Ruta de los Siete Lagos, de Argentina. Jueves, 9 de Septiembre.

We'd been told the best way to explore the lakes district was to drive The Seven Lakes Route by car, hence we decided to hire one in Bariloche and dust off our tent for a 3 day tour. The route consists of a 360km round trip from Bariloche mostly on dirt roads.
Apart from the obvious lakes that we wanted to check out, there are also 2 small ski-fields and associated towns en-route which were a must.  

Driving in Bariloche was initially interesting, firstly with a left-hand drive manual on the right-hand side of the road, and second, negotiating the road with other Argentinean drivers. Stop signs in Argentina (PARE) prove to infact mean ‘go’, and as pedestrians we have found zebra crossings serve merely as ornamental street art. This in mind, we jumped straight on the road out of town for ski filed no. 1 Cerro Bayo, on the opposite side of the lake from Bariloche.



Clare atop Cerro Bayo, Villa La Angostura



We had one of the our best days of the season up Cerro Bayo, experiencing great snow conditions and basically no-one to get in our way! A short 10 minute hike from the highest chair to the summit proved to open up untouched terrain – so we repeated this loop for the whole afternoon.

Clare on the hike to the summit of Cerro Bayo



Rain/snow storm headed our way.

Campsite no. 1 on Lago Espejo

In a role reversal, Clare made a fire and pitched the tent whilst I made a cup of tea then dinner!



Day two on some relatively hard going roads (one leg of which was closed immediately after we passed through) brought us to San Martin de Los Andes – another Swiss/gingerbread-house village at the base of Cerro Chapelco.

In Argentina we have found that whenever we want to explore city or village hubs, they are dead quiet due to the mid afternoon siesta which is taken religiously from 1-4pm. San Martin was no different, and as skiers came off the mountain the place came to life.

Lago Traful

Campsite no. 2 Lago Lacar. Note, soft leafy ground/mattress and our canine friend who slept immediately outside the tent for the night.

Patagonain lakeside camping in winter a little chilly, especially without sleeping rolls!
Kiwi ingenuity prevailed on night 2 with the use of cardboard boxes from the local supermercado, resulting in a great night's sleep.


Day 3 brought us up Cerro Chapelco for another day snowboarding - A brilliant tree-clad slope with views across the Andes to Chile.

Our favorite piste at Cerro Chapelco

Site analysis 101 fail? Take 2 got it right.

Volcan Lanin seen from Cerro Chapelco, the highest volcano in S.A (3776m). 
The Chile/Argentina border runs directly through the middle.

The first half of the return drive was via a slow going 70km dirt road pass taking just over two hours. I was excited by the prospect of driving my first Chevy, however did not realise that Chevrolet now manufacture sewing machines. On the other hand, Cheryl did us proud navigating roads (extremely economically) that no rental company would condone or insure for back home.

70km pass

Campsite no. 3 & Cheryl the Chevrolet Corsa Classic, 1.4L, manual.