photos at end
Sunday 02 – Day 64 Bariloche
The flight was very full so we ended up with the window seats at opposite ends of the back row. This turned out to be a blessing because the weather was very clear and we had fantastic views of the Argentinian landscape for almost the entire flight
Bariloche has a great little modern airport about 25 minutes drive from the town that can handle two planes at once, and it handled us very quickly and efficiently. Within 20 minutes of landing we were entering the arrivals hall with our luggage looking for our ‘meet-and-greet’ car hire rep Philipe. We completed the paperwork quickly and set off in our little Chrysler Classic towards town. Fortunately it was a very simple route, and very well-behaved traffic (by South American standards), so we got to our hotel quickly and with no problems.
Our hotel was a fancy one on the west outskirts of town – Design Suites. Our room was absolutely enormous, with dressing area, sitting area, bathroom and a Jacuzzi by the window. The window had and a great view of the lake and the snow-capped mountains beyond.
Monday 03 – Day 65 – Bariloche
After a good night sleep we planned our driving route for the day. We wanted to drive the famous Seven Lakes Route to San Martin des Andes which was 118 miles each way, so we got up reasonably early hoping to set off by 09:00. In the event, we lingered a bit over the breakfast buffet and didn’t set off in our little hire car until 09:30.
The weather was superb, with a brilliant sun blazing from the deep blue skies of high-altitude, and a little breeze to provide relief. We headed east along the south shore of the lake back towards the airport in order to get around the end of the lake. We followed the shore line and headed back west along the north shore. After about five miles, as we were driving past a set of posts set in the middle of the road, I was gesticulated at by a police man – I was going too fast. These ‘control’ zones are common – some only a few hundred metres apart – and they seem to set them up for several different purposes, including road works, weigh stations, and lorry checks, and, as we discovered, the police are very fussy about how fast you drive through them. Undeterred, but more cautious, we pressed on.
There were fantastic views in every direction, from every point on the road – so we had to agree not to stop for photographs too frequently, otherwise we would never have got anywhere.
After about an hour and a quarter of driving (plus some stopping time), we came to the village of Villa La Angostura. We parked in a side street and wondered around stopping for a coffee and some artisan chocolate. The tree-lined main street was some distance from the lake and lined with low-rise tourist shops, chocolatiers, outdoor shops, cafés, bars and restaurants.
Villa La Angostura is where the Seven Lakes Road really begins. Between there and San Martin, the road passes close to seven lakes – Machónico, Escondido, Correntoso, Espejo, Lácar, Falkner, Villarino – over sixty-eight miles. At each lake along the road there was at least one ‘mirador’ – that is a viewpoint, with space to pull off the road, information boards, and even,sometimes, toilets! We stopped at most of these at first, to take photographs and take in the view, but the journey was taking too long so we had to skip a few.
The entire sixty-eight miles were very beautiful; with shimmering turquoise lakes, surrounded by thickly forested slopes, surmounted by dazzling snow-capped peaks, against the azure sky. The drive took us about an hour and a half.
We finally pulled into San Martin about 15:00. The town seemed attractive and prosperous, but a little quiet as it was siesta time. We had a quick walk along the lake front, which was beautiful enough, but didn’t appear to have many restaurants, so we strolled into town looking for the ‘touristy bit’, where we could get some lunch. A lot of places were closed, but we found a local pub for a late lunch. After strolling around we didn’t leave San Martin until 17:00ish. We drove a bit faster on the return journey with less stops until we got to Lake Espejo where we stopped at a beach at the end of the lake for a rest. We stayed for about thirty minutes taking photographs and paddling in the cool refreshing water. It was already 19:00hrs when we left but still very light.
On our return to Villa La Angostura, we wanted to see the lake front that we hadn’t seen previously, so we turned off the main road before we got into town and follow the shore round. We were immediately in a network of dirt tracks, and throwing up huge amounts of dust in our wake. Eventually, we emerged at Puerto Angostura – a lakeside area with a small beach, a cafe, and a jetty with several craft docked, where you could take boats across the lake. We went into the cafe for drinks to combat the just of our drive and stayed about half an hour.
We then drove non-stop back to Bariloche as the sun setting, non-stop, that is, except for being flagged down at a control-point by a police woman for some random check. She soon let us go on, however, when she realised that we didn’t speak Spanish – too much trouble.
When we got back to the hotel, we were tired and it was so late. Having had a big lunch, we skipped dinner and opted to try the jacuzzi and open the Chandon we had bought in Mendoza with potato crisps. We were soon asleep!
Tuesday 04 – Day 66 – Bariloche – Cero Campanario
We got up, got ready, and had breakfast at a more leisurely pace than the day before, as we planned a more relaxed day doing a couple of short local walks that Barrie had identified on Google the evening before.
It was about 10:30 when we fired up the Chrysler and headed west from the hotel into unexplored territory. Barrie had suggested I take my walking sticks as there was a small hill to climb
We drove west along the lake for about 20 minutes and parked on the road, near the bottom of a chair lift. Barrie told me this was for the old, disabled, and lazy and we would be hiking up , enjoying a pleasant walk. As we were getting ready to leave the car, Barrie managed to lock the car keys in the boot, fortunately the taxi driver in La paz and the luggage incident came to my mind and I realized we could access the boot through the back seat and rescue the keys.
We located the start of the hike adjacent to the bottom of the chair lift, and set off into the woods at about 11:00. The path was well-used and well-signposted – no danger of getting lost. However, the route quickly became very, very steep and very, very strenuous in the hot weather. We passed a number of people coming down, and some passed us going up, but all, even the young, were struggling to some extent. We passed an elderly guy who had been abandoned by his friends, and we left him there no certain if he would ever make it to the bottom or die on the hike. It took us about an hour, with many stops for water and rest and a discussion about the state of our marriage and never again. This was not a “moderately difficult” walk!
When we finally got to the top about 12:00,I was too out of breath and overheating to call a divorce layer so instead Barrie installed me, at one of the tables, and I went into the café and bought a couple of ice creams to revive us. After a while my temperature dropped and I was able to admire the spectacular views in all directions. When we had photographed all the possible variations of view, we decided that discretion is the better part of valour, and took the chair lift back down again.
By this time, it was about 13:00 and we were feeling a little disinclined to do another “moderately difficult walk”, so, after studying the map, we decided to do a bit of a scenic drive back to the hotel. This turned out to be mostly off roading on unmade road / dirt track, with Barrie driving I could sense he was also looking for the number of a divorce lawyer! It took rather longer than anticipated and we didn’t get back until about 16:00.
When we got back to the hotel, we went down to the indoor/outdoor pool below the main reception level. There we spent an hour floating around in the late afternoon sunshine, and admiring the view down to the lake.
Later, we drove into Bariloche with the intention of exploring the touristy part of town, and maybe having some dinner. We had the idea that the downtown would be cute, like Villa la Agnostura, or San Martin des Andes, but it was a little bit trashy as they were doing roadworks, and we couldn’t see anywhere to eat. So, we had an ice-cream, returned to the hotel, and ate in the excellent restaurant again.
