San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina - Lake Hopping

From Chile to Argentina
We went over the Andes by hopping lakes, which was not exactly what I expected.  The pros: natural beauty.  The cons: four buses and three boats. 

Each arrow shows the bus rides.  After each bus ride, we switched to a different boat to cross a lake.  Some were large, some small.  All offered beautiful views of the mountains.

The volcanoes were really impressive.  This is Osorno, a perfect cone standing 8,000 feet.

It once erupted so forcefully that the lava flows leapt into a nearby river and created a basalt dam which has been slowly etched by the water.  This area is called "Saltos de Petrohue."

When we signed up for this trip I lazily skipped reading the details.  I thought we'd be sailing on a long lake all the way, not switching between boats and buses.

Osorno from various angles.

I was more impressed by his sharper cousin, Tronador, which stands close to 12,000 feet and looks insurmountable.

After a few buses and boats, we stopped for lunch. 

The hotel had a large windowed porch from which to view the surrounding beauty.

Near the end of the journey there was a small Che Guevara museum.  He did the same trip we did, in reverse.  He started in Buenos Aires and worked his way through the Andes, clock wise.