Argentina - Chubut province

After a lot of talking with locals and learning about the strong wind causing road closures across all of Santa Cruz the following day, we drove the whole day to get to Comodoro Rivadavia. Arriving late Sunday afternoon, we found a nice hotel and decided to stay there to wait the weather out. The next day the city was closed down, meaning that all supermarkets were closed and any activities cancelled. The hotel didn't even have much to choose from food-wise, and it was a slow day. In the mid afternoon Karin started to cough, and this turned into a proper bout of covid.

As we were now in Chubut, the next province going north, we expected some changes of scenery. Once the weather got stable, and Karin was able to at least stand up, we decided to move on towards Bariloche. This meant to carry on through Patagonia, while going north and east. To achieve this, we had two roads to choose from once we were a few hours north, RN25 and RN23. Only remained to decide which one, since both turned out to be sealed the whole stretch.

The first leg from Comodoro went to Puerto Madryn, an Argentinian sea side resort on the Atlantic. This was to be our only beach resort and we arrived the first day of a 4-day long weekend. The place was busy and pretty and with 1 hotel room available on the main stretch by the beach. Nice to see some people again, and happy faces for the long break.

The next day the decision was made to go RN23 and to spend the next stop in Esquel. This city was full of beautiful, huge trees, flowers and gardens, and a couple of lagunes. We were treated to a whole new Patagonia! The locals said they had started to see differences in the water availability some 50 years ago, and now there is very little snow on the mountains in winter, meaning that water is scarce. This is a huge problem as climate change is making these places becoming uninhabitable.

After a couple of nights in Esquel, we moved on north to Bariloche. Once there we were also no longer in Chubut. The drive between Esquel and Bariloche was one of the most beautiful we have done, and Spring made it even more enjoyable.

The Bariloche area is centered around a lake, Lago Nahuel Huapi. It has famous ski fields, and the tourist seasons cover both winter and summer activities. The views are incredible, the food is excellent and the people are very friendly.