Bariloche

Day 86 – Home, sweet temporary home

Amazed that our report was indeed ready at 8am, we boarded our bus to Bariloche at 10.30, ready to leave this bad luck behind and hit the shops to find Matt some jocks and socks and well, basically everything else, as all he had left were the clothes he was in and his hat! Border security was quick, as there was only two thirds of a one pack to search, and we were soon in the middle of picturesque Bariloche, the self proclaimed Chocolate Capital of South America.

Lucky this had a chest high fence around it otherwise I may have got myself in a little trouble.

We had booked a place called La Justina off the internet a few days before as accommodation in Bariloche was tight, this place being well and truly on both the local and backpacker tourist track and it being the middle of Summer. After a trudge up a very steep hill to the hostel (the whole town is built into the hill!), we were instantly welcomed by the live-in-manager Lucia and some of the other guests, including a couple of Israelis we had shared a minibus with to Chile Chico. Argentina had began to feel a bit like home as we keep coming back here between brief periods in Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile and Argentineans have generally been the most hospitable and had the best internet connections for Skyping real home!

After settling in, taking a brief walk downtown and hitting up the supermarket, we arrived back to a flurry of activity in the kitchen. The Israelis were cooking up a feast and it seemed the rest of the hostel had sniffed it out too and were hanging out in the kitchen. We were chuffed that we had found enough ingredients, a tray and and over in order to make lasagne, but this ended up looking boring in comparison! We were immediately invited to join anyways and had a great night in!

Day 87 – PROJECT: Dress Matt II

The next morning, as I was innocently heading downstairs to breakfast, I heard the dulcet tones of too Aussie accents singing John Farnham’s “Your the Voice” from the next room (with the door open). I couldn’t help myself and as I walked past giggling, I shouted “There must be Aussies in the house!” I think Maddy and Andrew may have been a little embarrassed that they were caught, but it turned out to be the best thing for Matt and I as chatting later (together with a little covert move on my behalf of stealing their email address from the sign-in book) we now have the details of their blog guiding and entertaining us as we head north. Our chat was brief (as they were waiting for a taxi), but it seemed we had met ourselves coming the other direction down this amazing continent, except with much more writing talent!

Anyways, back to the project at hand - as well as trying to find enough clothes and things for Matt to feel like he had possessions again, we had decided we were going to investigate the prospect of climbing in Bariloche. We had received an email from Andrew and Marta – the Torres del Paine Aussies – saying that they had done some and absolutely loved it. We figured we had at least better look into it as is one of South America’s most established climbing destinations. And that we did, however not being able to afford the $150USD or so a day that they paid for a guide and gear, we looked around to see what gear/climbs could be hired/done independently. Unfortunately, there was not a place in town that had sport climbing gear for rent and when we rang our insurer we were told that we wouldn’t be covered for climbing anyways... so that idea was quickly forgotten again.

So…. it was back to shopping. I won’t bore you with the long and painful details of dressing my husband, but you should take comfort that he now has some bits and bobs and enough clothes to have something to present at the laundromat (except still no pack to put them in). I on the other hand am still jacketless and praying that it doesn’t rain anytime soon, but happy that I stumbled across the absolute BEST chocolate in the entire world! It is seriously the best I have ever tasted and for those who know me at all – that says a lot.

Mamuschka – the best chocolate in the world.

Along the way we also stumbled across these guys too – big, medium and small St. Bernard's!! They were so beautiful! I snapped this photo of them napping, only to receive a sharp “HEY!” from a derelict looking guy sitting in a nearby doorway. I looked at him, he glared at me, I wasn’t sure what was happening so I just kept walking to catch up with Matt. Later on, on our walk around town, it had become apparent why I was yelled at – he sets them up in the town square in a row so that people can PAY to have their photo with them! So I guess they were napping from a hard days work. Sorry dude.

So after some successful shopping, Matt now had appropriate clothing that would get him into the local brewery, Antares, so of course that was what happened next. We started with a tasting set:

….and by about 5 minutes later we had made our decisions ready to tackle the remaining hour and a half of ‘happy hour’.

Two pints and a half down, and with the pub filling up due to it being Friday night, we decided we had better order food having both eyed off something on the specials menu – Matt: stew with key ingredient wild mushrooms and me: trout with lemon cream sauce. Over dinner we read more about the beers we were drinking and Matt became highly outraged at the below piece of information:

Given my father had not complied Matt wanted “a refund”, however I was prompt to remind him that he hates honey beer and wouldn’t drink it anyway!

Day 88 – We could totally live here.

The next morning we had planned to do the Circuito Chico mountain bike circuit taking in all the best views of the nearby lakes from the hills… but we woke up late, were exhausted from walking every street in the whole town the day before, then easing our dehydration with beer and so as soon as the forecast said ‘strong wind’ that plan was canned. I was also a bit miserable as something had bitten me on both arms and swelled up so bad I had extra biceps and pins and needles in my hands! The Israelis had gone hiking and having no one to entertain us, we flopped around the house with Tomer, the most loveable house labrador and blogged, etc.

Tomer in his favourite spot on the stairs. No he doesn’t move for you to get past.

Later in the afternoon we went out for ice cream and to check out the lakefront and also check buses for Pucon (back in Chile), given they had also been booking out well in advance.

A view over the deep blue Lago Nahuel Huapi. The town of Bariloche is in a gorgeous setting on the lake and built up into the hills. There are ski resorts here too, so with skiing in Winter and activities in glorious but not-too-hot sun in Summer this placed seemed the most ‘liveable’ for us out of the places we have visited so far (and of course, don’t forget the chocolate shops).

That night, with no Israelis to cook for us, we went out for Israeli food instead:

Day 89 – I will never be a professional downhill bike rider.

The next morning we were up and on the bus to where you hire bikes from (KM Marker 18) to do the Circuito Chico mountain bike tour. Our bikes were decent with suspension, gears and excellent brakes! The track follows main roads and was hilly but not too bad riding, (apart from cars wizzing by), but the side trips were a little more challenging! Most were down and back up steep dirt/gravel tracks with crater pots holes - and no where near what I was used to speeding on my road bike. Matt of course had no troubles and was even talking about visiting Cerro Catedral – a place where you catch a lift up a ski run and speed back down. (Thankfully he was convinced otherwise of that one). Here’s some pictures of the day:

This was one of the side trips down to a pebbly beach accessing the water in view – a little cold for swimming though!

Matt on a bridge at one of the low points. Was fun getting down there, but it was only up after that!

Me and the best views on the circuit – the merging point between Lake Moreno and Lake Nahuel Huapi.

Same lookout.

Matt at Colonia Suiza, a market about 3km down a dirt track. It was scary getting down there sliding all over the place and disgusting getting back up as lots of cars and buses were whizzing past and kicking up dirt. It was also toward the end of the day… not pleasant.

Real curanto cooking (See Chiloe) at the market. Matt lined up only to find out that tickets were pre-sold and he had missed out!

We fell into bed that night feeling exhausted and very unfit!

Day 90 – Ruta de Los Siete Lagos

A popular tourist activity in and around Bariloche is to take the “Seven Lakes Drive” between Bariloche and San Martin de Los Andes to the north which is extremely beautiful and takes you past, you guessed it, seven gorgeous lakes. Most people drive the 180-odd kilometres over a couple of days and camp at the some of the lakes. Unfortunately with no tent anymore and unable the afford the one-way rental of a car (which was actually twice the price of return rentals???) we had to be satisfied that the bus to San Martin de Los Andes, where we were headed next anyway, would take this route.

The bus left at 11am so we could see all the lakes in daylight. This was a huge struggle for both of us, as we have got falling asleep within 20 minutes of boarding any bus down to a fine art. We struggled to stay awake between lakes and got a few snaps out the window:

Unable to book one of the two hostels over the internet or make reservations by phone (so stupid), we were lucky to get some beds at Secuoya Hostel, when we walked in. It was lucky because San Martin is a very swanky town so we may have been on the street otherwise – the next choice was $100! It was one of the most expensive “beds for a night” we have had and we hardly used it given we were up at 5am for the bus to Pucon.