the land of chocolate and ice-cream

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Claire:

from BA we took the bus down to Viedma, where we would later catch the train to Bariloche. we basically spend a couple nights here hanging about waiting for the train (which only leaves on thursdays and sundays). there was tasty icecream (of course) and a nice river to sunbathe beside and swim in if youre brave enough but the town had nothing much else to see.

the train to bariloche was wobbly and a bit uncomfy (and long - 16 hours) but the dinner we had on board was tasty and had ross feeling a bit james bond (he kept going on about red wine with fish) and the sunset we saw from the train made it completely worth taking.

we arrived in bariloche and found ourselves a comfy hotel. from this ideal base i recovered from the cold i had picked up somewhere then we explored the town, went white water rafting (pictures to come in a seperate post), wandered around the municipal park nearby and found a nice lake to explore. we also shopped and ate even more steak and icecream. all in all fun was had and the rafting was fantastic. also, we missed our bus as i cant read time properly and had to stay an extra night, meaning we missed out on a day in our next destination, puerto madryn. bugger. but it meant i got a chance to sample bariloche's famous chocolate. yum!

Ross:

Claire's pretty much covered everything, Viedma not much to see or do. But it was nice and hot, had ice cream and the Rio Negro to go for a splash around in. The train was a nice experience that would have been a lot better had we got the sleeper car that we had wanted.

Bariloche was amazing, not the town itself as this was a bit touristy and expensive but the surroundings were spectacular and words alone won't do it justice. The whitewater rafting was great fun and something I can't wait to do again (roll on Mendoza) and I'll probably blabber endlessly about the scenery and stuff in the whitewater post.
Think we picked the wrong day for a swim in the lake out at Llao Llao as we had been out the day before and it was roasting but this day it was bloody baltic.

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Photos

sunset at viedma
sunset over ther river

ross goes for a swim in the river
apparently it was a bit cold

ice cream in viedma
bloody good

the vet 'bastard'
while sitting eating icecream we noticed this vets in the background and thought the name was a bit interesting..

sunset from the train 1
i got a bit excited with this sunset, it was amazing and lasted forever, changing colours constantly. i took about a million photos of it and the locals on the train thought i was mad!

sunset from the train 2
we went through a storm with the sunset behind it and so got a red sky with rainbows. the photo looks nothing like as amazing as it really did but it gives you the idea.

on board entertainment
this guy was thrashing the accordian for ages on the train. the locals loved it and there was much singing along, out of time clapping and general noisy enjoyment. the mad man was actually backpacking with this full sized accordian.

train view 1
our wobbly train finally winds its towards bariloche

train view 2
the first sight of bariloche's bay

beach view
the view right across the lake at bariloche

sunset
the sun starts to set over the lake at bariloche

skimming
ross gets down to some serious skimmimg at the lake. its a new obsession of his.

Clock tower
typical building in
Hotel Llao Llao
Ross in front of Hotel Llao Llao just outside Bariloche. this is meant to be argentinas most famous hotel and costs about 300pounds a night.
Lago Nahuel Huapi
ross looking for skimmers on the shore
Lago Nahuel Huapi 2
the water was lovely!
parque municipal llao llao
we had a lovely little stroll throught this leafy park

Hotel Llao Llao
Ross in front of Hotel Llao Llao just outside Bariloche. this is meant to be argentinas most famous hotel and costs about 300pounds a night.

Lago Nahuel Huapi
ross looking for skimmers on the shore

Lago Nahuel Huapi 2
the water was lovely!

parque municipal llao llao
we had a lovely little stroll throught this leafy park