Blogs from San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina, South America - page 2

After returning from the "Refugio Frey" trek I have rested for tow days in Bariloche - at the first day I took public transportation to Llao llao park and most famous hotel - although it was raining a lot so I didn't want to hike for long. I also went to two different places to get information about my next trek - "Lagona Negra". The first place was the office of the Nauel Huapi national park and the second was the "Club Andino" office. Both places were good for getting information and that's raised my confidence on going out to the trek by my own. I was planning to hike for two days - hiking to and spending the night at "Lagona Negra" in "Refugio Italia" at the first day and going back the same way ... read more

Notre escale à El Chalten prend fin après presque 4 jours de randonnées quotidiennes. Cette petite ville, capitale auto-proclamée du trekking argentin aura tenu toutes ses promesses! Nous prenons un bus en soirée à destination de Bariloche, toujours en Argentine, pour une durée de 24 heures, une grande première pour nous! Ce bus doit parcourir près de 1500 km le long du flanc Est de la Cordillière des Andes et je m'attends à pouvoir admirer une multitude de pics rocheux et volcans enneigés. Finalement il n'en est rien... la Ruta 40 que nous empruntons est beaucoup trop à l'Est des montagnes pour qu'on puisse les voir. Dès le début du voyage nous découvrons des paysages semi-arides et désespérément plats... La végétation est basse et clairsemée, le sol sableux et poussiéreux de couleur ocre ne semble pas ... read more

R : This blog doesn't relate to any specific location or group of people, but seems to relate to tourism in the 2010s. We have noticed it more in South America but it was also certainly present in north America and Canada. A new kind of tourist has emerged - one who is not interested in views, or landmarks, sites of scientific interest or natural beauty. They go on expensive trips to look in the mirror. This is the curse of the selfie and selfie stick. An example - Today we visited a set of beautiful waterfalls, surrounded by lush forest, with a brilliant blue sky above them. We watched as person after person walked towards the viewpoint, immediately turned around 180 degrees and held their phone up in front of them to take a selfie. ... read more

R : We took the ferry back to Buenos Aires, which was quite late, then a hurried taxi across town to Aeroparque Jorge Newberry which is about 30 minutes drive. We had a bit of a laugh with the taxi driver because my Spanish was good enough to understand phrases such as "should I go through the toll road?", but not good enough to say what I wanted to. He suggested I go to Spanish classes while we are in Argentina! When we were in our booking frenzy we had booked a flight from BA down to Bariloche in the Argentine Lake District, so off we went. I was convinced we couldn't call this Patagonia, but it's clear when you land that they certainly consider it to be Patagonia - it's on every sign throughout the ... read more

Last week, we celebrated Christmas in San Carlos de Bariloche. The flight over there was quite bumpy - so much so that one of the kids in the row behind us puked all over his sister. The little girl started crying and shouting "HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE!". The mother tried to explain that the brother didn't do it on purpose, but that he got sick from the bumpy flight, after which the girl shouted: "HE COULD'VE OPENED THE WINDOW!". LOL. Made us forget all about the bumps... :-) Bariloche is situated in the Northern part of Patagonia and is sort of like the Swiss Alps. At least, that's what the Argentinians want you to believe. And to be honest, it kind of is. There are snow capped mountains, lakes, chalets, cheese fondue restaurants and many ... read more