Advertisement
Published: April 13th 2010
Edit Blog Post
We just came back from a 12-day car trip on a route that goes around 7 beautiful lakes in Argentina, to which we added an enchanting town in Chile. It was a different experience to be traveling in a car, easier in some ways. It enabled us to stop where we wanted to, and sleep outside the main town if we so desired. Maytal, who in Hawaii hated the car, now is more mature and was able to endure 3-4 hour road trips, to our relief. We stayed in small towns, saw beautiful scenery and crossed the border back and forth to Chile.
Shakked tells you:
"We are now in Chile, on a 12-day road trip. On the first leg of our journey, we rented a car, left Bariloche, and drove to Angostura. Angostura is a tiny town - really more of a big street with smaller streets branching out from it. We went to our hotel, dumped our luggage, and went on a short hike up a tall hill. The hike wasn’t very long - only an hour and a half round trip, but the path was really steep. It was pretty hard going. We kept tripping over stones
and protruding tree roots on the almost vertical trail. The trees loomed above us, casting their gray shadow and blotting out the outside world. Encased in this shadowy cocoon, we climbed upwards, panting hard. At last we reached our destination; a lookout on top of the hill. It was a remarkable view. A blue lake spread out as far as the eye could see in one direction. Below us was a small bay, with a few boats bobbing in it. A strip of sand formed the beach. Farther inland we could see Angostura, dwarfed by the green vastness around it. After resting a short time, we went down. After eating dinner we retired t our hotel for the night. The next day we lay around and went to the beach so Maytal could play. The next morning we went to San Martin de Los Andes. Nothing eventful happened the one night we were there, as it rained and were cooped up in our hotel room. After that, we crossed the border and are now in Pucon, Chile. There are only three things in our stay in Pucon that are worth writing about. The first was a hike we made into
the mountains. If the hike in Angostura was hard, this was even harder, steeper and longer than in Angostura, the path wound its way up through a thick rainforests. Everywhere you looked; there was green green moss on trees, green ferns in the ground, flowers with green stems, green leaves, green insects, bamboo with green leaves. After an arduous three hour hike, we reached the top, our legs shivering under the strain. Our destination was two lagoons and a lake. We ended up only seeing the first lagoon, since we were too tired. It was small, with a small pebbly beach and reeds growing in the murky brown water by the shore. We ate, rested, and made our way down. The day after that, in the morning, we rented a rowboat and sailed around the lake by Pucon. Amit and I tried rowing, but the oars were really heavy. In the afternoon, we went horse riding again. This time our destination was a waterfall. We trotted most of the way, so it passed quickly. Most of the time we rode in a dark forest, though we passed through two meadows. Having reached as far as the horses could go, we
tied them up and continued on foot. We climbed down a long, steep, slippery, muddy slope and reached the waterfall. It was an awe-inspiring sight. The waterfall thundered down in a cloud of mist and spray, colossal, astounding, and unnerving. After drinking in the sight, we climbed back to our horses and rode home. Today we went to a relaxing but slightly boring trip to two host springs. After swimming around for three hours we returned home. Tomorrow we retrace our steps!"
Amit:
"Today we started on our journey of twelve days. We rented a car and after a 1 hour journey we reached the city of Villa Angostura. There we stayed for two days. The next day we took a three hour drive to San Martin. There is not much to write about San Martin, so let us move to the next city Pucon, Chile. In Pucon we did many exciting things. Horse-riding, a very long walk and hot springs. First let me tell you about the cabalgatas. We drove to a place where we get our horses and ride them. My horse was not so sturdy and sometimes I was galloping. Our destination was a waterfall. We
left our horses next to the waterfall and went to the path of the waterfall. It was very slippery and more than once I slipped. We went back and rode home.
Now let me tell you about the lakes. The lakes consisted of three destinations: two lagoons and a lake. It was very hard because it was up all the time through a dense forest. Two meters next to our destination we almost collapsed into a heap of rubble, but in the end we made it. We found a place to eat and ate a picninc.
The boat: This adventure was not an adventure. We rented a rowing boat. The oars were really heavy but we made it to really deep water. The hot baths (termas);
This was not an adventure either. There were two hot springs, both bubbling. It felt really good."
We ended the trip in a beautiful town called San Martin De Los Andes, surrounded by forested hills and on the shore of yet another lake. Our last night on the way back to Bariloche was spent in a tiny village , 500 people in all, on the shores of Lake Traful. With mixed
feelings we came back to Bariloche , somewhat sad at returning to the “bigger” town, but the boys excited at the prospect of returning to their favorite ice cream and chocolate places . We are also happy that they will resume Spanish classes with their wonderful teachers here. We found a great new hostel, with views of the lake. Last week it rained here, and the mountains around the lake are all covered with fresh snow - a marvelous sight! The weather is cooling down and the leaves are changing colors, the long awaited Fall is finally coming!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.281s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0577s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nesya, Amiel, and Selilah
non-member comment
Beautiful lakes
We loved the colors of the lakes. What a peaceful setting for your adventures. All the kids want to go horseback riding, too. Was it twice as bumpy as going down a rocky road in a car? Everyone thought bear Maytal was too cute. And we had to watch the swinging video three times for Selilah to be satisfied.