San Martín de los Andes proved to be a smaller and quieter version of Bariloche. Like Bariloche, it is situated on the bank of a nice blue lake and is completely surrounded by pine-covered mountains. I guess it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the surrounding forests and parks are the main attraction.
On our first morning we climbed the Mirador Bandurrias for a view of the town and the far eastern end of Lake Lácar. It is an easy 45 minute hike from the edge of town once you find the trailhead. There are a couple houses near the top and an old lady that charges you a couple of pesos to enter (private property?) but it is certainly worth it. The views were spectacular and the old ladies’ goats were also fun to watch. I gave one a crab apple that I found on the trail and he seemed very pleased with it.
Later that day we hopped in the car and drove north to Lago Huechulafquen to get a peek at the Lanín volcano. It was late in the day so we opted to not enter the park (around $12 per person) but were still able to see it from the windy shore of the lake.
On day 2 in San Martín we headed west on a dirt road that hugs the north shore of Lago Lácar. The road goes all the way to Chile but we only wanted to go as far as Yuco Park to check out the lake shore. We rolled into the park in our tiny Chevy Corsa and discovered a couple dozen other vehicles in the parking area: all of them were SUVs. At first I thought that perhaps I had misjudged the quality of the road on the way in (it was dry and mostly downhill).
It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when we came across a group of 40 or so American/Canadian tourists, that I put two and two together. Their guides were packing up their fancy catered lunch and they were all piling back into their SUVs. The way I had it figured, they were each traveling two to a vehicle. That’s an environmentally conscious way to tour a national park. Either way, after the group left we had the place more or less to ourselves. It was gorgeous.