mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

We left Mendoza behind and commenced our way to the South and to Patagonia! The landscape and the colours kept changing, as the places we were passing through had more rivers and mountains. Even the taste of the water that we fill our tank with, started to improve significantly! After passing through numerous vineyards near the city of San Rafael, we arrived at the Atuel Canyon and explored the surrounding area, which is well impressive, for a couple of days. An artificial lake has been created there and plenty of riparian activities take place. We camped next to the river and gazed at the canoes and kayaks that were paddling along.

Gazing at the Atuel Canyon…

We were getting deeper into the Andes… After driving for a couple of hours on a very decent dirt road, we arrived at the abandoned Termas del Sosneado hotel. Said hotel was built in 1938 and attracted visitors because of its natural, hot springs, with water coming from the Overo Volcano. Its days of glory ended in 1953, when it was shut down permanently. It really is located in the middle of nowhere and, allegedly, Nazis who escaped Germany after the end of WWII, found refuge in the area. We explored the hotel ruins and Elias had a dip in the pools (they were not hot enough for me). A bit further up in the mountains, a very famous plane crash had taken place, what became known as the “Andes Flight Disaster”, a very interesting story involving cannibalism. Weather permitting, it is possible to visit the site of the disaster by horse. When we were in the area, however, the snow did not allow for it.

The hot springs at the ruins of the Termas del Sosneado hotel, a surreal sight at an altitude of 2,200 metres (7,218 ft)!

During the next few days, we were wandering about in nature at high altitudes. Although summer had already begun, we came across a lot of snow, which ruined a few of Elias’ plans. We did, however, see many lakes, countless rivers, innumerable guanacos, huge mountains, volcanoes, even a ski resort! We also had our first taste of “tenedor libre”, where one can eat as much BBQ as desired! Naturally, we did honour to the meat!

The snow ruined our plans several times…

Our next stop was the town of Chos Malal, where we discovered a massive oil leak in the van. As a result, we had to stay in Chos Malal for a few days until the spare parts were found and the repair was complete. In the meantime, a devaluation of the peso was announced. In one evening, all prices went up by 50%! It was quite surreal as an economic experience and our lavish days were over for good. We still can’t help but wonder how the locals manage…

Exploring the Andes…

Once the van repair was completed, we hit the mountains once again; the highlights were the natural hot springs and the Los Tachos geyser! Unfortunately, our misadventures were not over, because the van’s engine nearly burned, due to a cooling problem and we also had a flat tire. Fortunately, Elias was able to repair both of these issues, so we could continue our journey on both occasions.

At Los Bolillos one can see these strange rock formations, which make the landscape look otherworldly!

By now we were properly in Patagonia and the landscape confirmed this. While the places we had visited on the previous days were fairly barren (partly because of the gale-force winds that plague the area), araucaria trees were now starting to appear. Neither Elias nor I had seen these trees before and we were really enchanted, as they are very impressive! We visited the Agrio Waterfall and after a wander of several days, we finally made it to the resort town of Caviahue, which is built on the shores of the homonymous lake.

Patagonia’s magical landscapes, filled with araucaria, which became our favourite trees!

Caviahue is a famous ski resort and spa town. Because of the numerous volcanoes in the area, there are hot springs everywhere and spa tourism is blooming. We didn’t miss out on trying the hot springs! Firstly, we went to Copahue, a town at a much higher altitude. On the way, we passed next to a field that is full of craters with seething water and steam! I love places like that! Although it was already summer, there was still snow in several places and in combination with the volcanic terrain, the landscape was reminiscent of Iceland!

Our camp on the shores of the captivating Lake Caviahue!

Once we reached Copahue, we could see steam everywhere and we tried an outdoor pool with mud, which both of us really enjoyed. On the same evening, we had dinner at Caviahue, where Elias tried a pizza with piñones, the huge pine nuts that grow on the araucaria tree and are an important part of the alimentation of the indigenous population. Prior to leaving this area, we did a short hike in order to see four waterfalls and to visit the mountains around Caviahue, which are indeed gorgeous! We bid Caviahue farewell and continued our long journey to the South.

A short hike took us to a number of waterfalls on the Agrio River.

This is the fourth episode of our documentary about our adventures in Argentina (with English subtitles):