Apart Hotel Los Abedules San Martin de los Andes

... Our first study was completed with great success. Andean Condor census snapshot with a total of over 200 birds in approximately a 45 kilometer circumference. I managed two field teams on two separate condoreras named Fragua Grande and Fragua Chica. If you don't know much about the Andean Condor than I recommend some research on these absolutely amazing birds.<br><br>Tomorrow we will put to finishing touches on the gear + food in preparation for 2 weeks on ...

... boarded the boat to return to the mainland. I don´t recommend this tour: 40 pesos for the boat, 30 for the park. And really nothing here, but the puny falls. But the town itself is all that LP advertises: a beautiful Swiss-like village that hosts summer tourists for the lake activities, and the winter tourists for the skiing and other winter activities. Since it is fall, I was able to get a decent discount at the hostel. But ...

... up in the lake to form a giant slurpee in the placid waters. Better than television, although like the watched pot, the really big bits seem to always splinter off as our backs are turned or a tree blocks our view. Back to town in the afternoon and time to drag my fast fading computer into a service shop to be cured of its electronic Ebola. A 10 minute once over from the busy team becomes a full 5 hour scan and check...again, hard to find fault with Argentine service anywhere ...

... the "weather". Harvey begins to play his guitar and study some of his music. I see him making notations and very focused. With my camera, I try to capture the wind, rain, and being inside with the warmth of the fire. I am losing track of time today and even the days of the week. I don't know how many times today I have forgotten what day it is. It's Saturday! The intention for today? "There are no ordinary moments". With weather ...

... in San Martin de los Andes, but we have reached Route 63 and our Rio Hermoso Hotel is only one km down that road! We'll need to catch Lago Meliquina (lake#9) and Lago Machonico (lago#10) another day! We have enjoyed this road trip today. As much as I tried to get information on the internet in advance, I found very little about places to stop and walk. I had read about Nivinco Waterfalls and Vulinanco Waterfalls, but we did not either see the ...

... surprisingly still as wealthy on appearance as Chile. The houses again could easily have been mistaken for a new typical British estate of the 3 or 4 bedroom detached variety plus garage and garden, and combined with a European chalet feel had all the qualities of Chile. Not long after we arrived in the sprawling touristy town of San Martin de los Andes, picturesque and very upmarket with chocolate-box style architecture, you really could have been in any European ski resort ...

... we then headed out on the town. The first club saw us strut our funky stuff on the empty dance floor whist wearing very dodgy head gear and sunglasses that wouldn`t have looked out of place on a bad Elvis impersonator in Vegas, yet we all thought we were the height of cool in Patagonia! Not surprising the locals didn`t find us cool at all and gave us a wide birth all night and left the dance floor in the incapable hands of the drunk ass gringos!! Next it was on ...

... freeze taking a photo. So down we go, much more fun as we can partly slide down on our bums, yippee! We also need to wear our spikes, v**y adventurous. At 5pm, we're back in our hostel, exhausted but happy. Next day, we treat ourselves to a visit to some natural hot springs. And now, it´s time to head to Argentina, we go the long way to San Martin de los Andes, which takes us through lots of little villages, woods and by many lakes. We stop in Pu**to Fuy for the night ...

Our bus to the Argentian lake district town of San Martin de los Andes was due to leave today near our hostel at 9:30am, so we were up with enough time to pack and get ready. <br><br>The sun was unhindered by clouds this morning, so the volcano behind the hostel looked extremely striking against the early blue skies. After just a late glimpse last night it was great to see him ...

The reason to come to Parque Nacional Lanín is the stunning volcano in the centre. We arived from Junin at 10am but were told we needed to register for the climb up the volcano by 11am. This was impossible as we had gone a way past the stop for the registration as we had been informed about a free campsite. On entrance we had to pay a heafty $7 for nothing as far as I was concerned and the free campsite appeared to be fictional. We walked a hell ...