Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 19: Valle Encantada

We'd been having a hard time trying to decide what to do. The weather in Bariloche hadn't been great and it seemed the further west you went, the worse it got. Additionally, excursions for Nahuel Huapi weren't well described. Finally we decided today to do the Circuite Grande, a 240 km loop that leads east out of Bariloche to the Valle Encantade ("Enchanted Valley"). This excursion had been mentioned in the same travel blog from the people who had recommended El Abuelo and it had the further pro of going eastward where hopefully the weather might be a bit nicer.

And it was the right decision. As we headed eastward the weather immediately became nicer and suddenly we were driving along the Rio Limay with its blue waters bordered by vibrant green bushes and only a few white fluffy clouds hung in the blue skies. Our spirits soared and as we started to see amazing cliffs with stone fingers pointing skywards (the geological features of the Valle Encantada) we couldn't stop taking pictures. In order to let the kids get more out of it too we stopped along the road and followed a little trail down to the river where the kids had fun playing for a bit and we enjoyed the sun.

Eventually we continued on and at Confluencia, where the Rio Traful joins the Rio Limay, we headed north towards Villa Traful. It was still a little early to stop for lunch so we continued along. But eventually we saw the skies darkening ahead and we seemed to have passed the area with all the geological formations so we actually decided to turn around and head back about 10 km so we could have our lunch by the river with blue skies and lots of cool rock formations surrounding us. We were rewarded for our efforts because as we stared at the cliffs across the river we suddenly realized that it was the nesting site for a large number of birds and all of a sudden we spotted a whole bunch of condors! We had inadvertantly stumbled upon a condor roost!

Once we were all done dining, watching the condors, and exploring some of the rock formations we headed off again. The weather ahead had not improved and as we headed westward once again we were back in the fog, clouds and rain. So we didn't see much of the wonderful views of Lago Traful that the guidebook had raved about and by the time we had hit the scenic 7 Lakes Route we just put away the camera altogether.

Back in Bariloche we did some groceries and came back to the hotel where the hotel owner made a comment about how even by Bariloche standards the weather was worse than usual. sigh!

the photos: