Pucon and surroundings were some of the most beautiful we had seen so far, the volcanoes and the lakes, rivers and forests make for living life in a very outdoorsy way, although apparently it was pretty horrid in winter when it rains a lot. We were next headed to the shadow of the Andes, Argentina where the rainfall is substantially less throughout the year. We headed south from Pucon in a coach as per usual, following a road down a ever narrower valley until there was no longer any substantial human population , just the occasional farm and small hotel. The scenery was more and more jagged and wild it seemed, with the trees “growing” lichen from every branch and twig. Then the road changed from tarmac to a dusty track which was well maintained, but in parts very narrow, and constantly climbing to reach the pass on the north side of another volcano. The entire area is a national park and it is shared between Argentina and Chile I think. With such rugged and seeminly primordeal landscapes it made the bus ride an absolute pleasure and slow enough to take photos out of the window. We arrived at the Chilean border and passports were scanned and stamped as usual, a few passengers scrutinised and questioned, but let pass. A five minute bus ride on was the Argentinian border post. Each of the buildings was quite imposing, the chilean border looks like some kind of Ski Chalet built out of wood, whilst the Argentine one is a Ski Chalet with a massive fireplace inside, built out of Stone and wood, both in keeping with European Alpine traditional development. Nice change though from little shacks and concrete huts in the Caribbean. The changes in landscape were also quite interesting, the Chilean border marking the change between mixed forest to Monkey Puzzle forest which is one of the oldest tree species alive, and the Argentine border continues with the Monkey Puzzle tree but a thinning variety that gives way to scrub land pretty quickly.
The Argentine border was all very efficient, the military type police with gleaming uniforms, boots and combed hair were all proud as to be serving the HUGE flag they sat under and also took the liberty to search a few peoples luggage, for what I don’t know. Two women of caribbean origin were refused entry so while things were sorted out or not, we hung around and stared at a very active volcano or warmed ourselves by the fire inside. Then it was back to the border to verify something with the Chileans and then back again to the Argentine side, luckily it is only a five minute drive between the borders…the result was that the two women were still not to be let in. Off the bus and onwards ho.
The bus hit a tarmac road fairly soon and trundled through the changing landscape, much drier already that Chile, but equally beautiful until we hit the north of the lake district and the town of San Martin de Los Andes. Driving towards the bus stop we were given a quick tour of the very tourist mountain sports orientated town, ski chalet type buildings everywhere again and then a very pictureque lake. A very relaxed tout handed us a a slip of paper and then cycled off advertsing a room in a private house so we hesitated, but after walking to some other hostels we met the tout again who knocked off a good thirty pesos a night which sealed the deal. This marked our arrival to San Martin.. nothing overly exciting, but very beautiful.
MT
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