Blogs from Neuquén, Argentina, South America - page 9

Like most travellers, the Lonely Planet is very much our compass for travelling in foreign land. And when I read in it that a place is "almost achingly beautiful" you know I´m going to check it out...and they were so right! And, like so many things in life, we were guided here by a series of mishaps...and I´m so thankful for them because I can´t imagine having spent the last couple of days anywhere else. As for these mishaps let me advise you (as if I need to!) don´t rent a car from someone whose language you only understand about 30% of... but even more importantly don´t ever, ever rent a car from Buenos Aires! Ugh! But perhaps I should start at the beginning... Buenos Aires-wow what a bustling city! We got there on a day ... read more

Ok, so Santiago had a point - Bariloche is beautiful. The weather has flipped, the wind dissapeared and revealed a most beautiful lake, rugged snow-capped peaks, massive lakes, crsytal clear rivers, the whole deal. If you´re into the outdoors, you could happily spend weeks exploring and adventuring here, but unfortunately after our week of intensive spanish, we are leaving at the end of the week. Our two rides over the weekend highlighted the dichotomy of this wee town. On sunday we cycled part of circuito chico along the lake, a picturesque, mostly sealed road circuit with huge monstrosities to attract the tourists. A lovely ride. On saturday we went hunting for some single track, and on our journey ended up in the back waters of town. It didn´t take long to lose the seal on the ... read more

Villa Pehuenia es una pequeña población ubicada en el centro - oeste de la provincia de Neuquén, a muy pocos kilómetros de la frontera con Chile, adonde se llega atravesando el paso de Icalma. Está ubicada a 1200 mts sobre el nivel del mar, sobre la cordillera de los Andes y a orillas del lago Aluminé. Se encuentra ubicada a unos 1608 kilómetros de Buenos Aires. Su nombre se debe a que en la zona abundan las araucarias araucanas, llamadas por los mapuches "pehuén", árbol milenario (su edad puede llegar a 1000 años), de gran porte, ya que su altura puede llegar a 40 metros y su diámetro a 2 metros. Para los mapuches la araucaria es un árbol sagrado; su semilla, el piñón fue su principal fuente de alimento, y aún sigue ocupando un lugar ... read more

We learnt another lesson on our second overnight bus and that is that its better to be warm and cramped than spacious and cold. So with the heating broken in cama (sleeper class) and Matts failed attempt to complain to the driver (Leanne could only hear "Frio, Frio") we decided to attempt the unimaginable and sneak up stairs into second class where we were able to find a couple of nice warm seats and finally got some sleep. We arrived in Bariloche which is the heart of the Lakes District of Argentina. What a wonderful site after such a long journey. Although not cold the air was crisp and fresh with hardly a cloud in the sky. Bariloche is surrounded by snow capped mountains and sits on the edge of a labyrinth of small lakes. It ... read more

And so after a more than pleasant extended stay in the city of Mendoza it was time to head off into the country side, this time for a spot of camping. Our destination was a small town in the heart of the the Argentine Lake district which is famed for, wait for it, lakes. We arrived in the lovely town of San Martin de los Andes which sits at the end of a huge lake called Lake Lacar (Lago Lacar), set in a valley surrounded by huge rocky mountains. Though out of town, the campsite was perfect. It was in a small wood right on the shore of the gorgeous lake and overlooking a lovely pebble beach, with a nice wee river running by. Decent facilities as well. We pitched our tent (only slightly better than ... read more