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Published: March 25th 2008
Map of Parques Nacionals Lanin and Nahuel Huapi
Lanin (lah-neen) and Nahuel Huapi (nah-well wah-pee) are large parks in the Argentinean Lake District. San Martín de los Andes is near the top right. San Carlos de Bariloche is about 2/3 the way down on the right.The Lake District
On Monday morning (3/17--St. Paddy’s Day), we left BA and flew to Bariloche. We considered taking the bus from BA to Bariloche, but the ride is 24 hours long, which was a little much for us. All in all, we spent 1.5 days in San Martín, 1 day driving from San Martín to Bariloche, and 2.5 days in Bariloche. As with BA, we would have liked to have stayed longer in San Martín and Bariloche. Much, much longer.
The topography of the Argentinean Lake District bears some similarity to that of Colorado. The biggest difference is the incredible number of lakes in this area of Argentina and the international flavor of the area’s heart and soul, Bariloche, a backpacker’s haven.
San Martín and Bariloche are quite different. San Martín is quaint if you like postcard-worthy mountain towns flush with Alpine architecture; the town is a miserable place if, like Che Guevara, you dislike the town’s overtly Swiss chalet touristy self-awareness. (I’m currently reading The Motorcycle Diaries, and Che seems to have hated San Martín even more than its mountain brethren.) Five years after moving to Colorado, I still consider myself a mountain town newbie,
Hosteria La Raclette
Here's where we stayed in San Martín. It's about a 3-block walk into town. Our room was big, beautiful, and very inexpensive. Lodging is pretty inexpensive overall in Argentina. and I happen to like towns like San Martín. Quiet. Isolated. Big mountains in every direction. The hills are alive with the sound of music. That sort of thing. Anyhow, the town reminded Paul and me a lot of Banff, Canada. Since we arrived off season, lots of restaurants and shops in San Martín were almost or completely empty, which was kind of sad to see.
Bariloche is a beast in comparison with San Martín. Bariloche has something for everybody, which is probably why everybody is there. Seriously, everybody is there. You’re probably there and just don’t know it—it’s that packed. Paul and I are pretty certain there were more tourists in Bariloche than in all of BA. (The Bariloche tourists in question include people from around the world and people from Argentina—many Argentineans had time off this week for Easter.) Walk down any stretch of street, and you might hear German, Spanish, Italian, and English (English, Irish, Australian, and American accents).
Here are a few specifics about what we’ve been up to in San Martín and Bariloche—
Trekking. We hiked quite a bit in and around both towns. In San Martín, we walked up to Mirador
View from Arrayán Casa de Té
We had tea and scones and took in the views of Lago Lácar and the surrounding hills. The hike up the hill on a VERY hot afternoon was well worth it. Just look at these views! (viewpoint) Bandurrias, which offered nice views of the town and the surrounding Lago Lácar. That same day, we walked up a big hill to Hotel Sol de los Andes, by far the ugliest hotel in town (I’m sure Che would agree), then got lost in a barrio. The houses in these hills were very different—much less well tended, much less thematically Alpine—than the swank pads below.
Eventually Paul and I located a trekking path up to Mirador Arrayán. This was one hot day, and we didn’t linger once we got to the viewpoint. Rather than head back down, though, we continued up the path a bit to the Arrayán Casa de Té, a house built by a Brit called Renée Dickinson in 1936. (Renée was said to resemble an arrayán, a tall, thin, white myrtle with red-cinnamon bark—presumably she had either red hair or sunburned skin. Arrayán in the Mapuche language also means “place where we see the last rays of the sun.”) Renée’s building is one of the oldest in the area, and it was nice to sit inside, sip tea, eat scones, and enjoy beautiful views.
In Bariloche, we did some hiking as well. First we
View from Mirador Arrayán
Lago Lácar as seen from Mirador (viewpoint) Arrayán
headed to Cerro (mount) Otto. It was a stormy day, but we made it to the top, only to be refused entrance to the structure atop the mountain . On the way back down, we stopped at Refugio Berghof where we warmed up by the fire with some tea.
Another day, we walked up Cerro Campanario, roughly 16 km from town. The 360-degree views were phenomenal, and the weather was gorgeous.
Food and Drink. We’ve gotten used to a light breakfast (juice and a croissant) around 10 am, a sandwich around 3 pm, and dinner around 11 pm. Dinner usually consists of steak, pizza, pasta, a quesadilla, or empanadas. Most menus include these items, and generally speaking it’s somewhat difficult to find other kinds of foods. Luckily the foods we’ve eaten are almost always very good. And salads are also on most menus and are usually excellent. However, the equitable division of salad ingredients leaves us a bit puzzled. For example, one night Paul ordered a large salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and olives, and he got 1/3 bowl of greens, 1/3 bowl of
Carolyn on the way to Mirador Bandurrias
The path to Mirador (viewpoint) Bandurrias started near Lago Lácar and continued on through forests to large rock formations at the top. tomatoes (roughly 2-3 tomatoes worth), and 1/3 bowl of olives (approximately 30 olives).
For lunch, we’ve been packing picnic sandwiches from Migas, the best sandwich shop in Bariloche. Two large sandwiches and a big bottle water run a couple of US dollars. It’s incredible how inexpensive the food is here.
Drinkwise, we buy and order water everywhere we go, as no one seems to drink water from the tap (and ordering tap water at a restaurant is frowned upon). We’ve also had our share of beer and wine. Beer is usually sold in two sizes, the second size roughly that of a wine bottle. Paul and I have split many a grande bottle of Stella Artois. We’ve also enjoyed many inexpensive wines (often $3-4 US/bottle), as well as gotten some great wine tasting advice from the otherwise unoccupied wine bar staff in sleepy San Martín.
My favorite bar in the Lake District is called South Bar. It’s in Bariloche, just a stone’s throw from the hotel where we stayed. The place is better for wear, and inside it’s almost too dark to see your drink. Great music, no end of positive energy, and patrons from around the
Lago Escondido
Escondido is the fourth of the seven “official” lakes along the Siete Lagos route. The seventh lake is Lago Nahuel Huapi near the town of Bariloche. world. If the place was in Denver, it would be my local.
Ruta de los Siete Lagos. This famous route passes seven lakes (really, it passes about a million), and the drive takes all day. We drove from San Martín to Bariloche along this route, and we stopped to see many a lake and forest on this cold and cloudy day. Paul drove along wet roads both paved and unpaved, which got pretty tiring for so long a drive. Nonetheless, we were glad we made the drive, and we hope to return one day when the weather is better.
Driving. After we flew into Bariloche, we rented a little red Fiat from an agency called Apu. Every time Paul mentions the rental agency, he follows with a Simpsons reference. (Apu is the owner of the Quicky-Mart on The Simpsons.) Paul does this every single time. Cracks me up.
But I digress.
After we flew into Bariloche, I drove to San Martín (4 hours), and I came to love that little Fiat. It’s so small that it felt like an extension of my person, and it was perfect for whipping around winding roads and maneuvering down busy
Sheep!
Sheep near Lago Correntoso, the fifth of the seven lakes on the Siete Lagos route. I have roughly 20 great sheep pictures. I almost posted 2 to this blog. Which seemed excessive. To Paul. Not to me. city streets. I also drove the car into Bariloche after Paul finished driving the Siete Lagos route, and Paul navigated brilliantly while I did my best to zip around cars and people.
Driving in Argentina is a challenge to put it mildly. For one thing, drivers NEVER stop for pedestrians. I’m being serious here—only once did I see a driver stop for a pedestrian who was in the middle of the street, and that driver was me. And in stopping, I almost caused a 7-car pileup. Basically, if you stop for pedestrians you greatly increase the odds that other cars will crash into yours, as your fellow drivers have no context for what you are doing. The rules of thumb are these: If you’re a driver, drive; if you’re a pedestrian, watch your back.
Another thing—there are long stretches of road (hours long sometimes) where there are no towns, no buildings, no people. Short on gas? Thirsty? Hungry? Too bad. Stock up while the stocking up is good. There are probably areas of the US that are similarly open and empty, but I haven’t seen them. In my experience, even isolated hikes in the Colorado mountains are within
The Open Road
The road into Bariloche. Paul took this photo from the car as I drove into town. an hour or two of some semblance of a town (even if that “town” has only a gas station).
I have to say that I was glad when the lady at Apu swung by our lodging in Bariloche to pick up the car, as I was done with city driving. Still, I kind of miss that Fiat.
Cruise to Puerto Blest. One day we took a bus 28km down Avenida Bustillo to Puerto Pañuelo and boarded a boat with 300 other people for a cruise along Lago Nahuel Huapi. I wasn’t expecting a quarter this many people, and I’d also hoped to ride outside on deck (vs. in the large indoor area where most seats were located). I was pretty taken aback by the crowds.
The boat ride was pleasant enough, but when we docked all 300 people got off the boat and walked up to Cascada Los Cántaros (a large waterfall). To be honest, it felt a bit like a forced march. To escape the crowds, Paul and I waited until our 298 boatmates left, ate a picnic lunch near the top of the falls, and walked along a very pretty forest path to Puerto Blest
Puerto Pañuelo
On a day cruise, we started from Puerto Pañuelo and headed west on Lago Nahuel Huapi to reach Puerto Blest. In this picture, LLao LLao, a world-famous hotel, can be seen on the left. The hotel charges $500-600/night (US dollars) for a room, which is an outrageous price in Argentina (roughly three times as outrageous as it would be in the US). instead of taking the boat trip from Cascada Los Cántaros to Puerto Blest with the others. On the way, we crossed a couple of rickety bridges over Los Cántaros river. One of those two bridges concerned Paul. However, the bridge that concerned me most was a third bridge, a long suspension bridge that swayed and bounced as we crossed. A little too Indiana Jones for me …
In Puerto Blest, we passed a 200-person snack bar (filled with half the people from our boat) and headed toward Hotel Puerto Blest, a touristy historic building (filled with the other half of our boatmates). We headed over to the boat to grab seats up top. The weather was wonderful, as was the 1.5-hour boat ride back to Puerto Pañuelo.
Language Skills. Paul’s Spanish is fabulous, and it gets better every day. These days, Paul can have full-fledged conversations with people in Spanish, which is pretty amazing, I think.
My Spanish language skills on the other hand, are virtually nonexistent. As previously mentioned, I can order beer and count up to thirty in Spanish, which, put another way, means I know how to order up to thirty beers. If I
Paul, Carolyn, and El Abuelo
At the top of the path to Cascada Los Cántaros, we located “El Abuelo” (The Grandfather), a 1500-year-old coigue tree (and the largest tree in the area). The big guy is behind us. ever see thirty beerless people in a bar, I’ve got the situation covered. I also happen to know the phrase “Laura es mi amiga.” Laura, one of my college roommates, taught me this important phrase back in college, and I’ve used it frequently over the years (usually while talking to Laura—funny, that).
For the past 10 days, I’ve been reading my Spanish language instruction book and practicing my Spanish, usually in restaurants. My conversations usually go something like this:
Waiter: Hola.
Carolyn: Laura es mi amiga.
Waiter: Que?
Carolyn: Dos cervesas, por favor.
Paul: Why did you tell the waiter that Laura is your friend?
Carolyn: I’m practicing my Spanish.
Paul: If you say so.
And on we go. Enough rambling. Time to sign off. We’re on an overnight bus to Mendoza, and I need to try to get some sleep. Besides, there’s only so much of the minutiae of our lives that our friends and family care to hear 😉
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Debbie
non-member comment
lake...big lake....
you're not kidding about the lakes! Every single picture has approx. 15 lakes in it. Looks beautiful though...ahhh