Bariloche

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Bariloche is probably one of the more touristy spots in Argentina because of its beauty both during the summer and winter seasons... big ski town during the winter. Well, we were only going to go to Bariloche as a stopping point for a night before heading further south in Patagonia, but decided to stay a few days because there is so much to do and we were having fun.

Bariloche is in the Lakes District of Argentina, just above the northern part of Patagonia and is obviously known for its huge, beautiful lakes in the middle of the mountains. So, our first day we just did a little hike around one of the lakes just outside of the town, which was pretty. The next day, Bo and I did the "circuito chico" bike ride, a 35 km bike ride around some of the huge lakes through the mountains and through a little village called La Colonia Suiza. Day 3- went with some friends I made at the hostel who decided to rent a car to visit the famous Nahuel Wapi national park. We drove for 2 hours down the dirt road of the national park (which is absolutely enormous) making stops at lakes, look outs, and then finally to our destination at the end of the road, the black glacier. It´s a glacier than is covered in dried up lava after the explosion of a nearby volcano.

That night in Bariloche was also a lot of fun... as I have been saying, there is a VERY large amount of Israelis here, especially in Bariloche at the time I was there because that night was the Jewish holiday, Purim, and there is a popular Chabad House in Bariloche. Purim is like Jewish Halloween, so we dressed up in costumes we could find and then headed out to the Chabad House in Bariloche, where everyone was dressed up as well. We attended a service followed by a good party and the rest of the night out looking like fools in public being the only people dressed up in funny looking outfits... it was a pretty different Purim experience from what I had been familiar with in the past in America.

The next day, Bo and I headed out on a 29 hour bus ride to El Calafate in Southern Patagonia, while Amos took a bus back towards Buenos Aires. LONG bus ride. Finally arrived in El Calafate, and then immediately got on another 3 hour bus ride to El Chalten... that´s 32 hours on a bus in total... just have to make that clear. So we FINALLY arrived in El Chalten at 11pm, checked in to a hostel, and went straight to bed. The next day was extremelyy windy... so windy we were getting blown over when we would stand up and a big gust of wind would come through (no exaggeration). We spent the day sort of relaxing, walking around the town (nothing at all to see- it´s a tiny, tiny, tiny town in the valley- people really just come here as a base to do the Fitz Roy trek), buying food, and getting supplies in preparation to leave for the 3 day trek the next day.

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Photos

Bariloche
circuito chico bikeride

Bariloche
we found a funny place to take a picture along our bike ride... this is relevant to Argentina though because there are a lot of paleantological sites

Bariloche
Purim

Bariloche
Purim

Bariloche
Purim

Bariloche
Purim

Bariloche
Purim