Day 52 - 26 Jan.2012 - San Martin de los Andes

The first thing we did today in the morning after we packed our camping stuff together was to do the sightseeing of Bariloche, which we have not managed to do yesterday. San Carlos de Bariloche is at its holiday peak and is literally bursting in seams, filled with tourists and cars. Taking the setting of the city it is easy to understand why it has become one of the favourite holiday destinations in Argentina. Just about every Argentinean when asked about this place would say “Oh, Bariloche is just so beautiful”. San Carlos de Bariloche lays by the lake Nahuel Huapi surrounded by mature woodlands with views to the mountains, which, unfortunately, we have not had a chance to see in its full glory because of the misty weather. The city itself we have somehow imagined to be a wee bit different though. If travelling in time would be possible, we would have loved to see the place as it was some 20-30 years ago. We felt it was all a bit too crowded and too busy.
Having strolled along the streets we went to buy some of the famous chocolate in town at a place called Mamuschka. With a bag full of chocolate we then went on to see the town church. It was a strange building though. A neo-gothic style built in the 1940’s in concrete with natural stone slaps as blender. They must have run out of money during the build as not all the elements were clad with stone and the concrete was still visible in many interior places.
We left the town towards San Martin de los Andes along the route of The Seven Lakes. The weather was still misty and the normally beautiful scenery was hidden from view. As we drove along it dawned on us that the mist of the last two days is actually not mist at all but ash from the nearby volcano on the Chilean side. We looked closer on the ground and basically everything was covered with a layer of white-grey ash. That explains as well the misty view of the scenery. The ash is so fine that any tiny blow of wind or movement lifts it up in the air. We stopped in La Angostura, a small touristic town half way towards our destination and there again everything was covered in a fine white layer. It seemed to be pointless to brush the ash away as there is a constant new supply coming from the west and so the people only throw water on the roads to minimise the disturbance and lifting up of the ash caused by passing cars.
As we drove further north, the “mist” seemed to clear up a bit and we have left the area where the ash clouds went past. When we arrived in San Martin de los Andes we had a beautiful blue sky. We checked ourselves into a local hotel in town and went for a beer in the afternoon sun to wash down the ashes – never short of a good excuse.