Volcanos and Puzzled Monkeys

Ok, this will be a quicker entry because I’m really way behind! We are currently sitting around Buenos Aires, waiting to take our bus to Iguazú Falls. Yet this blog is to cover from our Siete Lagos tour to finish out our time camping.

So mostly this will just be to show some good photos like the “Mighty Fiat” that got us to all of these locations safely, regardless of all of the crazy drivers and horrible gravel roads out there. It was a good vehicle, and of course I couldn’t help but be reminded of my wonderful driving trip though Australia with the “Mighty Ford Falcon” named Dave.

So the next part of our trip was up to Parque Nacional Lanin. We were able to find a perfect campsite (free) in a native Araucana stand right next to a beautiful stretch of the Malleo River. Araucanas are those things you may know as Monkey Puzzle Trees. Very cool looking, and fossils go back to well before the dinosaurs.

Here is a photo of Lanin Volcano in the dawn light from our campsite. Nice way to wake up and begin a days fishing!

Here is the pool we camped near. The river is not big here, but it is very good trout habitat… the density of fish is amazing!

After leaving that site we moved to another part of the park and took a good hike up to the base of the volcano. It was a nice all day hike with many spectacular views of both the volcano, and the surrounding mountains and lakes.

Up near the volcano’s base, we also encountered a distinct habitat zone that had a number of pretty flowering plants adapted to the dry conditions and sandy soils.

Once we finished exploring Lanin, we returned to Junin de los Andes, which wins hands down as the place I’d like most to live here… or at least near Junin, having it as my town for shopping ect… Not only does it have trout on it’s street signs, but it is just so mellow compared with many of the surrounding towns like Bariloche and San Martin… too touristy! It also had one of the nicest central parks that we have seen our whole time here.