My trip to the Northwestern Patagonia:Hi, dear forumheads! I’ve recently come back from a 2 week trip to the Western/NorthWestern Patagonia, a huge region located in the Southern tip of the Southamerican continent. I’m going to share a few pics, information and stories about my trip in two installments, the first one –which follows- about the whole trip in general and the second one dedicated only to one of the standout places of the trip, which a few of you might find some connection with.
First of all I’m going to locate the area I’m talking about in a map (the blue frame):
In red you’ll see route 40 (ruta 40), a very famous route I’ll talk about later.
I traveled alongside a friend of mine who had no plans for his summer holidays, so we decided to team up and make this trip.
First we took a plane from Buenos Aires, landing in San Carlos de Bariloche, in the province of Rio Negro. I had been there twice, in 1997 and for my graduation trip in 2000. It was already a thriving city, but I found it much bigger and busier than it used to be. In fact, a bit overcrowded for my taste, but having become a real tourism Mecca in South America it has great infrastructure of all sorts and is ready to receive tons of visitors. And it works all year long: it has a mild-to-fresh weather in summer, which provides an escape from the heat of the big cities further north, and it receives lots of quality snow in winter, having the largest ski resort in the continent.
The Industrial Revolution also took place in Bariloche! On the image, an important horseman.
There are people who follow fashion and people who go ahead of it (no idea whether I belong to either group or I'm just out of everything though).
I was mindblown by the amount of foreign tourists in Bariloche. I never saw anything remotely similar in the country. Particularly the Germans seemed to have overtaken the city, they were everywhere, of all sorts and ages. Maybe the history of the city, in which many Germans played a big part, had something to do with their presence there? There were also lots of Chileans (they are just “across the border” and their economy is stronger than us so their money yields a lot here), Brazilians, Turks and Europeans in general.
Bariloche’s huge “medieval” cathedral
We stayed 5 days in Bariloche, where we did the following activities:
- Visited the legendary and majestic Llao Llao hotel, the most famous in the country and located in a strategic place of spectacular beauty, surrounded by lakes, mountains and forests. It opened in 1940 and is a member of The Leading Hotels in the World. Staying here will cost you a fortune.
- Took a ship through the Nahuel Huapi lake to the Isla de Arrayanes and Isla Victoria.
The Isla de Arrayanes is called like that because these trees which look like pretzels grow there. Their branches are surprisingly soft when you touch them.
Isla Victoria is an island where many experiments with trees took place. As a results, trees from all over the world grow in it. It also has deer, boar and a few other animal species. The water is incredibly clear and pristine in every single lake, river and stream of the region.
People feeding seagulls at the stern of the ship
We sailed in the Modesta Victoria, a very old ship which transported very famed passengers, among others Barack Obama when he was US president and visited Bariloche.
- Walking through the city we found this chairlift which takes you to the summit of a small hill. We took it and when we got to the top we found out you could go back down through the chairlift, walking or through a huge two-lane slide, riding a small vehicle in which you only had break and accelerator. Of course our immature selves pushed us to opt for this method, challenging each other to see who got to the bottom first. I caught such a speed I thought I would go out ejected from the slide and break my head against the rocks at any moment, but the vehicle held firm in it’s lane and I ended up winning the contest and enjoying a free beer.
- Another day we took an excursion to the base of mount Tronador (“Thunderer”), an imposing volcano with 3 summits (one Chilean, one Argentinian and the main one international) which is the tallest mountain in the area. It’s called like that because one of it’s glaciers, on the way down it’s slopes, finds an abrupt precipice so big blocks of ice free fall for a few hundred meters, crashing finally against the rocks in a place with the shape of an amphitheatre, which amplifies the sound still more, so from time to time the mountain produces a thundering sound.
What you see at the center of the image is a glacier of black ice, which is formed by ice mixing with pieces of rock and sediments. The water also has a strange light blue – grey colour due to minerals and sediments. Notice the several waterfalls on the slopes.
- Another day we went to Villa Catedral, where I found the hotel where my school grade spent our graduation trip almost 20 years before. It was pretty much the same, even though that time we went in September, which meant that –unlike this time- the landscape was covered with snow:
Then we "climbed" to the summit of Mount Catedral, where the ski resort is. We used the chairlifts (yeah, I know climbing it would have been more heroic but we are practical people, and lazy too) to go close to the top and then we made the final climb to the summit by walking.
This is the summit. The wind was so strong that it was dangerous to try to stay on your feet. The big mountain on the background is Mount Tronador.
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After 5 days at Bariloche, we rented a car and we went up North to the province of Neuquen. I was the driver and my friend was the copilot, as he doesn’t drive. Many of the kilometers we did were on the famous route 40 which runs from north to south of the country. It is known as the Argie route 66 because of its spectacular landscapes, even though it’s considerably longer than it’s American defunct sister (5,194 kms. to 3,940 kms.).
On this map you can see, painted in light green, the routes we drove through during the following 8 days.
So off we went, headed north, first stopping at Villa La Angostura, probably the most beautiful village I’ve ever seen, surrounded by a place of spectacular beauty. If you have the money, this is the place to go, but it will cost you. Maybe it’s the most expensive village in the country, who knows?
Look who’s back! Yes, my already legendary green hoodie! When it comes to most overused garment, it’s serious competition for your polar bear coat,
vlogdance . Bad tongues might say I’m cheap, but truth is that it’s very comfortable.
Then we went on to San Martín de los Andes, also quite an expensive and touristic town which has a good ski run which works in winter.
Like most of these towns and villages, it has a beach on a lake. If you watched the pictures with all that people bathing in the lake you’d think it’s a beautiful and enjoyable beach, but the truth is that the water is really cold in all of those lakes and streams, and unless you are a local you won’t find it pleasant at all. My friend braved it and got in the water for a few seconds only to come out half frozen, needing a hot drink. I made a lazy attempt but didn’t even get to my knees. The temperature outside isn’t too hot either so what’s the point?
Next day we went on further North to Junin de los Andes, a larger albeit uglier town with a bit less tourism. The night we arrived there was carnival in the streets. Many people here are a bit annoyed at this because they say –rightly- that it’s not an Argentine tradition but something that we imported from Brazil a couple of decades ago and that has little or nothing to do with our culture, but we were there so before dinner we passed by to take a look.
…and, to my surprise, I met my old friend Lorenzo Llama who had sold his motorcycle and bought a green truck instead!
Next day we went to the base of the Lanin, a big volcano which is the tallest mountain in the whole region and is visible from nearly everywhere. The base is just north of the volcano:
North face of the Lanin
This is a forest of a tree called araucaria, endemic to the area.
And in the afternoon we went to the beautiful Lake Huechulafquen, just south of the Lanin:
South face of the Lanin
Next day we drove 300 kilometres south, again to the province of Rio Negro. The last town in this province is El Bolsón (something like “the big bag”), the national capital of the hippies. The town is located in a beautiful valley, but it’s not so pretty itself, and it has hippie wannabes everywhere. People lie on the ground in the parks, play guitar, drink mate and smoke weed. Not my kind of thing.
Not far from there, but across the border with the province of Chubut, is the much prettier town of Lago Puelo, where we slept.
The lake that gives the town it’s name. By nighttime, with a beer…
…and by daytime, all sober and ready to drive
Next day we continued further South into Chubut. We stopped at a human-sized labyrinth, the largest in the continent. Again, we challenged each other, so we were running through the different stages of the maze looking for an exit and exchanging a few violent pushes a couple of times we met each other. Good thing the maze was quite empty, otherwise it would have been quite embarrassing. This time my friend won and the beer was on me.
Then we went on South to Esquel, the largest town in western Chubut and the other one in the area with an airport, besides Bariloche. In winter it is also a ski resort.
We climbed a small nearby mountain to see it better. Yes, I’m rocking the cap backwards look here.
An avenue in Esquel
Our next stop was one of the standouts of the trip for me, but I’m not going to say anything about it as the next installment will be 100% about it.
So following the unveiled day, we went on further south to the small town of Corcovado, which is not pretty per se but is located in a valley of great beauty.
There was a somewhat cloudy dusk that together with the valley landscape provided a great opportunity for beautiful pictures.
Lupines, a wild flower that comes in both purple and pink colours.
Next day we stayed at Corcovado. In the afternoon we did rafting at the Corcovado River.
Fire brigade? No, just the ridiculous costumes they provide you with for rafting.
In the evening we drove further south to Lake Vintter, which is as far south as we got in our trip. Lake Vintter was different to all the other lakes we had seen before because it is located in the much more barren, rough, inhospitable part of the Patagonia (in a matter of 10 kilometres the landscape changes completely), where few trees grow, winds are cold and very strong and the vegetation is mostly spiny bushes. Still, the lake and it’s surroundings have their beauty too:
Not a thief, swear!
Practicing the intricate art of the dual selfie
"Thou shall not pass!"
Next day we went East across the valleys to Tecka, an ugly but quite prosperous town in the middle of the desert, which works a strategical point for trucks, travelers and any activity in a couple hundred kilometers around.
Thistle and valley
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From there we took route 40 again to the North, taking an exit to the town of El Maiten, located near the border of Chubut with Rio Negro. The town is located in a more arid location than other ones we stayed at before. It’s not too touristy but they say it’s great for fishing. I wouldn’t say it’s pretty but not ugly either.
El Maiten has a station of La Trochita (aka Old Patagonian Express), a very picturesque small train that now works only as a tourist attraction. This is an old locomotive which was taken out of service and exposed in El Maiten’s main avenue.
Next day we went to Buenos Aires Chico (it was indeed really, really small compared to the real Buenos Aires), a very small village near El Maitén, and hiked through a beautiful creek with a stream.
Notice the shirt! Repping ELO!
Then we took the 40 again north to Bariloche, were we handed the rented car back to it’s owner, intact after having done 2.000 kilometres (1.250 miles) on it, quite a mark having in mind that a lot of it was done on tricky gravel roads in which you cannot go much faster than 50 km/h.
Final toast with Patagonian beer for having come out unscathed of such an adventure
Instagram post congratulating my co-pilot:
http://instagr.am/p/BtaBt1an5mu
On our last day, we checked out from the hotel and went to buy chocolates for our friends and families. Bariloche is famous for it’s chocolates and you are not allowed to go back home without buying some. Then it was time to head to the airport to fly back to Buenos Aires again, and so ended our trip.
My friend Ignacio buying a truckload of chocolate. I must confess I was far stingier.
Final and semi-failed selfie with the car