San Martin de Los Andes,
Lake District,
Argentina
Monday, November 17, 2008
Somehow we seem to arrive into cities predominantly on a Sunday and in Argentina this is never ideal. Picture New Zealand 20 years ago when everything was closed on a Sunday (or even some European cities such as in Germany today) and you've got a pretty good idea of what it's like throughout a lot of Argentina. The benefit of this is that it's a big day for families and everyone generally looks happier and more relaxed, like they are enjoying life and at it's simplest. Arriving mid-afternoon to boot also means that not only is everything closed but it's slap bang in the middle of siesta time, never a good time to achieve anything. We found some fantastic cabins in the typical chocolate box style, made of logs by the lake but reception was locked and everyone was missing in action. So instead we ended up in a non-descript hotel which had the bare minimum necessities - 1 bed, bathroom and WiFi. San Martin is described as a 'chocolate box city' and it's truly something right out of a book. With wide streets lined with trees and chocolate box houses in the style of wood and natural local rocks surrounded by mountains and of course with the lake to complete the setting, chocolate box is the best way to sum it up. As November is the quietest month of the year there wasn't a lot happening so we spent our two days there wandering around every street enjoying the sunshine and picnicking down by the lake sampling some of the local produce which is mostly smoked meats - lamb, boar, venison and trout (hare did not sound remotely appealing). Admittedly our picnic was supposed to be across the lake in the National Park where you can also do some hikes but the boat schedule we were given at the tourist office was out of date and so we literally missed the boat. Our main reason for coming here was it's a starting point for the Siete Lagos route (7 lakes) to Bariloche, Argentina's chocolate capital - it would be rude to miss that out!
