Crossing into Argentina: Seven lakes drive

This morning we left Pucon at 7am for our drive to Bariloche, Argentina.  Peggy was loaded and, in the cold chill of the truck, we headed off on a tarmac road for the Chile-Argentina border.  I was fully wrapped in a blanket and my nose was freezing; even pulling my scarf up around my face didn’t seem to alter the temperature.  About 60km into the drive through forest along the river, the road turned to gravel and there was quite a bit of noise coming from the truck as she crunched along.  Border formalities passed smoothly (Ally had said that sometimes it can take a while) and I was stamped out of Chile and, 2km down the road, into Argentina.  The clouds were in a favorable position and Volcano Lanin showed its peak in the distance.

An hour after crossing, our drive took us through large open valleys with yellow wildflowers and purple, pink, and white lupins surrounded by snow-capped mountains.  The majority of the day the sky was cloudy and although the sun tried to break through a few times.  After passing through the adorable town of San Martin de los Andes, we reached the beginning of the seven lakes drive, basically a scenic driving route north of Bariloche.

We stopped at viewpoints on Lagos Lacar, Machonico, Hermoso, Villarino, Traful and Correntoso before finally reaching Lago Nahuel Huapi.  It seemed that every time we got out of the truck to take photos, the sky opened, just a bit, but enough to get slightly damp and make me run back into the “warmth” of the truck as quickly as possible.  Near Lago Machonico was a beautiful waterfall covered by lupins.  Our lunch spot overlooked Lake Villarino but the cold wind chill and on-and-off bit of rain didn’t make for a very pleasant picnic.  The guys were stuck with lunch duty today since the first lunch was prepared by the ladies.    

At our last stop, I found out that sitting with Andy up front meant that I could have some real heat, so I jumped in.  He couldn’t believe the smile on my face when the heaters went on.  It was bliss to finally feel warm.  I’m not sure how I’m going to make it further south.  It will continue getting colder and the wind will increase.  Fortunately, I haven’t been in full layers yet, so hopefully I’ll survive.

By the time we arrived at 5:30pm, I was in major need for a good stretch and took a walk through some of the town center.  My body, especially my back, is so sore from the combination of whitewater rafting and horseback riding and the day sitting on the bus didn’t help matters.  Surprisingly, Bariloche does not have as much of a ski chalet feel as I expected.  It’s quite hilly with a number of concrete buildings.  Pucon looked more similar to my Bariloche expectations.  There are a number of chocolate shops, always a plus, but the town is less quaint than I imagined.  That’s not saying I don’t like it, I just thought it would be something different.  I picked up a hot chocolate for my stroll from one of the famous chocolate shops and was back at the lobby just before 7:30pm, our meeting time for dinner.  Two of the three new people (one was delayed flying in) joined us for dinner.  Stella and Nigel are from Australia and New Zealand.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to them, so I don’t know a thing about them.

Ally took us to El Boliche de Alberto, an Argentinean steak house, for dinner.  It’s such a popular place, and doesn’t accept reservations, that we showed up before the doors opened at 8pm to ensure we had a table.  The portions were enormous.  I ordered a bife de lomo and a side of mashed potatoes to share and split a bottle of wine with Andy and Ally.  The delicious meat was cooked perfectly and the potatoes were excellent, but the pile of mash that came out of the kitchen was huge.  My immediate reaction was “holy shit”.  

Full from steak and warm from wine I came back to the hotel.  Tomorrow is our free day to explore Bariloche, so the girls are meeting up in the morning to determine our plan based on the weather.  Hopefully I’ll feel a bit less sore in the morning.