Sights

Lavishly landscaped Plaza San Martín’s masterpiece is Bustillo’s former Intendencia Parque Nacional Lanín, which matches the style of its Bariloche [1] counterpart and has influenced architects and designers throughout the region. The exterior consists of roughly hewn blocks, rustically carved beams, attic windows that jut out from the main structure, and wooden roof shingles.

Now combining a museum on the park’s origins and natural history with its traditional information center, the Museo del Parque Nacional Lanín (Emilio Frey 749, tel. 02972/42-0664, free) is open 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Friday.

Across the plaza, the Museo Primeros Pobladores (Rosas 758, 02972/42-8676, ext. 2, museoprimerospobladores [at] yahoo [dot] com [dot] ar, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. and 4–6 p.m. Mon.–Tues. and Thurs.–Fri., 3–10 p.m. Sat.–Sun., US$0.35) is a modest effort at acknowledging all the area’s cultural influences, from pre-Columbian hunter-gatherers to settled Mapuche farmers and their struggles with the Spanish and Argentine invaders, and the European colonists who helped create the contemporary city. Exhibits include items such as arrowheads, spear points, and ceramics, and there’s also an account of Parque Nacional Lanín [2]’s creation.

For four nights in 1952, Ernesto Guevara Lynch and his buddy Alberto Granados crashed on hay bales in the national park’s barn in San Martín. That, apparently, is reason enough to turn the barn into the interactive Museo La Pastera Che Guevara (Sarmiento and Rudecindo Roca, tel. 02972/41-1994, www.lapasteramuseoche.org.ar [3]), complete with video of Che’s career and a shop to market Che souvenirs, including his books and those of his admirers. In reality, it’s more a shrine than a museum.