Las Lenas at Last

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We arrived in San Rafael (about 3hours drive from Las Lenas) at about 8:30am which left us about 20 minutes to find the right connecting bus to the mountains... we found the bus no problems as it was easily identifiable from the long line of people with ski gear waiting to get on it... a little too many people as it turned out. The bus was sold out and we were told that there “might be another one a little later”. Where this bus was going to materialise from was unclear, as was how much later this might occur.

Frustrated that we were so close to our destination and seemingly stumbling at the last hurdle I left Alison at the bus station to guard all our bags and went roaming the streets of San Rafael to see what alternative arrangements could be made.

30minutes later I was squished in behind the wheel of a 3 door Chevy Corsa and was negotiating the winding one way streets of San Rafael trying desperately to get back to the Bus Station.

Next was a game of car tetris the likes of which I have not seen since trying to 4 guys and snowboards in the old Nissan Sentra in the good old driggs days.

Somehow we managed to fit in ourselves, all our gear, and a months worth of groceries (I.e. cheap wine) we decided to stock up on before heading up the hill.
After a few wrong turns getting out of town we were on the open road, negotiating the twisting moonscape with the loco locals. Soon the excitement was palpable.. the mountains were getting closer, the pampa was giving way to the arid foothills and the nodding donkeys and sulfur gas of Malargue's oil and gas fields let us know we were getting close.

Finally we wound our way around the final turn and Ali was rewarded with here first glimpses of the Valle de Las Lenas in all its glory. A meter of fresh snow had the village and mountains towering around it looking at its best. We pulled the car up to the front of our first home and I mumbled some apologies as I showed Ali exactly what our money had bought... actually it was in pretty good shape - sure it could use a coat of paint, and there were some pretty large gaps between the doors, windows and the surrounding walls - but hey the roof was in tact (Although there is a minor leak) and the new hot water system we had installed a month earlier was on and ready for us.. Finally we were home!!

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Photos

driving3
finally the pampa begins to give way to las montanas!

driving1
From the absolute flat of the pampa to the 4000m peaks of the central andes

driving2
nodding donkeys on the way to Malargue

driving 3
Argentinos love a good straight road... pity they are full of 1970's era trucks driving at 60-160kms an hour

driving4
almost there...

Comments

[Pedro Ximenez]

Ya esta llegando!
Nothing excites like a nodding donkey and 70's era design trucks with typically developing economy driving skills. Bless. I am absolutely frothing!