Reserva La Payunia

The next destination we are steering towards is Reserva La Payunia famous for its high number of volcanos. One thing that is not clear at all, however, is the question how to get to this place. The guidebooks state that you need to drive to Malargüe and sign up with a tour operator. As we are coming from the south it would mean to pass by the reserva only to come back. Given the large distances something we really don’t want to do. In a local camping guide however it says that you can take a tour but there is no need for it. So we decide to see if we can get in there on our own. In fact on the street map there is a road showing that is supposed to go straight through this area. So let’s try and find it.

As a combination of our GPS and the street map we navigate closer and closer to the street that is supposed to take us through this area but we don’t find any sign of Payunia. As we are about to give up we pass by a sign that says “Circuito Turistico Payunia”. Hey, we seem to have found it! This was the first sign after driving for several hours. It’s not the road through the area we where looking for but a circuit. That is fine with us. They clearly want to make it as difficult as possible for individual travelers to find the entrance. In case you want to drive there on your own you can use these GPS coordinates to navigate: S 36.27597 W 69.40695. They mark the actual entrance. The sign at the entrance does not say anything that you could only access it through a guided tour. All it says is that you need to stay on the marked roads, don’t leave any trash and leave the plants and everything else like it is. Not even camping is prohibited explicitly. In fact there is one place like a picnic area that is providing some protection from the wind where you could stay.

The landscape is of course very different to what we have been through so far. It reminds us of Chile from 2013 where we stayed for a couple of days around Volcano Lonquimay and Llaima. The first part is also very similar to that area. We drive through a landscape with dark volcanic ash. Here it is also very clear why you should stay on the marked roads. As there are no tracks the vast landscapes really looks beautiful with the small patches of yellow plants. Any car tracks would destroy this beautiful picture and impact vegetation at the same time.

We find a good spot for the night where we do not need to get off the marked areas. The setting sun turns this whole landscape into spectacular colors of red, yellow, orange and brown followed again with a beautiful clear night and bright sky with all the stars blinking. Of course we are the only ones in the reserva now as the mini busses we came across earlier have left already for the day.

The next day we explore a few more areas of Payunia, do a few short walks to some view points before we leave the area to continue our journey up north. It was really worth while coming here. Doing this with the own car is by far more interesting than being squeezed  into those mini buses from the tour operators. Even though the tour operators don’t really like it. Too bad ...