Of the mountain towns of San Martin and Bariloche;

I spent one night in the town San Martin de los Andes, Argentina in a tiny guest room in the house of a man I met at the bus station. I guess when it isn't the height of tourist season, the local lodge owners look for anyway to bring in a few more bucks. The town lies in a low valley on the shore of an Andean lake with thick green pines along the shore and snowcapped hills in the background. I did a quick walk through the town, but I didn't have much time to see any real sites since I arrived late the night before and my bus to Bariloche was leaving that morning.

Looking up into the Andes from the shore of Lago Lacar in the town of San Martin.

To get to Bariloche there are two main routes from San Martin. I was hoping the "Camino de siete lagos (the road of seven lakes)" which passes through the middle of the Andes would be open, but it was closed for winter. That wasn't too much of a problem since I had had a good amount of busing over small Andean roads the day before. The route I took went south along the eastern Patagonian side of the Andes before heading back into the mountains to reach Bariloche.

Looking back those big Andes Mountains interrupting what would just be the flat expanse of Patagonia

The incredible rock formations at Confluencia on the way to Bariloche. The road beyond this was filled with amazing pillars of rock jutting out from the hill sides. Sadly taking pictures from a moving bus is not easy in low light.

On the way back into the mountains to get to Bariloche

My bus took a two hour scenic detour along the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake in order to stop at the small town of Villa la Angostura. This town is actually only 25 miles from the Puyehue eruption which was still active. It was hard to tell because of all the snow that was coming down but there was volcanic ash all over the area. Nahuel Huapi Lake, a huge 45 mile long lake with arms that stretch into the valleys of the Andes, had areas covered with a thick sludge of ash left from the eruption. Many of the other lakes I saw had amazing light-blue colors from all the ash in the water.

The interesting hue of an ash filled lake.

 Nahuel Huapi Lake from the top of the Bariloche ski hill. The lake is so big that is has legends of sea monsters like Loch Ness. The island you see is the site of a 1950s laboratory and its failed nuclear experiments. I'm thinking that this sea monster known as Nahuelito is actually some radioactive mutant that got out.

That afternoon I made it to my destination: San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. I wanted to go to this city because it is known as one of the best ski resorts in Argentina and is well connected by bus to Buenos Aires. I had given up hope of skiing South America because it was a bad winter for snow and Cerro Catedral, the ski hill at Bariloche hadn't opened yet. When I get to Hostel 41 Below, an amazing ski hostel in Bariloche, they tell me that opening day skiing would be tomorrow. Turns out that all the snow I had gone through the day before gave the ski hill more than enough snow to open the lifts up. I couldn't pass up this day of skiing.

Trail map of Cerro Catedral

That next morning I managed to get myself out of bed early and a little hungover from a night of partying with the other skiers in the hostel. Hostel 41 Below was able to set me up with all the snow gear I needed and pointed me and the other skiers towards the ski bus to the resort. They were super helpful getting me a good rental price on a snowboard too. In Bariloche it had been dumping down snow, but by the time we got to the base of the mountain, about 30 minutes outside of town, the snow had stopped. Once I was on the chairlift, the clouds started breaking apart to reveal the amazing views of the Andes and blue skies.

On the way up the Cerro Catedral

A view looking off into the back side of ski resort. I hear it is a popular hiking spot in the summers.

By the time I got to the top of the mountain it was perfect skiing conditions. Sort of... There were incredible views looking across the ski resort, down towards the city, and across Nahuel Huapi Lake. There was also a  lot of fresh powder. About 3 feet of it. The only problem with that was that outside the groomed runs there was no base of snow under the powder. If I lost momentum and sank down into the powder I could feel my board scraping the rocks below.

A view of the main ski-able area of Cerro Catedral. You can also see the line of lodges and food shacks stretching up and down the hill.

Panoramic shot of the ski lift and the view from the top.

I had an awesome day of skiing. I met up with some travelers from the hostel on the hill and skied a number of runs with them. By the time I got back to the hostel it was nearly dark and I was exhausted from a full day of skiing so I sat back and watched some of the Copa America and cheered for Argentina's soccer team with the rest of the people in the hostel.

Click to see a google map with my route through the Andes!


Read Part 1: Of the perilous journey across the Andes; of Mamuil Malal Pass