So, bruised and battered after our unexpected bobsleigh trials! we left Chile and Pucon to travel across the Andes back into Argentina and the Lake District - first stop, San Martin de los Andes. Didnt get much of a view of the Andes as the beach weather had vanished to be replaced with grey clouds and drizzle!
San Martin is a lovely town, another relaxing place with plenty of outdoor sports and tours. The Argentinian lake district would appear to be much like the Chilean lake district just with more manageable pesos and more meat on the menu!
We booked a tour for the next day to go and see the huge Lanin volcano and tucked into a big feed by the lake.
The weather was crap for the tour but we set off anyway, once again keeping hope alive! It was a very random day to say the least - the guide only spoke Spanish (and didnt stop!!), everyone smoked like chimnies and constantly took photos even though we couldn't see anything! A boat trip across a lake for two hours to see volcanoes is not the best fun we've had, as we couldn't even see the lake shore! The one plus of the day was we met the Burkes from New Hampsire who gave us some great tips for Peru, oh yeah and the food. We had some great empanadas, from what can only be described as a shack, for lunch and an amazing meal in the evening, its definitely up there in the top three!
Anyway back to Dan and Doris Burke, they have sold their house, car and clothes to head onto the road for two or three years, oh yeah and they are probably around 60, good on em!

The next day was sunny, so we walked up to a viewpoint to look across the town and lake, and sat in the sun drinking beer and chilling out. Not much to dislike about that day!
Now we have headed down to Bariloche on what must be one of the most beautiful drives, through mountains and along lakes. We are staying in our first true "hostel", but there's no roughing it here folks as we have a superior room on the top floor with an amazing lake view. Just hope these youngsters dont keep us up all night now!