San Martin de los Andes – Patagonia

Annoyingly no direct flights from Mendoza to San Martin de los Andes, so had to go via Buenos Aires again. One hour forty minutes, 45 mins on the ground then 2 hours to San Martin etc but yet again David got the upgrade – def thinking he bid too high now 😂 food terrible but great big comfortable seats. Business class consists of 8 seats! From BA to San Martin de los Andes, great views, there was plenty of farming but very little evidence of much habitation. Even descending into San Martin it seemed sparsely populated. It feels wonderfully remote. The airport was tiny and also rather cute. One runway that was also the taxi way.

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Amazingly Aerolineas Argentinas was on time again and our bags made it too! We picked up our booked hire car, plugged in the destination in Google maps whilst in wifi and off we went. The main town and our hotel only 30 minutes drive.

The small boutique hotel Casa Eugenia, is delightful with only 9 rooms and a stones throw from one of the lakes and a delightful low rise sleepy town with plenty of bars, restaurants and outdoor adventure shops. It is a major ski resort in the winter and a walkers paradise from Spring onwards. Very noticeable on the way into town, an amazing blaze of yellow, reminded me of the mimosa in France in Spring. I think perhaps here it’s an abundance of yellow flowering gorse. Will capture pictures tomorrow.

Having had a stroll into town and bought a data chip for the just in case times , when not in wifi and unsure of our position (20 days 3GB for about $5 US) . After walking about 6km up and down the charming High Street, we felt in need of a little libation, so strolled towards the lake and found a sunny spot for a drink and a snack. A rather large bird took a liking to David and perched just behind him, apparently locally called a Chimango caracara that eats meat. Looked him up and it is a bird of prey so perhaps Hesk was right to feel nervous! The beauty of the surroundings, the temperature at around 20oC with sunny blue skies, not many other souls and pure fresh air makes San Martin de los Andes a delightful stop in our 7 day journey driving through Patagonia.

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