San Martin is a small cute place, much less chaotic than Bariloche and no Sube is needed. The university softens the demographic. I assume the most important parts that keep this society more close to each other is the common interest in artisanal beer, homemade chocolate and ice cream. Maybe not as numerous as Bariloche, there are a number of hiking routes which can be accessed from the city which also have great views. Almost everywhere is walking distance in town and you can climb the hill overlooking the town in less than an hour. The other side of the hill faces the Lacar Lake the only lake that belongs to Argentina while the outflow drains to the Pacific. Argentina and Chile has an agreement that the border should be the line of the highest points of the Andean Mountain range and any lake that flows to the Atlantic belongs to Argentina and the others to Chile. It is possible to scuba dive in the lake but the temperature is quite low and the underwater is not very exciting here. With a short ride the number of the hiking routes that can be accessed increase drastically.
Lacar LakeWe met our host at a restaurant with his friends who regularly come together. The people were friendly, fun and easy to communicate. During our stay there they also spent a lot of time together with us and showed us around which was a great deal of support to us which we were extremely grateful. There was another guest from Iran who was currently living in Buenos Aires for her love of tango. Talking to her who is living in the country also gave us insights about how foreigners perceive this country. Though imported from Africa tango was now an Argentinean product. Unlike salsa in Cali, the foreigners are more into it than the locals.
Another view from the top
After we have concluded our short sighted deductions for the country based on the experience of a very few people the leaving time was coming. We still felt satisfied about our ideas were sure of them about Argentina. I don’t think I could generalize the rest of the country to what I learned so far but I still did and it felt good. Possibly it was the satisfaction to learn anything new, but it gave me an air of wisdom so that I could write about it on the internet as an authority.
Mariana’s time in Argentina was expiring and she needed to go to Chile to refresh the passport stamp and from where we were, the easiest place to do this seemed like Junin de los Andes and we unwillingly left San Martin.