One of the excursions that can be bought in Malargue is a trip to the lagoon at Llancanelo. We decided we would rather try and do it alone despite the local Tourist Information book saying you must hire a guide to enter. Turning on to the 186, the road was mainly "ripio." The plain was flat with the odd volcanic hump on the horizon. There was a telescope which seemed appropriate in this lunar type landscape. On the way there was a sign warning you that there were...

The weather here is in the low 30s and clear blue skies. After a slow start (which get slower and slower as the holiday progresses) we joined the queue for fuel at the YPF station. It took us nearly 45 minutes to be served. We hadn't seen queues like this so thought there must be some shortage but no, the petrol station on the other side of town was quiet. Very odd. We drove north to visit Las Lenas, which is a ski resort near Cerro Paraguay. It was a well paved ...

La Payunia is a national reserve about 190 km south of Malargue. It has only opened up to the public in the last ten years, partly because of its inaccessibility issues. The only allowed way to visit the park is to either take a tour or hire a guide, which we did via Karen Travel who own the apartments we are staying in. According to the guide books, it is the world's most concentrated area of volcanic cones, numbering over 800. (We have previous visited el Valle...

The guide books don't say much about Malargue and now we know why. It's a simple town, a few blocks deep, along the Ruta 40. On New Year's day, pretty much everything was closed apart from ice cream parlours vending fizzy drinks (not Champagne). The owner of the apartments where we are staying didn't seem to understand that today we only wanted to mooch about. We found a Panaderia open and bought bread, croissants, water and beer. Back at the apartment the owner ...

We woke up in Buenos Aires to an immense thunderstorm. During breakfast, rain starting pouring through the transparent roof and the noise was so load we couldn't hear each other. After breakfast it was another fear-inducing taxi rides to Aeroparque where we caught a short flight to San Rafael. We picked up our HiLux and looked for food. All the supermarkets were shut and we know from bitter experience virtually nowhere opens on New Year's Day. We food a small cor...