Didn’t have far to go today so was looking forward to a
nice relaxing day……..
Shortly after this was a turn off to these to Villa
Traful, and running for some distance beside the Lago Traful. This overall route I was doing (roughly) is
known as La Rute de los Siete Lagos, or Route of the 7 lakes, and about this
road the travel book says, and I quote :”A spectacular road between towering
snow-capped mountains, crystal clear lakes, and dense pine forests, this is a
110 km Lake District classic. Bike it,
drive it, tour it or bus it – Just don’t miss it.” Unquote.
So I took the Trayful turn off
even though it was going in the wrong direction, because it should be good –
The last dirt road I took a couple of days ago was fantastic.
Well, this one isn’t.
The road is atrocious, even in a 4 WD.
Again, I quote “….it is 26 kms down a good dirt road to Villa Traful,
passing scenic lakeside campgrounds”.
Well, not only is this road not “good”, I am surprised some of the
vehicles on here made it, as there are rocks and boulders and corrugations in
the road worse than any
we encountered in Alaska or any other dirt road I have
been on. But even worse was the amount
of traffic – Just a steady stream of cars, probably all reading the same guide
book as I had !! And then, to top it
off, the road has all this fine dust on it, so every vehicle raises clouds of
it that then hang in the air, and because there is a constant stream of traffic
you are just in dust all the time. And as a result, lots of near head-ons on
the many sharp corners and steep brows. I did not take one photo between the turn off
the main road and Villa Traful – I was too busy, I couldn’t see anything anyway
because of the dust, and even worse, you hardly see the lake itself because of
the pine trees between the road and the lake, as well as all the dust. And the “scenic lakeside campgrounds” they
had mentioned ? Well of course they are
right beside the road, so every car that passes sends a cloud of dust over all
the tents and vans. Ghastly. As for the hikers and cyclists doing the road
(seriously !), they were getting covered in dust by every passing car in both
directions !! I thought about turning
back, but reckoned the road had to get better if I kept going, and I was about
half way anyway, so I motored on – The road did get a bit better, but it still
wasn’t much fun. I passed one small
motorhome (ironically an Iveco like I used to have in Aus) and it was going at
about 5 kmh, and the couple in the cab did not look happy. I will however say that in the second half
there were a couple of amazing lakes, and for the last 40 minutes, the most
amazing rock formations and shapes – Only trouble was it was hard to stop to
take a photo because all your own dust enveloped you if you stopped, and anyone
behind you over took you, so everything had to be done while trying to avoid
the larger rocks !! Anyway, completed
now, and I will certainly take the Lonely Planet with an (even bigger than
before) pinch of salt in future !! Not a
nice road at all.
Is the Argentinian Lakes District worth visiting ? Yes, it is beautiful. But like so many other beautiful places,
everyone likes to go there, so it is very crowded in many areas – Especially
now as this is where Argentinians come for their summer holidays !! But well worth a visit if you pick your time
carefully. Personally I preferred the
southern part, west of Bariloche – But that is just my personal preference.
Just don’t bother to drive to Traful unless you have a
dust mask and are in someone else’s car !!
Tomorrow, back to Chile……………………
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