To San Martin via the 7 Lakes Route

We left Bariloche at 9am on the bus 'Albus' to San Martin de los Andes.

Albus is the only company that does the trip to San Martin via the '7 Lakes' route. All the other companies go out and up via the main roads. The 7 Lakes Route takes a winding road that turns into a gravel road up in the mountains. It goes past ... yes ... 7 Lakes.

It was a beautiful trip, especially since all the mountains had snow on them from last night's light snowfall.

San Martin is another 'typical' Argentine tourist town. Nicely laid out, very nice looking buildings, and a slew of tourist-oriented businesses.

We hadn't booked a hotel room ahead, but had a couple circled in the Lonely Planet guide. But we were accosted on exiting the bus by 'Mario' who had a nice room to rent at a very good price. It was a block and a half from the bus station, and Mario spoke pretty good English, so we decided to take a look. (Contact Details on our Travel Chile page).

It was an OK room... still under construction, and the wifi that Mario promised was not HIS wifi, but an open wireless router a few blocks away.

We had a late lunch at a nice waterside restaurant recommended by Mario, and then took a taxi up the hill to the 'Mirador' (scenic overlook) over the city. We let the taxi go, and after a few pictures and some hot chocolate at the Casa de Te at the top of the hill, hiked the 5KM back down to the city.

Unfortunately, the only buses leaving for Pucon, Chile leave at 6am, so we had an early night and left for Pucon while it was still dark the next day.