From Bariloche to Chile

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I have the pleasure of sharing with you the story of our travel from Bariloche in Argentina toward the border with Chile.

Originally, we were planning on crossing the border between Argentina and Chile, righ by Bariloche, through Lake "Todos Santos", a way we heard is beautiful, though it is a complecated way, as one needs two ferries to do it. But to our great disapointment we have discovered in Bariloche, that this way, as beautiful as it is, cannot be done with a car, as the ferries over these lakes, only carries people and is not upto carrying cars...And so we had to make our way to the next crossing with Chile, further down south.

We left tasty and beautiful Bariloche and drove toward Tronador Mountain and the Black Glacier, both are inside Nahual Huapi National Park (a huge park, that stretches from San Martin De Los Andes and even further in the north all the way to Mount Tronador south of Bariloche and even further south) .
Omer was reluctant to believe us that the brownish / black ground he is looking at is actually a glacier. He kept on saying that glaciers are always in the water and are white - like the ones you see in Ice Age - was his explanation. He did not get convinved, even after we have explained to him that the gravel and dust that are on the surface of this glacier, are the reason it is called the black glacier. The way inside the park to the view point of the glacier was by itself beautiful - as you can see in the pictures.
We also made a walk to one of the waterfalls, and the only way to push Shachar to make the walk nicely, was to appoint him as the 'Line Leader' - the first in the line of us all. This is a term, they have used in his lask kindergarden, on their walk to the dinning room for lunch. He took the duty very seriously, and if someone even tried to get out of line, or pass him - the whole park could have heard his shouts...

We have spent the night, in the nearest "libre" campground (free, basic setting with no facilities, except fire places) , and since there were not even tables available in the campsite, we ended up having dinner on the car's trunk...

The next day we drove to El Bolson. Though some people make a long stop in this town, and stories are talking about this town being a 'hipi' type of town, as if people are still in the 60's, we did not find any of that atmosphere in its streets. We did make a short stop to enjoy (again, after Bariloche) the local famous ice cream - Jauja (this is the name of the factory / shop not the flavour). We also walked a short trail to the "La Cabeza Del Indio" - a stone that looks like the profile of an indian, or at least that is what it is says on the brochure. The kids, said they do not really see the similarity between the stone and a person profile, but any way, enjoyed the great views that place also offered over "Rio Azul" (The Blue River). We also made a quick stop at the Israeli base - the "Farm" (Ha'Chava). It is a hostel and restaurant owned by an Israel guy, completly full with young israelies that stop thereto have a feeling of home for a few days, and to get organized in groups for the next part of the trip. But, as we realized there is nothing to farm in this farm, and the only animals are... we decided not to spend there any more time and went on our way.

Our next great stop was at Los Alerces National Park. In this park we did a few short walks, each for an hour or so - and saw many lakes, and many beautiful trees of the area, including the Alerces trees - a kind of an oak tree, that can leave for hundreds of years and give the park its name.

We have exited the park on its western side and 2 hours later (on gravel off course) we arrived to the border with Chile. The border corssing was fairly easy, though we had to say goodbye to a pack of wood we bought a few days earlier for using in the BBQ and we never had to use, as we always had enough wood available in the ground. And, tal had to eat the honey we still had - both the wood and honey are not allowed into Chile - they are very strict with passing into Chile any vegetables, diary products, meat, and now we also know that wood and honey.

My next entry will tell you all about our adventures on the Chillean side... there is what to wait for.

Hasta Pronto,

Lilach

To view all our photos from these days, you can click on the following links:
Black Glacier
El Bolson area
Los Alerces National Park

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Photos

Lake Mascardi
Park National Nahual Huapi, on the way to Black Glacier

Walking to a waterfall
Shachar is the 'line leader' - and he makes sure we are all in a line behind him

"La Cabeza Del Indio"
Can you see the Indian's Head?

Comments

[Gabby]

good things..
Ah - that sounds so tasty.....it seems like the kids are in the right tempo now for the trip. makes everything easier. How was it to meet Tamy in Arg ..? she was thrilled after it..:-) . I heard the kids were all over her when they met - I guess a familiar face does it for them, isn't it ..? The black glacier is amazing...!! I can totally understand Shachar for not believing you about it - I wouldn't too...:-) I have one concern though - regarding the Alerces trees - the ones that can leave for hundreds of years ....- do they ever come back...??? :-) Keep safe and have fun.