My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Today we drove almost all the way across Argentina, From Trevelin, in the Andes not far from the border with Chile to Gaiman in the east, not far from the coast. The drive was 400 miles and it took us about 9 hours. We only saw one or two small towns. The road was paved, had two lanes and there was almost no traffic. There were sections of the road with lots of big potholes but it was not as bad as our pothole drive earlier in the trip.
The scenery looked like we were driving across Utah and NevadaA stop to stretch
Gaiman is like Trevelin in that it was also originally settled by the Welsh. We are staying in a Welsh Tea House. For dinner we walked to a restaurant, Gwalia Lân Resto and had pizza and beer for dinner. The decor felt very pub like.
Waiting for our pizza. On the way back to our inn we walked through the square and admired the dragon.
The weather today was absolutely perfect. The people at Challhuaquen Fishing Lodge, where we are staying, told us that the normal weather here is rainy and overcast. So we were very lucky to have a beautiful sunny day to explore
We explored a bit of Los Alerces National Park. We did 3 short hikes. The first hike was to a view point and to see some rock art.
The start of our first hikeThe view from the lookout.
The second hike was a short hike to Cascada Irigoyem.
Irigoyen Waterfsll hike
Our final hike in the park was through the Forest to the Rivadavia River.
Some of the trail was a bit overgrown but it was a great hikeThere were almost no other people on the trails.
Finally, we drove to a more southern part of the park to see the dam and hydroelectric plant.
Duke being DukeA Pipe with a diameter of 9 meter carries water from the dam through a rock tunnel and over this bridge to the hydroelectric plant.
We have really enjoyed our stay at Challhuaquen Fishing Lodge. It is in a beautiful place but what has made it really great is the people. The Chef, Bruno and the hostess and waitress, Camilia have been fantastic.
Our steak main course last night.
In addition we have talked to some fascinating guests. An Argentine family of about 10 people was having a reunion here. The two men we talked to the most were a farmer with a big farm south of Buenos Aires and a Lawyer who is retired from a senior position at a big agribusiness company. They have both travelled a lot. They spoke perfect English and we discussed everything from politics to travel adventures.
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