Circuito Grande, a great Seven Lakes Drive in Argentina
It’s still raining. Our Tour in Argentina adventure for the day – starting to explore the Ruta de Los Siete Lagos – the Circuito Grande — (Seven Lakes Route) that goes from Bariloche all the way north to San Martin de los Andes – about 114 miles. Today we just decided to tackle the Circuito Grande (on the map, it’s the orange line) – which goes by the closest of the big lakes, Lago Traful. And off we went.
An incredibly beautiful drive – surrounded by green hills with snow-capped Andes in the background and lakes everywhere. I have stopped taking so many pictures, because they all look so similar.
It’s hard to describe the scope though – the views and the trees just go on forever! You can’t capture that in a picture.
We noticed that along the way the walls on the side of the road in Argentina, which we expected to be concrete, were in may places actually rocks held back by chicken wire. They are essentially expertly constructed wire bags of rocks, very flat on the exposed surface so that they look like large blocks of concrete from a distance. No mortar.
You can’t capture the experience of bumping along over a largely gravel road. That’s right – the pavement ended when we were but a short distance out of Villa La Angostura and we noticed on the map that the road color was DIFFERENT!
Yep, we figured it was under construction.
No it’s not — IT’S ALWAYS THAT WAY – all gravel and dirt. The Circuito Grande road goes up, up, up and then down, down, down and then up again. Drinving in Argentina Maxing out at 40km/hr, about 25 mph, for over three hours.
Along the Circuito Grande, we met cows and horses in the road. Three dogs and a gaucho driving a huge steer somewhere (sort of a cowboy with Argentinian garb – sorry we were not fast enough on the camera to get that). We had to wait for them to move before proceeding! But we did get the cow!!
Traful looks big on the map and we aimed to have lunch there starting at about 12:30, but had a real challenge trying to determine WHERE exactly the town was.
In this area of the Circuito Grande near Traful, it was all cabanas, some roadside restaurants (mostly closed – it’s Sunday) and campsites. Three successive signs on the Circuito Grande announced “Bienvenido a Villa Traful”, so that’s why we could not tell the starting point of the town. Villa
We finally doubled back when there was a sign welcoming us facing in the other direction and went where there were a couple other cars parked (herding instinct) and discovered an open place – of course, right across from the lake. By the time we had finished our lunch (shared the ever-present “hamburguesa completa” – burger + tomato + lettuce + ham + melted cheese + fried egg sometimes), the place was packed (more herding instinct). Even the outdoor deck – it had stopped raining at this point.
On the drive home the rest of the way around the Circuito Grande, along a large river favored by rafting excursions, we followed a truck hauling some rafts back upstream. Would you see this in America? Want to try this on a windy day on the Grapevine?
Note also that the landscape becomes much more arid, with fewer trees, more scrub brush – and jagged peaks on the east side of the lake. There are actually 4 distinct climate zones in Patagonia – ranging from rain forest to arid steppe to antarctic. It’s amazing.
Afterward, there was a trip to the supermercado “La Anonima” (might mean “no name”) for food & supplies. Think supermarket plus a nice selection of power tools like belt sanders and circular saws. But by the time we got home, it was raining again. Tried to watch Sunday football, but no go – the wifi wasn’t fast enough right then.
Dinner out at “Chop Chop” – recommended by Fernando – and really good. Again “best steak I ever…” We were there when they opened at 8pm. By the time we left at 10pm, there had only been two other tables served – maybe the pouring rain kept them away, or maybe it was just too early. (One point for anyone who noticed that we had two restaurant meals today.) A great finish to the tour in Argentina of the Circuito Grande.
For more on the Circuito Grande, see the Circuito Grande entry on the Patagonia website.
Our next post takes us back from the Circuito Grande to Villa La Angostura.
I love the part about the rafts. Is the water cold? What are your plans for New Year’s Eve? Looks like you could take us anywhere and we would feel right at home. Love, Jane