(San Martin de los Andes) Ode to the Taxi Driver

Our morning started at 4:20am with our taxi driver waiting outside of our apartment to bring us to the airport.  Mere hours later we arrived in San Carlos de Bariloche, and using our poor Spanish requested a taxi ride from the isolated airport to a no-name car rental company that didn't provide me with an address. After a fifteen minute ride away from the airport the reliable taxi driver dropped us off in the center of Bariloche at a run down building next to a taxi stand and pointed us inside and left. Seeing only a convenience store and phone shop we were stupidly convinced that we had been hustled and walked to an information center to find the 'real' address of the rental company and confirm our suspicion.   What we actually confirmed is that the company we contracted with had a small office on the 4th floor of that building and that our taxi driver knew the city so well he was able to find it without GPS. Thinking that we were done taxis for the day, we collected our car from the rental employee that was surprised to see us in their office (in my booking I said that we were arriving at 11am rather than 9am to save one day's fee; I did not realize that they were planning to meet us at the airport with the car).  Now "free" of the taxi,  we searched the streets of busy Bariloche for a parking spot so we could eat. Upon finding one on a hill, I tried to parallel park only to put us in a position with the car at a 45 degree angle to the curb, the rear of the car was hanfing in the street, and my next failed attempt to reverse the underpowered Renault Clio up the hill was going to result in an accident with a parked car that was now barely two inches downhill beyond the hood of our car. After waiting in this position for twenty minutes, hoping that the owner of that car would come back and leave their spot, we decided we needed a new plan. Again using our poor Spanish, we approached a taxi driver, trained to resolve such situations, the first of whom eagerly got in our car and freed it, all while refusing to accept compensation.  In the time of Uber, it is time that the cab driver gets some recognition for theor craft! 

After that morning, and an odd french fry "omelette" thing in Bariloche, we set off on the main  activity for the day - heading north to San Martin de los Andes. Almost immediately upon leaving Bariloche, the size of Argentina became very apparent.  Large lakes give way to mountains, which give way to vast scrublands, which give way to river oases, which in turn give way once more to lakes. What is most incredible about our trip up routes 237, 234 and 40, passing through Confluencia and Junin de los Andes is that this was the less scenic route, chosen because tomorrow we are circling back to Bariloche along the more famous "Road of the Seven Lakes."  After passing through beautifulscenery amd some rough-hewn towns, we were very pleasantly surprised by San Martin. A moderately sized town, it is simply a number of rose lined roads that run parallel to Route 40 and perpendicular to Lago Laxur with abundant lodging, confectioners, cafes, white-clothed restaurants and outdoor shops. Add to that our great accommodation at Bora and we are very happy to have spent our afternoon and evening here and are looking forward to a morning run before departing.