Tigre is where people from Buenos Aires go to in weekends to escape the city. One gets there by taking a train, which gives a good view of the less fashionable sights of Buenos Aires: slums and dim suburbs galore. Tigre itself has a friendly 'local tourism' feel to it, but the real fun starts out of town: a massive delta of teh Rio Paraña makes for hepas of islands and canals, with lush green banks. Boats are the most common form of public transport in Tigre, and what's not to like about that. It's touristy nature does make it a bit of an uninteresting town for people that like to go to more tranquil places. I tried for a long time to find a boat to a remote island where i could just camp and ... read more

A torrential downpour had just flooded Capilla del Monte when we arrived. In the evening light and the heavy heat, the town easily caught our fancy. The next day and the discovery of the main street would show us it was all a bit more run down, but nonetheless this stayed a pleasant town. Talking about the universe made me long very much to brushing up on astrophysics again, there's a big field of knowledge that i've left untouched for many a year, and this can not be. We celebrated the first of May on the municipal campground, which involved making friends with dogs. One of them, which the ultimate mistress of love called 'Dances With Wolves', set out with us to the lakeside, and got a ham and cheese sandwich for the road. A bunch ... read more

Hoo-wee, this is one pretty town! Chascomús got very well preserved, and most of this buildings date from the 19th and early 20th century. It looks quite a lot like your typical western film, even though it's a lot calmer, and in some places far more monumental. The main square is very impressive, and whereever you go from there, fine buildings will come your way, like the beautiful train station. I spent my first day here hanging around, socialising with the locals and watching the documentary 'La Ultima Estacion' in the town hall. The movie was pretty shabbily made, but it gave a very striking view of the downfall of Argentina's railway system - the main cause being privatization (surprise!). Villages got abandoned because of train services ending, and of course - as always - everything ... read more

I went to Bariloche without a lot of expectations: from all that i heard from fellow travellers and from the readings of my travel guide, i derived that it was probably the most touristy spot in Argentina. And upon arriving, i did indeed not find a lot outside of chocolate-, artesanal- and souvenir shops. As a town, Bariloche does not have a lot to offer. My first plan was to move straight on, to Parque Nacional Lanín, but i decided to go talk to the guardaparques of Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi -closer to Bariloche- anyway. And of course, i got convinced into trekking the park, especially because autumn offers pretty much no tourists, and more spectacular views. From Bariloche, there are two main multiple day treks. One leads you up from Lago Guttierez into the surrounding ... read more

Ah, what a nice park this is! I arrived early in the morning, and had the super helpful guardaparques explain everything to me. The trail i wanted to hike was in a very bad condition due to the rain and storms, apparently, but as it was the only multi-day trekking option i had to take it. While the main road through the park has good facilities, shops and campings, there's only short walks available. Most of the park is unreachable - the guardaparque told me this was because it's in the first place a nature reserve, not a tourist attraction, and that makes some sense. Nevertheless, my two day hike was a return trip, not a loop, so i had to backtrack everything. I set out to Lago Krügger at 10 am, for a 30 km ... read more