January 12 - Seven Lakes District

Had a great night in Bariloche, went to a pub for a few beers while we waited for our reservation in a restaurant called Albertos.   It is supposed to be the best in Bariloche and one of the best in Argentina. Chris and Al had the lamb, and me, not wanting to eat something so cute and fuzzy, went with the steak.  Amazing meal, and huge.  I snuck about a third of mine out in a napkin for the street dogs.

Al with bottle cap shades on

The meal was huge

  Leaving a bariloche, we went through the seven lakes district and headed towards san martin De Los Andes.  We couldn't gas up in Bariloche as the two stations we tried were out of gas, so we limped in on reserve to Villa La Angostina,  here we found the gas station with the supply truck filling it.  we had to wait in a long line to get gas. 

Waiting for gas.  The station is around the corner

After about an hour or so, we again hit the road. The lakes region was absolutely stunning.  The road swept around the shore of one lake after another.  Each lake seemed to be filled with people on the beaches, and on the road we saw hundreds of hitch hikers and backpackers.  Seems to be quite the destination spot.  The road was great, fresh and new pavement, which should have been a warning to us.  they hadn't finished it yet!  All of a sudden in turns to gravel, and about 40 kms of bouncing around later, we get new pavement again. 

We stop quickly San Martin, with the plan of camping a short distance out on the road to Chile, about 50 kms away.  Looking at the gps and the map, I realize that this road seems to be a very small, gravel tracked route, and sure enough, a few minutes later we are bouncing around washboard surfaced curves.  We end up stopping at about 5pm, one kilometer from the chilean border, and also the continental divide of South america.  We have found a nice little spot near a river, and settle down for a relaxed evening, washing our clothes in the river.  We will leave Argentina tomorrow, and although this leg of the trip has been enjoyable, with amazing scenery once we left the desert, the road conditions, gas shortages and other economic factors make Argentina a little less inviting that Chile.  Chile had exceeded all of our expectations, and all three of us cant wait to be back there tomorrow.  Maybe even empanadas again for breakfast!