The Lake District: Argentina Edition

After finishing up our hike in El Chaltén, Katie and I boarded a bus to take us North out of Patagonia and into the Lake District. Though technically Patagonia in Argentina is a region that goes the whole way up to the Río Negro, most guide books separate the two regions out as they have very different characteristics. The Lake District is a more populated region and the landscapes aren't as stark as more Southern Patagonia. There's farms, forests, and of course the eponymous lakes.

Our first stop was in a smaller town called El Bolsón. El Bolsón is known as the town the hippies migrated to in the 1970s and still has a very laid back, crunchy feel to it. It's one of the first places I've come across in a while that actually sorts out some recycling from garbage which has been killing me a little for most of this trip. We also managed to time it so that we were in town for their craft fair that's held every weekend, where more really cool, handmade knick-knacks are sold than you could ever buy, along with a selection of local food and artisanal beer. The town itself is situated in a beautiful valley that has tons of hikes that we unfortunately didn't have time for and a couple of lakes for boating and swimming. It was definitely a place I would've loved to spend more time in, but bizarrely (at least to me) I'm actually working against a ticking clock now as my trip starts to wind down and we had to keep moving to keep to our schedule.

From El Bolsón we took a short bus ride to the better known town of Bariloche. This is the classic Lake District destination, and in my opinion, has suffered for it. While El Bolsón was charming, Bariloche has turned into an urban sprawl, although in a scenic location. Guide books had hinted that it was big, but I hadn't quite expected a full blown city. There was still hints of older charm, some of the buildings were still built in the tradition style and of course there was the main street full of chocolate shops, but it didn't really feel like a place to wander around in. Again, there is supposed to be some fantastic hikes and water sports in the surrounding area but we didn't have time to take advantage of them. I'm sure if we had had the time too, Bariloche would have been a more worthwhile destination, but just the city itself lacks charm.

If you're a faithful blog follower, you no doubt remember that I was also in the Chilean Lake District many months ago now. Of course when two countries have purportedly the same region, you can't help but compare the two. And really in a head to head competition, I think the Chilean Lake District comes out on top. Of course it has the advantage of being on the rainy side of the Andes so it's a lot lusher, and it also has a plethora of volcanos, a cool feature that the Argentinean side is missing. Finally, the old school German influence and charm is much more apparent on the Chilean side, giving it an interesting twist. So if you're ever in the position to choose one Lake District over the other, take it from the expert, Chile is the way to go!