Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes, March 1 to March 8

The idea when in this part of Patagonia, was to do our own thing with no fixed program.  We were only due to stay in Bariloche itself for 2 days although in the area for a further 9.   We checked into a deliciously quirky little hotel – Los Juncos – an old house with many of its original features, and done up with little dosh but great artistry and in Pip’s view wonderful taste.  

Guess who is pushing whose bike up hill?

On our only full day here we hired bicycles and did a 5 mile ride to the most extraordinary (and touristy) Swiss style village, Colonia Suiza.  It was a Saturday, market day, and the end of the summer vacation season and the place was packed.  No tarmac here, only dusty track and a whole string of touristy shops.  It was nevertheless quite fun.

Our principal reason for going was to have a Mapuche (the biggest indigenous tribe in Argentina) BBQ and to take a look at the market there.  The most interesting thing about the BBQ was the style of cooking:  Dig a rectangular pit 1 foot deep; put in some large, rounded rocks at even spaces; build a fire around them and light;

BBQ rock pit

leave for one hour (until the rocks are very hot) cover with fresh leaves (still on the branch); lay all meat and veg onto the leaves, cover with more leaves; overlay with a damp length sackcloth and cover with soil.  After one hour, peal everything off and eat! 

The result……It was pretty revolting.  The most exciting thing about the whole affair was the preparation - and the second most interesting bit, the unveiling.  At that point we should have decamped elsewhere for a decent BBQ.

Post bike ride paddle in the lake outside the hotel

The following morning Gabriel took us back to town to pick up a hire car for our drive to San Martin de los Andes, a large town 200km North of Bariloche.  We took the 7-lakes road via Villa la Angostura.  It was a beautiful drive and the weather was perfect.  Long sweeping roads passing alongside huge glacial lakes in an alpine setting.  It was really magical!  We stopped for a coffee and a quick picnic-gathering stop in V L Angostura and then continued.  Half an hour later the tarmacked road turned to dusty track with a whole load of cars moving in the same direction; for the next 40km, visibility wasn’t so good and the going slow.  Towards the end we turned off the track and had a very civilised picnic by a river before carrying on, once again, on this most scenic of roads.

The 7 lakes drive goes from Bariloche at the bottom, via Los Lagos, to San Martin de los Andes, in the North

Casa Eugenia

We arrived mid afternoon at Casa Eugenia – another cheepo, but perfectly adequate hosteria at the end of a cul-de-sac.  The owner manager Agustin (mid 40s) was totally charming.  His family have obviously been there for years....

View of Beach at San Martin de los Andes

San Martin lies at the head of a magnificent lake, lake Neuquen,  and is just as well known for skiing as it is hiking.  The main street is packed with ski/sports shops and restaurants, and has a certain touristy charm.  It was good to be able to walk into a town for once and browse the shops.  I had to be held back from buying sports kit - P kept telling me it was too expensive here due to the extortionate import taxes that Kristina slaps on everything made abroad.  Sadly she was right. 

View from the 'Mirador' of Lake Neuquen after a 1.5 hour trek

The two main events here were going white water rafting and going to a place called 'The Canopy' which has 1500m of zip-wires.  Both were great.

How attractive is this?

The rafting, although quite tame by most standards, still had its moments.  Putting on the wetsuits, a thought went through my mind - the same one that always goes through my mind when wearing a third party wetsuit:  there are 2 types of person in this world - those that pee in their wetsuits, and those that lie!

Starting in the shadow of a very picturesque volcano, we (all 30 of us) trudged in ungainly fashion down to the river, which was stunning.

Pip and James at front with Jemima beside the boss at aft

We headed for about 8 km downstream through a series of rapids.  The water, when not white, was crystal clear and the trip was worth it for the view if nothing else. 

Philippa and I were at the front and invariably were the most vulnerable to being soaked, but gave as good as we got.  After one ‘sortie’, the commander of our boat made a comment about the British and our bellicose nature.  “What do you mean?” I asked.  “Well, you are always fighting people –, the French, Spanish, Germans, Argentinians, football hooligans…”  all done in good humour...but he had a point! 

At the end of the run, the rafts were all positioned line-astern on the far bank, and those that wanted were given the opportunity of swimming across the river at a very fast flowing point.  In total it was probably 25 meters across.  I did not anticipate making the plunge, but I had not reckoned on Jemima!  “Come on daddy, lets do it” she yelled.  What option did I have?  This really was a plucky thing to suggest since it really looked pretty scary.  Anyway, after most of those that were going to take the plunge had done so, we stood up and advanced to the edge of the raft, mounted the side….1…2…3…and off we went. 

Jemima and James standing in background looking at
someone launch themselves into the rapids.  "Shall we or
shan't we?"

I jumped as far away from the boat as I could, as we were instructed, but Jemima jumped in right near!  'So what?', you may say.  Well, the reality is that in order to push through the current, you really needed to reach the fast flowing water at the out.  We bobbed up to the surface and started to swim like hell.  Because I had jumped directly into the flow, I was 10 metres down-river of Jemima within 5 seconds (no exaggeration), but there was no way I could reach her.  I carried on across and made landfall 30 metres downstream.  I looked back to see Jemima, by now mid stream, shouting “daddy, daddy, daddy!”.  I made a move to go back in, but one of the guides turned me back.  In reality, there was no danger and they had someone positioned downstream who promptly threw her a lifeline – which she easily grabbed – and pulled her to shore.  Slightly shaken, she grabbed me, clearly relieved to be on dry land, but exhilarated by the experience.

Crossing accomplished!

Great pic but don't look at the roots!

The following day we drove for half an hour up a very steep and windy track through woodland, to find “The Canopy”, a place where we had come to experience Zip Wires.  They only take about 6 people at a time and you have to book a slot.  We arrived, were togged up in harnesses, safety gloves etc.  and then given a demonstration on a small wire: how and when to brake, where not to put your hands, position to adopt and so on.  It was all very professionally done.  We were then driven in a very old truck for 20 minutes further up the mountain, where we were presented with the first of 7 wires.

What a blast!  Jemima had absolutely no fear of launching herself off 20 to 30 foot high platforms – Pip and I however stepped gingerly into mid air, this being not exactly the most natural of manoeuvres.

 Without boring you all (even more) the pictures tell it all.  By the end we were all fluent in the manoeuvre and were whizzing down the final wires – the longest and steepest – at colossal speed without braking!

On our final day we drove for half an hour, again down a rough track for something like 20 km, to a secluded beach, still on the same lake which San Martin borders – Lake Neuquen.  This was Quila Quina. It was a lovely spot in a national park and not frequented by that many tourists.  We hired a kayak and generally just lay in the sun chatting.  It was a great last afternoon.


We spent a total of 5 nights in San Martin, ate far too much, and generally had a pretty relaxing time – nothing too strenuous.  We left at 0700 on Saturday 8^th, driving back to Bariloche on the same route we had come.  San Martin was silent and it was still dark.  We took bets on how many cars we would see in the next 20 minutes – not one!  In fact, over the next hour, we saw less than 20 cars.  This is a main thoroughfare between 2 extremely busy towns!  We stopped for breakfast at the café we had found on the way there – great coffee – and made it to Bariloche and to Hertz by the skin of our teeth by 11am, after which we would have clocked up another days cost of car hire!

Gabriel was there to meet us to take us on to our next staging post……