We woke up a cool, rainy day on Thursday, so we decided to hang around town in the morning. We toured the Founder’s Museum, a very small museum that featured an exhibit on early pottery of the area. We had lunch at one of the many parillas in town, this one featuring its half lambs grilling in the window of the restaurant. I had the house special of grilled lamb which came as a one piece of ribs and another thin piece maybe from the back. Jake had “Pollo fruta del bosque”, a beautiful and delicious chicken dish with a berry sauce.
By afternoon we were ready for some adventure and went off to hunt down Araucaria trees. I had nearly ended up studying Araucaria genetics for my dissertation, but had never seen them growing in the wild. The southernmost Araucaria were located 2 lakes north of us down another long dirt road. We headed off through rangelands and hills to Lake Curruhue, another long glacial lake surrounded by steep hills. Eventually, up on a hillside I spotted a few Araucaria! Jake found a spot to pull over and we scrambled up the hill to see them. They weren’t very old trees – the old trees grow very tall and lose their lower branches to form an umbrella-like canopy. But it was great fun to see them up close in their natural habitat. The hillside was covered in flowers of many colors. In the photo are orange Alistroemeria aurantiaca and daisy-shaped light purple Mutisia retusa, a vine.
We drove from the lake back to another town, Junin de los Andes, a poorer and smaller version of San Martin de los Andes, but still a nice little town and it would be a good town for expeditions to Volcan Lanin and the northern sections of Lanin National Park. It was only about a half hour drive back to San Martin from Junin.
By afternoon we were ready for some adventure and went off to hunt down Araucaria trees. I had nearly ended up studying Araucaria genetics for my dissertation, but had never seen them growing in the wild. The southernmost Araucaria were located 2 lakes north of us down another long dirt road. We headed off through rangelands and hills to Lake Curruhue, another long glacial lake surrounded by steep hills. Eventually, up on a hillside I spotted a few Araucaria! Jake found a spot to pull over and we scrambled up the hill to see them. They weren’t very old trees – the old trees grow very tall and lose their lower branches to form an umbrella-like canopy. But it was great fun to see them up close in their natural habitat. The hillside was covered in flowers of many colors. In the photo are orange Alistroemeria aurantiaca and daisy-shaped light purple Mutisia retusa, a vine.
We drove from the lake back to another town, Junin de los Andes, a poorer and smaller version of San Martin de los Andes, but still a nice little town and it would be a good town for expeditions to Volcan Lanin and the northern sections of Lanin National Park. It was only about a half hour drive back to San Martin from Junin.
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