Summer Trip South: Bariloche and the 7 Lakes Region

After leaving El Chaltén and the Fitz Roys, we drove north on Ruta 40 towards Bariloche. There were two stretches of road during the next coming days of driving that will give me shudders thinking about them. The first is called the Maladitos 73, which is a stretch of 73 kilometers of gravel road in between Estancia La Lucia and Gobernador Gregores that is ROUGH. We actually had already driven it once on the way down, and that time is was terrible terrible terrible. Our teeth had almost chattered out of our heads. On the way north, it had apparently rained alot a few days before, and so they had regraded much of the road and some sections had been smoothed out with rocks getting washed away, so it was actually much better the second time. However, once we got north of Perito Moreno, we were in unchartered territory and didn't know what to expect. Most of Ruta 40 is fine, until it's not. There was another section in between Rio Mayo and Gobernador Costa that was laughably bad. There were so many potholes that they had made a "detour," which was really just a gravel road alongside the main road. So for about an hour we were either playing weave-a-hole dodging the potholes on the asphalt road, or we were chattering along on the gravel detour. It was like picking a check out line at the grocery store; whichever one you pick, it will be the wrong choice and the other lines will speed along while you wait behind a granny named Janet who is writing a check after cashing 500 coupons. It was bad. But, we made it eventually. Also along another section of Ruta 40, the winds were so strong that when I opened my passenger side door, the door was ripped back out of my hands and a pivot bracket broke. Luckily the door still functions. And a couple days later, our solar panel was ripped off the roof by a crosswind. It flew 40 feet in the air and landed way off in the ditch. Thank God that the wind wasn't coming another direction to have the panel fly back into Grandma and Grandpa behind us or into any oncoming traffic. Minor miracle there. Another minor miracle was that the solar panel was completely intact. It had a few scratches on the edges, but other than that, it was perfectly fine. That manufacturer will be getting a 5-star review from us. Two days later, Drew and Grandpa were able to get it reattached and functioning again. Bad things always come in sets of 3, don't they? As we were driving into Bariloche, the cooling fan on Grandpa's van started to fail. Luckily we were able to get to a decent camp site, and Grandpa was able to rig up a fix.  I suppose we were overdue for something semi-serious to happen on our adventure, but Grandpa's know-how saved us all, as we knew it would. 

The town of Bariloche is known as the Switzerland of the Andes due to its lovely mountain views, skiing, chocolate prowess, and foodie scene. I was very excited. The boys, Grandma, and I had fun exploring the town while Grandpa and Drew were working on the vans. 

All of the government buildings in the main square have this alpine, stone and timber architecture that is very charming. 

The Cathedral in town is made entirely of stone, even the alter and lectern. 

We found a restaurant that specialized in grilled meats and had a fantastic meal. We liked it so much, we actually went back the next day! The restaurant also had a bar overlooking the grill, and the boys had fun watching the cooks and chatting with them. They sat there almost the entire time, except to eat, of course. 

Once the vans were fixed up, we spent a day doing the Circuito Chico, which is a 70km drive through some super beautiful scenery, filled with hikes, beaches, and lookouts. 

We did a nice little 3 mile hike that took us to a lookout atop Cerro Llao Llao that was very lovely. Popular, as Bariloche is not a quiet town, but lovely.

There was another mirador or lookout along the drive called the Panorama Lookout, and it was stunning, one of the most beautiful viewpoints I've seen. Just blue skies above countless blue lakes. The pictures don't do it justice at all. 

After Bariloche, we made our way to the other side of the lake to a campsite that we'd be staying at for 2 nights outside of Villa La Angostura. This side of the lake was much quieter, and we had fun with kites and campfires. 

The area in between Villa La Angostura and San Martin de los Andes is called the 7 Lakes Region, and the drive in between the two towns is very scenic. We did another short hike to see a nice waterfall. Again, very busy, but beautiful. The boys had fun splashing through all sorts of little baby waterfalls. The next day we spent a nice day in San Martin enjoying the beach there and getting some good coffee.