2 little happy campers - road trip through The Lakes District, Argentina

We arrived in Bariloche after a short bus ride (5 hr bus rides are now seemingly short after the 24hr rides we have become quite used to!) from a small and sleepy town called Esquel. Bariloche is known for its Swiss Alps vibe and raging night-life - wooden chalets, gore-tex and chocolate shops adorn every street. It's the 'very very' low season - a shoulder period between summer and the winter ski season, so the town was quiet to say the least. That pub trip and taste of night-life that we had been looking forward to unfortunately was not going to be happening in Bariloche...so we resigned to the fact that we'd have to wait until Santiago for that!
However, luckily for us, the weather was beautiful which meant that we had picture perfect views of the moutains reflecting in the lakes that surround the town. So we hired our little VW Golf and headed off on a 3 day camping road trip on the '7 lakes' route to San Martin De Los Andes. We thought that our trip was doomed as we left Bariloche as Tom decided to join in with the locals and overtake a truck. Unfortunately his timing was out and he did this just before a police check point. Unbeknown to us, this is a big 'no no'. We were pulled over and Tom was frogmarched into the office, while I sat praying in the car that we would not be slapped with a massive fine. Luckily the Police found it hilarious and Tom was let off 'as a stupid gringo, not knowing the road rules '!
After a shaky start, we finally hit the open road and had an amazing 3 days, camping and driving. The views were truly spectacular and the campsites empty, except for the ....dogs! Our first night camping we had the company of 6 dogs and on the second night a wolf-like dog befriended Tom. hmmm the dogs in South America are like something else, they love to follow you around the streets for hours. In fact you can go into a restaurant for dinner and they wil be waiting outside to escort you home when you leave!


Our trusty little camp stove comes everywhere with us. A cup of soup, tea or noodles is only a matter of minutes away.