Date of Entry: January 19th-20th 2016
Date of Writing: January 31st 2016, Hostel Cruz Del Sur, Ushuaia Argentina
San Rafael is just a quick jaunt of just over 3 hours from Mendoza with buses (98 ARS) leaving fairly regularly, though it’s worth at least checking the schedule, if not booking online at Platforma 10, because during the summer months the upper class of Buenos Aires flock to both Mendoza and San Rafael in Droves. If you do what I did and just show up you may be waiting about 2 hours for bus with space.
I get to San Rafael and wander into town to find Hipolito hostel, where Rob and Bethan my welsh friends who I travelled with in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. There I am warmly welcomed by the friendly staff and shown to a 9 bed dorm for 150 ARS (15 CAD) and helped to organize a tour to the famous Canyon de Atuel (420 ARS 42 CAD) for the next morning.
That night I go out and enjoy a delicious pizza at Bony’s pizza at the edge of the centre, enjoying the pleasant surroundings of the small city of San Rafael, the moon rising over a magnificent statue in the central plaza.
One delicious dinner later and I head back to the hostel, opting to sleep in the hammock outside as in the heat of summer the dorm just gets too hot for me, still the hammock is comfy enough and I wake up ready for my tour at 8:30 the next morning where I’m promptly collected and led on to a mini bus where literally everyone else is from buenos aires. The tour is in Spanish, so that’s why, but I find people from most South American capitals are eager to talk to you and are usually very friendly people. It’s worth noting this tour can also be done on certain days from Mendoza, but it costs more and involves a lot more time on the bus so my recommendation is to do it out of San Rafael.
We drive for about an hour as our tour guid explains some of the history of San Rafael and the different neighbourhoods pointing out vineyards as we pass them before we come to our first stop, a lake and private vacation community along side it. It’s a brief stop and the last bathroom we’ll have for a while, but the lake is pretty enough, though coming from Canada I’m hard to impress lake wise. Still the 20 minutes we spend there a pleasant enough and I wade into the water having been told not to go full on swimming.
I’m starting to worry this might be another tour that’s not quite worth the cost of admission but as we reach the edge of the Canyon de Atuel and turn onto the dirt road descending into the dramatic landscapes those worries start to recede, it truly is extraordinarily beautiful.
As we wind through the towering cliffs and stunningly unique rock formations all around us I do still find myself wishing we’d stop more often or that I have a car to stop where I wish, still we make plenty of stops, the first major one at one of the four hydro electric plants we pass, where the river is harness for power and made more beautiful for a while by the increased amount of water.
We continue along the road eventually passing still more impressive cliff faces of multi coloured rocks and making more stops alongside the beautiful winding river which varies in flow rate but continues all the way through the canyon.
We continue on and eventually start our path up out of the valley winding up above the monumental cliffs at the same time passing some very impressive viewpoints down into the canyon we’ve just left.
We keep winding higher and higher over some fairly desolate looking mountain plains until we come to one of the highlights of the entire tour, a stunning blue lake below us, ringed by mountains and glowing in the pure afternoon sunlight. Just above the town of Valle Grande it’s certainly somewhere I’d like very much to come back to, as we have no time to go down to the lakeshore and take a boat ride, or better yet a good long swim.
There are buses to take you to the lake from San Rafael though they don’t go all the way up to the viewpoint, still it’s something I wishI had time to come back to. From here we pile back into the bus and wind down to the town below the lake and the damn of Valle Grande, our longest stop on the tour alongside a rushing river with restaurants and tons of activities you can choose from though each has an extra cost. They have rafting for 200 ARS (20 CAD) on class 2 rapids, a catamaran ride on the lake I believe about 200-250 ARS pesos if there is enough people interested, and my personal choice, Hidro speed which is basically rafting without the raft for 350 ARS (35 CAD). Ive never done it before but class 2 rapids seem like they might be a bit boring to raft in so I opt to strap on a helmet, flippers, grab my chest protecter and enter the river.
Unfortunately the internet is too slow down here in Ushuaia at the end of the world to upload the go pro footage to youtube but I hope to add it later and for now, here’s a video to give you an idea of what hidro speed is.
We end up going down 9 k of the river just me, a guide, and the guides little brother whose about 10 years old and very enthusiastic. It’s definitely an adrenalin rush and I enjoy getting so up close and personal with the rapids even if I do smash my knees a few times and strain my shoulders holding on to my little chest platform as tightly as I possibly can. Definitely a worthwhile experience.
Getting back to the town we’re given time to eat which I instead spend in a lounger along side the rapids reading and taking photos of the crowded riverside filled with so many Argentineans enjoying themselves. If you have a ten come here and camp, it’s a beautiful if crowded spot and would be a wonderful place to spend a few days.
Our last stop is just a few minutes away and is more a get tourist dollars stop though it is somewhat interesting as we stop at a big farm that produces wine, dried fruits, jams, and some other things for a tour, a tasting and then as many purchases as they can get out of us (for me none) Still it’s a very pretty place and I enjoy snapping photos all over the farm.
From here we head back to San Rafael where I spend one more night in the hammock at the hostel before heading back to Mendoza for a few more days. Up next is my first brief taste of Buenos Aires, perhaps the most famous and modern city in all of South America.
