Lago Huechulafquen and Volcan Lanin, Argentina

Total Miles Traveled: 10,482

Lake Huechulafquen and the Volcano Lanin are two other attractions near San Martin de los Andes – they’re well worth the price of the tour if only for the views. But, be advised, the tours are only in Spanish.

First, we stopped of in Junin de los Andes, a town just north of San Martin de los Andes, known as a fly fishing mecca for trout. With pristine, clear rivers, we have no doubt that that’s true, and should have motivated ourselves to learn how to fly fish.

About 45 minutes north of Junin, we reached Lake Huechulafquen, the largest lake in the Lanin Park, which also has views to the Lanin Volcano, which you can climb to the top with some hiking and ice climbing.

Whilst we were enjoying a brief hike in the forest, we came across this sign which advises of fire danger:

But, then we also saw this gentleman hiking in front of us smoking and flicking ashes in to the forest. Didn’t quite catch him in the act, but WTF!?

Smokey the Bear, the park ranger, would not be happy at all. Unbelievable.

Here’s an interesting and colorful beetle we saw in the forest:

Finally, here’s a video of the waterfall we hiked to:

Want to see more photos? See the slideshow on Flickr