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Family Adventure in Patagonia

December 2021 - January 2022
A 25-day adventure by Diane Read more
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  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 1

    Arrival in San Martin de los Andes

    December 29, 2021 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Today is the real start of our multi-sport trip with Erin, Nick, and Nick’s parents, Mark and Terri. The previous two days were travel from the U.S. and an overnight in Buenos Aires.

    We arrived in the afternoon to San Martin, our home base for the next 5 days. This town could be Truckee or any other small multi-season tourist town. It is very picturesque, with lots of restaurants and shops. There is a ski resort nearby, but since it is summer, fly-fishing, biking, rafting and kayaking are the activities on offer. It will be a nice place to end each day after our multi-sport activities.Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 2

    Hike to the base of Lanin Volcano

    December 30, 2021 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F

    This was the first day we set out with our AndesTrack tour guides, Patricio and Liz. Our destination today was to the base of Lanin Volcano, one of the highest peaks in Patagonia. The Chilean border runs through part of the mountain.

    We were driven in a comfortable Sprinter-type van to the trailhead, nearly 2 hours away (some of it over bumpy gravel road!). The scenery along the drive was beautiful, a bit like the Wild West—rocky buttes and mesas and scrub brush, but less dry, with some lakes and rivers, and occasional views of the volcano.

    Our hike started through the forest and followed a river with little streams that we had to cross — with bridges and without, but no one got wet feet! We learned about the Araucaria tree, a conifer that is native to this part of the world and produces pine nuts larger than the ones we are familiar with. Monkey Puzzle tree is a common name for it, and we do have them in North America.

    We are in late spring, so we walked among wild roses, sweet peas, large-flowered thistles and orchids near the top!

    Lanin Volcano has long been dormant and features a glacier and permanent snow covering on the south side (remember, we’re in the southern hemisphere).

    We had many glimpses of the volcano along our mostly gradual ascent, although the last 45 minutes was quite a steep climb — on a good trail. The view at the end of our hike was worth it — volcano and glacier in one direction and lake views below.

    By the end, we had hiked 13 miles, longer than any of us had done before!

    Check out this really cool ‘slide show’ that Patricio put together for us. The app auto-corrected WALL to WALLET 😂
    https://www.relive.cc/view/vE6Jpk8pgxv?hl=en    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 3

    Rafting the Chimehuin River

    December 31, 2021 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    We drove north again along the same route as yesterday, but not nearly as far on the washboard road. Our river guide, Javier, met us and got us suited up into wetsuits and lightweight jackets and helmets. Sadly, Nick wasn’t feeling well this morning and wasn’t able to join our rafting adventure.

    The first thing we noticed was how incredibly clear and turquoise the river water is. Last winter was a drought year, so the water level is down from normal years. It was still exciting with some class 2-3 rapids and some short flat areas where we could stop paddling around rocks and admire the scenery.

    At one point, we pulled up to a safe eddy in the river, where we were invited to jump off a rock, swim out to a calm spot, then ride the current to shore. The days have been getting a little cooler since we’ve been here and Darryl and I didn’t feel like getting that wet. Mark, Terri and Erin were willing to take the plunge, though!

    We saw a native kingfisher, but no other wildlife, really. Lanin Volcano came into view for us, though! After a total of a couple of hours on the water, we landed at a grassy sunny spot where we could change into our dry clothes, relax and enjoy another excellent lunch prepared by AndesTrack’s chef, Jorge.

    As we drove back to town, we stopped at Junin, a small, less-touristic town (more for the locals), just so we could buy some special Argentinian cookies called alfajores. They are a sandwich cookie with dulce de leche filling and a chocolate coating. What was unique to Junin about these cookies is that they are made with pine nut flour. The shop owner was happy to talk to us about the process of harvesting and grinding the flour and to tell us more about the Araucaria tree. Very special!    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 4

    Mountain Biking—Laguna Rosales to Town

    January 1, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ 🌧 48 °F

    Feliz Año! This was a great way to start off the new year. We and our mountain bikes were driven about 20 minutes out of town to a lake (Rosales). We set off with our guides, Julian (owner of AndesTrack) and Erica, through the trees for a 3-4 hour bike ride. The soil is very sandy because of all the former volcanic activity in the area (Lanin is not the only volcano around). That loose soil made it a little tricky at times but we got used to it. Nearly everyone had a fall, but nothing serious.

    The weather was a bit rainy and it is always windy here, but with our workout, we were comfortable in the 50-ish degree temperatures.

    We rode on mostly single track trails, never meeting another soul. Sometimes we took off through a scrubby meadow. Yellow alstroemerias were in abundance, as were purple thistles. We ended by winding our way back to town through a pretty residential area that reminded us of the Berkeley Hills neighborhoods (but with unpaved roads). Everyone was a bit challenged on this adventure, and we all had a great time!

    We have lots more photos from the day, but they are on Julian’s phone, so check back later.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 5

    Kayaking Lago Machónico

    January 2, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F

    Another day, another sport. Today we drove south about half an hour to kayak in a lake and river. We’ve included a screenshot of a map that shows how we started in the big Lake Machónico (windy!), then paddled down a quiet river to Pichi (small) Machónico lake, which was less windy, but not altogether calm. A delicious lunch spread was waiting for us on the shore. After a nice break, we paddled back the way we came.

    On the way back, our driver, Julio, suggested taking the old road back to San Martin so we could get a view of town on the shore of Lácar Lake.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 6

    Rainy Day Hike and Drive to Bariloche

    January 3, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ 🌧 50 °F

    Today was a transportation day from San Martin to Bariloche on Route 40 (iconic road like Route 66). We traveled a particularly scenic portion, the ’Ruta de Siete Lagos,’ but with the rain and mist, much of the scenery was hidden from us.

    Still, we stuck with the itinerary and after an hour’s drive we took a hike to Ñivinco Falls. We had to remove our hiking boots to ford the stream in two places along the way. The rain let up a little to allow us to have a tea break by the riverside.

    Continuing on for another hour we arrived in Villa la Angostura, a small picturesque tourist town, for lunch. We asked our new guide for the day—Martin—and our driver Julio to join us at a great pasta restaurant. Some of our selections included fresh trout, or ravioli with trout or deer meat (farmed, not wild) with a choice of sauce, Delicious!

    The storm was pretty wild as we arrived at our hotel on Lake Nahuel Haupi (a native Mapuche name). The lake had big waves and white caps. Toward evening, we were rewarded with some rainbows across the lake.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    2
    Day 7

    Biking the Limay River Valley (sun!!)

    January 4, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    Wow, today was another really special day! Guido, our mountain bike guide, met us in the morning at our hotel. The sky was clear, the wind was minimal and the temperature was comfortable.

    Today’s ride was on a wide dirt/gravel road, kind of a nice change from the single-track on our last ride. We followed the Limay River over rolling hills for a couple of hours. We saw a few condors and at least one kingfisher. In the distance we could see some cool rock formations, a bit like Monument Valley, but surrounded by grassland and scrub brush.

    At the most prominent of the rock outcroppings lay our lunch spot, a beautiful estancia (ranch) on the river, where a traditional Argentinian BBQ was prepared for us, with Mendoza wine.

    We liked how they had matching dogs and cat—all very friendly! We could have stayed there for days!    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 8

    Hiking Cathedral Peaks

    January 5, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We started the day with a new guide, JJ (Juan Jose), and a driver who took us to the Bariloche ski resort. There we took a gondola, then a chairlift up to the trailhead. There’s no snow here this time of year, especially since they had a severe drought winter.

    After admiring the view of the surrounding mountains and lake below, we set off uphill toward the craggy ridge. Darryl was in his element on the ridge, where all his Altadena rock climbing/scrambling came back to him. The rest of us found it terrifyingly exhilarating. There wasn’t much danger of falling (too far down at least!).

    The ridge traverse took about an hour and a half. After that, we found a nice lunch spot with a view (everywhere had a view!). However, after lunch, we still had about 7 more hours of hiking ahead of us! It was a long, tiring day—11 miles of mostly downhill hiking. The water was so clean we could fill our water bottles from the lakes and streams—no human habitation up there, and not really any wildlife either. All of the varied views were worth the hike!    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 9

    Rio Manso Rafting, Farewell to Bariloche

    January 6, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    We left Bariloche town and our hotel by the lake to take another rafting trip AndesTrack arranged for us on the way to our next lodgings.

    The Rio Manso flows across the Andes, into Chile and to the Pacific. No passports were required for our two-hour traverse downstream.

    We almost didn’t get to go on this rafting trip because of a wildfire that had raged in the area for most of December. Downed trees had made the river impassable once the fire got under control. Our river guide, Manuel, was among the people working tirelessly to create fire breaks, sometimes having to sacrifice 150 year old trees to keep the fire from spreading further. It already had jumped the river. In fact, today was the first day any groups were allowed back out on the river. Fortunately, there were plenty of trees and scenery in abundance along our rafting trip, which included some class 2 rapids and calmer sections.

    The river is the dividing line between Nahuel Huapi National Park and private land. At the end of the paddle, we pulled up to a family’s property where we could enjoy yet another delicious and filling boxed lunch by the riverside.

    Finally, we were driven a couple of hours to spend the next three nights at the family-owned Hotel Tronador within the national park on the shores of Lake Mascardi. This is the warmest and sunniest it’s been yet, and the views of glacial mountains and the lake are so beautiful!    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylFamily Adventure in Patagonia
    Day 10

    Mt. Tronador Paradise - Kayak, Swim…

    January 7, 2022 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    This is a very special place here at Hotel Tronador, nestled at the end of Lake Mascardi among mountains and small rivers.

    The hotel has been continuously operated since 1931 by the descendants of a Belgian doctor who came in 1907 as the first doctor in Bariloche. Not long after, his son became the first settler in this valley of Mount Tronador, while in search of grazing pastures. The family began welcoming visitors so often, they eventually opened a hotel. Once the National Park was established in 1934, the Vereertbrugghen family was allowed to keep their land and lodgings.

    This is a family-friendly destination, and there are several families here with young children (as it is still the holiday time). All seem to be Spanish-speaking. Visitors can enjoy kayaking and other lake activities, hiking, rafting, horseback riding, fishing and “rural tourism” (ranch life); not to mention just sitting on your balcony relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet and breathtaking scenery.

    After a full breakfast served on the porch by the lake, we borrowed kayaks and explored the lake and river running into it — milky green/blue glacial water coming from Tronador.

    We forgot to mention that on this trip we’ve seen several Andean condors—one particularly close to us up at Cerro Cathedral (the tough ridge hike 2 days ago). While out on the lake today we saw a few condors soaring high above us.

    We take all our meals here at the hotel because there is nothing else around. That’s fine with us, as we are on our own, having left the excellent care of AndesTrack. Plus, the food is excellent.

    After lunch and a siesta, some of us walked to a nearby waterfall viewpoint looking out over the valley to the snowy mountains.

    After dinner (which is quite late here), we went out to check out the stars (with sundown at nearly 9:30, stargazing is a late-night activity), and Erin spotted first a chain of satellites known as the Starlink Train. It is eerie to see and moves really fast.    Read more

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