VILLA ALBERTINA @ LOMAS DE ZAMORA.
A campsite 20 kms from the Port of Buenos Aires, and it must be one of the hardest to find campsites in the world! Its area is very poor and incredibly dirty, but don’t be put off by this. The campsite is very large, heavily treed, secure and extremely friendly. There are picnic areas, and a swimming pool presumably working in Summer. The lake has coypu and the whole area is full of birds large and small. Shops immediately outside the guarded gate are very friendly too - 2 butchers, grocer, 2 greengrocers, a baker and an internet café on the doorstep.
Facilities are adequate but don’t expect a Caravan Club site. The showers do have hot water, though the camp’s water is all saline, so avoid putting it in your tank. 8 litre bottles of good water can be bought from the grocer and 10 and 20 litre bottles can be purchased from a truck which visits the site some days. Rudi, Adrian or Tomas at reception are always pleased to help with queries, taxis, finding mechanics or in any way. Only Adrian speaks some English. Rudi is very patient with you when you get your dictionary out. They need your coins for any phone calls you want them to make.
Buses into BA can take from 1 – 2 hours, depending upon weather, time of day, connections and much else besides. The initial bus is a 117 to Puerte de Noria bus terminal and coins are required for the 80 centavos fare. 2nd bus is a 28 to San Martin or Fiorita. This is caught by walking the far extent of the 28 terminus stops and the fare is 1.25 pesos. The ride is an experience in itself as it goes via some very poor shanty towns. At no time did we feel it was dangerous, though we were warned to remove all gold jewellery including wedding rings, and never display obvious wealth.
The return journey we found was best done by taxi, usually about 25 pesos and taking about 30 minutes. Taxi drivers do not like going to Lomas de Zamora due to perceived risk, and often do not know the way - so a crib is useful. It needs to show Autopiste Av Gral Paz (Avenida General Paz), the former is how it is written on overhead gantries, and it leads to Puerte de Noria. You travel through the Provincial Gate, a pale yellow building staffed by police. It is the most notable ‘marker’ on the way to the campsite. 2 to 3 kms along this highway, turn at the first traffic lights at which you can go right, onto a straight tarmac road. Some 2 kms later turn left at the T-junction at the end and turn left. The Campsite can be seen set amongst trees and its yellow gates are on the left.
To drive in BA a good roadmap is required with road names, as the exits from the autopiste system are generally road names only. In the City centre all streets are named but the further you go out, the less names are to be seen. One other thing about the campsite is that it has a delightful range of holiday residences - some I think have the odd permanent resident. The variety and build is quite something. Some remind one of Dutch allotment houses, others of seaside chalets, and all have BBQs which are a study in themselves. On Sundays, all roads around the Camp hold a market, blocking the roads. It bustles, and sells groceries, hardware and just about anything else.
Bye, Janet.
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