Bariloche, Argentina

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Chocolates and mountains, thats what Bariloche is famous for. We crossed the Andes from Pucon in Chile to San Martin de los Andes in Argentina stopping the night before heading on to Bariloche. What beautiful scenery we passed along the way in the Argentine lake district, rivers, lakes, valleys and mountians, monkey puzzle trees and lots of big birds (not any condors yet though). Bariloche is within the national park Nahuel Huapi on the lake of the same name surrounded by snow capped mountains.

We arrived at mid day and didn´t do too much apart from check into the hostel,orientate ourselves a bit and check out the different treking options, unfortunately the weather was about to change for the next few days to persistent rain.

We decided to suit up with waterproofs and get out to a nearby lake with several treking options so if it was too cold and miserable we could just do a short walk and head back, it is very hard to just do a short walk when you are out in the country side as we always want to see what is over the next hill or around the next corner so we ended up hiking for 6 hours in the rain! We saw a small waterfall, a beautiful view over lago gutirez and a lake side beach area. The plant life was lovely but we couldn´t see too much of the surrounding scenery exept for the odd glimps of a snow covered mountain whenever the clouds thinned a little, I have seen from photos how lovely it is on a sunny day but you have to take the weather as it is when you travel in autum. It was wonderful to arrive back at the hostel nicely heated for a hot shower and some dry clothes.

Next day we couldn´t face more hiking in the rain so had a slow morning and then poped into town to take some photos in the afternoon when the rain stopped. The town has some lovely buildings all in a sort of alpine style, and I loved the crocheted socks that were used to decorate tree trunks with. We had a recommendation for a restaurant (Alta al Fuego) close to the hostel, apparently the best steak restaurant in the country, thats right the country! It is a small place with a rustic country style decor and warm atmosphere. It didn´t disapoint, we shared a sirloin steak as the portion sizes are so huge and it was delicious, about 1 1/2 inches thick cooked rare but still hot throughout, wonderfully tender and the flavour was superb, washed down with a Malbec recommended by the staff which was the smoothest weve had yet, a lovely relaxing meal with attentive service in gorgeous surroundings.

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Photos

Wet Lago Gutirez
I think this photo nicely catches how wet it was on our hike.