Exploring South America: Lanin National Park

Me in front of Volcán Lanin.

Day 1: On my first day in Argentina I visited the Lanin National Park office and inquired about climbing Volcán Lanin. But yet again the weather forecast was not good for climbing volcanos.

Plan B was to walk south through Lanin national park. But as I was to discover this was not so simple as many of the tracks showing on my map did not exist or were closed for the hunting season. Also many buses operating during the tourist season had stopped running after Easter.

I managed to hitch hike to a place called Puerto Canoa many Kilometres down a dirt road. From here an elderly Mapuche woman and her two grandchildren with some difficulty rowed me and and a couple from Buenos Aires a short distance across the lake to an idyllic campsite.

Día 1: La primero día en Argentina. Viste la oficina del parque nacional porque quería subir Volcan Lanin pero no pudé por mal tiempo.

Plan B: Quería caminar por Parque Nacional Lanin pero no fue fácil porque algún senderos estaba cerrado por caza de ciervo y otras en el mapa en realidad no existe. Entonces tuvé que cambiar mis planes.

Hice dedo a Puerto Canoa al lado del Lago Huechulafquen. Desde Puerto Canoa tome en barco hasta el campamento muy lindo. Mapuche vivían en este parque y tenían cuidado del parque junto el gobierno así que Mapuche se dirigían el campamento y barco aquí.

View from campsite

My holiday home

Voclán Lanin. View from the south side

Mapuche are the indigenous people here and work together with government agencies to manage the park. When I was hiking I was surprised to see catttle grazing in the park. I have since been told that Mapuche have historical rights to continue to do this in the national park.

Day 2: I walked 3 hours to another idyllic campsite beside Lake Paimun. I was even brave enough to go for a swim in the lake even though the wáter was freezing. However it was necessary as I had not had a proper wash in a week. The dust and ash here is pervasive and my clothes are filthy.

Dia2: Caminaba tres horas a campamento a Aila al lado del Lago Paimun. Fui valiente y nadar en el lago aunque estaba frio. La primero vez me lavé en una semana por eso fue necesario. También mis ropas estaban sucia porque iba mucho polvo y ceniza.

The best part about holidays is being able to relax and read

Day 3: I walked 5 hours through the forest to Las Termas ( hot pools), a camping ground situated on a dirt road that can take you over a pass back into Chile. It had started raining. At the campground they told me the road into Chile was closed and that there will be no more cars on this road until spring. Luckily the campground owners were heading back into town and offered me a lift thus saving me several days walk down this road to get back to civilisation.

I was dropped off in San Martin. de Los Andes. A small tourist town by Lake Lacar.

Día 3: Caminaba cinco horas por el bosque a Campamento de Los Termas al lado del camino de tierra. Esta ruta va a Chile o San Martin de Los Andes pero el paso de Chile estaba cerrado por inverno entonces no había bus o coches. Por suerte los dueños del campamento me ofreceron llevar en coche entonces no tuve que caminar por dos días para la civilización..

Llegué a San Martin, un buen pueblo al lado de Lago Lacar.

Day 4: I spent two nights and a day in Sans Martin.

Here I walked up to a lookout over the lake at Bandumias and visited the Che Guevara museum which was surprisingly good. Although I did find it strange to find a museum about Che here in a place he never lived but only stayed for two days at the bus station to recover from an asthma attack.

Día 4: Pase dos noches en San Martin. Visite Mirador Bandumias y el Museo de Che Guevara. El museo fue interesante.