The recent heavy snow fall has made ski resorts the favored location of the past few weeks of winter vacation—a vacation which for Argentine school children ended yesterday.According to La Nacion, Bariloche and Las Lenas have been working at essentially full capacity, while Mar del Plata has been at 50%.While it seems obvious that the beach resort would get less tourism in the winter than ski resorts, the tourism levels in Mar del Plata were even lower than expected.Despite the heavy snow fall that just closed Bariloche, however, their luxury hotels are at 100% capacity right now, and cabins and hostels are close behind with 80% occupancy.These levels of tourism were above and beyond the expectations of Bariloche’s now decidedly pleased residents.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, over 2,000 trucks were stranded because the Cristo Redentor tunnel between Argentina and Chile was blocked by snow.This tunnel, high in the mountains, is a key pass between the two nations for both commerce and tourism, since there are several resorts near by. No doubt the tourists were happier than the truckers about the arrival of snow. According to China View, the snow blockage is on the Chilean side and they say that they are doing every thing they can to get the snow out of the way and the drivers on the road again.In the mean time, Argentine drivers are being advised to use alternative routes that go through the eastern provinces of Neuquen and Jujuy.

Read the rest of this entry »