A beautiful morning, other than the haze. It's wildfire season in Chile and Argentina, and both countries are having major problems. Today, we're driving through Parque Nacional Los Alerces on our way north to Villa Los Coihues, outside of the better-known city of San Carlos de Bariloche.
Javier Milei aka "The Lion," Argentina's new president
Before leaving Esquel, we stopped to see La Trochita, the old Patagonian Express narrow-gauge railway. La Trochita was once part of a network of railways that ran throughout southern Argentina. Today, it is a National Historic Monument that runs two short routes for tourists.
La Trochita
The old Patagonian Express
Parque Nacional Los Alerces is located 45 km west of Esquel, along Argentina's border with Chile. It's a beautiful, forested park with mountains and finger lakes and some of the oldest trees on earth. They get more rain here than in most of Argentine Patagonia, but not enough lately to prevent the forest fires.
Mirador del Valle
Los Alerces National Park
Sendero de las Pinturas Rupestres is an easy, mile-long trail that passes by a rock overhang bearing ancient faded art. The path continues upward to a fantastic north-facing overlook, where we could see the source of the wildfire smoke. We watched as planes came down and skimmed the lake, filling their bellies with water, then flew off toward the fires.
Las Pinturas Rupestres
Pretty yellow flowers
Hillside of firewood
Waterbomber airplane
Fires in the near distance
The road through Los Alerces National Park is rough gravel, so it was a slow drive. The temperature was close to 90 degrees, without a cloud in the sky. If not for the smoke, it would have been perfect.
Low-hanging smoke over Lago Futalaufquen
Cascada Irigoyen
Tom and Jana in Los Alerces National Park
Pasarela Rio Arrayanes is a striking footbridge in a ridiculously beautiful setting. There are several trails in this area, but we didn't have a trail map, so we had to wing it. We walked across the bridge and had a picnic, then returned over the bridge and hiked up to a great mirador. Good choices, I think, and we only had to walk about a mile.
Pasarela Rio Arrayanes
Confluence of Rios Arrayanes and Mendez
Rio Arrayanes and Lago Verde
Villa Lago Rivadavia
An hour after leaving the park, we stopped at Cholila Ranch, the former Argentine hideaway of American fugitives Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Argentina has a long history of harboring fugitives, and the bandits were welcome here until they resumed their criminal ways. What did Argentina expect? The two then fled to Chile, before eventually being killed in a shootout in Bolivia after yet another robbery.
Hideout thisaway
There was no one in attendance at the ranch, but we let ourselves in through the gate and walked half a kilometer to the cabañas. The outlaws chose an isolated spot for their hideout. Too bad they couldn't keep to the straight and narrow...
Butch Cassidy's Argentine ranch
Inside the bandits' lair
Finally, we returned to Ruta 40 and picked up speed as we drove to the small village of Villa Los Coihues (pop. unknown), located on the outskirts of large, touristy San Carlos de Bariloche (pop. 150,000). We thought this would be a sleepy little town, but Villa Los Coihues is on the shore of Lago Gutierrez, and this unusually warm summer Sunday had brought people out of the woodwork. It was a madhouse!
Casa Inmejorable Ubicacion Airbnb is a cute, comfortable cabaña made from a shipping container. It's only 100 meters or so from the lake, so thank goodness the place had private parking. I texted our host Sebastian when we arrived, and he opened the gate to let us in. We were in easy walking distance of a couple of restaurants and a large supermarket. Sebastian even offered us the use of his kayaks, but we didn't end up taking him up on it. The place was perfect. We were pleased to have two nights here.
Casa Inmejorable Ubicacion
Two nights in a comfortable shipping container
Mileage: 307 km