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Published: June 11th 2009
Bariloche - 20th to the 23rd of May
Bariloche is one of the most famous and touristy towns in the lake district. It's also very pretty - with its Alpine appearance, it looks like it should be in Switzerland rather than Argentina. Its overlooked by the Andies and overlooks the Nahuel Huapi Lake, with three other lakes close by. During the Patagonian winter (our summer), it's one of South America's most important ski centres. But we were there too early for skiing and too late for sun. Nevertheless, we still had a really nice time exploring the town and the lakes nearby.
Yet again, after a long bus journey, we arrived in the early afternoon, this time to typical Irish weather. It was a bit of a shock after nearly five months without rain and wind and cold. It hasn't always been hot - La Paz is pretty cool in the shade but it doesn't rain much there and its high altitude means that the sun warms the place. So this wind, rain and grayness was slightly depressing. I don't know what I'll do when I come home!
After speaking to some reps at the bus station, we decided to go to a place called 1004 which is also recommended by the Lonely Planet. The hostel was a large apartment on the top (tenth) floor of a building. Its height and proximity to the lake and main square meant that we had amazing views...whenever the clouds had cleared! We cleaned ourselves up and went in search of food. This seems to be our standard plan after a night bus. After wandering around the town, we stopped off at chocolate shop. The chocolate shops of Bariloche are another thing the town is famous for and we spent a happy hour eating chocolate and having some hot drinks. We then went for a couple of drinks in one of the town's five Irish bars that evening.
The next morning, we were up pretty early to embark on a cycle around the Circuito Chico, a loop that goes around a couple of lakes. We got a local bus to KM 18.1 and hired some bikes. The ride itself took about two hours due to my generally unfitness and absolute hatred of cycling uphill. I also didn't appreciate how cold the rain was making me. I'm sure Richard could have finished it in 20 minutes! It's a really pretty circuit though and we took some lovely pictures.
When we got back to the house of the guy we had rented the bikes from, there was another boy there. I thought I recognised him and then it came to me. He was Fiona's friend who we'd met at the Cholita Wresting in La Paz. We spent a hour having a few cups of tea and warming up in the man's living room and then caught the bus back to Bariloche. After buying a few steaks in the shop, we arranged to meet up that evening in another Irish bar. Our delicious steaks were the envy of the other people in the hostel kitchen! After showering, Richard and I went back for more chocolates and hot drinks - this time we bought about 30 chocolates with Richard eating his share in about 10 minutes! I have more control so I ate three and put the rest away.
Once we got to the pub, Richard ordered some drinks and we sat down to wait for Liam. He arrived a few minutes later and what was meant to be a couple of drinks turned into a long night with us finally going home around 4.30am because we were meant to be getting up for the bus at 7am. Liam was relatively sensible and went home around 2am as he was going horse-riding in the morning. One of the funniest moments of the night was went he announced "you might think this is strange but I just bought ski pants to go horse-riding tomorrow'. Yes Liam, that is strange! It was a really nice and easy night, though neither Richard and I were feeling the best the next day.
As you can imagine, we didn't get up for the bus the next day and spent most of the day in bed. Richard finally got me out of bed and we went for dinner where Richard had veal and I had tout. Neither of our dinners were great. We had some more chocolates (my other ones having been squashed by Richard went he jumped down from his bunk) and drinks and went to the cinema that evening.
The next morning, we were up early to get a bus to Chile. Although we arrived at the station thirty minutes before departure, the company still weren't selling tickets. We were told to wait ten minutes for the girl to arrive. When she did, there was a power cut and she couldn't sell any tickets. Richard went in search of another company to buy the ticket from but it looked like nowhere was able to sell tickets due to the power cut. It was ten minutes before the bus was due to go so I decided I'd have a look around. Luckily after queuing for a couple of minutes, I was able to get Richard and I on a bus with about three minuets to space. Next stop, Chile!
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Fiona
non-member comment
Wierdness
Ha! You met up with Liam?! Crazy!