The Lakes District

Just a quick note to say we´ve really been in the Lakes District ever since we reached Puerto Montt by ferry a few weeks back. The lakes district encompasses an area of Chile and Argentina where there is ... well lots of lakes!! Its the northern most section of Patagonia. Bariloche is on the shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi which is massive and has legs, arms, branches and bays leading off into the mountains in all directions.

On April fools day we decided to finally move on from Bariloche after spending the best part of 3 weeks based there. Feeling a little sad to say goodbye to all the good memories but also glad to be heading off for something new we headed off to Villa la Angostura on one of our more delightful bus journeys of 75 minutes. The bus journey heads out briefly into the dry, desolate steppe landscape before heading back along the lake shore and back into the forested landscape. The little town cum village is situated on the north shore on the opposite side of Lago Nahuel Huapi to Bariloche and is where all the rich Argentines go on hols. This can be seen by the large number of cabanas and posh places to stay. We found one of the few hostels to stay -its named after the town itself and is really a sweet little place. The sheets were shiny clean (often in hostels we dont look that closely cos what the eye dont see the body doesn´t want to scratch or squirm thinking about), floor heating, on suite and a great kitchen and lounge area.

On the first afternoon we headed out for a look at Lago Correntoso (which is one of the lakes on the famous 7 lake drive) which we eventually found after walking thru a maze of beautiful houses and roads to nowhere. The lake was stunning and still with reflections of all the mountains around it. From there we wandered back into town along the main (dusty) road along the Lago Nahuel Huapi. The 2 lakes are connected by what must be the world´s shortest river - its flows about 100m from Lago Correntoso into Lago Nahuel Huapi - water as clear as could be too. Probably ended up walking around 12kms all up so had worked up quite a thirst. Tried some of the local brew called Epulafuquen - it was absolute piss especially the dark beer which tasted like the leftovers of burnt spuds water (not that I ever burnt spuds!). Like if I bottled that myself I´d be arrested I reckon. Unfortunately seems like anyone here can stick a label "artesenal" on chocolate, beer, food of all kinds, jewellery, etc and get away with selling it at premium prices no matter what the quality (or lack of). The only good brew we tasted in this area was the El Bolson beer which was really good, the Benroth choclate and Jauja icecream. Everything else I could do better myself.

The next day was clear and beautiful again (if I got paid for everytime we said that in Patagonia we could travel for free for the next 3 months!) so we headed out to the PN Los Arrayanes which are 300 year old, rare trees with cinnamon coloured bark. The walk out is along a narrow peninsula surrounded by the lake. Its 12km each way and meanders along thru lovely forest. You could also bike it but we only have hiking boots and flip flops so decided against that. At the end of the peninsula is where all the arrayanes are and its really incredible sight to behold. There´s a sturdy 2m wide wooden walkway thru the trees (presumably to protect the forest and keep the tourists inside the rails) with good photo chances. There´s also a cafe and a shop selling "artesenals" inside the forest. Wonder how many 300 year old trees made way for those? Its a bit baffling really as they could have put both these structures about 200m away where there was lots less arrayenes. Ah well I´m sure there´s a good and sound ecological reasoning behind it right??? The walk back was lovely but quite dusty at the end and we covered about 30kms so in hindsight a bike would have been an easier option.

From Villa la Angostura we took a bus to San Martin de los Andes via the famous 7 lakes district. The route is mostly via ripio (gravel) which is been worked on to upgrade it to a sealed surface. Its really beautiful and majestic drive all the way and heaps of nice places to stop for photos, camping etc. The only stop we got was to watch Argentine roadworks in action as a group of guys placed a new drain across a road. Amazingly noone got injured or died cos those fellas were lining up for it. They were placing a large 2m wide, 15m long, corrugated steel drainage pipe into a channel dug into the road. One guy was standing in the newly dug drain as this thing dangled from the bucket of a digger (that threatened to be tipped over from the weight of the pipe onto all the fellas standing in the drain below). He was holding this thing with one hand - must be the man with the strongest arm in the world) as it swung from side to side and looked like he´d get his head chopped off. Happily he didn´t and we all moved on after about an hour to see more beautiful lakes and mountains and an incredible view down onto San Martin de los Andes as we reached it. We did also see some more areas of beech changing colour which is very pretty.

San Martin de los Andes is another town for rich tourists but plenty backpackers there as well. There´s tons of parrilla, pizza, pasta restaurants on the main streets and its a pretty setting on the lake. We stayed at the Puma hostel which was once again lovely and great value. As this was our last night in Patagonia we dined out the fancy ´Ku´restaurant which has a really varied menu (altho there was parrilla, pasta but for once no pizza on the menu). Yummo and would highly recommend it.

Next day we left Patagonia on the 19 hour bus to Mendoza. We have had an unbeleivable time of it. In 3 months we have been up and down and all around the Patagonian Andes on both the Argentine and Chilean sides. The weather has been incredible. We had one week of rain at the start of January and hardly a drop since then - its probably been the driest, sunniest summer since records began in Patagonia so in that respect we were so lucky (altho makes me wonder how everything can continue to stay so green and lush if this continues on a longer term basis and where will all the snow for the glaciers come and how fast must they have melted before our eyes this summer?). The highlight was the Carretera Austral and also some of the really unexpected beauty of the hiking around Bariloche. Obviously Fitzroy and Torres del Paine were also incredible but we seemed to get more enjoyment from the first 2 areas I mentioned - its hard to know tho - maybe in 3 months time when we´re sitting back behind a computer, its the drama of the latter walks we will remember and use to stay sane :)

Right time to head north for something different and an easier end to our travels!