No mas autobus!

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Today we are doing the Circuito Chico out of Bariloche with Marta. Nice lady who makes a mean mate. I am not sure I would do this again but for sure it is the most popular tour around. Stopped by Marta’s favorite rose hip face cream factory where she probably gets free stuff for stopping by with the tourists. Then we go up to the top of a mountain on a chairlift to get some grand views of the lake and surrounding montanios. Best part of the day but too short. We must have spent too much time rose hipping it. The drive now goes past one of Argentina’s famous hotels, the Llao Llao. Would have liked to check out the inside but it doesn’t cater to us lowly tourists. Nice scenery for the rest of the journey but nothing spectacular. Most of the houses around here are upscale Lake Tahoe style with that log cabin look. They use a type of slate roof that must weigh a ton. We end up at the ski resort, Cerro Catedral for lunch but I think Marta gets free lunches here too. This place is just as depressing as Squaw Valley in the summer and a waste of time. The chair lifts are not even working but even if they were I already had my grand view for the day. Then we wander around the area on a dirt road in the van while Marta reminisces about some miraculous wildfire. I must have dosed off because that is all I remember. We had dinner at a nice little Mexican restaurant that had a margarita machine. They weren’t that good but it didn’t take much to make the highlight reel this day.

Kazuko says no more bus rides!!! Count em. That’s three exclamation points which mean she is staying in town today while some of us with softer behinds are off on an 8 hour combi ride on the Ruta de los Siete Lagos. Marta and her matecito are again joining us to see one of the great scenic drives in Argentina. We start off through the famous checkpoint charliedo where we had our passports checked a couple days ago. Fortunatly no polizi around this time caus I aint got my passport with me. We are headed to San Martin de los Andes via 7 beautiful lakes. Make a pit stop at touristy Villa la Angostura and then 30 K of dirt. Stopped by Lago Correntoso for a torta frita from the indigenous family that runs the place but the previous bus load of tourists ate the lot. We were thankful to see the hidden lake of Escondido as this means the dirt is almost over. Pulling into San Martin we were ready for a break. Ambled over to where Che Guevara got off his motorcycle for an evening and exercised our revolutionary rights by not following Marta’s directions on where to eat. The meal we did eat was fabuloso and gave us the intestinal energy for the ride back. We were going to do a round about way home staying on paved roads but about 10 K outta town we were informed that the road was blocked by some unhappy local Indians and we would have to go back to Bariloche the same way we came. Not good. But they have a point that like the native Americans, they were here before the western Europeans. Even though most down here are sympathetic with their plight and know about the genocide the early conquistadors did, the various Indian tribes still have a tough fight with the national authorities to get their rights acknowledged. Hence we get to dine on Patagonian dirt.

Our disappointment was not assuaged by the cloudy view of Volcan Lanin. Bigger than Fuji in Japan, it is quite a sight on a clear day. Good thing we had a good lunch cause by the time we got back we were in no shape to go out for dinner.

I agree with Kazuko...no more van rides please.

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Comments

[Linda]

beautiful
Your pictures are gorgeous and this sure sounds like a great trip. I'm with you though, I don't think I could handle all that bouncing around on dirt roads in a van for very long. Buenos dias Kazuko and Danny!!