We were blessed with a beautiful view from our fourth story room that looked out on the town hall tower and the cathedral steeple. We spent our first full day in San Martin de los Andes wandering the streets and eateries, the "playas" and plazas, sampling more local morsels. Like most of the buildings in San Martin, the interior architecture of the church was wooden, reflecting the natural resources and the notably European flavor. We lunched along main street by day, and by night we dined on swine and chicken brochettes with fine wine followed by creamy chocolate desserts...
Between meals we spent the afternoon on horseback, ambling through the foothills behind our gaucho guide, Juan. We found sheep nibbling in the dales, chirping birds darting between trees, and falcons silently circling on the updrafts. We also liked Luli, Juan's smart little farm dog, who trotted along for fun. The unexpected surprise was a Mapuche man leading his timber-toting team of oxen down a steep rutted rode as we strode higher. It was a marvelous sight that seemed straight out of a history book--a living example of an artist's would-be drawing of native life...
Combining the words for "earth" and "people", the Mapuche still live according to tradition in the mountainous region of northern Patagonia. Prior to the Europeans, the Mapuche successfully thwarted Inca attempts to conquer their territory and assimilate their culture. Then, again, for three centuries they foiled the encroaching efforts of Spain, eventually managing to retain their autonomy once Chile and Argentina achieved independence. Seeing the hand carved wooden wheels and powerful hooves lift the dust as they rocked and rolled downhill was a special sight. Feeling out-matched and without orders, our horses quickly cleared the way...
Juan posed for a picture and pointed out distant peaks. We took a break from our saddles, stretched our legs, and absorbed the scene while petting the necks of our ponies. Behind the rolling forest vistas lie the rugged range of Lanín National Park, where it's namesake, a world famous conical volcano, has slumbered for five centuries, tempting scores of summer climbers with its smooth slopes...
Leaving San Martin the next morning, we got an excellent view of Mt. Lanín, on the right, resting it's head in a cloudy pillow...In addition to a hilarious horse smile the day before, we had a few laughs on the long bus ride back to Buenos Aires. First, in a pueblo about mid-way, a young local lady's T-shirt tickled us with irony. At another small town terminal we got a kick out of the complimentary thermos-shaped super tanker of "aguas calientes" so that no one would be left sipping lukewarm mate...
And, for possibly the last time, we nodded off into an another Argentina sunset that painted the pampas in pastels...
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