Blogs from Neuquén, Argentina, South America - page 4

Olaaaa novamente. Sao 12.24 do dia 18 de Fevereiro, mas em Portugal ainda e dia 17... pois e, ja nos encontramos na Nova Zelandia, uiiii, que mudanca, ainda agora chegamos mas parece me que vou adorar este pais. Retornando a bela Argentina e mais propriamente a Bariloche ha algumas notas que quero adicionar ao blog anterior. No dia 12 Janeiro fizemos aquele passeio extraordinario, eu de bicicleta e a Sara a pe e autocarro. No dia seguinte, sexta feira decidimos entao que era tempo de ir e fomos a estacao de autocarro para comprar bilhete para El Chalten e fomos confrontados com o facto de que o autocarro era so de 4 em 4 dias e calhava precisamente naquele dia, ja estava cheio, e, portanto, so passados 4 dias. Em alternativa podiamos ir noutro autocarro diario ... read more

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... 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

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

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