan a casual walk.

Throughout my stay in Ushuaia, which lasted almost six months in total, I used Couchsurfing Hangouts dozens of times. This allowed me to meet many people from all over, with whom we shared treks, pub crawls, walks in the city and even meetings in the hostel I was staying in. The first Couchsurfing meeting I did after returning from Chile was with three guys, one from England, one from Turkey and one from Argentina. We decided to trek to the Cinco Hermanos Lagoon, where we first went to the Bridal Veil Waterfall. I knew it but the boys didn't, so we stopped there for a moment to take pictures.

The stretch to the waterfall was short but quite steep, but the four of us were experienced trekkers so it was no problem for us. What was a problem was communicating with the guys from England and Turkey, as my English is very bad. However, I gave it my best shot and I think we exchanged some good ideas in the time we shared together. They were also able to practice their Spanish with me, although their level of the opposite language was much better than mine.

The outings I organised on Couchsurfing were always fun, and in the process saved us a bit of money, as well as having a good time. A taxi to the start of this trail and back to the city cost $20, which is not much for four people. By the way, we all took away a language lesson, as well as having seen a nice place. When I told my friends that I was going to the mountains with people I'd only spoken to for a few minutes in the morning via an app, they were quite worried, but after all the time in Ushuaia doing that, they relaxed. Now I have Couchsurfing contacts all over the world: I just have to get on a plane and go visit them ❤️.

Source.