Cuesta de Miranda On the drive to Cafayate I drove through the Cuesta de Miranda. A very nice mountain range that was red with lots of shrubs all over which gave it a very interesting red and green contrast. Having lunch by the roadside ...

North of Mendoza are the Provincial Park Ischigualasto and National Park Talampaya. The latter I did not visit because you can only go there with guided tours but the former was quite interesting. Dinosaur Museum Ischigualasto is an area where the formation of the Andes mountains unearthed soil from the Triassic age. Many Triassic dinosaur skeletons have been found over the years in this area. The sanjuanosaurus. Named after the region of Argentina where it was found. ...

Mendoza was definitely the culinary highlight of my trip so far. It was a highlight in many other ways as well but my stay was very much defined by the food and the people surrounding that. That was of course no accident, I figured that in the most prominent wine growing region in Argentina where the famous Malbec wine is grown there must be good food to go with it. ...

The drive to the entrance of the park. In the second half you can see the hills of the park from afar. My route takes me west again; back to Mendoza. That means that I have to cross the country laterally - through the literal Pampa. The province of La Pampa is right in the middle of the country and is a mostly flat and arid landscape. To change things up I went to the Parque Nacional Lihué Calel in the middle of the route. ...

Camerones Camerones is on the way to Peninsula Valdez. The name translates to “Shrimps”; probably due to its fisher village nature. Some 20km south of the village is a national reserve for the magellan penguin colony. The penguins there are not shy but you need to stick to the metal walkway that has been built over the colony. The Penguin Calendar. I arrived during the migration period which is why there were not so many penguins left anymore. ...

My next destination was supposed to be peninsula Valdez after I decided to not go to El Calafate and El Chalten the supposedly best places in all of Argentina. I left them for a future trip where I could come a bit earlier in the year because I already noticed that it gets below freezing temperatures at night so I wanted to go there when it is a bit warmer. ...

About 800km south of Barriloche is the national park Perito Moreno. It is sometimes confused with the small nearby town Perito Moreno but more often it is confused with the glacier called Perito Moreno in the national park Las Glaciares which is the famous glacier that is on every top 10 list of things to do in Argentina. I only know of the place because the owner of the hostel in Barriloche is an avid hiker as well and when I told him that I am here for the hiking he immediately suggested this route and said that it was one of — if not the — best hikes he ever did. So I quickly told the park administration about my plans and reserved a 3 day hiking round trip in the park that involved visits to 3 distinct refugios (shelters) in the park. Very cool that this is completely free. ...

In Barriloche I stayed in a nice cozy hostel that had an awesome common room where meeting other travelers was very easy. I met a bunch of people from Argentina and Paraguay who used the Easter holidays for a hiking vacation in Barriloche. One of the people that I met was Luisina (Lu) who spoke really good English which made communication a lot easier. She taught me a lot about Argentina and its people and we did a lot of hikes around Barriloche together. Sadly she had bent her ankle on the first hike but she did not let that deter her from doing more hikes. ...

Ruta Nacional 40 ("Ruta Cuarenta") Ruta Cuarenta is the Argentinian equivalent of the American Route 66. Along the way uncountable motorbike groups have left their emblem stickers on the different road signs and you can buy merchandise carrying the markings for this iconic road. And what a road it is. The Ruta 40 winds itself through the outskirts of the Andes all the way from the very north to almost the very south just shy of Ushuaia. The section that I drove on to Barriloche was a very scenic drive with a different view waiting behind each turn. ...

I did not drive south through Chile as originally planned. Someone from my hometown - Penzberg - that a friend from school knows, has a winery in Barreal, Argentina. I checked on the map and it was “only” 750km away. a bit more than a days drive. So I changed plans and went over there first; thinking that I could still drive back again. It was not that far off after all. ...