Blogs from San Martín de Los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina, South America
Osorno to San Carlos de Bariloche
Published: March 18th 2012South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
March 18th 2012
Sunday 18 March Today was the start of the organised tour - Ride to the End of the World, arranged by Kevin Saunders of Glodebusters on behalf of the World of BMW. It was really what I had come for. Kven & his wife Julia are famus in the biking world for their exploits all over the world. For get Ewan McGreggor & Charlie Boorman, Kevin is the real deal. He holds a world record for the fasters circumnavigation of the globe on a motorbike - 19 days !! To practice he would ride from Cambridge to Madrid for supper, turn round and come home! We had a thorough briefing from him the night before and the plan for the forst day was for us all to ride together to the border and then make our ... read more
Happy Camping
Published: December 4th 2011South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
December 1st 2011
Having merrily yomped our way through valleys, over hills and across streams in the beautiful Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, we pick up a hire car again (I just can't get enough of those unpredictable Argentine drivers, you see) to explore the area to the north of Bariloche, which lies across the border in Neuquén Province. One of the main towns in the area is San Martín de los Andes, which lies three hours or so north of Bariloche and only a short distance away from the border with Chile. San Martín is reachable from Bariloche via the famous Camino de los Siete Lagos, or the "road of the seven lakes", a tortuous gravel road which winds its way past a profusion of beautiful, brilliant blue mountain lakes. The road starts at Villa La Angostura, a pretty ... read more
Road Trip! Driving the Seven Lakes - Bariloche to San Martin de Los Andes. Conduciendo los siete lagos!
Published: January 22nd 2012South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
July 31st 2011
Road Trip!! Driving the seven lakes... Conduciendo los siete lagos... A day trip from San Carlos de Bariloche is a lovely town called San Martin de Los Andes, however this blog is more about the journey to San Martin rather than the destination. From Bariloche, we hired a car for the day. We set off early in the morning, driving around the shores of Nahuel Huapi lake towards the road heading out of town. The roads were icy and we had to be careful, especially after we passed a couple of cars that had skidded off the road. Fiona took the wheel first having driven about a year ago, as opposed to my gap of three years. Add to that driving on the opposite side to what we were used to and we were slightly nervous ... read more
2011: A Bike Odyssey
Published: March 28th 2011South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
March 28th 2011
A twenty two hour bus ride from Buenos Aires and five hundred miles from the nearest person who knows me ('no tienes amigos?' asks a puzzled waitress), I push down on the pedals of my hired bicycle to begin my 110 km journey through the Andes, passing by seven enormous lakes in the process. I do not own a bike in England; I have spent the last month inhaling steak. The first twenty kilometres is an uninterrupted ascent into the mountains, and after two of those my internal vocabulary has been reduced to 'wow' and 'oh no' in equal measure, a curious development that remains in place for the next two days. In glorious sunshine it feels as though I have these autumn coloured mountain valleys entirely to myself, and yet its not long until the ... read more
Switzerland!?!
Published: March 20th 2011South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los AndesMarch 20th 2011
As you see, I'm still in the province of Neuquén but here in San Martín de los Andes it's a totally different world. The first 5h of my bus trip I saw only Patagonia's earth/grass/bushes-landscape. However, the colours were amazing and instead of sleeping I was taking pictures all the time (I travelled during the day). The closer we came to the Andes, the greener was the landscape and anybody in Argentina who misses Switzerland should come here...: chalets, same vegetation, chocolate, fondue(!), cars stop for pedestrians...if people didn't speak Spanish I'd feel like in a Swiss winter sports village. It's very relaxing to be here since it's somehow 'familiar'. The funny thing is that the Argentinians don't know about this similarity. In Mendoza were many European tourists, in the hostel in Neuquén I was the ... read more
March 20th 2011
Today I rent a bike and went cycling with Javier. First we did a little trip on the southern side of the beautiful lake and had a rest on a little playa. Afterwards we went back to the city to have some mate with a friend (un alpinista) of Javier on the beach of S.M. de los Andes. Full of energy (thanks to the mate), we did the northern part of the lake, which was quite heavy (steep...) but which lead us to a beautiful beach. You can imagine San Martin as any ski village, but located as Interlaken and with a little latino touch. Tonight Juan will prepare an asado and the porteños (people from Buenos Aires capital), the Chilenos and I will have a nice (and late) dinner. Tomorrow I'll try the San Martinian ... read more
January 26th 2011
Guten Tag, ich bin mittlerweile in Patagonien angekommen. Das ist das durch die Anden geteilte Grenzgebiet zwischen Chile und Argentinien. Viel Natur und sehr duenn besiedelt. Bin zuerst in San Martin de los Andes angekommen. Das liegt im argentinischen Seengebiet. Wie der Name suggeriert, gibt´s hier sehr viele Seen. :) Hab´dort nur eine NAcht gepennt und bin direkt am naechsten Morgen in den Nationalpark Lanín gefahren. Dort gabs ganz viele Seen (!) und den Vulkan Lanín. Er wird als der schoenste inaktive Vulkan der Welt bezeichnet. Ob´s stimmt, weiss nicht, hab´ja nicht alle gesehen, aber sieht schon ganz schick aus. Der Bus hat einen mitten im Park rausgelassen. Ich hatte eine Karte mit allen Campingplaetzen im Park und hab dann ueberlegt, auf welchem wohl am wenigsten los ist. Ich entschied mich fuer einen und fragte nach ... read more
The Lakes District in Argentina
Published: January 31st 2011South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
January 25th 2011
We thought it would be a formality leaving Chile, but we didn't expect 2 hours delay at the borders,dirt roads up alpine passes and the heat and dust that was. The scenery and especially Lanin Volcano at 3787m made up for the discomforts and I suppose its given us a taste of border crossing! Over the Andes up to about 1300m, not high, but isolated apart from the borders buildings. We probably could see Lanin for 50km, it stands out as a landmark and is on the border between Chile and Argentina. So they both own it and its part of two national parks, Villarrica NP in Chile and Lanin NP in Argentina. I think Argentina own about two thirds of the volcano so they maybe have the right to call their NP after it. We ... read more
Taking it slow through the Lakes District
Published: December 9th 2010South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
December 7th 2010
Kyle As Tahlei explained in our previous blog, it was in San Rafael where we said our tearful goodbyes to Blake and Rhiannon. It wasn't just the thought of not seeing them again for over a month that made us well-up with emotion, it was also the prospect of being stuck on a bus for the next day or so. We had all planned to do such epic mileage over the next few days it would have even the most seasoned traveller on the verge of breakdown by the end of it. Blake and Rhiannon were doing almost half the length of Argentina and the whole of Bolivia in 5 days. If they were still talking by the end of it they did well. We had the slightly less unenviable task of covering about 800km in ... read more
San Martin de los Andes
Published: November 22nd 2010South America » Argentina » Neuquén » San Martín de Los Andes
November 12th 2010
Zastavka cestou do Bariloche. Cesta z Puconu do Bariloche vede pres San Martin de los Andes a musi se tam prestupovat. A pri prestupu se tam na druhy autobus musi par hodin cekat. Tak jsme se rekli, ze kdyz uz tam budeme, tak bychom tam mohli taky jednu noc zustat a zprijemnit si tak cestu. Horkse mestecko, opet trochu pripominajici Evropu na brehu jezera. Dopoledne dojdeme na vyhlidku na jezero a odpoledne se po jezere projedeme na plaz na druhem brehu. A navecer uz zase autobus a frr do Bariloche!... read more
