Lakes, Chocolate, and Dulce de Leche

Sorry for the long space in between blogs for those of you who have been living vicariously through our vacation. We are currently in yet another small touristy (yet not obnoxiously so) town called San Martin de los Andes on a blustery summer day. Beginning in Bariloche, this town marks the end of the famous "Seven Lakes Route", a beautiful and very dusty stretch of road that snakes through some of Argentina's most beautiful lakes and mountains. Along the way from Bariloche, we stopped to camp at Lago Espejo. Although this campground was full of families and sounds of construction, we were lucky enough to find a trail to our own lake. Lago Correntoso was a mere 20 minutes through the forest, but seemed like a million miles away.

There was a small beach, just the right size for 2 blankets, and a perfect swimming area. The water was a little icy at first, but we quickly got used to it with the hot sun blaring down on us (really, we're not TRYING to flaunt our opposite hemisphere weather). The top of Dave's head got a little burned, but he certainly wasn't complaining at the end of the day.

After spending a few more hours on the seven lakes route, we arrived in San Martin and followed Lonely Planet's advice for dinner: a cute little restaurant called "Pura Vida" specializing in vegetarian cuisine. As Dave told the owner, it was heaven in the form of food. It surpassed any other eating experience of the trip. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere enhanced every bite. Gabriella, our waitress and the restaurant owner, radiated positive energy and was completely present with each table she was working. When we told her how much we loved the food, she brought out the chef, who insisted that it was a group effort. We promised to come back the following day because I really wanted to try the quiche that had been recommended in my guide book. We went back for lunch so we could once again enjoy the atmosphere, the food, and company of Gabriella. She greeted us with smiles a kiss on the cheek. It was the first time Dave and I had been recognized and welcomed into a place in Argentina-what an amazing feeling! Lunch proved to be just as spectacular as dinner and the chocolate mousse and icecream with fruit sauce topped it off. As we left, Gabriella hugged us, wished us well, and gave me a little candle as a parting gift.

Our plans to go to the hot springs changed as the bus schedule was not condusive to our time schedule. Also, we found out that the trail leading to the hot springs was a four hour trek through a poorly marked path. We decided to leave the rough trekking back in Torres del Paine and choose something easy. Instead, we took a pleasant boat ride to a campground on Lago Lacar. It was quite windy and dusty, but beautiful nonetheless.

Tonight is our last bus ride of the trip, back to Bariloche. Tomorrow, we are keeping our fingers crossed for low winds so that we can go Paragliding. If not, perhaps a snorkel in the lake will be in order. On Thursday, we fly back to Buenos Aires. Hard to believe that almost a month has gone by!