Lago Puelo flowing into Chile
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Argentina es re lindo
Argentina es re lindo
Argentina
Argentina
June 2019
D and I spent over a year backpacking Argentina, and made it to northern Patagonia to catch the first snow of winter. Being friolenta, I didn’t have the guts to head any further south. We had enough winter gear to bounce around cities in cold temperatures but couldn’t fathom life below freezing.
It was raining most of our time in Patagonia, which meant snow was accumulating on the mountain peaks. Since the temperature remained above freezing during the day, the sun would melt the snow and flow into the surrounding lakes, creating a mystical blue color. I’ve never seen such a shade before!
San Martín de los Andes
We hit the trekking trails any day that had clear skies. We were able to cover most of the foothills in Bariloche, hiked from sunrise-to-sunset in El Bolsón, and had endless views from a mirador in San Martín de los Andes. One day was spent in Villa La Angostura to visit a national park full of Arrayanes trees, the only place in the world where these trees grow! The forest is located on the Quetrihué peninsula, meaning “where there are Arrayanes” in the language of local, native people: Mapuche.
The Mapuche were indigenous to the Andes in the area now known as northern Patagonia (in both Chile and Argentina). Unfortunately, few Mapuche communities remain since Spain’s colonization; however, remanents of the Mapuche’s culture can still be noted in Argentina today.
Argentine Spanish is distinct than other Spanish dialects; one example is the use of “re” which means “really” (re loco = really crazy / re lindo = really pretty). Used commonly throughout all of Argentina, “re” derives from the Mapuche language. We really enjoyed our time in Patagonia porque es re lindo!
To the north of Patagonia and on the eastern side of the Andes mountains is Mendoza. Being so far from porteños in Buenos Aires, the culture and language are distinct. The mendocinos spoke without the infamous porteño accent of a “sh” sound for the letters “y” and “ll” (for example, 'my name is' translates to ‘yo me llamo' but is pronounced as ‘sho me shamo’) .
In our travels, D and I were often invited to join a typical Argentine meal which is carne asada cooked on a parrilla and we'd spend afternoons in a grassy space to tomar mate.
I love being near the Andes mountains, not only for the beautiful sights but also the agriculture associated with its fertile land.
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