Advertisement
Published: September 17th 2007
Edit Blog Post
The Lake District, Patagonia
Views from the top of Cerro Catedral ski resort. Bariloche was fantastic - so picturesque! The town is on the edge of huge Lake Blah blah and surrounded by towering mountain ranges all covered in the white stuff! We stayed in a gorgeous little hostal that had kitchen facilities so we saved some cash cooking for ourselves for a few nights and making packed lunches for the mountain - and of course we skiied! It hadnt snowed for a while so it was a bit icy in the mornings but was such a huge ski area that you could avoid certain bits and also it meant that the slopes werent crowded at all. For the locals its quite expensive so the types of skiers on the slopes were the 'all the gear, no idea' types, looking very flash in their Gucci all in ones! The views from the top of the mountain were incredible and we were lucky enough to have bright blue skies the first few days for some gorgeous photos. Because the resort is a 30min bus ride from the town the mornings were quite early and by the time the days skiing was done going out partying was not an option (I think we´re getting old).
Looking good
And the view......... By the third day on the mountain we had covered all the open runs at least twice and the snow was becomming icier and even non existant in places (thank heavens for hire skis). As a result we would arrive to the mountain later and ski slush for the afternoon, cue weather change. It was also a bit of a shock to grad a coffe after a days skiing and find on the front of the national newspaper Bariloche, for all the wrong reasons. One of the cars on the bubble lift had fallen off the day before whilst in motion (and at the same time we were on it) with a father and his 5 year old daughter inside! We had wondered why that lift was shut down that day and why so many of the lifts were having safety checks! Luckily they escaped with just bruising even though they fell nearly 50ft onto ice! It was a very safe place to ski over the next few days with all the safety checks going on!
By saturday we had to move from our hostal and this provided us with a brilliant excuse to check into a 5* hotel for
Did we mention it snowed?
Our final day on the mountain in Bariloche. Vickys birthday weekend (thanks to her Mum and Dad). I´m pretty sure the staff at reception did not want us scruffy looking things in their beautiful hotel and after the third time of telling us how much the room costs," that is in dollars sir" ,"US dollars sir". followed by "Are you sure you can afford it sir?" and wanting to check at least two forms of payment card I was just about to drag him over the counter. If we had not already made a reservation that would be charged i think we would have told him where to stick it. The room itself was amazing and contained probably the largest bed I´ve ever seen and for the first time in 4 months a bath....... yippie!!! For Vickys birthday we had a great day of champagne breakfasts, skiing, lunch up the mountain and an awesome dinner and drinks to round off the day. Not forgetting the chocolate as Bariloche is Argentinas chocolate producing capital!
We awoke on our last day on the mountain to black skys and snow. Unfortunately there was so much of it you could not see 2m ahead of you and so after two very slow
Having a Whale of a time!
Southern Right Whales in Puerto Madryn, East Coast Argentina. runs it was time to hang up the skis and say goodbye Cerro Catedral and the following day to Barriloche after a brilliant week. Another 18 hr bus journey (more due to the 2ft of snow on the roads) and we would awake in Puerto Madryn for two days of whale watching.
The port town of Puerto Madryn is on the Atlantic coast of Argentina half way between Bunos Aries and the Falklands and is famed for its population of Right Whales which arrive in august to mate. The population peaks during september where a stroll along the beach is all that is needed to observe 20+ of these magnificent creatures, lucky us! The town has a modern pier stretching over 500m into the bay and is completly free access. The whales literally swim around and under the pier 20ft bellow you, its a very memorable experience. We also used our time here to hire bikes and go for a ride 20km up the coast to another deeper bay where the whales can be seen cleaning themselves (they do this by jumping out of the water and splashing back down), riding on sand roads for 20km is not much fun
Beachy Sunset
Dusk on the beach at Puerto Madryn. but worth it in the end. 20km back to town and a well deserved beer.
There is so much to do and see in Argentina but its all so spread out (well it is the 8th largest country in the world). So another 18 hrs on a bus and we arrive in Buenos Airies, the capital.
We had made a reservation for 3 nights in the filthiest hostel yet, so thanks to my Spanish not being too great we managed to blag that I had only requested 1 night over the phone and got out of there asap the next morning - there are benefits to not knowing the language! on the day we arrived we were lucky enough to catch Jen and Hugo before they flew home that night so we started our visit to B.A in true Argentinian style with a 2 hr late lunch of slow roasted meat and fab red wine! In the evening we hooked up with another compadre and sampled a taste of the night life.
Hostel move was a god send and a chance to stay in a different part of the city because as you can imagine its pretty big. Over
BBQ Lamb Argentinian style!
Its been a while since we showed dead animals and at least they are´nt Guinea Pigs. the next few days we explored the city and of course the nightlife which really should be called morning life. Nobody goes out to eat until at least 10pm and most clubs dont open until 2am and close at 7am - everyday of the week! Oh of course we made it past 6am?! Again my spanish got a little out of goose after a few drinks and instead of telling the barman there was too much vodka in my glass (a black russian, vodka was a cm from the top and now he was adding the Tia Maria - no coke obviously), I stupidly said there wasnt enough - so he topped it up! Yet agin theres benefits to not knowing the language too well!
We booked a tour (for our safety) and went to a Serie A football match under the disguise of being Australian so as not to be slain! Thank you England for being so shit at Rugby at the moment, its saving us a lot of grief! Back to the match, River Plate vs Velez and the home side won 5-0 so a pretty impressive game, which also meant there wasnt the need for a fight, a common occurence between Argentinian fans, not too unlike our own!
We also went to see a Tango night involving a Opera singer, live band and of course dancers. However a the dancing was a little dissapointing as only one couple who were a bit wooden - we saw much better dancing in the street where dancing buskers compete for your attention and your money.
And then it rained! Non-stop for 3 days. In our attempts to still see the city we got drenched. We visited the cemetery actually called The City of the Dead (I know doesnt sound great), but it was spectacular! All the graves are in crypts, mostly made of marble and adorned with huge statues. Definitely reserved for the rich and famous! Families by lots for all of them to be buried there and in some there were 20 coffins stacked one on top of the other - little bit creepy especially with the thunder and lightening at the same time!
Another wet day and were on the bus to Puerto Iguazu in the far north-east corner of the country, which we will tell you about in the next edition. Ciao for now!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0934s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kelly
non-member comment
Hellllllooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Hello you two - I've been missing your 'little' updates! ;o) What a whopper this one is, and it doesn't disappoint........you make my life seem increasingly non-descript - so much for my escapades at Go Ape! Glad to see some new pictures, and even more glad to hear all about your latest adventures. Lots of love to you both, Sis xx