Thursday, February 16, 2023

Up early this morning to move onto a new town. If you’re keeping track, this is our 5th time moving locations in the past 11 days. Sounds like a lot, but since we’re only traveling with backpacks it doesn’t feel like a big deal to move around.

Today, we planned to drive the infamous Ruta de Los Siete Lagos (or, Route of the Seven Lakes) from San Martin de Los Andes to Bariloche. When we made the same drive on Sunday coming to San Martin de Los Andes, it was rainy and cloudy so we didn’t see a thing; today’s weather was absolutely perfect for a drive along the most famous stretch of roadway in Argentina. Today’s weather: 60 degrees and sunny with clear blue skies. Plus, an even more exciting weather update — the wind stopped blowing! I didn’t think it was it was possible in Argentina’s Patagonia, but it has happened.

Before we began the “official” Ruta de Los Siete Lagos tour, we stopped at an overlook outside town to see San Martin de Los Andes’ Lake Lacar from above. The sheer size of these glacial lakes are so impressive! They seem to stretch onward for as far as the eye can see.

This area in Northern Patagonia is known as the lakes district, and there are way more than seven lakes around here. The “official” seven lakes along Route 40, though, are as follows (beginning in San Martin de Los Andes and ending in Bariloche):

Lago Machónico
Lago Falkner
Lago Villarino
Lago Escondido
Lago Espejo
Lago Correntoso
Lago Nahuel Huapi

The first stop on the list was a small turn-out along the highway to see panoramic views of Lago Machónico below. Such beautiful shades of blue! We were all giddy with anticipation for a great road trip ahead, and thankful for a calm, clear day.

However, somewhere over the next 40 miles, Tory and Aden went from hugging and loving each other to fighting like cats and dogs. Something about someone scooting too far over into the other person’s side of the backseat … who knows. By the time we reached Stop #2 Lago Falkner, Tory was crying and Aden stomped off down the beach. Andi chased after Aden to have a talk with him, and I told Tory to go sit in the car. Why can’t they both just get along? Bickering over such silly things ruins the fun for the rest of us. I suppose not every moment of family travel is all rainbows & sunshine.

Lago Falkner was a beautiful lake with a big, sandy beach. There were lots of families here taking selfies and enjoying the scenery together. A couple fishermen were busy pushing their boat into the water. Andi flew his drone overhead which gave us an interesting perspective of the sheer size of this massive body of water, and a peek at Lago Villarino nearby.

Lago Villarino was third on the list, located on the other side of the road from Lago Falkner. The turn-out was packed with cars in addition to four tour buses that had just rolled in, so we didn’t stop.

Lago Escondido (which means hidden lake) wasn’t much of a viewpoint either, so we kept driving. It was almost lunchtime, and Route 40 was getting busier with cars by the minute.

I’d read about a 28 km detour from Highway 40 to a small lakeside town called Villa Traful. Andi and I thought this would be a good resting spot to enjoy the picnic lunch we brought along today. Twenty-eight kilometers (or 17 miles) doesn’t seem like a far distance until you’re stuck behind a dump truck bouncing down a dirt road. Oy. It turned out to be a looong drive to get there.

Even though we felt a bit disheveled by the time we arrived, visiting Villa Traful was worth the trip. The quaint small town of 500 people sits on the shores of Lake Traful with majestic views of the Andes Mountains surrounding. My research about Villa Traful said the “Windy Point” lookout couldn’t be missed, just a few kilometers past the town. We went there first to see the view.

Unfortunately, a “Do Not Pass” sign was posted with a fence barricade preventing us from climbing the boardwalk. Signs are merely a suggestion for Andi though; he hopped right over the barbwire fence and scurried to the top of the rock with his drone in hand. Tory, Aden, and I weren’t so sure about disobeying the warning sign, so we hung out by the road and admired the view from a safer distance.

Friends again!

After we watched a few groups of people climb over the fence, the kids and I decided to meet Andi at the top of the cliff. Pieces of a broken wooden boardwalk scattered the ground which made sense why the posted sign said not to pass. Maybe the wind broke up the wood along “windy point?” I, for one, was sure glad it wasn’t windy today.

Wow! The view from the top of this rock was incredible looking down on Lake Traful below. Andi flew his drone again and snapped our family’s picture. We didn’t realize just how steep this cliff was until we watched the drone video.

Next, we drove back into the town of Villa Traful looking for a place to have lunch. Andi and I thought we’d be able to pay a couple thousand pesos to use the services of a campground like we did the other day, but the owner of this particular campground didn’t seem to understand what I meant when I inquired about that. We ended up paying the full camping rate to have lunch there … which, whatever. It cost us $6,000 Argentine pesos to enter (or about $15 on the Blue Dollar exchange).

Andi and I set up our lunch on a table down by the water. A few minutes later, a swarm of bees took over our picnic. The bees didn’t want anything to do with us; they were more interested in the deli ham for some reason. Tory and Aden were having none of the bee situation though, and retreated to the safety of the car. Andi and I hovered around the table, stealing bites of food amongst the bees. Then, we walked down to the shores of Lake Traful to take in the view. What a gorgeous place to spend the afternoon!

I could have spent the whole afternoon there; it was the perfect temperature outside. Unfortunately, Andi said we had to keep moving. We were scheduled to meet the property manager of our new airbnb at 5:30pm which meant we needed to get back on the road.

The 5th lake on the Ruta de Los Siete Lagos tour was Lago Espejo (which means “mirror lake”). The turn-out was busy, too, so we didn’t stop. Plus, we’d see a lot of beautiful lakes today and I think we were all ready to keep moving.

Lago Correntoso was #6 on the list. This viewpoint wasn’t as grand as some of the others. We shopped for a quick view, and then continued onward.

And, finally, we reached the seventh and final lake on the Seven Lakes tour — Lago Nahuel Huapi. Near the town of Villa La Angostura, Andi’s phone hit a spot of service and messages from the contractor who’s working on a remodel at our house came through. Andi pulled over to call him back. We also tried to get gas for our rental car, but a line was wrapped all the way around the block. I don’t know what it is about fuel stations in Argentina, but they are all super busy with lines of cars waiting for gasoline. I bet it takes people an hour to get gas. We didn’t want to wait; Andi thought we’d have enough fuel to make it to our airbnb in Bariloche.

Our new airbnb for the next five days is situated right on Lago Nahuel Huapi. Tory and Aden were super impressed with the 4th floor views in the condo building … we all were actually — it’s gorgeous with the mountains in the background.

Once we got checked into our place, Andi decided to run to the grocery store, fill the rental car up with gas, and pick up dinner for us while I stayed back with the kids and unpacked our bags. Andi didn’t return for over two hours! He was not impressed with the crazy traffic and all the hills in the city of Bariloche. He said it was impossibly frustrating to find a place to park in town. Finally around 9:00pm, he returned with groceries and take-out for dinner (pizza and empanadas). The four of us ate dinner, and then called it a night.

Today was a long travel day, but a fun one seeing the beautiful Ruta de Los Siete Lagos.

Tomorrow, we’re planning to explore downtown Bariloche and take an Yerba Mate class. Stay tuned…