Advertisement
Published: February 1st 2011
Edit Blog Post
Bariloche is in the 'lakes district' of Argentina, and is a popular summer destination with the locals. It is located on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi, across from the national park of the same name. Reading about the place, I imagined afternoon swims followed by feasts of wild boar roasted over open pits. Well, it was too rainy and cold for swimming, and Eva wouldn't let me eat wild boar in case it was endangered (in truth, it was hard to find on the menu). Still, Bariloche stands out as one my favorite stops on our whole trip, although there is not much to write about. The best part of our experience was staying at Alojmento Kahuin, a log cabin in the woods just west of town. Alojamento Kahuin was home to Daniel, the hippyish, guitar-playing owner and his beautiful young daughter. At the time of our stay, the only other people there were another couple, Vaniah and Johan. Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Vaniah lived with Johan in his native country of Sweden (and are now both working in London, England). We befriended Vaniah and Johan and found we had much in common. They were also white collar workers who
got a little burnt out the year before, and were taking an extended international trip. Guests and owner alike made for a relaxed and low key atmosphere at the Alojamento Kahuin. Daniel gave us the run of his house, including the large kitchen, the living room, and even the computer in his office. After months of tourism, it was nice to cook meals in a home and watch the winter Olympics on TV. As our new friend Johan explained, "travelling is no vacation." Bariloche was a much needed vacation from our travels.
We arrived in Bariloche via by bus on Feb. 16th at 6:30 pm. We had been travelling for 30 hours - first from El Calafate back to Rio Gallegos (to pick up a calendar full of notes accidentally left next to the computer in Hotel Paris), and then from Rio Gallegos to Bariloche. Extremely tired, we settled in our hostel and got a somewhat late start the next day. We wandered around in town that afternoon, mostly spending our time in chocolate stores. There must have been more than 6 speciality chocolate stores in the small downtown area of Bariloche... and we wandered through 4 of them.
For lunch however, we had a lunch of trout and beef stew at the German themed Weiss restaurant before heading back "home."
The next day was a little wet and rainy. We caught a bus to the terminal for the ferry that runs across the lake and into the national park. However, we were a little disappointed by the prices for both the ferry ride and the park entrance, and neither the weather nor our energy levels were condusive to much hiking anyways. We settled for a short hike through a municipal park on our side of the lake. Our hike was pleasant, though unremarkable except for the surprising (at least to me) presence of wild bamboo in the forests. I didn't know it grew anywhere in the Americas, and I had never heard of anyone using it in America the way it is used in Asia. The weather was still a little cloudy the next day, Friday. Feb. 19th, but we couldn't spend the whole day inside watching TV. We went to the nearby ski resort, Cerro Catedral, and caught a lift to the top of the hill. Fortunately the clouds were high enough that we had views
of the surrounding hills. We picked our own route down the hill, occasionally getting lost, getting stuck, and getting into squabbles. A dog started following us and wouldn't leave. He looked healthy enough, but still we wondered if he had an owner. Eva wanted to take him with us, but I convinced her it would be impossible.
The next day was the sunniest of our four days in the Bariloche area. We hiked up another hill, Cerro Campanario, and got a good view of the Lake Nahuel Huapi, the smaller surrounding lakes, and a few mountain peaks. Afterwards, we went back to downtown Bariloche and wandered the chocolate stores again. That night, we went out with Jochen and Vaniah to the Blest Brewery, 3 km east of Kahuin. One of the very few microbreweries south of California, they get high marks from me for both diversity and flavor. I ordered a tasting sampler that included a pilsner, scotch ale, stout, and porter. The girls ordered dessert, which was pretty good too. The next morning was to be our last in this relaxing place. Eva had made french toast for the four of us for breakfast/brunch. I on the other
hand nearly caused a fire by drying my underwear on the heater. Eva came back to our room to find it filled with smoke. Parts of my underwear had changed color from blue to pink. I was only reprimanded very slightly. I still don't know why. Sometimes I do a small thing and I am yelled at, other times I almost burn a house down, and I am not yelled at. I guess marriage is like this. That afternoon we caught a bus bound for Buenos Aires, our final stop in the Americas on our year-long trip.
Note from Eva: I WAS quite upset and scared by the heater/underwear incident, especially since there was clearly a sign in Spanish above the gas heater that said not to put anything on or near the fire. I was just so relieved I caught it in time before more damage was done. I figured that the big hole in his underwear would be a sufficient and lasting reminder to George not to do it again.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.155s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0593s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb