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Road to Comodoro
No wonder it takes so long, the bus goes along a dirt track road in the middle of nowhere... The ride to Bariloche is not for the faint hearted, although I was followed there but the 2 hyper Spanish women. 3am start from El Calafate slightly south to Rio Gallegos 5 hours away, then a half an hour wait for the next bus north to Comodoro 11 hours away, although my journey was delayed at one of the county borders due to someone on my bus being called into the police...Due to this only a quick hour wait then north west to Bariloche, 15 hours away. What a fun ride... The good news was I become an Auntie half was to Comodoro! Yay!!
Bariloche is a small town in the Argentinian Lake District, surrounded by beautiful scenery. Local specialities of Wild Boar, Venison and Trout but most importantly chocolate! Spent the afternoon wandering around town and excited about the mexican restaurant but it turned out to be not that great with a very rude waitress. Asleep by 10 due to the nightmare journey to get here.
Turns out I was actually sleeping in a zoo, I have never heard 3 people snore so loudly!! I got up late about 9 as the weather sounded awful, it turned out
to be sunny with slight wind so I hurried to hire a bike to do the Circuito Corto (Short Circuit...) It was decribed to me as a leisurely bike ride, easily completed in 5 hours if you take many photo/eating/drinking stops, so off I went at 10.30. I haven´t ridden a bike for a while so started slow, then realised due to the severity of the wind there was nothing else I could do. After 10km, I was about done but knew there was another 53 to go so persevered. Eventually after 2 hours I reached the start of the loop and took the left hand fork (as advised by the bike shop due to the hills being worse the other way round the loop). Immediatelly a huge hill, so I was walking up and had acquired a mate, a freaky looking dog with husky blue eyes. I had been singing to keep my spirits up, and prevent a tantrum due to the pain and unrelenting wind, so now started singing the littlest hobo. Maybe tomorrow I´ll wanna settle down... Couldn´t shake the dog for an hour when he got bored of me being so slow. There was some great
scenery along the way but after 4 hours I really didn´t care and was close to throwing the bike in the hedge and claiming I had been attacked by a white van man for my bike. The wind did not let up all day and I ended up having to pedal down hill! Eventually got to the oasis of my red haze, the Llao Llao hotel. Very posh, obviously on a hill!, with stunning views. Nearly turned away at the gate as riff raff like me are not usually allowed in, but I persuaded him to let me have a cup of tea in the cafe and I would not go near the restaurant! Sadly the written about eat all you can cakes deal is no more, but I did have the 2 cake selection and they were amazing!! The chocolate and cream was a great pick me up and gave me the energy needed to get back to Bariloche. A gruely 3 hours later I finally returned to Bariloche. I returned the bike immediatelly as never wanted to see it again and knew there was no way I could carry it up the stairs to the hostel. This really
Yellow Tree
I love these! was not the "Short" circuit I had been expecting. I don´t think I´m the outdoorsy type really...
Had a very long hot shower and was then ready to eat. Went with Chloe and J from my room and had some fabulous Wild Boar in rasberry sauce for dinner, with copious red wine, it went a small way into numbing the pain of my legs. Back to the hostel with more wine and watched silence of the lambs.
Next day, decided to start off slow as my legs weren´t doing much, then ended up lazing around all day. Caught up on tedious tasks like laundry and post and the best waxing experience ever, why don´t we have the treacle method at home, it doesn´t hurt at all! When I got back to the hostel, Chloe and J having an afternoon snooze from their 3 hour drive to see a glacier... So went for diner with the rest of the hostel to the notorious Alberto´s!!! It was fantastic, there is a meat waiter and a drinks waiter. I ordered a half portion of lomo, amazing, best meat so far. The boys all had a full portion, ridiculous, a steak 2" high,
8"long and 4"wide, half the whole plate. We also had the house wine which was fantastic and only 12pesos! Afterwards we dragged ourselves out to the south bar next to our hostel for a few cocktails before bed. Finally my room mates were awake so I could pack my bag for my early start to Púcon.
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