Vasta poissa olen viimein perillä: Lago Falkner and to Bariloche

Unfortunately there'd been a misunderstanding with the buses: the guy who sold us the tickets had failed to tell us that we were supposed to be in Junin de los Andes at 15.30, not San Martin de los Andes. He was super sorry and we got our money back but now we still owned tickets on the 9th from Junin to Bariloche with a different bus company. What to do?

A group of Argentinians asked us to join them in a taxi to a lake called Lago Falkner but by the time we'd sorted out all the changes to our tickets and bought new ones etc. they'd already found two others in their cab. One of them negotiated us the same price for our own taxi though so off we went!

Lake Falkner was beautiful, surrounded by mountains and other lakes. Switzerland of Argentina it's called the lake district here. It's a highly popular area for young Argentines travelling with backpacks and camping gear. They spend their holidays camping and partying and hitchhiking around the lakes.

The camping was quite crazy because of all the partying around but very pretty with a white sandy beach and shady spots to pitch a tent. Cold nights combined with the disco outside the tent made it a bit difficult to get a proper rest but we had quite chill days so it wasn't really a problem. The sun was very dangerous here, strong wind made you want stay in the sun but even 60+ sun cream didn't quite work, be it the thin ozone layer or what...?

It was nice to be self-sufficient: we cooked all our meals with the trangia camp cooker and enjoyed our filter coffee and maté. We did a nice day hike to a nearby lake called Lago Villarica where we realized we could've camped for free (like many did) and without the noise and hassle at Falkner. Well, next time we know...Villarica had amazing views with some snowcapped mountains and white beaches. Camping here would've had quite the feeling of Robinson Crusoe kinda life.

In the afternoon we went for another walk along our lake Falkner in an incredible forest with massive trees (alive and dead), various cool birdies and plants. The days have truly been filled with walking, this time gladly in the shade though.

In the campsite we met many nice and helpful locals (or Argentinians from around the country)and discussed both in Spanish and English or mostly in a strange mixture of both. Usually both parties sucked equally in each other's languages so it was a pretty fair deal for everyone. Well, we've learned a lot and the language seems to get easier to use every day.

On the 9th we took a bus back to SMA and headed to Bariloche with a 4 hour bus. Our skins and the tent (with a massive layer of dirt) thanked the weather gods for the light rain that started in the morning. Only thing we still dreamed of was a shower. In Bariloche then..