December 31st marked the end of our nearly month long hop around Argentina. Starting in the dynamic Buenos Aires to the vineyards of Mendoza, we finished in more familiar landscapes of Bariloche and the seven lakes district of Argentina. What a trip…but we are excited this isn’t forever goodbye to Argentina as we will be connecting with Sweet Caroline and Marcus in March down in El Chalten & El Calafate. And from there who knows?

¡Warning! Longest Intro Ever

Months ago when we were crafting this adventure, we first planned to fly into Santiago and work our way south from there in Chile. Then, we discovered a cheap flight that we couldn’t pass up into Buenos Aires, thus significantly changing our plans. But the more we looked, we found it would be cheap to fly to Buenos Aires to Santiago and maintain our original route, plus enjoy some tango and asado.

Well, just a few days before we flew out to Costa Rica, I was sharing turkey sandwiches with Grandma Judy & Grandpa Bruce and was lucky enough to walk into a photo album of their Argentina travels splayed onto the dining room table. I knew they had traveled to Argentina some years ago, but all I could remember was one significant story from their time there. A story on a packed bus, in the heart of Buenos Aires, after a long day of traveling..but it is not my story to share here! It was an emotional treat to go back in time with my grandparents and watch them share priceless memories: flyfishing on crystal clear waters, horesback riding through the pampas, enjoying asado on estancias (Argentinian ranches), and playing cribbage at a world renowned resort (what’s new?). And just a few days before we took off, our plans were shifted yet again.

While we now had a loose idea of our route (Buenos Aires -> Mendoza -> Bariloche), we had to think further about timing in each location. We knew we might feel especially homesick around the holidays so we decided to spend at least Christmas in Bariloche; partly because of a familial connection for me & further because the snowcapped peaks might remind us of home, as much as a foreign country can.

Bariloche Ventures

Sooo much hiking. But seriously all of the trails, wildflowers, mountains (maybe not the insanely massive lakes) bring us home. I swear, one of the hikes felt like we were hiking Baldy Peak in the Bridgers, which is absolutely the last thing I would be doing in December (or anytime, honestly). Some of the mountain views remind me intensely of the Tenmile Range in Colorado. A difference, at least for Devin and I, are the refugios that are scattered throughout the backcountry, which are luxury compared to forest service cabins we’ve frequented in Montana. We were planning to do a multi day trek to four different refugios, but found out the trek was closed due to signifcant snow coverage on the passes. On Christmas Day, we ended up hiking to one of the more popular and accessible refugios for just a day hike: Refugio Frey. There were still some patches of snow along the trail…snow on Christmas, yay!

Not enough biking. Actually the infastructure for some mountain biking exists in this whole region. We discovered some well built bike parks with flow right in town, and also some pirate trails during hikes deep in the mountains. Back in Montana, when faced with the question: to bike or to hike? Biking is an easy answer. Here, not quite as easy because we have a difficult problem: no bikes. Luckily we found a rental shop to do some road biking along the Circuito Chico, which allowed us to visit Llao Llao Hotel (Google to see the prices of rooms) & Cerveza Patagonia, the original Patagonia Brewery. We were excited to follow in my grandparents footsteps and play some cribbage at Llao Llao, but a bottle of water was $6.50, so we excused ourselves from the luxury and continued on the bike ride.

Nature filled up most of our time in Bariloche, which is nothing new to our lifestyle. Christmas Eve was a novel experience and we were lucky to have spent it in our hostel. The staff were all from Latin American countries, mostly Argentina, and they organized a pot luck for all of the guests. The shared kitchen was occupied from 10 AM to 10 PM, which is about when dinner started. There was seriously so, so much food, most of it traditional from each chef’s culture. A few I recall: chorizo from Argentina, Russian Salad, also from Argentina, knodels from Germany, hot dogs wrapped in parchment paper?? from Argentina. Devin and I made pasta salad, which maybe is common for picnics in the summer time, but not really our Christmas go to. Reflecting on it now, I should have made one of Leslie’s famous soups. Most of the hostel guests feasted, but barely made a dent in the table. However, the food was quickly cleared to make room for a dance floor and a toast at midnight. Cheers!

After a long hike to Refugio Frey on Christmas Day, we returned ready to prepare a Christmas meal with three friends we met in the hostel: fresh trout with mashed potatoes and roasted zapallitos (mini pumpkins that taste like a combo of cucumber and zucchini), and a surprisingly delicious apple crumble. Yes, I made the apple crumble. Really couldn’t have asked for a more delightful Christmas away from home.

Route 40 (Siete Lagos)

San Martin de Los Andes

Since the 4 Refugios trek fell through, we decided to move on from Bariloche the day after Christmas to San Martin de los Andes. This is along a popular drive known as the Seven Lakes Route because, as you guessed it, you drive by seven notable lakes. We were excited to check this off, and also move to a new accomodation. To be honest, it was difficult to enjoy the sights because of some serious car sickness. Even writing this, I’m transported back to the bus and starting to feel queasy. This quaint town has a draw for both Devin and I: me because of my grandparents journey there and Devin because it is one of the sister cities of Steamboat!! Now, he has visited both sister cities, Saas Fe, Switzerland, and now San Martin de los Andes, Argentina.

Little did we know, the ¨beach life is what locals spend their free time enjoying around the lake regions. We spent a lot of time swimming in the freezing water after some hiking in the mornings. The water is incredibly clear and feels like snorkeling off a coral reef. This beach time makes up for some of our rainy days in Costa Rica.

Villa la Angostura

After a short trip to San Martin, we bussed back on the same windy road south to Villa la Angostura. We have discovered Sundays in Argentina to be quiet and sometimes traveling on these days are difficult, especially if you want to buy groceries. San Martin was sleepy and nothing was open, so we became a bit concerned. Villa was a different story and we were able to purchase lunch, breakfast, and dinner for the next few days! We stayed at an eco Air BnB outside of the main town, which our host explained he constructed on his own. The walls were built out of mud and straw; the furniture was built from trees on his property; the water is pumped and treated from the nearby lake.

What drew us to Villa la Angostura was El Bosque del Arrayanes. We did a 17 mile (total) walk, quite a doozy, from the port of Villa out to the end of a peninsula which brought us to the Arrayanes Forest. Arrayan is a type of tree known for cinnamon bark, and in this specific forest some trees were older than 600 years. To end this incredible day, we taxied into town for our last night in Argentina. We arrived to Parrilla Bodegon la Esquina around 9 pm, which is early for dinner in Argentina, but the restaurant was packed and we waited about 15 minutes. Maybe we didn’t want to wait because we were starving from the hike, but we also knew that we had picked the right place to end our first month in Argentina. We treated ourselves to a bottle of wine ($11) and a traditional asado, which is a mixture of grilled meat. Perfect way to celebrate our time in Argentina.

Ciao ciao for now, Argentina! Off to Puerto Varas, Chile for New Years! Cheers to 2024 and looking forward to what 2025 brings us.