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Bariloche
View from our hostelBariloche:
An alpine resort town set on the beautiful Lake Nahuel Huapi, in the midst of the Andes with forests all around. This is the hub for amazing trekking and other outdoor adventures, and to top it off it is the chocolate capital of Argentina, has cool architecture and has some really great pubs! This is our favorite Argentine destination since leaving Buenos Aires and we´re happy to be able to spend almost another week here!
Our Update:
We spent another 3 nights/4 days trekking through the mountains and had a great time! This was probably the most challenging trekking we have down so far, as we had to actually climb several mountains to get to our destinations. Before leaving we had been told at the park ranger station that several areas we wanted to trek were closed for the season "unless you have a guide.". Luckily a trekking company told us that it wasn't actually legally closed and we would be fine as long as we had some experience. So, we weren't too surprised when we encountered some ice on the trail and had to do some hand and feet rock climbing over mountains to get to the next
camp site.
Our Trekking Adventure In the Andes:
The first day we took a bus to the ski resort and then trekked out in great weather to a refugio (which is a shelter of sorts where you can sleep if you don't want to camp). Refugio Frey is on a small lake among the mountains and although we didn't stay there (preferring hardcore mountain camping instead, hehe) it was nice to be able to play cards by candlelight inside at a table that night in the refugio, instead of in our tent. The next day we left for the "possibly closed" part of the adventure, in which we had to scale two mountains to get to the next refugio. The first mountain was quite rocky and involved lots of scrambling up large rocks, which was actually really fun and has gotten us both interested in getting into climbing when we get back. At the top of the mountain we had amazing views of the Lake District and the mountains. The views were so great that we decided to change plans and not finish the trek to our camp site but just camp on the mountain for the night instead.
"The Lake District"
This is what this region of the Andes is called. So we boiled some snow for water (there were no streams) and saw a pretty sunset that night. The next morning we got up early and climbed down the mountain, across a valley, and up and down another mountain to get to the next refugio, Refugio Jacob. We camped nearby for the night and the next day hiked all the way back to the road to town and hitchhiked with a friendly Argentine to a bus-stop to bus back to Bariloche... it was an exhausting but amazing trip! We had great, sunny weather until our last day, Friday, when a storm blew in (just as had been predicted by the trekking company we got our info from). So we had to hike out in the rain, but luckily Jeff has us prepared with fancy garbage bag covers for our backpacks.
Bariloche, City Life:
Since the storm blew in on Friday, it has been rainy and windy in Bariloche consistently for the past couple of days. We checked back into our favorite Bariloche hostel (booked a double room instead of dorm rooms this time) and have been taking it easy all weekend. We did a chocolate tour yesterday, in which
Bariloche Sunset
...also from our Hostel. Did we say that this is our favorite hostel so far? we walked around town from chocolate shop to chocolate shop, sampling a piece at each place... yum! Today we tried helado (ice cream) at Jujay, a shop we had heard produces the best ice cream in Argentina. Whereas during the chocolate tour, the chocolate tasted relatively similar and equally delicious at each factory, the ice cream at Jujay was by far the most delicious experience of my life! Both of us agree that Jujay ice cream is the best in the world, better even than the ice cream we were fortunate enough to experience in Italy. Yum!
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to improve greatly and if it does, we are planning to rent bikes for the day and bike along a 4 hour circuit-lake-loop, that is supposed to be very beautiful.
Ta-ta for now and Happy Mother´s Day to moms everywhere! 😊
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Anj
non-member comment
So pretty!
The photos are amazing! You guys are missing nothing here, keep enjoying your adventure :)