At the end of 2004 we took an incredible journey through the province of Neuquen and around the lake district of northern Patagonia.

We took an overnight bus to the provincial capital of Neuquen, a small city with a few nice spots but not really worth spending much time there since so much else awaits for you in the province.

The best transportation option is to rent a car in Neuquen, making a driving circuit, finally returning to Neuquen and busing back to Buenos Aires. There are some local rental agencies that provide good prices. Renting a car will give you a lot more flexibility. Just be careful driving.

There’s a good dinosaur museum down in Villa El Chocon, which also has a very nice hotel on the lake. You will need your own transport to get to the dinosaur tracks.

Once place we didn’t go to was Copahue though we’ve heard nice things about it. Perhaps on another trip.

My favorite drive in the entire area is the road from Zapala to Villa Pehuenia, amazing scenery. It’s rough ripio and has some hills with steep drop offs, so you have to be careful driving. Also likely to encounter sheep and horses blocking the road at some points. We came across a dozen horses walking up a hilly road that were all by themselves. Took a while to get around them and we were afraid that someone else was going to come around the curve from the other direction too fast and run straight into them but everything turned out okay.

Villa Pehuenia is a charming place. If you like horseback riding, look for a guy named Daniel Puel in Villa Pehuenia. He’s a nurse who also offers horse riding up to the remains of the Betea Mahuida volcano. You can talk with him all about Puelche folklore; he’s a fascinating person. When we arranged for that trip with his wife, she asked if we wanted lunch also after the ride. We thought it was just going to be a box lunch. Instead, we rode to a campfire where his wife and young daughter had cooked a goat and we all sat under the araucaria trees sharing a meal. We don’t know if that’s always a regular part of the trip or the fact that we went on new year’s day (of last year) & it was something special. Anyway, it always will be one of my fondest memories of South America.

San Martin de los Andes is a tourist town but it’s very nice, as is Villa La Angostura. The landscape in this area is very different from that in Pehuenia, more mountainous and bigger lakes. There’s a lot to do around both of these areas. I don’t think that you would need to stay in both. Choose one to focus on and then visit the other for a day.

Personally, I did’t like Bariloche itself especially when compared to the smaller towns in the area. But there is also a lot to do in the area surrounding Bariloche.

After Bariloche we drove down to El Bolson and Esquel. El Bolson is known for being a hippie down and it has a laid back atmosphere. There are travelers there but it lacks the real touristy feeling of, say, San Martin de los Andes.

Los Alerces is a really great park with some incredible scenery, including a glaciar.

Esquel is a dusty town most known for its train, the Old Patagonia Express. It’s a nice tourist experience, definitely worth taking if you go all the way down to Esquel.

On the way to Esquel on route 40, one place you must see is the Leleque Museum which is devoted to the indigenous people of the area. The Museum is run by the Benetton company and is on part of the huge land holdings that Benetton owns in Patagonia.

Also, between Esquel and El Bolson, you might be interested in searching out the old wood cabin built by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It’s located outside of Cholila.

You can easily spend an enjoyable two weeks at one spot in the lake district. I liked focusing on a couple of places and then passing through the others for a day or so just to get a feel for where I wanted to return on my next week.

I have photos from the lake district on my flickr site, see http://flickr.com/photos/jeffbarry and look for photos with titles that begin “lake district”.