San Martin de Los Andes & Bariloche

Argentina

16/01 – 19/01

Mon (16/01) – San Martin de Los Andes

I left Pucon via bus at 10:30 in the morning and set out for San Martin de Los Andes – a smallish alpine town on the Argentinian side of the Andes. The bus ride took me past the area in which I hitch hiked from the Villarrica Traverse. This was close to Volcano Lanin, the tallest mountain of the area. The closer you get, the smaller is actually looks due to perspective. However, it’s actually the tallest mountain of the area (~3800m).

The volcano was actually on the border of Chile and Argentina, and I had to go through customs which was located on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. I also had to show my $100USD reciprocity fee receipt that Australians and Canadians are charged (sucks to be us!). We arrived to San Martin after four hours. I was initially going to wild camp outside of town with a German guy I met, but decided I needed the internet and chose the camp ground in town.

It was quite nice actually – lots of trees and a burbling stream running through the centre. I chose a spot right up the back inserted between two cut out hill banks for some noise cancellation. I made some pasta for dinner with POWDERED pesto this time. ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of this earlier!“, I think, reflecting back on my pesto ziplock bag explosion. A fee swigs of my rum later and I’m off with the pixies.

Tues (17/01)

The sound of an annoying squawking birds woke me. It reminded me of a pack of monkeys squealing. I made a coffee, packed my day pack, and set off for a walk around town. The town was located between two steep hills with a lake on the far side. It was a nice and confined little town, protected on all sides.

I decided to walk around the far right side of the lake and hill, to reach a lookout where o could get a nice view of the town and beyond. It took a few kilometres to reach the genre area, but the path was so braided, I think I ended up at a lower ledge. Either way, there was no people here and more private.

I decided to last put my solar panels to charge my power pack as I laid in the shade to rest. I didn’t get to charge the previous night, and was running low on my phone and power bank… and body energy bank for that matter!

I returned to town after an hour or so, and  found somewhere for lunch, in which I had a new experience with cheesy egg loaded fries. I bought some food from the supermarket, including a longneck of beer and returned to the campsite to clean up and chill out and book a bus and hostel for the next day. There was more people here this night and it was harder to find sleep.

Wed (18/01)

After breakfast, a shower and packing up my tent, I left for the bus stop. I chose an appropriate seat this time in the front half of the bus away from the toilet. The bus ride was spectacular. If my window wasn’t grubby, I’d be tempted to take photos. Lake Nahuel Huapi was gorgeous to drive around, with many camp sites on the shoreline. I wish I had a car at that point, so I could pull over before Bariloche.

Once I arrived, I passed the queues of people waiting for cabs and buses and walked into the city. ‘What’s a few kilometers‘, I thought. I had to walk to the other side for my hostel and it took about thirty minutes. The hostel was in a nice part of town thankfully.

I showered and did some sink laundry – hoping my roommates didn’t mind wet clothes hanging around. I then walked into town to see the sights. There is one main street with loads of chocolate and confectionery shops, and side streets with nice look restaurants. It turns out Bariloche is not the most interesting city for photos, but the scenery around is spectacular. I can’t wait to get amongst it!

After, I returned to the hostel. One of my roommates returned, who was a 29-year-old Belgian girl named Jasperina who had just completed a day hike. We chatted for a while and ended up going out for some dinner together. We ate at 10:30pm, which is normal here!

Everything is much later I’ve learned, maybe because of their siesta time (only in towns) between 1-4pm usually. We ordered fresh trout with a soft lemon cheese sauce and some red wine. It was delicious and relatively affordable. I was happy for a little Spanish training that she gave me, bring a fluent speaker. We turned to the hostel and turned in for the night. She had an early flight to catch in the morning.

Thurs (19/01)

I went for a wander in the city together to resupply a gas canister and get a new spork (I snapped my other one) – this time I got a stronger one from a better well-received hiking brand. I also topped up on my food supplies for hiking. My last job was to visit the national park office to discuss my route and get some advice. I had already selected a roughly six day route I want to take.

Reapplying food on the trail is not an option, but there are occasional Refugio that serve food at some popular points I will utilize of an evening. You can sleep in them for a price  but I have my tent, which is free camping outside. I filled in a form to state my plans and provide information, and I was good to go.

In the late afternoon I actually had a siesta – I’m Argentinian now haha. It was around 7:30pm, and I was hungry. I really wanted to go to a beer house called Manush which is always busy and groups have to wait for seats. However, when I arrived they let me in straight away to sit at the bar as I was alone.

There were many beers to try, and I started with a stout which was probably the smoothest I’ve had, followed by a delicious Red Ale. I ordered a chicken pot pie which was… the greatest thing I’ve eaten in a long time! Words cannot describe how good it was, and it also contained a lot of vegetables which I haven’t eaten in a while.

~ Continue my Patagonian travels with ‘Cerro Cathedral (near Bariloche) to Mt Tronador – Patagonia: Multi-day Hiking Trip‘ ~

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