Hotel Llao Llao

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Wed Feb 27
I woke up with a sore throat and didn’t feel like any more hikes. We worked around the house, getting our stuff organized, then took the bus out to the hotel Llao Llao, apparently the only 5 star hotel in the country if not the continent. The rooms start at $500 US/night.
http://www.llaollao.com.ar/

The hotel is 25 km out of town, and we found out that it is *very* exclusive. We were walking onto the property, (past the golf course), and the guard at the gate asked us if we were meeting someone or had a reservation. We said no, but we’d like to have a cup of tea or something. He called in to the restaurant and checked if it was ok, then sent us in, meanwhile alerting the people at the door that two tourists were on their way in. We couldn’t sit inside, only on the terrace in the sun. There was afternoon tea service for 45 pesos, but we just wanted iced tea, which ended up costing 20 pesos each. Wow!

We left and caught the bus headed for where Carol and Bill are staying, where we were invited to dinner. We got their early so stopped into a public library (biblioteca popular) and chatted with the librarian. The libraries are funded by the government and there are many of them. They didn’t seem very well stocked with materials, but there were lots of tables where kids were playing various board games.

We then walked over to have dinner with Carol and Bill. Their hosts are named Jose and Julia Franzgrote. We had a lovely dinner and visit with them. Their house is very large and comfortable and Julia is a wonderful cook and sees it as her job to wait on her guests hand and foot. Bill and Carol have some nice pictures of this on their blog:
http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/R-o-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-251930.html

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Photos

Hotel Llao Llao
This is the front door of the hotel.

The terrace
This is the only place they would serve us.

World Famous Golf Course
We read that this is an award winning golf course. You can see Bandurrias (a form of Ibis) in the distance.

Biblioteca
A public library we visited coming home from the hotel Llao Llao. Interesting contrast.