Birthday in Bariloche

---

On Monday (30th march) myself and some others from my hostel left Calafate for an 27hr bus trip to Bariloche, the journey its self was long and not as comfortable as I had hoped. There is only one bus company from El Cal to Bariloche so we had no choice with the ticket price or seats, and even though we had paid for "cama" the bus we were put on was "semi-cama", it was also freezing cold and no pillows or blankets were provided, some people hadn't brought a coat/blanket with them. Our bus had movies playing for the whole trip (not good ones), everyone was glad to arrive at our destination by 9pm on Tuesday evening.

Bariloche is a lovely Swiss style town, it is the Chocolate capital of the world. I was here just in time for Easter, so the smell of chocolate was very strong all over the town as the local chocolate makers were starting to build the GIANT Easter egg in the middle of the town. I stayed in "41 Below" which is a lovely hostel, Leo and Silvia were so helpful with activities, if you asked for advice they refused to let you waste more money than they thought it was worth, or pay for an English tour (more expensive) if you were going to be combined with the cheaper Spanish tour anyway and Silvia's recommendation of local tasty restaurants and the location of the best chocolate, was never wrong!

On Wednesday (1st April) I went to explore the town, and maybe try some chocolate. On the main street practically every second shop is a chocolate shop, which gives the whole town a lovely chocolatey smell. I wandered around the town and the surrounding local area for a few hours before heading back to the hostel. That evening more people had arrived having made the same trip as me, although their trip was worse, no movies or blankets and the toilet was just about to overflow, (I felt lucky I had been on the bus the day before), after sharing our horror stories for a while I headed to bed. The next morning I decided to rent a bike and cycle the 27km "Circuito Chico" around the Lago Moreno Oeste, I was told it was the number 1 thing to do in the town (other than eating chocolate), I have to admit it is a beautiful area, but I didn't enjoy the cycle. I had gotten the bus to 18.3km (the bus stop) and rented a bike, before I could head off the bike renter told me that even though the bike had a lock, not to leave the bike AT ANY TIME!!!!!! so I was very scared because she had made it sound like there were people just waiting around every corner to steal the bikes of unsuspecting tourists. As I cycled along the road, being over taken by cars, buses and trucks on the twisty road, I got to the first view point, here is where I found my first issue, there is no where to lock the bike to even if you want to leave it. There were rocks and bushes but no trees or bike racks to put the bike into, after a short stop to take a photo and a quick drink, I headed off again, this is when I encountered my second issue, mountain hills are very steep!!!! I struggled uphill for a while, but admitted defeat about 1/3 of the way up, I could see some other people pushing the bikes up hill a bit further along the road, and some of the people behind me once they caught me, joined me in walking up the hill. Going downhill was way more fun, but as the roads were to twisty I was nervous about going too fast, as there was nowhere to lock the bikes to and you are not to bring them on the trails, (3rd issue) I felt like I was missing out on some of the better views. There is a bike drop off point after about 3/4 of the circuit, this is were I left the bike, as I was tired and the last 7km is just road with no views and a few hills. I got the bus back into town and headed to the hostel, there I met some other people who had done the cycle also and had some of the same issues as me, nowhere to leave the bike, and felt like we were missing out on the trails.

Friday I was stiff and sore from the cycle so I walked slowly along the coast road (Av Bustillo), it was very windy there but a lovely walk. That evening some of us headed to the start of the Easter/Chocolate festival, for some music. We must have arrived during the change of the bands, as there was over an hour of talk, before any more music was played. We got chorizo sandwiches, from a street kart before going to the supermarket for drinks, I got chocolate milk 😊 and the others wine! Back at the hostel another group of people had arrived, they were playing a very loud funny drinking game of Owls. I watched for a while slowly the drinking game stopped, and everyone ended up sitting around the dining table, my chocolate milk was "sipped/tasted" by almost everyone, and agreed it was the best drink! It was an enjoyable evening, mostly because the lads, were drunk and very entertaining. We had decided to visit the chocolate museum the next day.

Saturday, after a delicious breakfast of sweet croissants and jam and dulce de leche, and of course coffee, 6 of us headed off to find this museum. The best part of the tour was the hot chocolate. In the museum they had animals made from chocolate, which were very detailed and interesting to look at for a few minutes. The factory was not working as it was Easter and the weekend. on the way back we sat in the park and ate delicious empanada's before ending up in the hostel. That evening we sat around the table drinking and chatting, at midnight they sang a beautiful rendition of happy birthday, and gave me a very generous shot of vodka. The lads changed into their Easter clothes before we headed out on the town. We ended up in a little bar, close to the hostel, that didn't mind the pink t-shirts or shorts. I didn't stay too long as my self and Ellie had attracted the attention of a "lovely" Argentinian guy, (Fernet..... gross!!) I also met another guy I had originally met in El Cal, so we decided it was time to leave! (3.30am) Also we needed to be up before 10am to see the breaking of the giant Easter egg!

Sunday, I headed to the town centre with Tim ( an american guy in the same dorm as me) as the others weren't up yet, the breaking of the egg was anticlimactic, but the que of people/families was insane, some people had been queuing from 6am, to get some of the free chocolate. It seemed to be an Easter tradition for families. I went back to the hostel and found the girls, we met in the town at 12, and the que was still around the block and down onto the other streets. We went for empanada's and then went to the chocolate shop for an Easter treat. As I had had a few lazy days, I was looking forward to going for a walk, we decided to go back to the Circuito chico and follow some of the trails. In the beginning there was 6 going from the hostel, as some of the group had things to do in the town first they offered to take the bus card to top it up, this proved to be overly complicated but eventually they managed. (thanks!), by the time we headed out there was 7 of us on the trek,(we had only put money on the card for 6, so we had to give money to other people with a bus card, and credit) but eventually we were on the way to the mountains, we met another girl on the track so our group became 8. It was a lovely walk, with some beautiful views and plenty of chat. We had lunch at a beach by the huge lake, with some beautiful mountains in front and the forest we walked through behind us. We then walked along the beach following a dog before finding a way back up to the original loop. The dog, followed us until we reached the end of that trail, the next one did not allow animals but the dog must have been able to read as it didn't follow us. We saw a lovely Roman stone bridge, in the middle of the forest before a gentle trek to the next viewpoint. The last trek was the hardest with a very steep hill that seemed to go on for ever (it was properly like 10 minutes), it was through a lovely forest area. I could hear a lot of birds but I didn't see any. On the way back we found out that 4 of us were headed on the same bus the next day. That evening we had dinner in the hostel, 6 of us made dinner (steak and salads) together, the men of course cooked the meat!, while we chopped and pealed the salad. 😊

Yesterday (Monday 7th April) was my last day in Bariloche, I met Ellie and Rhys for a last empanada lunch on the grass, then it was time to say goodbye to Leo and Silvia and the lovely 41 below, and to say see you later to everyone else, as most likely we will meet up again along our travels. The bus to Mendoza is 17hrs long, this time it was a lovely cama bus, comfortable seats, some good movies and a huge dinner of potatoes, veg and two of the biggest portions of steak I have ever seen, as well as ham and cheese roll, some kinda of baked omelet and a custard desert and plenty of wine for those who wanted it. When the 4 of us arrived in Mendoza, we all were much happier than the bus from EL Cal. After locating the tourist information office and getting two maps of the town, we set about trying to locate our next hostels. I am currently in Lagares Hostel, which seem to be nice and clean, and I have a bottom bunk for the first time in 3 weeks! So now the next decision is to figure out how to spend the next few days. 😊

---