Ruta 40 (Argentina)

Jumping ahead in our travels, here's an image on the Argentinian side, from our journey back north on Ruta 40, a legendary north-south route, stretching from far north to south in Argentina.

Ruta 40

It's largely paved now, but we bumped along some pretty remote graveled roads from the Chilean border crossing (without much other traffic) to finally get to Route 40.  Somewhat unnerving, actually!

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Such fun

I returned today to a lovely mug (thanks to Society 6).  They artfully added my "evergreens and snags" watercolor to a coffee cup.

How cool is that? 

I'd posted about this before, but there's something a bit magic about actually receiving a cup (!) with something created personally on it.

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Beyond Bariloche

Returning from the Ruta de Siete Lagos, we returned through Bariloche, and continued to head south.

The next town is El Bolson, a remarkably pleasant town with a vibrant market.

We almost missed it, in spite of guide book directions. The main highway skirts the main center of town, and evokes Patagonia of old, speckled with a few bakeries, meat shops, fruterias, and basically not looking very promising.

But we persevered, and found great views, and an interesting and eclectic market scene. It reminded us our our diverse mountain town in Western North Carolina - full of artists, creative folks, "old" hippies, as well as young South American ones.

Rio Azul from the mirador above El Bolson

Pother, I'm on the iPad and it's taking forever to sort back though the photos...

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

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More waterfalls

 Waterfalls are on my mind; not only did we see a lot of them over winter break, but my gardening companion is currently sending off his talk descriptions for scheduled programs about waterfalls and wildflowers (hmm, I always get to "review" them before they go).

Here's the same amazing waterfall (with feral Colorado lupines in the foreground) with my gardening companion.  Maybe it'll be a publicity shot?

TS with waterfall

The light on this one was better, but taken unawares.

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Amazing waterfalls

We live in an area of abundant and lovely waterfalls in the Southern Appalachians, but the ones in Patagonia --hmm.  They were both abundant and spectacular.

Waterfalls draw us, wherever they are -- they're special.

Here was the first we saw (still on the Ruta de los Siete Lagos).

The lupines (everywhere) have escaped from cultivation (probably our Western Colorado species).

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More along the Ruta de Siete Lagos

views along the road - amazing

kite-surfing in the brisk Patagonian wind

Digitalis (a European species) --self-seeding, but lovely

San Martin de los Andes (from an overlook above the town)

The Ruta de Siete Lagos (Route of the Seven Lakes) was a great circuit to start our exploration of the Argentinian Lake District.  Wonderful lakes, landscapes, and views, and good hiking.

We stayed overnight in San Martin and then returned back, staying in Villa Angostura (north of Bariloche).

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Ruta de Siete Lagos

All of the seven lakes were perfectly blue.

After flying to Bariloche, we headed north on the Ruta de Siete Lagos, a truly breathtaking circuit.

Argentina is a (VERY) large country -- it was a two hour flight to Bariloche from Buenos Aires.

The first lake was amazing. My companion had to take a swim (in the very cold water).

The surroundings were quite arid, but filled with interesting plants.

The cushion plants were really interesting (to us botanists, at least).

unusual cushion plants (adapted to arid/alpine conditions)

The first waterfall of many!

Part of an alternative route took us over gravel roads, just a taste of what was to come.

My traveling companion

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