Lanin National Park

For 2 days we have been in a very nice hostel in San Martin de Los Andes. The surroundings are magnificent, lakes, volcanoes, a beautiful town. On the recommendation of a mountain bike tour organizer, we - uh, no, didn't do a mountain bike tour, but drove around the 5 lakes for 120 km by car. Due to the poor road conditions, it takes a whole day, but it's beautiful! The entrance is provided by the bathing lake for the inhabitants of the local town. There is also a kiosk and a small restaurant. Then you continue on proper gravel roads to the entrance of the park. Not all lakes are easily accessible, for 2 of them you would have to descend through dense undergrowth from the road. But you can drive close to the lake for the others. Although the roads are really bad, many people drive into the park by car, many anglers and families. The parking lot at the first big lake was already fully occupied, a parking problem in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing that doesn't exist. We did manage to get rid of the car and sat down by the lake. Even though it always looks very sunny, it's not warm. 15 degrees and a lot of wind.

The special highlight of the tour is a lava field that extends 7 km long from the volcano into the lake. We had never seen anything like it before. The Achen Niyeu volcano is supposed to have erupted 400 years ago. It seems a bit long to us, as the trees are still so small. But probably nature needs that long to recover from such an event. It is definitely a fascinating sight. You can climb around on the sharp-edged lava rocks and hold them in your hand. The rocks are very heavy. It will take a while for rain and wind to crush them into the fine black sand found on the beaches.

At the end of the tour, we come to a thermal bath. Two hot springs, one so hot that you are not allowed to bathe in it. The other is basically built as a pool and we would have liked to bathe in it, but the whole place was occupied by a large Argentine family. So we drove back, took a few more looks at the great lakes, and ended the tour on the terrace of the small restaurant at the first lake. Funny enough, they have the same red wine as in our garage. A bargain at Aldi a year ago, Malbec from Mendoza, very tasty. Tastes good here too 🍷