Battered in Bariloche

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After a few weeks in the wilds of southern patagonia we had high expectations for our time in Bariloche to be a messy one! And we were not to be disappointed. With my birthday, St Paddy´s day, and our discovery of delicious wine for 8 pesos a bottle (thats less than one pound fifty!) it was a definite success!

We had bumped into Klara again at the end of our stay in El Chalten so decided to travel up to Bariloche and spend time together. We had so much fun together, unfortunately she is on a much tighter time scale than us so we probably won´t get to see her again until Quito in Ecuador. We both miss her loads. After the massive earthquake in Chile we had decided to skip our plans to go there and gave ourselves an extra week here in Bariloche. As our budget has been completely smashed in Patagonia it actually worked out very well to stay in one place for a few weeks and still do expensive activities such as horse riding and white water rafting. The negative aspect to this whole plan is we have got ridiculously lazy and chilled out, any time keeping abilities have gone completely out the window!

As ever there is a tale of the bus ride. And this was some bus ride! Riding the ´legendary´ Ruta 40, legendary for all the wrong reasons - for 30 hours of unpaved roads, travelling at such a speed at times that we could have walked faster. In short the worst bus ride in the history of bus rides. In argentina there are various different classes of seat and ticket, similar to airline seats. Semi-Cama is the basic level - but far superior to coaches in England, Cama is a bigger seat, and first class or super cama is a seat that goes completely horizontal like a bed. This coach was non of these, it was a national express coach at best. Made 100 times worse because we were sat up the front with the bus drivers to a chorus of horendous argentinian folk music and snoring. We survived partly due to the little bus crew we made, and kept ourselves sane. Needless to say i now judge people who travel anything more than semi-cama!

I celebrated my birthday in Bariloche. We went horse-riding during the day, best thing I could have chosen to do for obvious reasons. We all had such a good time, Harry was really quite nervous about going after bad experiences when she was younger, so it was extra special that she had such a good time. The horses out here are amazing, beautifully looked after and trained. Much of patagonia is the territory of the famous gaucho culture, so they really know how to breed and produce horses. It was a slightly different experience for me as we were riding in western style saddles but I soon grasped the differences - such as leaning back as you gallop rather than forward. In the morning we went up the mountains to get some amazing views and get used to the horses, back to the estancia for asado (Argentinian BBQ) and wine, and then back out for cantering and galloping across the grassy valleys. So much fun.

The evening can only be described as a mess! Monday is a bad night to go out if Bariloche but we decided to hit it hard anyway, very hard. After playing ´ring of fire´(drinking game for those of you that don´t know) and a couple of snowboards (a snowboard with 5 shot glasses stuck on it, 5 of you like up and they tip the shots into your mouth - you either drink it or wear it!) we were in a pretty inebriated state. We then went to the seediest Irish bar I have ever been to and consumed more wine, I called it a night first when I thought I was going to pass out. Harry was more of a state, and had to be pushed up into her top bunk...but i´ll leave the details for your imagination!

In our hungover state the following day we went up the Campanario, one of the top 10 views in the world, apparently. In our hungover state I think we may have slightly underestimated it! It was pretty stunning though with a 360 view of mountains and lakes as far as the eye could see. Klara got bitten by a yellow jacket, although we didnt know that at the time believing it to be just a wasp sting. We won´t go into it, but apparently we failed in sympathy levels.


One of the best things about Bariloche is the chocolate. In order to understand just how phenominal it really it has to be compared to the chocolate in south america which is largely rubbish. Often with an aftertaste of bacon and is generally totally unsatisfying. However, being a German/swiss immigrant area, the main drag in Bariloche is lined with chocolate shop after chocolate shop, serving every kind of chocolate immaginable and the best ice creams and cakes as well. The shop system here is also pretty amazing and frustrating. It is similar to communist country economies with the idea to employ the most people as possible. So you want to buy some shampoo? You walk into the shop and someone passes you the items you might want to buy, someone else then gives you a ticket for the item, you then take the ticket to pay, are then given another ticket which you take back to the earlier shop assistant who gives you your purchases. Who thought buying shampoo could be such an exhausting experience

Having been in Argy for a month now, one thing in particular has driven us insane! For reasons I dont fully understand there is a shortage of change and coinage here, and the government refuses to produce more. So breaking a 100 peso note becomes an ordeal requiring planning for the situation in which you can use it! And if you hand one to a supermarket assistant you can practically see the steam pouring out of the ears. Another classic is if you dont have the right change to be offered sweets. No I dont want bloody sweets I just want my change!!

Our first week in Bariloche was largely punctuated by drunken nights out and the recovery. St Paddy´s day was no exception! We were staying in a lovely homely Irish hostel Pudu so we´were definitely in the right place to celebrate it. The hostel was full of really awesome people, the atmosphere was great and we had such a nice dorm we all just gelled as a group, I miss them all! Again the night could be sumerised as mess interspersed with Irish stew and an in house Irish comedian who was hilarious. As expected we ended back in the Wilkenny´s the seedy Irish bar with the worst music in history, great if you love hours and hours of crappy English pop, reggaeton, and horrendous spanish music - not so great if you don´t! Particular highlights included teaching the locals how to do the macarena, they were truly shocked by this group of English girls who seemed to know this amazing dance routine. We are pros at the macarena it would seem! Some how we managed to stay there until 7am, I went back again earlier this week and I can honestly say I don´t quite know how we managed it. Horrendous doesn´t really describe it!

After a pretty heavy week, and with our friends heading up north we decided to head a few hours away from Bariloche to a small hippy town El Bolson for some more climbing up moutains and the market. It would have been beautiful only it was marred by a few factors. Firstly, the only bad weather we have had since being in south america (I guess we shouldn´t complain) and secondly a creepy, ignoramous american boy who followed us around like a stray dog the entire time we were there. Attempts were made with varying success to get rid of him, but he never really got the message. Despite the weather we did climb up Mount Piltriquitron to see the carved forest - a forest heavily damaged by fire the remains of which have been carved into various scuptures. It was very pleasant and the sculptures were impressive, but a combination of low blood sugar and tiredness meant Harry and I decided to behave fairly inappropriately in our posing with the sculptures. We did also make it to the market, and may have got a little stoned from the air quality, the world´s most delicious waffles saved us though!

Our return to Bariloche has been a mixed affair, Harry got poorly, I got a little poorly, but white water rafting on the border with Chile has been the most incredible activity so far in many ways! It was a massive adreleline rush at times, with some highly comic moments. Pretty much every time we hit a rapid Harry fell out, she was the first to depart the dingy and seemed to find it so hilarious that she didn´t want to stop, I think she may have had the ejector seat though! Our side was definitely the more difficult side to be on and we kept having to move about the boat at speed to stop the boat flipping, those you who know me and my balance will know it wasnt the easiest task but I managed most of the time. Falling off was fine, if a little cold, getting stuck under the boat was a slightly hairy moment but I loved every second!We rode some of the rapids out of the boat just for the hell of it too.

We are finally leaving Bariloche now for Mendoza for more wine, a load of steak and some hot sunshine to top up the tan before we hit Bolivia in a weeks time.

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