Great Time in Small Towns

Great Time in Small Towns

Monday, Feb. 20, San Martin de Andés, Lake District, Patagonia

I am spending several days just going from one small town to another in a row going up the Lake District. What is nice about this is that each town is small enough to explore easily on foot, yet it has plenty of shops, restraurants, etc. I can walk the streets exploring, I can go to the plazas to relax and read, and I can easily walk out of town into the natural areas which always involve forrests, lakes, and mountains in this area.

Yesterday, I took the Seven Lakes route to go from Villa La Angostura to San Martin de Andés. Both are wonderful towns. The Seven Lakes route is the more direct route between them, but it is the "back" route due to only about 40% of it being paved. I had bought a bus ticket, but there were only 3 of us going at that time. Instead of running a bus, the company hired a taxi and sent us that way. They would have told us we had to wait for the next bus, but the other two were connecting to an international bus and had to leave before the next bus. We lucked out. I got to sit in the front seat. The scenery was great, but the views weren´t as good as I had hoped to to all the DUST!! Everything is volcanic here, so unpaved roads are very dusty roads. Being a popular tourist route, this road was full of cars going both directions. We were in a dust cloud probably 60% of the time we were on the unpaved portion of the road. But we did see all 7 lakes, mountain streams, farms with split rail fences and log houses, and dramatic mountain views.

I had trouble finding a place to stay at first. I went to the tourist office, but it was overrun with people. I would have had to wait probably an hour to see someone and then would have felt rushed because of the people who would have been in line behind me. I grabbed and map I saw on a counter and went out looking for places I had marked in my guidebook. Unfortunately, I couldn´t find any of the streets on the map; it was for a small sister village about 8 km away from here! I didn´t see places to stay as I walked block after block until finally a 3-star hosteria was on a block. They had a very nice room with mini-fridge, private bath, cable tv, etc., for $55 per night. I knew I could afford, it but I also knew I could do much better. I explained to the lady that I was traveling for 7 months and, therefore, needed to pay less. I told her I had been paying $25-35 per night lately. She had a map of the city there, and I took one and told her I would come back if I didn´t find anything else. The first place I went from my list was only 3 blocks from there. They had a 2-room suite with cable tv, balcony, private bath, and breakfast for $27, so I took it.

It was already 2:15 p.m., so I went looking for a restaurant and gave myself a good treat. I found a local place, but a nice one. I had their most expensive meal. It opened with a plate of Patagonian appetizers--pickled pimiento, pickled eggplant, dried venison, 2 kinds of dried ham, boiled ham, a piece of roast beef, a dab of trout paté, a slice of cheese, and two pieces of seasoned toast. The main course was beeftips with a dark red sauce served with seasoned boiled potatoes. Dessert was a dish of homemade ice cream (vanilla and chocolate). I got half a bottle of red wine to go with the meal. The entire meal, including tip, came to less than $13. The appetizer plate would have cost that much in a similar restaurant in the U.S.!

My hips were sore from all the walking I had done on Saturday. So I didn´t feel like doing much. I went to one of the plazas and sat and read for about 1 1/2 hours. Then I returned to my room around 6 p.m. and stayed inside and watched TV the rest of the night.

I´m still a little sore today. I have slowly explored the town this morning. It´s now 12:20, so it will soon be time to find a restaurant for lunch. I´ll do that after I leave here, then I will go walking around the lake to a viewpoint and to a beach. I´ll take my book and relax and just enjoy this wonderful place which is pictured on this website:

http://www.guiaverde.net/sanmartindelosandes/