Two hours to go up and 45 minutes to go down to get the highest view of the Punta Negra Dam.

After spending so much time walking here and there, I realized that amateur trekking can become a kind of addiction. And after conquering one peak, and another and another, it makes you want to continue challenging yourself. Even the perception of time and the difficulty of a walk change, to the point of thinking that two hours walking are almost nothing. With this in mind, my companions and I decided to climb up to Cerro Negro in the Punta Negra Dam area in San Juan: a "short" walk but by no means easy .

During my trip to this province, I frequently visited two of its most important water reservoirs: the Ullum Dam and the Punta Negra Dam. It is incredible to think that these two places are separated by less than 15 km, because their landscapes are so different from each other that they do not seem to be almost brothers. While at Dique Ullum we find a clear, clay landscape, at Dique Punta Negra dark mountains and contrasting turquoise water await us ❤️.

Of course one of the activity options on this dam is to sit and relax from the water and the landscape, but we are restless children who always want to see a little more. One of my companions recommended the climb to the top of Cerro Negro, which would take us "just two hours to walk." For us who had already walked so much, that sounded like nothing and quite simple, so we didn't even hesitate to go to the top ❤️.

The peculiarity of the terrain of this trail is that it is completely steep and made of loose flagstone. These sharp and not at all firm stones force you to measure each step and step with precision if you do not want to slip. It is also important to have appropriate footwear because urban sneakers do not resist much on that ground. And above all, like every mountain we go to, we must have respect: no rushing or wanting to arrive long before the stipulated time .

According to our work schedule at the hostel, we were only able to start this walk at 4 in the afternoon. We knew that the sun would begin to go down shortly, but it would give us enough margin to get to the top of everything and get the best views. Getting to the top was not very easy to say because there was almost no flat section and even when stopping to rest, your feet were still in an upward position. When I started to feel that my leg muscles were being pulled too much, I sat wherever I could until I recovered: I didn't want to push myself beyond my limit for fear of injury .

Of the group of four people that we were, I arrived last of everyone and my friends welcomed me with great applause. Up there the best views awaited us and we could finally sit down and see what we wanted: the dam and all its panoramic views. The good thing is that, like most days, the weather was beautiful and clear so we saw everything from up there, including part of the city of San Juan ❤️.

According to the signage, this Cerro Negro is about 1470 meters above sea level. The truth is that I have already been to quite a few hills and this is not the highest of all the ones I visited, but it is one of the ones that tired me the most. The steep section to get up there was very challenging: an intermediate level trek I would say, but with patience and adequate rest it can be completed without problems. You just have to put your mind to it and go up, because the reward is above all ❤️.

Unlike the other hills I had been visiting so far in the province of San Juan, this one did not have any cross or the small grotto of a virgin. In its place were only posters of other conquerors of this peak, and also a small tribute to a local saint. From up there we could also see the continuation towards other trails, with the possibility of doing them another day because we had already had enough for that afternoon .

It took us two hours to get to the top of Cerro Negro, but due to the fact that public transportation was about to leave, we had to get down in record time. My companions who are already a little more experienced than me ran down, but I continued with my philosophy of respecting the mountain. However, I had the lightest step I could and we finished down the mountain in just 45 minutes. Five minutes later, the bus passed by and took us back to the hostel (the last one that day). Just in time ❤️.

What I liked most about this trip to the province of San Juan is that I was able to make the most of my time to do physical activity and visit some beautiful places. Luckily my body took me to all the places I wanted to be, so my eyes could see everything I wanted to see. I'm truly grateful that this is the case: my country is beautiful, in every corner of it you can find something interesting to see and do, and I'm happy to be able to enjoy that

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